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IDC News Archive
Past Instructional Development Center News:
April 30th, 2009
Outstanding Faculty Award Selections for 2009... Barb McLaughlin-Olson, Professor of Nursing, Cheri Higgins, Adjunct Instructor in Mathematics and Colleen Holtz, Adjunct Instructor in Sociology.
Congratulations to Barb McLaughlin-Olson, Cheri Higgins, and Colleen Holtz on their recognition as this year's Outstanding Faculty Award recipients.
September 2nd, 2008
Welcome Dr. Deborah Gentry, Instructional Development Center Director
A big welcome goes out to Dr. Deborah Gentry as she joins Heartland as the new Director of the Instructional Development Center. More information about Dr. Gentry can be found on hour IDC Staff: Hours page.
March 18th, 2008
Outstanding Faculty Award Selections for 2008... Dr. Glen Bush, Professor of English and Michael McAvoy, Instructor of Art.
Congratulations to Dr. Glen Bush, Professor of English and Michael McAvoy, Instructor of Art on their recognition as this year's Outstanding Faculty Award recipients.
February 4th, 2008
Congratulations... Jean-Marie Taylor
Congratulations to Jean-Marie Taylor, adjunct faculty member in the Social and Business Sciences Division and WebCT HelpDesk Manager for the IDC, on her new position as Coordinator of Online Education for the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at Illinois State University.
August 3rd, 2007
Congratulations... Paul Folger
Congratulations to Paul Folger, former IDC Director, on his new position as Political Science faculty member at Heartland Community College. While the loss will be felt in the IDC we are glad you remain an valuable asset to Heartland Community College. Best wishes for continued success in the future.
July 11th, 2007
New IDC web site debuts
As you can see if you are reading this, the IDC has unveiled a new web site. As a part of the IDC's desire to contribute to universal access and web compliance we have developed this site to meet our mission statement of "fostering excellence in teaching and learning."
Contact us in the IDC if you are having trouble finding resources, event schedules or any other information and we will help. Or you can check our updated IDC A to Z listing.
April 2nd, 2007
Fall 2007 Faculty Best Practices: Connections
As a result of feedback we received from our spring 2007 Faculty Best Practices Day, we have selected a theme and are soliciting proposals from our faculty. The theme for the fall 2007 Heartland Community College Best Practices Day is "Connections." While the concept of connections is a broad one, we are especially interested in exploring and identifying the best practices that faculty use to enhance connections with students in the classroom, to help students make connections with other students, to help students make connections between and among their various courses, to use technology to enhance connections, and to help students make connections between their academic coursework and their personal and professional lives.
If you have a best practice activity related to any of these "Connections" that you would like to share with your colleagues at Best Practices, please let us know by completing the Best Practices: Connections form by Tuesday, May 1, 2007. Typical presentations are between 10 and 20 minutes in length and involve some combination of information sharing, both orally and through audio visual materials; group activities; and question and answer.
Unfortunately, given the time constraints of Faculty Best Practices Day and given the number of responses we receive, we may not be able to accommodate all proposals. You can expect to hear back from us the week of May 7, 2007. Thanks for your help in sharing Best Practices, and we look forward to your proposal ideas regarding "Connections."
March 29th, 2007
Outstanding Faculty Members Awards for 2007...Johnna Darragh of the Health & Human Services Division, and Alan Cring of the Social & Behavioral Sciences Division.
Congratulations from the IDC staff for being selected as this year's Outstanding Faculty members.
February 27th, 2007
New Instructional Resource
We've contracted with the folks at Pacific Crest, a company specializing in faculty development, to post an on-line version of their Faculty Guidebook through the HCC Intranet.
The direct link is here: http://intranet/IDC/facultyGuidebook/index.htm (you must have HCC intranet access to get to it)
To navigate to it please go to HCC Intranet...Faculty Resources...Faculty Guidebook.
The Guidebook has articles from faculty across the country and covers such topics as Mentoring, Learning Theory, Assessment, Instructional Design, and Effective Teaching Practices.
Please enjoy this valuable resource.
February 21st, 2007
Spring 2007 WebCT Training
WebCT Training for the Spring semester 2007 will be held on the following Monday nights in April: 9th, 16th, 23, and 30th! We will run Level 1 (supplemental) and Level 2 (hybrid). Times will be 5:30pm-7:30pm. Location is to be announced.
If you want to be trained for fully online (Level 3), discuss this with your Associate Dean. Two training dates will be scheduled then the rest will be online.
For a certification registration form, please see WebCT certification on this web site.
Back to TopFebruary 15th, 2007
IDC Course Design Workshop Series: Spring 2007 (rescheduled)
As you recall, our Instructional Course Design workshop series scheduled to begin Tuesday, February 6th, was postponed due to inclement weather. Consequently, our revised schedule is posted on the workshop schedule. The first session will begin Tuesday, February 20 from 1-3pm in the Instructional Development Center (IDC).
Back to TopJanuary 30th, 2007
IDC Course Design Workshop Series: Spring 2007
Beginning on Tuesday, February 6 from 1-3pm in the Instructional Development Center (IDC), Dr. Francine Armenth-Brothers and Paul Folger will be facilitating a series of 5 workshops that focus on course design and instructional best practices. Topics include Teaching Principles, Student Engagement, Teaching and Learning in Groups, Formative Assessment, and Summative Evaluation.
A more specific schedule is available by clicking Course Design Workshops: Spring 2007 or by visiting the IDC Events portion of this web site.
We would like participants to attend all five sessions as a cohort if possible. Adjunct faculty will be entitiled to a small stipend as partial compensation for their time. If you are interested in attending please contact Paul Folger as soon as possible.
For the first session, please bring with you (mentally or physically) examples of a course or unit within a course, that you would like to change and/or improve.
Thanks everyone, we hope you can make it for these interactive workshop sessions sponsored by the IDC and by the Learning Communities Team.
Back to TopJanuary 22nd, 2007
Lab Assistant, Tom Corcoran, has created a PDF guide you can use to add narrations to your PowerPoint presentations and upload them into your WebCT classes.
For a copy of this guide click on Adding Audio Narration to a PowerPoint presentation using Camtasia Studio (Adobe PDF file).
January 12th, 2007
AQIP Campus Conversation III: April 13, 2007
The primary focus of this conversation will be to engage everyone in exploring how various parts of the College are interrelated, and ways in which we can all work together more effectively.
In addition, we will bring everyone up to date on the progress of our current Action Projects, and engage in a set of activities that should sharpen our understanding of where AQIP might go from here.
Please respond to the email appointment from Marsha Heustis if you are planning on attending. If you have any questions please call Allan Saaf at 8105.
For more information regarding AQIP, please visit: Heartland Community College AQIP web site.
Back to TopOctober 30th, 2006
Writing Across the College Workshop: "Strategies for dealing with grammar"
November 10, 2006
9:00 am and 2:00 pm
SCB Room 2401
Facilitator: Rob Mawyer
October 2nd, 2006
Introducing the New Writing Across the College Program ...
The IDC, working in conjunction with the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, is pleased to announce an exciting new service available for all interested faculty members. Beginning in Fall 2006, a member of the Writing faculty will be available in the IDC to assist-on both a formal and informal level-instructors in all disciplines of the College. The Writing Across the College program is a continuation of earlier work undertaken by the Writing Program but marks a new level of commitment from the College. The goals of this program are to promote writing excellence in students and to assist faculty in maximizing the effectiveness of their writing assignments. The IDC and the Writing Across the College program want to help you conceptualize, implement, and evaluate your writing assignments!
The IDC will be able to offer the following writing-related services:
- One-to-one consultation with instructors to address "problems areas" such as grammar and documentation style
- Meetings with faculty in their disciplinary or course groups
- Extensive one-to-one help in "building" writing assignments, with a particular emphasis on critical thinking
- Classroom presentations
- Workshops to develop smaller scale writing assignments that help students improve thinking strategies, e.g., analyzing content, defining disciplinary concepts, describing disciplinary methodologies, etc.
- Assessment/Evaluation strategies and creating rubrics
- Resource materials, links, and guidance
Interested faculty members are encouraged to contact Paul Folger, ext. 8414, or Rob Mawyer, ext. 8613, in order to take advantage this new resource for teachers.
October 1st, 2006
Refrigerator and microwave in the IDC
The IDC now has a refrigerator and microwave so faculty can come down and eat in peace or have a conversation with others.
September 14th, 2006
Technology Fridays in the IDC
In order to continue the theme of our Fall 06 Best Practices day, over the course of six Friday afternoons during the semester, we'll engage in workshops that show faculty how to use instructional technology in their classes. The topics will vary but will include MovieMaker, Camtasia, iPods, HCC Portal and more.
The first Technology Friday is September 15th at 12-1:30 and will be located in the Student Commons Building 2401. HCC Adjunct Instructor Terry Mullin will present an interactive workshop designed to teach participants both the "how to's" and "what for's" about Movie Maker. Please come with your ideas and your questions.
Please R.S.V.P. to Paul Folger (268-8414 or paul.folger@heartland.edu)
August 31st, 2006
IDC Fall 2006 Open House Announced
Wednesday, September 6th from 12-12:50 and repeated from 5-5:50.
Come see the rearranged IDC seating area and meet the staff of the IDC! We'll have cookies, drinks and book drawings. If you are not familiar with the IDC you can learn all about what we do to support the administration, staff and faculty here at Heartland Community College.
July 9th-15th, 2006
Faculty Fullbright GPA Project
Applications Available
Eligibility:
Full-time faculty teaching in:
- Art
- Communication-English
- Foreign Languages
- Humanities
- Social Sciences
Purpose:
4.5 week travel program designed for faculty wishing to internationalize a course or lesson
Timeline:
Travel would be summer of 2007 or 2008. Dates vary based on country.
Countries:
- India
- Peru
- Malaysia
- Bulgaria-Romania
- China
- Japan/South Korea
- Turkey
- Armenia-Georgia
Selection of Faculty Participants:
Each country has 15-20 spots available. Can be very competitive. Subject to funding.
Follow-up:
Participants are expected to share curriculum developed as a result of this project. They must meet deadlines, maintain contact with leader and other participants, and present curriculum work at a conference.
Application Process:
See Pamela Sweetwood for details and application. Due to her by October 4th.
Pamela Sweetwood
Director of Special Programs
phone: 309-268-8168
office: CCB 2305
pamela.sweetwood@heartland.edu
Heartland Community College
1500 W. Raab Rd
Normal, IL 61761
May 7th-13th, 2006
National Teacher Appreciation Week
To All Heartland Community College Instructors:
In recognition of all the wonderful work you do for your students, the Instructional Development Center wants to take time to thank the faculty of Heartland Community College. Thank You.
April 28th, 2006
AQIP Campus Conversation II
The next AQIP Campus Conversation is scheduled for April 28th, 2006 from 12 to 2:45 pm held in CCB 2011-2012. Lunch will be provided between 12 and 1. If you plan to come for lunch, please accept the appointment that Marsha Heustis sent out on 4/3/2006 via email or call 268-8101. See you on April 28th! More information about AQIP can be found at Heartland's AQIP website at Heartland Community College: AQIP.
April 11th, 2006
Attention WebCT Instructors, Designers, and Users!
Do you know about the Impact 2006 WebCT User Conference in Chicago, Illinois? It is coming up on July 10-14, 2006. For more information about this WebCT Conference see WebCT User Conference. For a direct link to the conference website, click Impact 2006 WebCT.
February 28th, 2006
Illinois State University Intern joins the IDC
The Instructional Development Center is welcome to introduce Radhika Gopi to the HCC staff. She is a graduate student attending Illinois State University within the School of Information Technology.
February 7th, 2006
New Teaching and Learning Materials
Two new titles have been added to our collection on February 7th, 2006.
Click on the Title for more information on each book.
Come to the IDC to check out these books:
Title: The Power of Problem-Based Learning: A Practical "How To" for Teaching Undergraduate Courses in Any Discipline
Author: Edited by Duch, B., Groh, S., Allen, D.
Year: 2001
Publisher: Stylus
Title: "Sit & Get" Won't Grow Dendrites: 20 Professional Learning Strategies That Engage the Adult Brain
Author: Tate, M.
Year: 2004
Publisher: Corwin Press
