Psychology Study Takes Unique Look at Visual Learning
Dr. D. Wayne Mitchell, Associate Professor of Psychology at Missouri State, is in the first phases of a three-year study to examine visual scanning patterns, and associated heart-rate changes, in both infants and adults. You can learn more about the research done by Dr. Mitchell on the Mind’s Eye website.
The purpose of Mind’s Eye is to highlight research and scholarly activities at Missouri State University. This publication is available online and in print. This research project, along with many others, can be found on the Mind’s Eye website.
2015 FCTL Curriculum Innovation Research Funding
These awards provide support for faculty projects that lead to improvements in the quality of instruction and new or innovative teaching and learning practices. FCTL will award up to $5000 for selected projects. During 2015, priority will be given for projects that incorporate one or more of the following:
- Instructional practices that promote deep learning
- Collaborative projects that include multiple faculty and courses within and/or between departments
- Support for quality of instruction offered by per-course faculty, including collaborative efforts between full-time and part-time faculty
Proposals are due by Friday, November 7. Additional details and application materials can be accessed at the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning website.
Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate College Candidate Interviews
Join the Office of the Provost in welcoming the candidates interviewing for the position of Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate College. Each candidate will be presenting an open forum followed by a question and answer session. Visit the Provost website for candidate information and open forum schedules.
Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World
Date: Tuesday, October 28
Time: 9:30–11:00 a.m.
Location: Temple Hall, Room 2
Presenter: Lucie Amberg, New Media Specialist in the Office of Web and New Media
The Office of Web and New Media invites you to participate in Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World, a workshop that will help you make the most of your online communication tools.
What you’ll learn
This interactive session will answer questions such as:
- What are users looking for when they visit my website, blog or social media?
- How do I organize content on my website so that users can find the information they want?
- What should I be communicating on a website vs. a blog? How do the two relate?
- How do I repurpose my website and blog content and distribute it on social media?
- What can I do immediately to make my digital communications more strategic?
Who should attend
This session is open to University faculty, staff and student employees who are responsible for University websites, blogs or social media accounts.
Free registration
For faculty and staff, registration is required via My Learning Connection (on the Profile tab of My Missouri State). Student employees who wish to attend should email Lucie Amberg.
Additional training
More training events will be scheduled throughout the fall semester. Watch the Web and New Media homepage or subscribe to the Web and New Media blog to get updates.
FCTL Events
Respondus Monitor Instructor Training
On October 3rd, Respondus provided live webinar training to Missouri State faculty on the use of the LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor.
Instructor resources for these tools can be found on the Respondus website.
- Sample Wording for your Syllabus
- Instructor and Student Quick Start Guides
- Student Overview Video
- Practice Quiz Details
Contact the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning or call 6-3059 for access to the recorded October 3rd training.
What Does Copyright Ownership Mean to Me?
A new program begins Monday, October 20
This Magna 20-Minute Mentor program is presented by Dr. Linda Enghegen, an attorney and Professor at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Enghegen is an expert in copyright law as it relates to educational settings.
Currents in Teaching and Learning
Currents in Teaching and Learning is a peer-reviewed electronic journal that fosters non-specialist, jargon-free exchanges among reflective teacher-scholars. Published twice a year and addressed to faculty and graduate students across the disciplines, Currents seeks to improve teaching and learning in higher education with short reports on classroom practices as well as longer research, theoretical, or conceptual articles, and explorations of issues and challenges facing teachers today.
Download submission information
Paying College Athletes:
The Economic Implications of O’Bannon v. NCAA
Date: Monday, October 20
Time: 7:00–8:00 p.m.
Location: Temple Hall 002
David Berri, Professor of Economics at Southern Utah University, will discuss the recent O’Bannon vs. NCAA ruling and its implications for paying college athletes.
Dr. David Berri has published more than 50 papers in refereed journals and academic collections, primarily on the topic of sports and economics. In addition, he was the lead author of The Wages of Wins and Stumbling on Wins, past president of the North American Association of Sports Economists, and serves on the editorial board of both the Journal of Sports Economics and the International Journal of Sport Finance. This past February he was the sole expert witness for the proposed Northwestern Football Player’s Union at the National Labor Relations Board hearing.
Computer Services Presents
Blackboard Feature Spotlight: Color Coding the Grade Center
Would you like to, at a glance, see who’s performing well and who’s falling behind in your course? By color coding the grade center in your Blackboard course, you can designate your choice of colors to a full range of options. Not only will colors show you what assignments or tests are In Progress, Need Grading, or Exempt, you’re also able to define score criteria that will trigger a designated color for a specified grade range. For example, if you’d like students with scores below a certain percent to show with a red background with green text, you can! Want the students who’re acing your material to have a soft blue background with subtle violet text? No problem! For instructions on how to color code your Grade Center, head over to this article on Experts.
See the Blackboard Blog to learn more about the great features in Blackboard. Don’t forget about all the opportunities for Blackboard training from Computer Services at the Help Desk website, and learn how you can become a Blackboard Black Belt while you’re there! Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter too!
FIXED: The Science Fiction of Human Enhancement
Date: Tuesday, October 21
Time: 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Location: Strong Hall 304
FIXED is a documentary film that questions the commonly held beliefs about disability and normalcy by exploring technologies that promise to change our bodies and minds forever. Told primarily through the perspectives of five people with disabilities: a scientist, journalist, disability justice educator, bionics engineer and exoskeleton test pilot, FIXED takes a close look at the implications of emerging human enhancement technologies. A panel discussion will follow the film focusing on how the film relates to the new disability minor.
Academic Advisor Forums
General Education or General Confusion?
Date: Friday, October 24
Time: 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Location: Plaster Student Union 313
Presenter: Amy Marie Aufdembrink
Case studies will be presented to clarify the potential pitfalls of transitioning between the two general education programs. If you have experienced confusion as you worked with a student trying to figure out:
…whether switching general education programs is a good idea,
…how old transfer work fits into the new general education program,
…how new transfer work fits into the old general education program,
…whether old general education science courses will work in the new general education program,
…how military credit works into the new or old general education programs,
…and many other issues,
then please attend this Academic Advisor Forum for answers and guidelines.
A Panel Discussion: Academic Advisors and the Office of Admissions Working Together for Student Success
Date: Thursday, October 30
Time: 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Location: Plaster Student Union 313
Panelists: Dixie Williams, Ben Metzger, Amy Keene, Judy Pickering, and Kim Stagner.
Moderator: Ross Hawkins
Career Advising Workshop
Date: Thursday, October 30
Time: 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Location: Plaster Student Union 315
Presenters: Susan Martindale, Jamie Schweiger, Margie Stewart, SuzAnn Ferguson, Tracy Dalton, and Alex Johnson
This workshop is designed to equip advisors to help their students begin to see themselves as professionals. In addition to small group discussion and interactive activities, a panel of employers will discuss skills they are seeking and what they see lacking in many new applicants. Discover helpful campus resources to assist students in preparation for employment or the transition to graduate school.
Space is limited and registration is required through the Academic Advisement Center website.
Missouri State Student-Faculty Fitness Face-Off
Date: Tuesday, October 21
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon
Location: Freddy Courtyard
It’s students verses faculty/staff in this fitness challenge. Activities include obstacle courses, Zumba, and many more games to promote fitness! It’s FREE, there will be free door prizes, and best of all, you can get revenge on your teachers for midterms! Hosted by the Kinesiology 350 class for Health and Wellness Promotion!
Banished
Date: Wednesday, October 22
Time: 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Location: Glass Hall, Room 101
The towns of Pierce City, Missouri, Forsyth County, Georgia, and Harrison, Arkansas, banished their black residents a century ago. The film raises questions about privilege, responsibility, denial, healing, communal identity and conflict resolution. What does the past have to do with today? What actions can, and should be taken to address past racial injustices?
Staff Excellence in Community Service Awards Nominations Now Being Accepted
Submission deadline is Friday, October 24
The University community is encouraged to nominate Missouri State University staff members for the Staff Excellence in Community Service Award. Each year, up to two staff members are recognized for their excellence in the area of volunteer work with charitable, nonprofit, church or similar organizations, either locally or globally, and earn a $1,000 award. Awardees will be acknowledged during the Staff Awards Recognition Luncheon, Wednesday, January 7, 2015, 11:30 am. For more information and to view the nomination form, visit the Excellence in Community Service Awards webpage or contact Stacey Trewatha-Bach at 836-8832.
The Call for CASL Research Stipend Applications for 2014–2015
is Now Open
Applications are due no later than Friday, October 17, 2014
The Citizenship and Service-Learning office invites proposals for research stipends that will be of direct service to the community, including community-based research involving students. The stipend is a vehicle to accomplish the goals of a metropolitan university. For questions, please contact Kathy Nordyke at 836-5774.
Download CASL Research Stipend Guidelines and Proposal Form
Suggest a Public Affairs Theme for 2016–2017
Public Affairs theme suggestions for the 2016–2017 academic year are now being accepted. As is the case with this year’s theme of The Ethical Citizen: Can You Make a Difference? and the 2015–2016 theme of Building Healthy Communities: Body, Mind and Spirit, the intent is to identify and adopt a theme that can permeate the campus community for the academic year. While public affairs themes generally focus on challenges in public policy or issues confronting our world, you are encouraged to submit any and all ideas. Ultimately, the theme will be developed in a collaborative manner involving representatives of the university and Springfield communities; these individuals will look for a concept that can engage and excite the campus through a broad topic and provide meaningful opportunities for learning. Deadline for theme submissions is 5:00 p.m., Friday, October 17.
Download detailed information for suggesting a theme.
Nominations for a Common Reader
The First-Year Programs office is currently accepting recommendations of books suitable to use as a common reader in fall 2015. All sections of GEP 101 and some sections of UHC 110 will use the book. The book is also used in collaborative community programs with the Springfield-Greene County Library system and Ozarks Technical Community College.
We need your help in identifying books that relate to the university’s Public Affairs mission and next year’s Public Affairs theme: Building Healthy Communities: Body, Mind, and Spirit.
An ideal common reader will contain themes and content allowing students to explore multiple pillars of the public affairs mission: cultural competence, community engagement, and ethical leadership. Because the book will be used in GEP101 and UHC110, courses that serve students from all majors on campus, the book should be written in ways that appeal to students from a variety of disciplines and interests. The book you nominate needs to be written for a general audience, requiring little or no expertise with the topic in order to understand the book.
The selection committee will consider both fiction and nonfiction. The common reader will be chosen based on the book’s relationship to the public affairs mission, the quality of the book itself, and the book’s suitability for first-year students.
Please send nominations to FirstYearPrograms@missouristate.edu. Include the following information: the title of the book, the author of the book, and a brief explanation about why you are recommending the book. Nominations must be received by Tuesday, October 21.
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