Teaching & Learning Collaborative

The Teaching & Learning Collaborative (TLC) at SUNY Adirondack provides dedicated instructional support for credit and non-credit teaching faculty by offering online teaching support, trainings, workshops, self-paced resources and a dedicated faculty resource space.

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Frequently Asked Questions
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Professional Development Calendar
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TLC Faculty Support Hours
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Information for new instructors

About the TLC

The TLC Resource Room is available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Faculty are invited to use the following resources available in TLC, located in Adirondack Hall 144:

  • 4 computers (PCs)
  • Collaboration space
  • Copier/scanner/printer
  • Basic classroom supplies

Doris Ostrander is a learning experience designer and educator with more than 25 years of experience in teaching, instructional technology, and higher education. Her work focuses on using design to improve educational experiences for students, faculty and staff.

Doris is available to consult with faculty on best practices in teaching and learning in the Digital Learning Environment as well as in traditional face-to-face courses and other instructional modes, such as hybrid, remote and flex courses. She also can provide instructional design support to faculty developing new courses.

For the 2022-23 academic year, the TLC professional development workshops will focus on the following broad topics:

  • Accessibility
  • Brightspace essentials & integrated applications
  • Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) in online courses
  • Title III (ADK Way) related topics:

    • Growth Mindset in the classroom

    • New HRD/Freshmen Seminar

    • New Supplemental Instruction in Math

Faculty interested in proposing new workshops are requested to take into account the TLC Topics for a given academic year.

  • Information about how to propose a workshop will be added to this webpage soon.

The TLC collaborated with Dr. John Jablonski, Vice President for Academic Affairs, on the 2022 Faculty Development Day.

  • Full Agenda
  • Keynote: Mindset, Belonging, and Resilience: Creating a New Story of Success - Amy Baldwin, Ed. D. 
    • Copies of Dr. Baldwin’s book Promoting Belonging, Growth Mindset, and Resilience to Foster Student Success are available in the SUNY Adirondack library in print as well as online. 
    • Access to her slide presentation is available to SUNY Adirondack faculty and staff upon request, by emailing Doris Ostrander.

The TLC collaborates with other groups on campus to help support their goals in regards to teaching and learning.

  • Title III (ADK Way): the TLC works with the ADK Way Strategy 6 Leads and the Title III Steering Committee to support their teaching and learning goals, as well as including some topics related to Title III in the 2022-23 TLC Professional Development Program.

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): the TLC will be working with the Chief Diversity Officer in support of professional development for DEI in teaching and learning.

I'd like to propose...

At the heart of the Teaching and Learning Collaborative at SUNY Adirondack is the idea that faculty have a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and experience. The TLC faculty professional development program is intended to encourage faculty to share the best practices they employ in their classrooms with their colleagues. The program is open to all credit and non-credit faculty currently teaching at SUNY Adirondack.

I'd like to request...

Faculty may request to have a new publisher or 3rd party application integrated with Brightspace  via LTP or API. 

  1. First, check this document to see if your application or publisher is already integrated with Brightspace.
  2. If it is not listed, please complete this online form using your SUNY Adirondack email address. 
  3. When we receive your completed form, we will contact the publisher to collect the information necessary to request to have SUNY set up the integration in Brightspace. 
  4. Once SUNY completes the integration, we will send you a follow up email.

Note: Requests must be placed at least 12 weeks before the start of the semester you would like to begin using the new publisher content or third-party application.

SUNY Adirondack staff and faculty may request to add an internal faculty development opportunity to the TLC Professional Development Google calendar (available in March 2023).

Note the TLC Professional Development calendar is limited to internal professional development events for SUNY Adirondack faculty. This calendar is not intended for students or the public.

We recommend submitting requests at least one month (ideally earlier) before the date of the event. Please be advised it may take up to 10 business days for events to be added to the calendar.

 

Campus Resources & How to’s

The College Reading Specialist is available for faculty consultations to share ideas to make reading assignments (and other modes of heavy content delivery) more effective. 

Each academic year, the Counseling Division provides our campus community with a guide to Helping Students in Distress. It is a quick reference to provide tips and strategies for your interactions with students. If you have questions or would like to talk about a challenging situation with a student, please contact the Counseling Division.

For resources to share with your students, please visit the Student Services webpages. If you encounter a student who is struggling to pay a bill, concerned about their financial situation, or generally in need of assistance, please refer him/her to the Community Hub.

SUNY OER Services (SOS) provide assistance and knowledge to support the adoption of open educational resources. This includes offering a ready-to-adopt course catalog and other educational resources.

SUNY Adirondack faculty and staff can view the current publishers and 3rd party applications that are integrated with Brightspace on this document. It includes a brief overview of how faculty can add each external tool to their course.

Best Practices

The OSCQR rubric was created to help faculty ensure that their online courses are learner centered and well designed. We recommend that faculty review the rubric before developing a new course.

The SUNY Effective Online Practices Award Program aims to collect, share and showcase the online best practices, strategies, and innovative online teaching and learning activities or programs of exemplary SUNY Online Teaching Fellows and online practitioners from across the SUNY system. Visit the SUNY Effective Online Practices Award Program webpage to submit your idea or view the effective practices that have been shared by other SUNY faculty.

The University of Central Florida's (UCF) Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) offers TOPR as an open resource for faculty and instructional designers. Search for Online/blended learning pedagogical practice ideas. New TOPR submissions undergo a peer-reviewed process. Visit the TOPR home page and/or submit an idea.

As of Fall 2022, nine (9) SUNY faculty and staff members have contributed to TOPR.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. 

Faculty often begin applying UDL principles by ensuring their course materials meet accessibility requirements. However, UDL may also be applied to how faculty teach and access learning. “UDL is a framework to think about how different tools and resources can be leveraged to reduce barriers and support all learners to engage in challenging ways of thinking.” 

SUNY Professional Development Opportunities

Many of the professional development opportunities provided by SUNY are offered through the SUNY Center for Professional Development (CPD). A select number of their offerings are listed below.

You may create a CPD user profile here, if you do not already have one. This will allow you to RSVP and access the CPD events below (as indicated by an asterisk) using your campus credentials.

Lumen Circles Fellowships provide opportunities to connect with other faculty members as you explore effective instructional practices that support student success and apply them in your own teaching. 

Lumen Circles Fellowships are available at NO COST to SUNY faculty and campuses. For more information and to apply, visit the Lumen Circles: SUNY Information Site (lumenlearning.com)

During the transition to Brightspace, the SUNY Center for Professional Development is providing training webinars and asynchronous modules to provide Brightspace training to faculty.

The following CPD professional development opportunities are provided to SUNY faculty and staff for free.

FACT 2 Inclusive Teaching 4-Part Webinar Series

Topics include: What is inclusive teaching?, Setting the tone, Creating a welcoming environment, and Giving the students tools for success.

Thursdays 1-2 pm: April 6-27, 2023

Access for All Webinar Series

Various dates and times: March 7-April 19, 2023

Topics include: Accessibility for Math, UDL in STEM, Nuerodiversity, Designing for Readability, and much more!

* Events with an asterisk require a CPD user profile to RSVP and access. You may create a CPD user profile here, if you do not already have one.

Conferences & Symposia

Check here in September for the 2023 dates.

Open and Public: Using digital tools to transform learning and foster community engagement

March 8-10, 2023

The SUNY Online Summit, sponsored by the SUNY Online Teaching unit, is an annual SUNY-wide conference specifically for SUNY Fellows in the experienced, expert, exemplar, and innovator/researcher roles. 

April 26 – 28, 2023

This virtual conference is free to SUNY staff and faculty.

For more information on registration and speakers, please visit the event website.

May 23-26, 2023

This hybrid event is hosted by SUNY Oswego. CIT 2023 will be a hybrid event with a separate schedule for the virtual and in-person presenters and attendees

February 27 - March 3, 2023

Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, NJ hosts this 2nd annual virtual event.