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Week of July 17-21

2023

InclusiveVT: Become Academic Allies for Inclusive Excellence (AAIE)

The Office for Inclusion and Diversity invites senior faculty in academic colleges to become Academic Allies for Inclusive Excellence (AAIE).

Formerly named White Allies for Transformational Leadership, the AAIE cohort program is open to all department heads or chairs, school directors, or teaching faculty at the rank of Professor, who want to leverage their positional leadership to foster inclusive excellence in their units.

The first AAIE cohort meeting will take place at 3:30 p.m. on August 16 at the Inclusive VT Summit.

The outcome for the cohort is to adopt and implement research-informed inclusive practices relating to their work in recruiting and retaining diverse faculty, fostering faculty success, and creating a welcoming and collegial environment where everyone thrives.

For more information or to express interest in the AAIE cohort program, please email Michele Deramo, associate vice provost for diversity education and engagement, or visit the InclusiveVT website.

CETL: Faculty preparing for fall instruction invited to attend Course Design Clinic

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) invites faculty preparing for fall 2023 semester course instruction to attend the summer Course Design Clinic, August 9-10 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

During the Course Design Clinic, activities will focus on identifying areas of both strength and weakness in existing course design, incorporating engaging pedagogy, identifying moments to check in with students, and building a stronger community and sense of belonging. The clinic will involve several stages of course design to include:

  • Identifying goals and learning outcomes 
  • Organizing the syllabus and schedule 
  • Designing individual class meetings, activities, and assignments 
  • Planning for assessment of student learning

The goal is to encourage faculty and instructors to think through the multiple levels of granularity for courses and to complete much of the planning while having instructional experts on hand.

For more information about the clinic, please email CETL. Register for the Course Design Clinic on the TLOS Professional Development Network website.

University Libraries and TLOS: Technology lending program available to faculty, staff

University Libraries at Virginia Tech is partnering with Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) to launch a semester-long technology lending program for the 2023-24 academic year. This initiative provides faculty, staff, and students access to cutting-edge equipment for research, teaching, and collaborative projects free of charge.

Under this program, individuals will describe their university affiliation, project details, and equipment they need in the request form. Available equipment includes high-end computers, 3D printers, DSLR cameras, 360 cameras, VR headsets, eye-tracking equipment, iPads, and more.

All Virginia Tech employees and students, at all campus locations, are eligible to participate in this program. Those interested are encouraged to submit their equipment requests by August 9.

For this pilot year, equipment will be limited, which may lead to demand exceeding supply. If the number of requests surpasses the available inventory, a weighted random lottery will be conducted to determine equipment recipients.

For more information, please read this VT News article or email the Technology Lending Program staff.

Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment: Registration open for Policy Camp workshop

The Institute for Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE) and the +Policy Network are offering a free, one-day Policy Camp workshop for faculty and advanced graduate students on ways to make your research informative to policymakers. Participants will get a chance to engage with others through group exercises as well as reflecting on their own work and potential role in policy conversations.

The in-person session will be held on August 14 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Honors College Studio in Squires Hall. Registration is required.

The +Policy Network Policy Camp is a synchronous experience where those who have completed Introduction to Policy Concepts or possess introductory policy knowledge can come together to apply basic concepts in interactive, fun activities with colleagues from other disciplines, units, and campuses who are interested in policy concepts.

For more information or to register to attend, please read this campus noticeor email Anne-Lise Velez.

ICYMI: Faculty invited to virtual workshop on “ChatGPT as a Tool, Rather Than a Threat”

Virginia Tech faculty and instructors are invited to a 90-minute workshop titled, “ChatGPT as a Tool, Rather than a Threat: Re-Envision Student Writing Assessment.” The workshop will be offered virtually via Zoom from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. on August 8.

The interactive workshop is designed to help faculty to reevaluate their teaching methods, particularly the assessment of writing, in the presence of ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

There is no cost to attend the workshop, but registration is required. During each session, attendees will receive information and examples as well as a space to redesign assignments. These resources will help faculty to further develop skills relevant to the ever-changing higher education environment.

As part of this immersive training experience, the event hosts kindly request that all participants try using ChatGPT beforehand to familiarize themselves with its functionalities. This will enable attendees to actively engage in the workshop discussions and make the most out of the learning experience.

For more information and a Zoom link for the workshop, please visit the registration page for the August 8 session, or email Bonnie Zare in the Department of Sociology.

Additional Resources and Updates

If you have comments or recommendations for how we can improve the Weekly Communications Update or suggestions for information that should be shared with faculty, staff, and academic program personnel, please provide them through this Google form or email Provost Communications.

Please visit the provost’s website frequently for new and updated university information. All members of the campus community should also read their VT News daily email for further important updates, notices, and resources.