ProfEd Faculty News & Notes - July 2009
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Celebrating Your Success
Dr. Lisa Fall (JRN 670) is making (2) research
presentations at the Association for Education in Journalism &
Mass Communication annual conference in Boston: Measuring
Information Source Usefulness to Differentiate America's
Traveling Public by Lisa T. Fall (University of Tennessee)
and Chuck Lubbers (University of South Dakota); and The
United States Extends a Warm Welcome: A Case Study Analysis of
Post 9/11 Promotional Efforts by Lisa T. Fall (University of
Tennessee) and Heather Epkins (University of Maryland).
If you have accomplishments or success
stories to share, please e-mail Sarah Young at
young2sa@cmich.edu.
SafeAssign Replaces
Turnitin – August 1st
On Saturday, August 1st, 2009 CMU's license agreement
with Turnitin ends. After August 1st, a single plagiarism
detection/prevention solution, SafeAssign, will exist within
CMU's Online Learning Environment. The decision to continue
on with SafeAssign as the supported solution was made after
a year of careful consideration including comparison of the
two products, a two-phase pilot implementation and survey of
the user community. In addition, SafeAssign is included in
our existing Blackboard license, thereby offering
considerable financial benefits in the form of recovered
Turnitin costs.
Tutorial resources to aid in the transition to SafeAssign
are available in the Faculty Tutorials section of the Bb@cmu
Web site
www.cmich.edu/blackboard
–
of specific interest will be 'Getting Started with
SafeAssign'
–
www.cmich.edu/documents/blackboard/faculty/getting_started_with_
safeassign.pdf
and 'Using SafeAssign Direct Submit'
–
www.cmich.edu/documents/blackboard/
faculty/using_safeassign_direct_submit.pdf.
Please contact the Helpdesk by e-mailing
helpdesk@cmich.edu
or calling 989-774-3662 if you have questions or experience
any difficulty creating SafeAssignments.
Six New MSA Courses
for Fall 2009 – Spring 2010
We are pleased to announce the introduction
of six new or revised MSA core courses starting in Fall
2009. The courses appear in the Bulletin for the 2009-2010
academic year either as alternate courses to existing
required MSA core courses or as MSA core elective courses.
You may have already been contacted regarding your approval
to teach MSA 600, 601, 602, 603, 604 and 699.
For the 09-10 academic year (Fall 2009,
Spring 2010, and Summer 2010), we will be piloting
face-to-face and online versions of the new courses on a
limited basis (face-to-face courses will be offered in a
limited number of locations
– Southfield and Troy, Michigan
– and online offerings will have limited sections).
We have, however, replaced all scheduled sections of MSA 661
with the new course: MSA 604: Administration, Globalization
and Multiculturalism. This change is possible as the content
of MSA 661 and MSA 604 is relatively similar
–
although MSA 604 has an expanded focus on
globalization. In addition, the course title for MSA 600 has
changed to Foundations of Research Methods in
Administration.
Dr. Nana Korsah, Director, MSA Program
Kim Gribben, Assistant Director, MSA Program
Tips for Blackboard Grade
Center Statistical Data
This month offers some tips for using some
of the lesser known Blackboard grade center statistical
data. Most instructors who offer online exams within
Blackboard are familiar with the process of viewing
individual student responses by clicking the double-arrows
next to the score to select Grade Details and View
Attempt. What you might not realize is that Blackboard
provides other statistical data – both for individual
students, as well as the entire class as a whole. If you
click the double-arrows next to an individual students'
first name, last name or username, User
Statistics appears as one of the choices. User statistics
provides the total number of items completed with
percentage, the student's average by category along with a
breakdown of items that are graded, need grading or are
exempted. There's also an e-mail link which allows you to
e-mail the student directly from the page.
When you click the double-arrows next to an
exam column name, both Column Statistics and
Attempts Statistics are among the options. Column
statistics can be used to view grade distributions, minimum,
maximum, average, median and other similar data for that
column. However, attempts statistics is a much more useful
option – it will show you how students fared on each
individual question – information that is very helpful in
determining if content was unclear or if specific questions
were misinterpreted. Information provided includes: the
average score for each question, the number of graded
student attempts, the number of unanswered responses and the
percentage of students who chose each answer. For further
information about any of these options, please contact the
IT Helpdesk at 989-774-3662.
Library Offers New
Video Collection
The CMU Libraries has recently purchased a subscription
to a collection of videos called Counseling and Therapy
in Video. Available entirely online, this collection is
comprised of more than 275 videos (the individual videos
tend to run between forty-five minutes and an hour in
length) in the area of social work, psychotherapy,
psychology, and psychiatric counseling. The videos take the
form of lectures, presentations, interviews, and mock
counseling sessions, and each is accompanied by a text
transcript. The database is fully indexed and searchable by
keyword and can be browsed by subject. Though the focus of
the database is on counseling and therapy issues, classes
that touch on topics such as interpersonal communication,
diversity, and behavioral problems should find the videos
helpful. To see this excellent new database go to
http://0-ctiv.alexanderstreet.com.catalog.lib.cmich.edu.
Alumni Relations
Asks for Faculty Involvement
With the appointment of the position of Alumni Relations
Manager for CMU Off-Campus Programs in April 2008, new
opportunities for faculty involvement are now available.
Off-Campus Alumni Relations publishes newsletters on a
periodic basis to our graduates. Three target audiences have
been selected and they include alumni with an education
degree, a degree in health services administration or a
human resources degree, earned from CMU Off-Campus Programs.
If you teach in one of these programs and wish to author an
article related to the field of study, please contact Dave
Nicholson at
dave.nicholson@cmich.edu
or call him at 248-526-2630 to discuss your interest in
providing an article for publication in a future newsletter.
CMU 403(b)
Supplemental Tax Deferral Plan
(Temporary and less than half-time
Faculty)
As of January 2009, all less than half-time temporary and
newly contracted faculty are eligible for the 403(b)
Supplemental Tax Deferral Plan. There are two vendors to
choose from, TIAA-CREF and Fidelity Investments. This is a
voluntary plan. You can start, stop or change the amount at
any time. To determine your eligibility please check the
Faculty Resource Center at
www.cel.cmich.edu/faculty
in the
News and Announcements
section for further details.
You may also find this information on the CMU HR Web site
at
http://cmich.edu/x14005.xml
scroll to the bottom of the page to
Temporary Staff and Faculty less than half-time
link for instructions on how to apply.
Please note:
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Participation is ONLY for the 403(b) Supplemental Tax
Deferral Plan.
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The
percentage established will automatically be deducted on
a pre-tax basis each pay period even if there is a break
between teaching assignments.
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If you
decide to change or cancel the automatic percentage
deducted, the 403(b) Voluntary Salary Reduction
Agreement Form must be completed to stop the
deductions.
Please contact the Benefits & Wellness office at
989-774-3661 or e-mail
benefits@cmich.edu,
if you have questions.
Scholarship
Committee Thanks Faculty
The CMU Off-Campus Programs Scholarship Awards Committee
wishes to thank our faculty for promoting the availability
of our scholarships and for communicating to students
the June 1, 2009 application deadline. We received 101
scholarship applications for the 2009-2010 academic year.
The task of selecting was more difficult this year than in
recent memory, as nearly all applicants wrote compelling
reasons why they should be selected. For the many faculty
members who submitted letters of recommendation, we thank
you! In most cases, your letter played a significant role in
the student being selected to receive the scholarship. We
thank you in advance for continuing to encourage your
students to apply for scholarships.
New Faculty
Orientation Now Online
If you have not had an opportunity to complete the new
Faculty Orientation Online, it is available at
www.cel.cmich.edu/faculty.
We encourage you to take the time to complete the
orientation as we have heard from faculty that ... All of
the information was helpful ... The overall format
and the ease in finding answers to questions ... Good
summaries of all the available tools and contact numbers
... etc. This orientation is for current part-time temporary
faculty as well as all new faculty that are approved to
teach for ProfEd.
We welcome your feedback. Please contact Carmen
Ceja-Blohm,
cejab1c@cmich.edu
or Stephanie Bechtel,
locke1sk@cmich.edu
if you have questions concerning this new program.
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Technology Corner...
Online Workshops from
the Center for Instructional Design
The Center for Instructional Design
offers three online workshops: Blackboard Task Workshop,
Teaching Online Workshop, and Online Course Development
Workshop. Please check them out and sign up at
www.cel.cmich.edu/cid/workshops.html.
Workshops and Training Opportunities
There are a number of
training and workshop opportunities offered by the
Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching (FaCIT) and you
are encouraged to attend. These workshops are offered in
a face-to-face format at the Mount Pleasant campus –
travel expenses are the responsibility of the faculty
member. Please use the following link to view more
information and register:
www.facit.cmich.edu/calendar/default.html. These
offerings are a great way to get excited about different
teaching tools and invigorate your classrooms.
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Faculty News and Notes is a
monthly electronic publication distributed to all instructors in
our faculty pool who have taught off-campus in the last two
years. This publication was created to help you feel more
connected to CMU and to provide you with news and updates to our
off-campus policies and procedures. If you have any
questions or comments, please contact us at
frc@cmich.edu.
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