October 2019

Vol. i, Issue IV

𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 & 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙜𝙚

🅻🅴🅰🅳🅴🆁🆂🅷🅸🅿 🅲🅾🆁🅽🅴🆁

Greetings Gen Ed team!

Welcome to our 4th edition of the GenEd/OC Digest. I hope you all had a fantastic summer and have some fun activities lined up for fall. Please take a couple of minutes to read the enclosed updates, learn some best practices and meet your colleagues.

And for fun, many of you know I recently went on a World Tour of Disney, where I traveled to Aulani (in Hawaii, this is a Disney Resort), to all the Disney parks in the world (Anaheim, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Paris, and Orlando), did a 12-day tour through China (part of Adventures by Disney), and wrapped up with a Disney Cruise. Everywhere I went, I took you all with me and took pictures with my PG bumper sticker. Click on the image to the right to enlarge the photos (I will share more later).

As always, if you have ideas for an upcoming Digest, fill out our information form or touch base with your department leadership, and thanks for everything you do for our school and students!

Best,

Jody Dekorte, Ph.D., Dean, School of General Education and Open College

Jody Dekorte, DeanWorld Tour of Disney

🅷🅴🆁🅴 🆈🅴! 🅷🅴🆁🅴 🆈🅴!

🅻🅾🅾🅺 🆆🅷🅰🆃'🆂 🅷🅰🅿🅿🅴🅽🅸🅽🅶 🅸🅽 🅶🅴🅽 🅴🅳!

Our Next GenEd Speaker Series will be hosted by the Science Department on Monday, October 21st at 8pm ET. Todd Parker (PT Faculty) and Annissa Furr (FT Faculty) will discuss Ebola, Measles, and Infectious Disease. Much of this discussion will focus on some of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) research and hands-on work currently being conducted in East Africa. Be sure to join us!

Image credit: https://www.mahealthcare.com/doctors-clinics/browse-specialties/infectious-disease

GEC is coming! GEC is coming! Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming information on the SoGE's 12th annual General Education Conference to be held April 28-30, 2020 (mark your calendars!). The call for proposals will be here before you know it. Get a head start and begin thinking about presentation topics around: Research and Innovation in General Education; Educational Leadership; Contemporary Challenges / Trends in Higher Education; and Diversity and Inclusivity within Higher Education. A call for Mission Control Specialists will also be announced for those looking to become more involved behind-the-scenes with the GEC. There are lots of opportunities to make the GEC 'your' conference...

🅲🅾🅽🅵🅴🆁🅴🅽🅲🅴 🅱🆁🅸🅴🅵🆂

From L to R: Celine Santiago Bass (Chair, Science); Michele Riley (Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences); Peg Hohensee (Chair, Math); Kate Scarpena (Asst. Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences); Leslie Johnson (Asst. Chair, Math)

Representatives from Purdue University Global participated in the Association of General and Liberal Studies' (AGLS) annual meeting, September 27-28, 2019 in beautiful Orlando, Florida. Peg Hohensee (Chair) and Leslie Johnson (Asst. Chair) from the Math Department, Celine Santiago Bass (Chair) and Amy Smith (FT) from the Science Department, in addition to Michele Riley (Chair), Kate Scarpena (Asst. Chair), and Russell Fail (FT) from Humanities and Social Sciences Department all presented their scholarship / research over the two-day event.

The presentations and posters were well attended and well received. Next year’s conference will take place in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Please consider joining us for next year’s conference. We plan on attending the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Milwaukee Brewers game at Busch Stadium as part of the festivities. Check out some pictures taken during the two-day event here.

🅱🅴🆂🆃 🅿🆁🅰🅲🆃🅸🅲🅴🆂 & 🆃🅸🅿🆂

The first two weeks can be confusing for those new to online learning. Consider recording individual videos for students who are not passing by the end of Unit 2. Many of my students have appreciated these personalized videos. Give it a try!

Encourage: Ask the student to focus on the number of points in the class instead of their percentage and remind them they have plenty of time to earn points and bring up their grade.
Show: Walk them through their current grades and explain how to earn full credit in the future. Demonstrate how to get to the Academic Success Center and other resources offered by PG.
Opportunity: Offer a chance to earn some points from the first two units if they email you and ask.
Encourage Again: Remind them again to do their best and stick with the course.

Do you have a best practice or tip you'd like to share? Feel free to email your department chair or fill out the GenEd/OC Digest Spotlight Form found on the homepage!

Tami TackerFT, Math Dept.

🅳🅸🅶🅴🆂🆃 🆂🅿🅾🆃🅻🅸🅶🅷🆃

Deb Page, Ph.D., Director, Education and Community Engagement

Christine O’Neal, MPH, Ph.D. FT Adjunct, Science Dept.

Laura Baggett, M.S., FTA, Math Dept.

Emily Bermingham, M.A., PT, Humanities & Social Sciences Dept.

Jonathan Cardew, M.A., PT, Composition/WAC Dept.

🅲🆄🆁🆁🅸🅲🆄🅻🆄🅼 🆄🅿🅳🅰🆃🅴🆂

The SoGE is very pleased to welcome Amy Thermer as one of our newest Curriculum Specialists. Amy is currently located in Bloomington, IL and has worked in instructional design and learning for over 15 years in multiple environments, including higher ed, business, and adult ed (teaching English as a Second Language was especially rewarding). She most recently worked in Learning & Development at State Farm, but she was at Kaplan for 6 years as a Curriculum Manager in the College of Arts and Sciences and also did some contract work for Purdue University Global last year.

Amy enjoys spending time outdoors, whether it is walking or hiking with her two terriers (Walt and Mr. Price), biking with friends, practicing yoga, or just having dinner in the backyard. Her indoor interests include reading, doodling (she may have a compulsive pen and paper issue), and trying to keep her houseplants alive. She also loves listening to live music, traveling, and spending time with friends and family. She is thrilled to be working in General Education and is excited to meet and work with everyone!

Amy Thermer, Curriculum Specialist

🅱🅸🆃🆂 & 🅿🅸🅴🅲🅴🆂

We want to announce that the Humanities and Social Science Dept. will now have oversight over the Associate and Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies (ASPr/BSPr) degree programs (formerly managed by Open College). These are interdisciplinary degree programs focused on professional knowledge and skills, problem solving, and strategic planning that culminate in a capstone class. These programs are designed with self-motivated students in mind and offers them the opportunity to create a customized degree plan to meet their professional goals. With the support of a Faculty Advisor, students create an individualized learning plan (ILP). Students master the outcomes for each PG course through various pathways including regular courses, massive open online courses (MOOCS) and open education resources (OERs). Students then demonstrate their mastery of the PG course outcomes by passing course assessments and/or Project-based Assessments of New Learning (PANeLs) at Purdue Global for the courses identified on the ILP.

Faculty... Have you ever had a question about how to grade a writing assignment or deal with a plagiarism issue? Are you looking for a resource to help you understand how to use Turnitin in your class or something to share with students about how to write better discussion posts? The WAConcierge is available to help you. You can send an email 24/7 to WAConcierge@purdueglobal.edu or stop by the monthly walk-in session on the last Tuesday of each month, noon-1:00 pm ET. The WAConcierge is here to serve faculty and other university stakeholders with writing-related questions and concerns. Students should be sent to the PG Writing Center.

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