The USC Upstate Accessibility Commitment aims to ensure students, faculty, and staff have access to all spaces and materials where learning takes place. Luckily, Blackboard Ultra has made faculty’s role in fulling this commitment easier than ever. The university-adopted quality assurance program holds all courses to a high standard of accessibility, including expectations that all documents use heading style formats, color contrast, and accessible tables; that videos have accurate closed captions; and that audio files or recordings have transcripts to ensure barrier-free learning opportunities for all students. It may sound like a lot of work to manage and create accessible content, but all of our content tools, from Adobe to Word to Blackboard Ultra, have embedded checks and remedies to help us achieve our accessibility goals. Let’s get started!
Continue reading “Responding to Ally Accessibility Scores in Your Courses”Summer CV Refresh
As you’re basking in the summer sun or working on your summer teaching or research, make time to update your CV and accompanying materials. The CV is often a summary or a snapshot of all your academic achievements and in the life of a faculty member, a lot can change in a year. If you’re in the first part of your career, your CV might focus on your doctoral research, any publications or submitted scholarly work, courses you taught as a TA or adjunct before joining the faculty, conferences you’ve attended, and service you’ve completed.
Continue reading “Summer CV Refresh”Getting the Most from Your Learning Evaluation Survey Data
As the semester closes out and we move into summer, I like to set aside some time to wade into the student learning evaluations for my classes. Despite the efforts to make student learning meaningful and enduring each semester, I still find myself filled with a certain familiar sense of angst as I click the reports and dig in. I wonder if they got what they needed from my courses, if I could have done more or taught differently, or if they had big moments of discovery and affirmation.
Continue reading “Getting the Most from Your Learning Evaluation Survey Data”A Quick Guide on How to Write Professional Emails: Student Edition
Email is the information currency of the professional world, and the number one way professional people communicate. Focus on the subject line, greeting, body of the email, and signature to demonstrate professionalism in your email communication.
Subject Line
When emailing faculty, include a brief description of what the email is regarding and the course and section number. This info can be found at the top of the Blackboard page.
Example: UNIVU210-01W Discussion Board.
Professional Address
Address your instructor (or employer) in the opening line, then sign your name at the end of the email. By addressing the person you’re emailing in the way they prefer to be addressed, you help them focus on your request.
Example Greeting: Dear Dr. Smith or Prof. Smith,
Example Signature: Thank you, Sarah Jones
Body of the Email
Share your questions or other content in 3-5 clear sentences. If you cannot express your needs in that space, consider visiting office hours or setting up a virtual meeting.
Example: Dear Dr. Smith, I noticed no one else has posted in the discussion board and I wanted to make sure I had the due date correct. I have 10/15 by 4pm. Is that correct? Thank you, Sarah Jones
Before You Hit Send
- Know that you are writing to someone who will answer your questions, who is willing to help you, and who wants to see you succeed.
- Know that your questions and confusion are valid and you can ask them without embarrassment.
- Practice using a neutral, professional tone.
- Review your email for grammar, spelling, and clarity.
Anatomy of a Professional Email
Peer Evaluations Can Lead to Teaching Excellence
Peer teaching evaluations can make even exceptional educators feel anxious or skeptical. But they don’t have to. As long as teaching and learning have worked together to create dynamic classroom environments, the educator and the peer observer have benefitted from this formative collaboration. And here’s how.
Continue reading “Peer Evaluations Can Lead to Teaching Excellence”A Student-Centered Approach to Communication
A recent Pathify study reported the average click rate of emails in higher ed is less than 7%, even though email is the primary mode many institutions use to communicate important information to faculty, staff, and students. Right before the Pandemic, I also discovered that student responses to my emails had noticeably declined. More students were missing programmatic and institutional events and due dates and since then, the trend has become even more pronounced.
Continue reading “A Student-Centered Approach to Communication”