Canvas tip: Customize your Dashboard

Canvas. LLCC Lincoln Land Community College.As summer and fall courses begin to appear in Canvas, it is possible that your Course Dashboard will become cluttered, or certain courses that you still need to access regularly will fall off (Canvas will only display a maximum of 12 courses on your Dashboard). You can customize which courses appear on your Dashboard by clicking on “Courses” in the Global Navigation Menu, and then “All Courses.” When viewing your entire course list, simply star the courses you want to appear on your Dashboard. Details instructions on how to do this can be found in the Canvas Community.

College mourns loss of Laurie-Lewis Fritz

Laurie Lewis-FritzIt is with great sadness that we acknowledge the loss of Laurie Lewis-Fritz, assistant professor of music, who passed away on Saturday, March 23. With the support of her family, including many of her LLCC family members, Laurie was a true warrior and fought a noble battle for life.

She joined LLCC in 2019, teaching music and conducting the LLCC Choir. She was dedicated to her students, guiding them in their educational journeys and sharing with them her passion for music. Under Laurie’s direction, the LLCC Choir provided many memorable concerts, including a performance at the Illinois American Choral Directors Association Conference in 2021 at DePaul University in Chicago.

We extend our condolences to her family, friends, students and colleagues. A visitation will be held Tuesday, April 2, 4-8 p.m. and a funeral service will be held on Wednesday, April 3, 11:30 a.m. at Butler Funeral Home in Chatham.

March 28 NISOD Webinar on online instructor presence

Are you looking for ways to increase student engagement in your online class but feel like you don’t have the time, energy or motivation to revise the entire course? Well, there’s good news! Through Instructor Presence (IP) — the process of creating an online learning community through applications of teaching, social and cognitive presence techniques — you can revitalize your online courses, energize your connections to students and create a warm, friendly classroom environment primed for student success. Come learn with us, and walk away with strategies you can implement today!

March 28, 1-2 p.m.

Register for the NISOD webinar: How to Improve Your Online Teaching With Instructor Presence.

Note: You will need to have a NISOD account to register for the webinar. If you do not have a NISOD account, you may create one using your LLCC email address. This webinar is free for LLCC faculty.

Monday Morning Mentor

This week’s Monday Morning Mentor subject is, “How Can I Create Authentic Engagement Through Feedback Dialogue?” From the presentation link, you can view the featured 20-Minute Mentor and access the transcript, handouts and supplemental material. These materials are only available for the week of the presentation. NOTE: You will need to entire the following password in order to view this week’s program: authentic47.

Presentation date, Monday, March 25, and on-demand for one week.

Access to the programs in the Monday Morning Mentor series is restricted to members of the subscribing institution. Any unauthorized use or access, including sharing access with faculty and staff not affiliated with the subscribing institution, is prohibited.

One More Day to Help Raise $500 to Pie ALL of the Participating Professors!

Several faculty members have signed on to take whipped cream pies to the face on April 1. Funds raised will benefit the activities of the Honors Program Student Club.

LLCC Student Life will accept votes (donations) in its office through the end of the day today. It’s $2 per ticket or $5 for 5 (cash/check only).

Participating faculty are: Chris McDonald, Ted Babin, Beth Wiediger, Karen Sisk, Gillian Bauer, Tim McKenzie, Corrine Hinton, Thom Whalen, Jason Waddell, Matthew Griffin, Bill Harmon, David Cox, Tony Rothering, Brent Todd, Janelle Murphy, Sonja Spencer, Chris Tople, Carmen Allen, Christina Negley and Scott Searcy.

And, of course, Kalith Smith already provided a preview.

LLTLC Call for Proposals and Registration

On May 20-21, the conference formerly known as FSI (or the Faculty Summer Institute) will be held, with a new name: the Lincoln Legacy Teaching and Learning Community. The LLTLC Steering Committee invites you to submit a proposal to address any important issues and concerns in contemporary education, especially related to these three themes:

  • Generative AI That Supports Student Learning
  • Online Learning’s New Challenges
  • What’s So Funny About Playful, Reflective, Slow Learning

For more information, please review the Call for Proposals.

LLTLC registration is also now open.

Friday’s AIeL Workshop: Beyond Diversity: A Guided Discussion

For those who have viewed the webinar, “Beyond Diversity: How to Build a Truly Antiracist Organization,” join local leaders from the Springfield Coalition on Dismantling Racism for a deeper dive into the topics explored in this Crossroads webinar. The workshop will include a discussion on how faculty and staff at LLCC might implement anti-racist principles and practices into their daily work and advocate for institutional transformation. This workshop is co-sponsored by the LLCC Workforce Equity Initiative. Faculty participants will receive 3 points toward their Training and Innovation professional development total for successful completion of this workshop.

Friday, March 22 from 1-4 p.m. in the Robert H. Stephens Room.

Register for Beyond Diversity: A Guided Discussion. 

 

HONORS PROGRAM STUDENT CLUB FUNDRAISER: PIE A PROFESSOR

If you want to pie a colleague, now is the opportunity! Several faculty members have signed on to take whipped cream pies to the face on April 1. Funds raised will benefit the activities of the Honors Program Student Club.

Any time this week, bring money to the LLCC Student Life office (lower level Menard Hall) and you can direct it to the professor of your choosing (or multiple!). It’s $2 per ticket or $5 for 5 (cash/check only). If $500 if raised this week, every participating professor will be pied on April 1. If that amount isn’t raised, the professor who raised the most in each department will be pied.

Participating faculty are: Chris McDonald, Ted Babin, Beth Wiediger, Karen Sisk, Gillian Bauer, Tim McKenzie, Corrine Hinton, Thom Whalen, Jason Waddell, Matthew Griffin, Bill Harmon, David Cox, Tony Rothering, Brent Todd, Janelle Murphy, Sonja Spencer, Chris Tople, Carmen Allen, Christina Negley and Scott Searcy.

And, of course, Kalith Smith already provided a preview.

Monday Morning Mentor: How to use AI to assess student understanding?

The March 4 Monday Morning Mentor topic is “How Can I Use Generative AI to Assess Student Understanding?”

From this link, you can view the featured 20-Minute Mentor, as well as access the transcript, handouts, and supplemental material. These materials will not be available to be viewed until Monday when the presentation becomes available. You will need to enter the following password in order to view next week’s program: generative81. The presentation is available on-demand for one week.

Access to the programs in the Monday Morning Mentor series is restricted to members of the subscribing institution. Any unauthorized use or access, including sharing access with faculty and staff not affiliated with the subscribing institution, is prohibited.