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Academic Development Centre (ADC), Mount Royal University
Twitter: Academic Development Centre (ADC), Mount Royal University
YouTube: MRU Focus on Teaching & Learning


Welcome to the last ADC newsletter of the 2020/2021 academic year.  This has been one for the records, for sure!  We thank you so much for engaging with us and for learning through this pandemic together.  While we faced many challenges over the year, we did that together and were able to continually demonstrate that MRU remains committed to teaching excellence informed by scholarship.  

In addition to the extensive academic media, curriculum development, assessment creation, instructional design, web design, communication tools, educational technology and pedagogical excellence we offered to our community, we also changed how we communicate with you at the beginning of last year.  As we plan for the coming year (we've got you!), we are interested to know how our communication with you can be even more effective.  Drop us a line anytime at adc@mtroyal.ca - we'd like to learn what will feel like help for you!  Stay tuned for an ADC calendar as we kick off the academic year, which you can add to your own google calendar to see what's happening and when in the ADC.  

We hope you are able to engage in some rest and renewal over the summer months.  We have exciting programs and resources planned for you in the fall (and are interested to hear more from you - google form at the base of this newsletter).  We are also tremendously excited to welcome several new colleagues to the ADC for the coming academic year.  Look forward to the academic expertise of AnneMarie Dorland (Marketing), Sarah Hewitt (Biology), Sara Sharun (Library) in 2021/2022 as they are welcomed to the ADC as Associate Faculty Developers.  We are also very pleased to welcome Collette Lemieux (international Business & Supply Chain Management) into the role of Interim Director, Mokakiiks Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the ADC.  

Thank you to each of you for all you have done for our students and each other.  This has been a transformative year and we look forward to continuing to learn from it and each other as we return.

Stay safe and well and rested, and we will see you in August!  Our collective best, from all of us, to all of you!

Newsletter Contents:

Upcoming Blackboard Outage: June 29, 12:01 am to June 30, 11:59 pm
Mokakiiks Centre for SoTL: 2021 (Virtual) Forum for SoTL, Nov 11 & 12, 2021
Contract Faculty Orientation: August 27, 2021. Register by August 18, 2021
Tuesday's Teaching Tip:  Top 5 Things to Do When Starting a Semester
ADC Newsletter Feedback Form
Upcoming Blackboard Outage

A Blackboard outage is necessary in order to apply a maintenance upgrade that will resolve a number of important security patches and bug fixes. Blackboard will be unavailable during the following outage period:

  • Tuesday, June 29 at 12:01 am through to Wednesday, June 30 at 11:59 pm
    Duration: 48 hours
Mokakiiks Centre for SoTL
Follow us on Twitter @MC_SoTL

2021 (Virtual) Forum for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
November 11 & 12, 2021

The SoTL Symposium is back this year, but with a twist! Due to the ongoing uncertainty with the Covid-19 pandemic, we have decided to host a virtual SoTL Forum from November 11-12, 2021. We will reconvene for the 10th SoTL Symposium in Banff in November 2022. The theme of this year’s forum is Catalyzing Conversations: Energizing SoTL.  We will come together to build, sustain, and energize our SoTL community as we reflect on a unique year and plan for the future. This forum will provide space to engage, explore and expedite SoTL projects in various stages of completion ranging from ideas and inquiry to completion.
 
Read more, and see the Call for Proposals here.

Additional MRU Offerings

One-Day Orientation for Contract Faculty

This introduction to teaching at Mount Royal will help you prepare by covering key topics, including: profile of MRU students, academic regulations, available services, course outlines, class planning, preparation for the first week, and an overview of teaching & learning technologies, including Blackboard. 

All MRU Contract Faculty are welcome. Those teaching at MRU for one year or less, who have not previously attended the orientation, may be eligible to receive a $100 stipend … Read more.

When: Friday, August 27, 2021           
Register by: Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Please contact Angie Brar with any questions

Register

Top 5 Things to Do When Starting a Semester

  1. Copy course: You might make changes, but it's best to start from a copy of what you did the last semester you taught this course.
     
  2. Swap out the course outline and any other content that needs to be updated.
     
  3. Reset the dates for tests, assignments, and any content that you wanted to hide at first.
     
  4. Make the course available: Maybe you're not ready yet, but here's how for when you are ready.
     
  5. Post a welcome announcement to also go out as an email.
Also, you can visit our complete suite of Sandbox resources.

If you find you need more assistance than our online resources provide, please email us at sandbox@mtroyal.ca, or if you have an urgent time sensitive issue, call us at 403.440.7002.
 
We Want to Hear From You!
We are planning our ADC Newsletters for the Fall semester
...and we would love to hear your ideas!

What topics would you like most to learn about to help you this Fall?
Please visit our Feedback Form to let us know.

Academic Development Centre (ADC), Mount Royal University
Twitter: Academic Development Centre (ADC), Mount Royal University
YouTube: MRU Focus on Teaching & Learning
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Copyright ©2020 Academic Development Centre (ADC), Mount Royal University 

Our physical offices are currently closed due to COVID-19. 
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