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
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
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:
Access on-demand resources (e.g., session recordings and handouts)
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
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:
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.
FDC OPPORTUNITIES, RESOURCES AND SERVICES
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 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:
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
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.
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.