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Faculty Development: Faculty Development Sessions

Source for your MSU Faculty Development Needs

Faculty Development Center Sessions

 

 

 Welcome to the Faculty Development Center!
We look forward to learning with you during our sessions!

The Faculty Development Center provides opportunities for ongoing discussions about pedagogy and instructional design. These are accomplished in one-on-one and group settings through faculty consultations, classroom visits, faculty learning communities, workshops, and conferences. We collaborate with people and programs on Murray State’s campus and beyond to support the advancement of engaging pedagogy and effective instructional design. We support the university’s core mission of teaching excellence by helping cultivate an institutional climate that values, promotes and rewards teaching excellence at Murray State University.

We look forward to working with you!

The Faculty Development Center

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  ANNOUNCEMENTS  

VIRTUAL COURSE DESIGN CHALLNGE STARTS JUNE 30, 2025

Are you thinking about designing or redesigning your course? To help you design or redesign your course with the flexibility to facilitate it in various formats, (including face-to-face, hybrid, hyflex, or online), the Faculty Development Center invites you to observe or participate in a Virtual Course Design Challenge that includes weekly meetings via Zoom and learning modules in Canvas.

When: Get a New Challenge on Mondays: June 30; July 7, 14, 21, 28, August 4, 2025,
1:30 pm - 2:30 p.m., via Zoom. View the Big-Picture Schedule

Find out More: https://lib.murraystate.edu/c.php?g=54830&p=352862

Register Here: Virtual Course Design Challenge June 30-August 4, 2025

The Faculty Development Academy

 

THE FACULTY DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY

 

Good news! We have organized the Faculty Development Academy (FDA), a virtual space (via Canvas) for you to access on-demand professional development resources in areas that include, but are not limited to, the following: Strategies for Teaching and Learning, Teaching Well With Technology, Scholarly Activities, Promotion and Tenure, Leadership, Wellbeing and Work-Life Balance.

What else is in this FDA for me?

In this self-paced academy, you have opportunities to do the following:

  1. Access on-demand resources (e.g., session recordings and handouts)

  2. Reflect on your learning (including personal application or plans to apply what you learned), and earn badges and certificates

Access the FDA featured sessions and more by self-enrolling in the FDA via  Canvas: https://murraystate.instructure.com/enroll/WTGYHH

ACCESSIBILITY AND USABILITY RESOURCE SITE

 

ACCESSIBILITY AND USABILITY RESOURCE SITE

 

Murray State subscribes to Quality Matters (QM), a non-profit organization that is focused on helping faculty with continuous improvement of online and blended courses. 

QM created a research-based rubric to help faculty determine the quality of their online and blended course design. 

The QM rubric standard number 8 indicates that "The course design reflects a
commitment to accessibility and usability for all learners."

To help you meet this standard, the QM community built the Accessibility & Usability Resource Site that addresses key accessibility and usability concerns such as:

  • Universal Design
  • Alternative Text
  • Video captioning
  • Accessible MS Office products
  • …And more

The resource also includes forums that provide you with the opportunity to connect directly with accessibility experts. It also includes videos with step-by-step guidance to help you increase the accessibility of your course.

If you do not yet have a QM account, please follow the steps below.

  1. Click on the MyQM link (located at the bottom of the Quality Matters home page
     
  2. Enter your Murray State e-mail address.  If you have an existing account, you may sign in or request a new password if needed. Alternatively, you may check "No, I am new here" and follow the prompts to create an account. 

FDC OPPORTUNITIES, RESOURCES AND SERVICES

  FDC OPPORTUNITIES, RESOURCES AND SERVICES

QM

Murray State University has subscribed to Quality Matters (QM), a non-profit organization focused on helping faculty with continuous improvement of online and blended courses.

Quality Matters created a research-based rubric to help faculty determine the quality of their online and blended course design.

Subscription Benefits includes (but are not limited to):

  • Access to the QM fully-annotated higher education rubric.
  • Access to the web-based automated rubric tools, for informal (unofficial/internal/ self) course reviews for the development and improvement of online or blended courses.
  • Discounts on QM professional development, official QM-managed course reviews, conferences, and events.
  • Ability to create MyQM accounts which gives all faculty and staff access to our tools and resources and their personal QM Activity, including certificates of training and/or course certification.

Access the QM Automated Rubric Tool

Faculty may conduct self-reviews of their online courses using the QM’s self-review tool. These reviews will be seen by only the faculty who conducts the self-reviews (unless the faculty decides to share the reviews).  There is no limit on the number of self-reviews that each faculty may conduct. To access the self-review tool, complete the following steps:

  1. Visit www.qualitymatters.org  
  2. Create a MyQM account: Click on the MyQM link (located at the bottom left of the Quality Matters home page)
  3. Enter your Murray State email address. If you have an existing QM account, you may sign in or request a new password if needed. Alternatively, you may check "No, I am new here" and follow the prompts to create an account.
  4. Once your account is created, you may access the self-review tool by clicking on the following links that are located on the left menu: My Tools → Course  Review System, and then select Start a Self-Review (from the bulleted list below the Welcome message).

SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTIONAL FEEDBACK (SGIF)

SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTIONAL FEEDBACK (SGIF)

Need feedback to improve your students’ learning experiences and potentially improve your end-of-course ratings? 

You might be interested in participating in the FDC's Small Group Instructional Feedback (SGIF).

About SGIF: SGIF provides the opportunity for faculty to work with a facilitator to gather feedback from groups of student in their course (for about 25-30 minutes) about what is helping them learn and what could be improved. It also places extremes student opinions in context which, in turn, increases the validity of students' feedback and improve students' motivation.

Facilitator:  Firm Faith Watson, Director, Faculty Development Center

When:   Midway in the semester 

Register:  https://tinyurl.com/SGIF-Registration

View Flier: https://tinyurl.com/SGIF-Flyer

1-on-1 Consultations

1-on-1 Consultations

 

Do you need individual help (e.g., to design your face-to-face, online or blended courses)?

Please reach out to Dr. Firm Faith Watson to arrange one-on-one virtual  consultations at
 fwatson2@murraystate.edu

 

FDC TO YOU

 

Does your department have a need that the FDC could help you to meet?
The Faculty Development Center offers customized sessions that cater directly to your department's needs. Contact Dr. Firm Faith Watson at fwatson2@murraystate.edu to make arrangements.