Weekly Newsletter: Tuesday Is News Day

CLS Semester Start Meetings: Recordings! Slides! Minutes! Oh My!

CLS Meeting 

CLS met on Wednesday 1/15 at 1:00pm. If you missed or want to relive, you can peruse the agenda or minutes, review the Slides, and enjoy the recording (below)!

https://austincc.zoom.us/rec/share/ubTQxAdmcYaIreherqDMp0GjXgS6xwLTtYlhiyz7COmaaw_FULLtuZjR_q5SGJod.RigXMT1E0nXO8593

Passcode: F5z*rax=

Dual Credit Meeting 

Dual Credit Faculty met on Tuesday 1/14 at 6:30pm. If you missed it, here is our Meeting Agenda packed with links, dates, and reminders to help you prepare for the semester.

The meeting recording is available for your viewing pleasure as well.

If anyone has questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to any liaison (Kari Conness, Chris Gardner, or Sarah Stayton) for help.

INRW Meeting 

INRW faculty met on Monday 1/13 at 10am.  You can review the INRW Spring 25 Agenda and the INRW Spring 25 Program Meeting slideshow

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Faculty Evaluation, Spring 2025 To-do List 

These five tasks are required components for the Faculty Evaluation process. 

• Submit your Faculty Reflection Form for Fall 2024 classes to the Academic Year 2024-25 Collection form BY JANUARY 31, 2025

• Submit your Syllabi for Spring 2025 to the Academic Year 2024-25 Collection by two weeks after the beginning of your courses.   

• Check the CLS Due List to see if you are in a Portfolio Year for Spring 25.  Remember Portfolios are now due May 30 2025.  

• Finish your ACC Mandatory Training and self-report on the Academic Year 2024-25 Collection by FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2025

• Complete your Administrative Duties (Syllabi and Office hours on Lighthouse!) no later than two weeks after the beginning of your courses. 

If you have questions or want amazingly detailed guidance for each of the required tasks, check out or print Faculty Evaluation Guidelines, Spring 2025, created by Beth Frye, our (AMAZING!!!) CLS Evaluation Committee Chair.

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Register for CLS Curriculum Conference--CCCs, March 7

Registration is LIVE for the CLS Curriculum Conference 2025, and we've got an amazing line-up of presenters and panelists.  Remember that CCCs is open to ALL Central-Texas educators, especially our partners in English and Writing in community colleges, so spread the word! 

When: Friday, March 7, 2025, 12:00-4:00 PM 

Where: Highland Campus (HLC) in Austin, TX

Panels and Workshops: 

Session 1A, Service-Learning Opportunities for Liberal Arts Courses

Session 1B, Ain't Afraid of No Ghost(writers): Can Professional Writing Inform How We Teach Student Writing? (Workshop)

Session 1C, Teaching Students How To Do Research

Session 2A, Corequisites: Demystifying the Partnership

Session 2B, Trauma-Informed Pedagogy and the Power of Voice

Session 2C, Civic Engagement in a Divided Country

Session 3A, Reducing Reliance on Artificial Intelligence (including Innovative Assessments)

Session 3B, Empowering Learners: Writing Adventures and Metacognition

Session 3C, A Beginner's Guide To Global Education and Multicultural Curriculum

Register today! CLS Curriculum Conference 2025 

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Accessibility in Blackboard Courses (Updated Info 1/21)

A quick overview of the ongoing discussion about BB Accessibility at ACC: 

In the January 15 training session, Michelle Escudier, an instructional designer, clarified that ACC wants to see BB Accessibility scores improve over time.  Last fall, the Office of Distance and Alternative Education reached out to faculty (via Department Chairs) whose courses scored lower than 20%. Those folks have already been contacted and are doing the accessibility work!

Moving forward, ACC and CLS want faculty to aim for a BB Accessibility score of 80% or higher. 

Resources for checking and fixing BB Accessibility in your courses:

Please check your BB accessibility score at the beginning of the spring 2025 semester and as you add new items to your courses throughout the semester.  Dean Toño Ramirez made this brief, helpful video to demo Accessibility Reports. If you need help fixing the accessibility of your Blackboard courses, you have resources!   

• PDFs and handouts are often flagged as problematic in these reports, so that may be a good place to begin your revamps. The AFA is hosting Brewing Up Accessibility Training for Instructor Handouts on January 29 from 4:30-5:30p.  This event is open to Adjunct and Fulltime faculty.  Zoom links and registration available here. 

• Instructional design support is currently offering Workshop Sessions on Enhancing Accessibility.  They have three options: February 5 (HLC), March 12 (Zoom), or April 2 (HLC). You can learn more or register here: DE Accessibility Training.  

• TLED has great resources on their Accessibility information page. 

• Within CLS, we are fortunate to have Amber Clontz helping folks get their Bb documents ADA reader friendly at her Blackboard Q & A Office Hour on Fridays--see the Information further down the newsletter for how those office hours work!.

• At the CLS Curriculum Conference (CCC) (register now!), CLS will have three Instructional Designers on hand to help with ADA Compliance for PDFs. 

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Blackboard Ultra (Let's Lion King It and BE PREPARED!)

The conversion to Blackboard Ultra will happen for our Summer 2025 courses. So, we need to get ready. There are options available for you RIGHT NOW as well as some things CLS has in the works to help get all 175+ of us on board for the new Bb Ultra.

(1) Beth Knight, AVC, shared the following for me to share with you:

Several training opportunities to help faculty get up to speed with the Ultra interface:

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Face-to-Face): [Sign up here]

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Virtual): [Sign up here]

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Hyflex): [Sign up here]

These training sessions offer four hours of PD

(2) CCC's will have Instructional Designers on hand to help with Blackboard Ultra training on March 7th. Huge thank you to Textbook and Technology Assistant Dept. Chair, Amber Clontz, who spearheaded that Idea!

(3) Following our CLS Dos de Mayo Meeting (End of Spring Semester on May 2, 2025), we are planning a Bb Ultra Workshop In person at RGC. You'll need to sign up for It--more Information to come!

(4) We are planning some February CLS-specific training sessions--keep an eye out for registration for these training sessions. The goal Is to offer some synchronous online training in the evening (to ensure our Dual Credit partners can take It) and on a Friday. Recordings of the trainings will be provided.

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Blackboard Q & A, Fridays 3pm-4pm 

Need help setting up your Blackboard page?  Have a quick question about a Blackboard function?

Email Amber Clontz for the Zoom invite; she's hosting regularly on Fridays 3-4pm. 

• Can’t make the day/time? Send your availability to request an alternative :) 

Brought to you by the Textbooks & Technology Committee 📚🪱💻

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Call for Mentors: As Rewarding as Teaching, but without the Grading

We know your time is valuable, and mentoring doesn’t have to be time-consuming. We’re making mentoring easier than ever with prefab QM shells and Blackboard support from Instructional Designers, plus a new welcome packet that includes essential resources for new hires. What’s more, mentoring is Peer Dialogue. So, you’re not only helping a colleague succeed but also checking off a key requirement of Faculty Evaluation. (Full-timers, Peer Dialgoing is required; adjuncts, it's optional.) And as a thank you, mentors receive a stipend for their service. Share what you’re great at! Get those $$$!  Sign up today.

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Learning Labs Faculty Folders

From Jeffrey Chan, Learning Lab Specialist and CLS adjunct faculty

In an effort to foster greater collaboration between instructors and writing tutors, the Learning Labs invite instructors to request their very own Learning Lab Faculty Folder! This Google Drive folder will be shared with LELA writing tutors and can house your digital Zero Textbook Cost/Open Educational Resources (ZTC/OERs), such as articles and stories that students will engage with, as well as assignment instructions and syllabi. Tutors can best help students when they can preview such resources, and having these materials at the ready saves precious time. 

Once you submit our Google form, a Learning Lab writing tutor will set up your Faculty Folder in Google Drive and make sure all permissions are set. You can submit resources at the same time you send the form, email resources for tutors to upload, or populate your folder with materials yourself. You are the Content Manager of your own folder, and writing tutors have View access only. 

For more information about Faculty Folders and how to submit, please see our Google form: https://forms.gle/as4MGFFnT8gB8mbC8

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Reminder: Grade Changes Are Now Online

Beginning Spring 2025, Grade Change requests will be submitted online through the My ACC Faculty Portal.  The Records Office has put together this detailed how-to: Grade Change Instructions for Faculty.  The online requests are sent directly to the Department Chair for review.

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CLS Creative Writing Group, Jan. 24 & Feb. 14

Add upcoming CLS Creative Writing Group dates to your calendar! If you'd like to join the email list, click HERE. For more info contact Rob Crowl. 

January 24th (12:00pm-1:30pm)

Come write and share some of your winter break stories with us. This month, we'll be focusing on techniques for creating memorable characters. 

Zoom Link:  https://austincc.zoom.us/j/86259698669?pwd=7ZEvoBZTzY9SuYbl3pMZvCKVsxYbkb.1

Meeting ID: 862 5969 8669

Passcode: 046444

February 14th (12:00pm-1:30pm)

This Valentine’s Day, join host Jordan Easley for a fast-paced, fun-filled writing activity all about characters! Create a quirky character with secrets, desires, and charm, then we'll "match" them up with another participant and let the sparks fly. Whether it’s love, laughter, or drama, this activity is guaranteed to bring your characters (and your writing) to life! 

Zoom link: https://austincc.zoom.us/meeting/register/_YpYBECUQxe-RYd9nExu4g

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Spring 2025 Book Club

From Chris Gardner

Reader, it's cold outside, so it must be time to pick a Spring Book Club text! Help us pick something great so that we can read by candlelight when the lights go out next month. 

In the spring, we read a single-author short story collection. We avoid career retrospectives, so think "album" not "greatest hits." 

As usual, we will gather at Easy Tiger by the Highland Campus to discuss at a date to be determined. 

You are encouraged to sign up for our non-binding interest list to keep receiving emails or propose a text if/when you feel the urge, and you can always visit our website to see where we've already been.

Two Reminders: 

1. We are an open group. The invites go out to CLS, but you can always bring a +1 or forward this to interested parties. 

2. Book Club will be paired with a book swap. Bring a book or books you are willing to part with, and let's spread some stories around. 

Happy reading, readers. Hope to see you there!

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Please Promote: Competitive University Transfer Panel, Feb 12

From Anne-Marie Thomas, Associate Dean, Honors Program

Please share this Transfer Week opportunity with your students: 

As part of Transfer Week, the Honors Program is partnering with Transfer Services to feature a panel of six ACC Honors Program alumni who have transferred to highly competitive institutions/programs: Brown, Yale, UT, and Rutgers. Want the inside scoop on how they did it? Join us at the Highland Campus on February 12th at 6:00 pm for a wide-ranging discussion of transfer tips, scholarships, and more! Light refreshments provided. 

Register here. Attending remotely? Zoom registration is here. For questions, contact honors@austincc.edu 

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Please Promote: Student Creative Writing, deadline Jan 31

Encourage students to submit their work to the 2024-2025 Margaret Walker Memorial Prizes in Creative Writing! 

Contest Description

The Margaret Walker Memorial Prize in Creative Writing Contest is open to any student, graduate or undergraduate, who is presently attending a College Language Association college or university—an institution where a member of CLA is employed or is a retiree emeritus. 

Students may submit original, unpublished, creative works of drama, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or translations. Those who place are invited to attend the annual CLA convention and may have the opportunity to read an excerpt of their winning piece or their work in its entirety. 

Submission Form here

Questions?  Email Alana King at alanacking@gmail.com 

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Please Promote: Student Submission to Hothouse Literary Journal

Encourage students to submit poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to Hothouse Literary Journal -- the official literary journal of UT's Department of English.  You can share this announcement from Editor-in-Chief Charlie Sharpe: 

Dear undergraduates,

We're happy to announce that the official literary journal of The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of English, Hothouse, is accepting submissions for the 2024-2025 print edition! We accept submissions from undergraduate students all over Texas. We are looking for fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

Though we accept submissions on a rolling basis, you must submit your work by March 15th, 2025 to be considered for the print journal.

If you would like to review the full guidelines, including how to format your writing, you can find them on the Hothouse website, https://hothouselitjournal.com. 

If you have any questions about the submission process, feel free to contact us at uthothouse.editor@gmail.com.

We look forward to reviewing your submissions!

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Please Promote: Student Submissions to Innovate, deadline Feb. 16

Innovate is a literary competition where students (including our Dual Credit students) can submit up to three short stories and three poems. Winners will be celebrated at ACC’s Vision Voice Literary Festival in April and published in our Literary ebook. First place winners will compete nationally for cash prizes 1st $500, 2nd $200, 3rd $100 and will be published in the League for Innovation Literary Journal; in the last several years ACC students have been winners of these prizes. 

For more information or to submit, visit https://innovate.visionandvoice.org/

Submission deadline has been extended to Feb. 16

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CLS Profile 2024-2025--Faculty Contributions

Please send us contributions for our next CLS Profile (2024-25).  We'd love to see a picture of you and/or your students, including selfies with students, photos with colleagues at conferences--especially CLS activities! (Don't forget to get photo permission forms from students signed.)  Aside from photos, we are looking for contributions in as many categories as apply to you; you can also nominate a colleague's reading(s) or assignment(s)!  Keep details concrete and short. The first CLS Profile was a BIG SUCCESS! And, we'd love to hear from loads and loads of our faculty for next years'! (Also, we'll ask for contributions through the first part of the Spring Term. This form will stay open--and feel free to share things as they come up)

Share your AWESOMENESS Here: Faculty Contributions for 2025 CLS Profile

Holler at Wendy Elle, Luanne Preston, or Dania Dwyer if you have questions or thoughts!