Teaching at ECU Series

Teaching at ECU Workshop Series

We’ve partnered with experienced Pirate Faculty, the Learning Technologies team, and others to present this series on best practices for teaching at ECU. We encourage you to join us for one or all of these sessions! Most sessions will be recorded and posted for later viewing.

Date/Time	Session Title	Description	Links
January 21, 2025 9:00 – 10:00	Civil Discourse and the Academy	Participants will discuss and review Freedom of Expression regulations, examples of positive and effective civil discourse, and ways to manage dialogue and free speech topics in the classroom.	Meeting Recording
January 21, 2025 1:00 - 2:00	Information Session: Learn about the ECU Sustainability Program and Integrating Sustainability into Curriculum	Since starting in 2016, the ECU Sustainability Program has engaged students, staff, faculty, and the community in initiatives to improve energy and water conservation, waste reduction and diversion, alternative transportation, sustainable food and dining, campus grounds practices, and more. The program also hosts numerous volunteer opportunities, monthly film and discussion series, large educational outreach events, as well as a Faculty Workshop on Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum. Please join this session to learn more about how to get involved with campus sustainability efforts and to teach students about sustainability challenges and solutions at the local, national, and global scale.	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials
January 27, 2025 1:00 - 2:00	Mentoring Signature Honors Projects - Opportunities and Requirements for the Mentor	Are you mentoring a Signature Honors Project? Or want to find out more? Come to this session to find out about the opportunities and requirements. Facilitated by Katie Ford	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials Link to Session Handout
January 29, 2025 3:00 - 4:00	Managing Your Feedback Load: A Writing Across the Curriculum Workshop	Providing effective feedback is essential for supporting student writers, but it can often feel overwhelming. This session delves into recent writing studies research on feedback practices, offering evidence-based insights and practical strategies to make your feedback more impactful and manageable. Discover techniques to balance workload while fostering meaningful revision and growth in your students' writing. Join us to explore actionable strategies that will help you provide effective, efficient feedback while supporting student success. With Dr. Drew Ashby-King	Meeting Recording
January 31, 2025 1:00 - 2:00	Trauma-Informed Writing Pedagogies: Tools for Your Writing Classroom	How can we create writing classrooms that feel safe, supportive, and empowering for all students? This workshop invites you to engage with Trauma-Informed Core Values for teaching writing, providing practical strategies to address the challenges students face and promote their success as writers. We’ll discuss key questions like: What does a safe, inclusive writing environment look like? and How can we adapt our teaching to meet diverse student needs? Through reflection, self-assessment, and actionable strategies, you’ll gain tools to create more responsive and effective writing practices. Leave equipped with tools to make your writing classroom a space where all students can thrive. With Dr. Jeannie Golden	Meeting Recording
February 4, 2025 11:00 - 12:00	Job Crafting in Academia: Class Assignments and Policies that Can Make Teaching More Fun	When we encounter problems in the classroom, we often default to adding something new. But that doesn’t always solve the problem. Sometimes, it just creates more work for everyone. This hands-on workshop, facilitated by Tim Madden, will focus on strategic management concepts that can help you identify things to reduce or eliminate from your courses. Bring a syllabus and come ready to examine possibilities for using fewer assignments that are more impactful.	Meeting Recording
February 6, 2025 10:00 - 10:15	Enhancing Learning for All: Using Built-in Styles	“Learn how to create accessible and engaging course content by effectively using built-in styles. This training offers practical strategies for structuring materials that are visually appealing, easy to navigate, and inclusive for all learners.” Facilitated by Justin Littlefield	Meeting Recording
February 10, 2025 1:00 - 2:00	Proposing an Honors College Seminar - Information Session	The Honors College invites faculty to propose seminar topics for Spring 2026. Honors College seminars are a unique course experience that allow students to pursue a variety of interesting topics in a discussion-based setting. All Honors students are required to take at least one seminar. Seminars are writing intensive and often satisfy general education and global or domestic diversity credit. These seminars come from many different disciplines across the university. And we encourage faculty to consider proposing a seminar proposal. Come to this session to find out more about the Honors seminar and the process. Facilitated by Katie Ford	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials Link to Proposal Form
February 10, 2025 3:00 - 4:00	Contract Grading: Collaboration & Transparency in Teaching	Reimagine grading with contract grading, a transformative approach that fosters clear communication, student agency, and equitable learning environments. By shifting focus from traditional grades to collaboration and transparency, contract grading builds trust and engagement in your classroom. Join this session to learn more about ECU faculty’s experiences with labor-based grading contracts, exploring how this innovative method has reshaped their teaching and enriched student learning. With Dr. Kim Thompson	Meeting Recording
February 12, 2025 12:00 - 12:15	Enhancing Learning for All: Anchor Your Floating Elements	Learn how to anchor floating elements in your course content to ensure a consistent and accessible learning experience. This training covers best practices for positioning images, tables, and other elements to enhance clarity and engagement for all learners. Facilitated by Stacy Muse	Meeting Recording
February 20, 2025 1:00 - 1:15	Enhancing Learning for All: Linking for Seamless Navigation	Master the art of linking to create seamless navigation and improve accessibility in your course content. This training provides practical guidance on using links effectively to enhance the learning experience for all students. Facilitated by Justin Littlefield	Meeting Recording
February 25, 2025 10:00 - 10:15	Enhancing Learning for All: Helping Students See Content Through Color Contrast	Explore how effective color contrast can improve the visibility and accessibility of your course content. This training provides practical tips for using color intentionally to help all students engage with and understand course materials. Facilitated by Stacy Muse	Meeting Recording
February 26, 2025 11:00 - 12:00	Open Pedagogy: Helping Students Learn Through Creation	This session will be an introduction to open pedagogy which focuses on learner-centered practices where students are involved in creating content that can be used beyond the classroom. Students can share their open pedagogy projects during interviews or on their resumes. In this session, we will define open pedagogy and provide examples of assignments and tools that can be used. We will also provide some helpful resources on using open pedagogy in the classroom.	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials
February 26, 2025 2:00 - 2:30	Introduction to Quality Matters (QM)	Have you heard about Quality Matters (QM)? QM aims to enhance online learning experiences by providing a system for quality assurance, including research-based standards, peer review, and professional development for educators and institutions. Join us in this information session as the Learning Technologies Team explains what QM is and how it can enhance your online and hybrid courses!	Meeting Recording
March 4, 2025 1:00 - 1:15	Enhancing Learning for All: Transcripts and Captions Made Easy	Learn how to create accurate transcripts and captions to make your course content more engaging and inclusive. This training provides practical strategies to streamline the process and enhance the learning experience for all students. Facilitated by Justin Littlefield	Meeting Recording
March 4, 2025 2:00 - 3:00	Creating Accessible Open Educational Resources (OER)	This workshop will give an overview of various tools available to help create Open Educational Resources such as textbooks, ancillary materials, and more. Open Educational Resources allow you to customize your educational material and ensure that all of your students can access a textbook designed to meet your learning objectives. Learn to seamlessly integrate multimedia, adapt content for different learning styles, and collaborate with colleagues on dynamic educational resources that will be available for your students both in the classroom and after they graduate.	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials
March 5, 2025 11:00 - 12:00	Alternative Textbook Program Information Session	The Alternative Textbook Program is an initiative for faculty interested in replacing traditional textbooks with open textbooks, library subscription materials, or other free materials. Faculty who participate in the program receive a stipend to support the transition to free course materials. This session will go over the three options for faculty (adoption, adaptation, and creation) as well as the application process and expectations of the program.	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials
March 18, 2025 10:00 - 10:15	Enhancing Learning for All: Polish Your PDFs and Ditch the Scans	Discover how to create polished, accessible PDFs that enhance the learning experience for all students. This training focuses on replacing scanned documents with optimized PDFs to ensure clarity, usability, and accessibility. Facilitated by Stacy Muse	Meeting Recording
March 24, 2025 3:00 - 4:00	Create Your Own High-Quality Video Presentations	Want to develop videos for your courses that look more engaging or polished – and do so efficiently? During this hands-on session in the Office of Faculty Excellent, Tim Madden (Recipient of the Max Ray Joyner Award for Excellence in Teaching through Distance Education) will showcase some of the at-home video equipment he finds most helpful, discuss how these are aligned with his instructional goals, and introduce a hands-on resource in the OFE this year. You will be able to experiment to find the A/V hardware that is the best match for your specific goals and course materials.	Meeting Recording
March 25, 2025 11:00 - 12:00 Joyner Library 1001	Create Your Own High-Quality Video Presentations	Want to develop videos for your courses that look more engaging or polished – and do so efficiently? During this hands-on session in the Office of Faculty Excellent, Tim Madden (Recipient of the Max Ray Joyner Award for Excellence in Teaching through Distance Education) will showcase some of the at-home video equipment he finds most helpful, discuss how these are aligned with his instructional goals, and introduce a hands-on resource in the OFE this year. You will be able to experiment to find the A/V hardware that is the best match for your specific goals and course materials.
March 25, 2025 2:00 - 2:30	Introduction to Quality Matters (QM)	Have you heard about Quality Matters (QM)? QM aims to enhance online learning experiences by providing a system for quality assurance, including research-based standards, peer review, and professional development for educators and institutions. Join us in this information session as the Learning Technologies Team explains what QM is and how it can enhance your online and hybrid courses!	Meeting Recording
March 27, 2025 11:00 - 11:15	Enhancing Learning for All: Mastering Alt Text	Learn how to write effective alt text to ensure your course content is accessible and meaningful for all students. This training provides practical tips for describing images in a way that enhances understanding and engagement. Facilitated by Justin Littlefield	Meeting Recording
April 3, 2025 3:00 - 4:00	Using TurnItIn as a Teaching Tool: A Writing Across the Curriculum Workshop	"Discover how to transform Turnitin from a plagiarism detection tool into a resource for teaching and learning. This workshop goes beyond plagiarism detection to show how Turnitin can inspire better revision, stronger citations, and deeper critical thinking. Discover strategies to turn similarity reports into learning moments, tackle AI-generated content, and hear success stories from instructors who’ve transformed feedback into stronger student writing. Join us to reimagine Turnitin as a resource for fostering academic growth and integrity across disciplines. with Dr. Tracy Morse & Zac Singletary"	Meeting Recording
April 9, 2025 3:00 - 4:00	Critical Language Awareness Tools & Strategies for Writing Across the Curriculum	Support your students’ success in writing by recognizing and working with the diverse language backgrounds they bring to the classroom. This workshop provides practical strategies to reduce writing anxiety, build a sense of belonging, and empower students to develop their writing skills. Participants will engage with tools to help students gain confidence in their linguistic abilities while fostering a supportive and productive learning environment. We’ll also explore a digital toolkit designed to motivate and engage student writers. Join us to learn practical approaches that can make your writing classroom more inclusive and effective.
May 27 8:00 - 5:00 In-Person - Office for Faculty Excellence (Joyner Library 1008)	Applying the Quality Matters Rubric	Want to fully immerse your course into QM standards? Learn the underlying principles behind the QM Rubric and the critical elements of the QM quality assurance process. Learn about drafting helpful recommendations as you apply the Rubric to an actual course. Pre-registration is requied by Thursday, May 22nd.	Register Here
Fall 2024 Sessions
August 27, 2024 2:00 – 3:00	Mentoring Signature Honors Projects: the opportunities and requirements for the Mentor	Are you a mentor for a Signature Honors Project (SHP)? Join this session to learn about the requirements for the student for the SHP and how you can help better support your student.	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials Link to Handout
September 4, 2024 12:00 – 1:00	Fostering Student Success: Enhancing Faculty Communication and Student Resource Engagement with ECU Connect	Effective communication between faculty and students is crucial for student academic success. This session delves into innovative strategies and practical tools designed to strengthen faculty-student interactions by utilizing ECU CONNECT to promote student engagement with available success resources. By the end of this session, participants will have a comprehensive toolkit to enhance communication with their students, effectively connect them with success resources, and ultimately contribute to their academic and personal success. Facilitated by Elizabeth Coghill and Dylan Moore	Meeting Recording
September 11, 2024 9:00 – 10:30	Supporting your Undergraduate Students	Join this session to hear an overview of many of the support resources available to undergraduate students at ECU. If you teach courses at the undergraduate level, this session will help you know where you can help students proactively plug into academic, co-curricular, and wellness supports. Session Materials: Student Academic Success Services Presentation Supporting International Undergraduate Students Handout Helpful Links: Center for Student Success Counseling Center ECU Cares Dean of Students University Writing Center Center for Communication Excellence Accessibility	Meeting Recording
September 18, 2024 3:00 – 4:00	Insider Insights: The Student Experience Unveiled by Tutors and Mentors	What are your students really experiencing in classes at ECU? Gaining a deeper understanding of student academic experiences can help faculty offer targeted support to address common challenges. In this session a panel of peer tutors and academic coaches from the Pirate Academic Success Center will share insights into the challenges students face during their first year of college. Facilitated by Elizabeth Coghill and Amber Arnold	Meeting Recording
September 19, 2024 4:00 - 5:00	Pirates Vote: Engage in Election 2024	An overview of the non-partisan Pirates Vote initiative on campus. Presenter will share relevant campus data related to non-partisan voter engagement and resources to increase student civic engagement in preparation for the 2024 general election. Attendees will learn more about campus events and programs they can share with their students, along with some great non-partisan resources. Sponsored by the Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement.	Meeting Recording
September 23, 2024 3:00 - 4:00	Troubleshooting Your Writing Assignment	Effective student writing starts with strong writing assignments. In this session, faculty will explore advice grounded in research for creating effective writing assignments. Participants are invited to share their writing assignments for feedback. Facilitated by Sarah Page (Anthropology)	Meeting Recording
September 24, 2024 3:30 - 5:00	Building Trust and Practicing Civility: Constructive Dialogue During the Election Season	Delivered in partnership with the ECU Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, this virtual professional development session will equip participants with the skills to facilitate meaningful conversations about contentious issues. Participants will learn out-of-the box strategies to proactively create a culture of trust, techniques to support the development of students’ mindsets and skills for engaging across differences, and specific tactics to intervene in tense moments of conflict. The workshop will be interactive and experiential. Faculty, staff, and student leaders will learn new techniques and then will apply them through case studies and examples with their peers. Sponsored by the Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement. Facilitators: Leslie Garvin, executive director, NC Campus Engagement; Bob Frigo, assistant dean and director, Kernodle Center for Civic Life, Elon University	Meeting Recording
September 25, 2024 3:00 - 4:00	Critical Language Awareness	Critical language awareness is an approach to teaching writing that engages students’ languages and dialects as assets in learning, rather than as deficits. In this session, participants will explore a digital toolkit developed by ECU faculty that includes resources to help us create more linguistically welcoming classrooms that inspire student writers and persistence. Facilitated by Sambuddha Banerjee (Chemistry)
September 26, 2024 3:00 - 4:00	Managing Your Feedback Load	While teacher feedback is a key aspects of effective writing instruction, it can be an overwhelming task to manage at times. In this session, participants will explore what recent writing studies research has taught us about effective feedback practices along with specific strategies to help manage the feedback load. Facilitated by Dr. Drew Ashby-King (Communications)	Meeting Recording
September 27, 2024 3:00 - 4:00	Contract Grading	Contract Grading is an assessment tool that pushes the boundaries of traditional grading schemes to promote open and clear instructor-student communication, infuse agency and autonomy into the process of student learning, and promote equitable learning communities with increased transparency and engagement. In this session, ECU faculty will share their experience with labor-based grading contracts along with their influence on teaching and learning. Facilitated by Dr. Kim Thompson (English)	Meeting Recording
October 1, 2024 10:00 – 11:30	Supporting your Graduate Students	Join this session to hear an overview of many of the support resources available to graduate students at ECU. If you teach courses at the graduate level, this session will help you know where you can help students proactively plug into academic, co-curricular, and wellness supports. Facilitated by Kathy Cox	Meeting Recording Global Affairs Session Materials DSS Session Materials
October 3, 2024 11:00 - 12:00	Teach, Meet, and Collaborate: Improving your Virtual Presence for Online Work	Have you ever spent an hour-long Teams meeting watching someone else’s ceiling fan spin as they read their slides to you? Maybe you’ve sat through a recorded course lecture that sounds like the speaker is even less interested in their material than you are. Neither one is fun. In this session, attendees will learn ten free ways to improve their virtual presence including how to make eye contact with their audience, why it’s a good idea to stand up when giving an online presentation, and how much of your ceiling the audience should see (hint: zero percent). Tim Madden will facilitate this hands-on interactive presentation for faculty, staff, and administrators.	Meeting Recording
October 29, 2024 3:00 - 4:00	Open Pedagogy: Helping Students Learn Through Creation	This session will be an introduction to open pedagogy which focuses on learner-centered practices where students are involved in creating content that can be used beyond the classroom. Students can share their open pedagogy projects during interviews or on their resumes. In this session, we will define open pedagogy and provide examples of assignments and tools that can be used. We will also provide some helpful resources on using open pedagogy in the classroom. Facilitated by Jeanne Hoover and Allison Kaefring	Meeting Recording Link to Session Materials
October 30, 2024 2:30 - 3:30	CourseFIT Information Session	This session will provide an overview of the CourseFIT Institute for faculty interested in applying for the Spring/Summer 2025 program. CourseFIT provides an intensive opportunity for faculty to explore effective course design for fully online courses and emerging educational technologies that can help accomplish their instructional goals.	Meeting Recording
November 5, 2024 3:00 - 4:00 Joyner Library 1008	Trauma-Informed Writing Pedagogies: Tools for Your Writing Classroom	Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting student learning. As a result, trauma, once viewed as consisting only of individual and extraordinary experiences, is now addressed more openly in terms of collective experiences. This workshop explores Trauma-Informed Core Values in the context of assigning, responding to, and evaluating student writing. Participants will consider questions like What does a physically, emotionally, socially, and academically safe writing classroom look like? And How do you embody an ethos of trustworthiness as a teacher, learner, writer, responder, and evaluator? in order to self-assess, plan for, and strengthen writing classroom practices. Facilitated by Jeannie Golden (Psychology)
November 7, 2024 3:00 - 4:00	Critical Language Awareness: Tools & Strategies for Writing Across the Curriculum	In today’s educational landscape, acknowledging and working with students’ varied language backgrounds is essential for creating an engaging and successful learning environment. A Critical Language Awareness approach to teaching leverages students’ languages and dialects as strengths in the learning process, rather than viewing them as obstacles. It plays a vital role in classrooms that aim to support student success by recognizing the value of multiple language practices and providing students with the tools they need to navigate different linguistic contexts. In this workshop, ECU faculty from various disciplines will share practical teaching resources they developed to enhance students’ linguistic skills, reduce writing anxiety, encourage a sense belonging, and promote student wellness. Workshop participants will leave with digital toolkit resources developed by ECU faculty that will help them to create more welcoming classrooms to inspire student writers.
November 14, 2024 9:00 - 10:00 Joyner 1001 (Office for Faculty Excellence)	Create your own high-quality video presentations	Want to develop videos for your courses that look more engaging or polished – and do so efficiently? During this hands-on session in the Office of Faculty Excellent, Tim Madden (Recipient of the Max Ray Joyner Award for Excellence in Teaching through Distance Education) will showcase some of the at-home video equipment he finds most helpful, discuss how these are aligned with his instructional goals, and introduce a hands-on resource in the OFE this year. You will be able to experiment to find the A/V hardware that is the best match for your specific goals and course materials.
November 18, 2024 1:00 – 2:00 Joyner Library 2301	Job Crafting in Academia: Class Assignments and Policies that Can Make Teaching More Fun	When we encounter problems in the classroom, we often default to adding something new. But that doesn’t always solve the problem. Sometimes, it just creates more work for everyone. This hands-on workshop, facilitated by Tim Madden, will focus on strategic management concepts that can help you identify things to reduce or eliminate from your courses. Bring a syllabus and come ready to examine possibilities for using fewer assignments that are more impactful. Facilitated by Tim Madden

Individuals requesting accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should contact ECU’s ADA coordinator at least 48 hours prior to the event at 252-737-1018 or ada-coordinator@ecu.edu.

Link to archived Teaching Workshops

Teaching at ECU Series

Fall 2024 Sessions