Hello and welcome to the home stretch of the winter 2021 semester.
What a year it has been and what stories you must have to tell!!! As Tim mentioned last newsletter (and special thanks for the guest spot, Tim!), please consider submitting a proposal for MRU's Celebrate! Teaching and Learning virtual event on May 5-7, 2021. We highly encourage applications from faculty, staff and students to talk about teaching and learning at MRU. Might you consider presenting WITH a student? Let's Celebrate!
Based on the rave reviews last semester, we will be issuing another SPECIAL EDITION: THE EXAM ISSUE of our newsletter next week on Tuesday, March 30. Are there some specific tips we can add to that issue for you? Let us know by this Friday, March 26 if you have a question we can answer, or perhaps a tip of your own to share. Pop us an email at adc@mtroyal.ca or connect with us on Twitter at @adc_mru
As always, thanks for reading!
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Celebrate! Teaching & Learning at MRU:
Call for Proposals due March 25th
There are only a few days left to submit a spark talk, roundtable, individual, or collaborative presentation for this year's Celebrate! event.
Think about your best and worst moments in teaching and learning: what have you learned, how have you expanded your horizons, and where were you able to take some risks? We welcome a diversity of presentation ideas that share the highlights and milestones of your teaching and learning journey – both inside and
outside the classroom.
The deadline for proposals is March 25, 2021 at 4pm.
Click here for details and submission form.
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All ADC workshops in this semester are offered virtually. You will be provided with a Google Meet link and any other instructions needed for your session with your registration confirmation, or by email prior to the session start time. Please see the list of workshops below. You can always visit our current list of upcoming workshops. (See also: calendar view)
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ADC Lunch and Learn:
Helping Students Connect Ideas Through Concept Mapping
 Research shows that concept mapping can help students to build deep connections between ideas. In this Lunch and Learn, participants will discuss evidence-based approaches to concept mapping as a formative or summative learning activity, and explore digital tools that can be used for concept maps.
Facilitator: Erika Smith
When: Tuesday, March 30, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
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Diving Deeper into UDL Series
 Join us for the final installment of a series designed to increase your comfort with Universal Design for Learning.
Upcoming session:
UDL for All Sorts of Assessment (March 30)
For many instructors attempting to implement UDL practices into their teaching, assessment is the biggest challenge. We’ll explore questions such as: How can we offer multiple means of assessment while maintaining integrity of the assignments? How do we design grading rubrics to accommodate different assignment types?
Facilitators: Janalee Morris (Accessibility Services)
and Andrea Phillipson (ADC)
When: Session 3: UDL for All sorts of Assessment
Tuesday, March 30, 10:00 - 11:00 am
Photo by Pexels from Pixabay
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Series: Winter Academic Writing Group
 Turn hump day into the “write” day to keep your scholarship on track! During each 3-hour writing session, the first 30 minutes will be dedicated to an online, synchronous peer discussion. In the remaining time, participants will write in a location of their choice, and will have the opportunity to book a consultation with a writing specialist.
Facilitator: Andrea Phillipson
When: Wednesdays, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm, January 20 - Apr 21
Join anytime until April 20
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Ethics 101 Workshop for Winter 2021
This session considers principles of “Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans” as required by the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement and assist researchers planning to apply for Ethics Clearance from Mount Royal’s Human Research Ethics Board (HREB).
Please contact the ADC if you have any questions about registration or
Priscilla Wamucii at hreb@mtroyal.ca if you have questions about the workshop.
Facilitator: HREB Chair
When: Monday, March 29, 1:00 - 2:00 pm
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Office of Research, Scholarship and Community Engagement
Spring 2021 Events
Facilitator: Yvonne Kjorlien, Grants and Research Facilitator, ORSCE
Find workshop details here: ORSCE Spring 2021 Events PDF
Planning Your Scholarship Program
When: Monday, April 19, 12:00 – 2:00 pm -- Read more + Register
Overview of the Funding Landscape
When: Wednesday, April 21, 12:00 - 2:00 pm -- Read more + Register
Elements of Success: Grant Writing across Funding Agencies
When: Friday, April 23, 12:00 - 2:00 pm -- Read more + Register
Behind the Curtain of Federal Grants Adjudication Committees
SSHRC: Monday, April 26, 12:00 - 1:30 pm -- Read more + Register
NSERC: Monday, April 26, 2:00 - 3:30 pm -- Read more + Register
NFRF: Wednesday, April 28, 12:00 - 1:30 pm -- Read more + Register
EDI in a Research Environment
When: Tuesday, May 4, 12:00 - 2:00 pm -- Read more + Register
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Ideas for Creating an Online Exam in Blackboard
 Create an online test in Blackboard
from a Microsoft Word version of the test
You can take what you used to print off as a paper test in Microsoft Word, and convert it into an online test for Blackboard. Here's how: Create, convert and deploy a test from Word to Blackboard
Randomize part of a test
Final exams often have multiple choice as well as other question types. To counter cheating, the multiple choice questions can be randomized separately from the other question types, like essay questions. This video will show you how to do that: Randomize part of a test in Blackboard
Numeric Questions
If the answer to a question is a number, you can create a fill-in-the-blank question that has the ability to specify a numeric range that would be accepted as the correct answer so you don't have to specify a decimal place. Here's how to create this "calculated numeric" question: Create a calculated numeric question
You can also make a more complex numeric question where each student will get the same question but with different numbers to work with, the answer being based on a formula. Here's how to make a calculated formula question: Create a calculated formula question
Help students avoid technical problems when taking a test
Students can accidentally get kicked out of a test, or even have their answers not saved. To help them avoid these problems, post a link to this video: How to take a test (and make sure your answers are being saved)
When students are kicked out and can't get back in by themselves you can help them by following this video: Get students back in.
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Apply by May 17 for an Open Educational Resources Grant
Are you interested in adopting or adapting an open textbook, lab manual, or other types of open educational resources in a course during the 2021-22 academic year? The Academic Development Centre and the University Library invite applications for the new Open Educational Resources Grant program available to all full-time and contract faculty.
Using open educational resources can benefit both students and faculty. For students, the ability to access freely available course materials reduces financial barriers, broadens course access, and improves retention (e.g. Jhangiani & Jhangiani, 2017), while faculty appreciate the opportunity to customize resources to the needs of their course. Free and flexible online access to open resources is even more important now, as the Library and its users face increasing publisher restrictions and prohibitive pricing that prevent electronic access to some course materials.
Grant recipients can receive $1000-2000 in funding that can be used toward hiring a student partner to assist with finding, updating, and testing open materials, as well as in kind support from both the Library and ADC for effectively incorporating open pedagogy and materials into their course.
Upcoming OER Grant Info Sessions:
Tuesday May 4, 1:00 - 2:00 pm: Register
Monday May 10, 1:00 - 2:00 pm: Register
More information about the Open Educational Resources Grant program
can be found at https://library.mtroyal.ca/oergrants. The deadline to apply is Monday, May 17, 2021.
Questions? Contact Cari Merkley or Erika Smith at oergrants@mtroyal.ca.
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