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<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Dear Faculty,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>We are happy<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> to welcome you to the new year and hope it brings you health and much fulfillment. In this newsletter edition, we have an announcement about our SPS Faculty Community Site, updates about the LMS transition, and some guidance for preparing your course sites for the spring semester. We\u2019d also like to invite you to upcoming workshops examining generative AI in the classroom, reflecting on the impact of a critical analysis of chattel slavery in the teaching of business, <\/span>and the Open for All Workshop & Discussion Series<\/span>. We are looking forward to 2024 and are excited to support your teaching and professional learning in the months to come.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>For more than<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> 10 years, OFDIT has cultivated and shared online teaching resources via the SPS Faculty Community site on CUNY\u2019s Academic Commons, and we are pleased to announce this valuable resource just got even better! We’ve moved it to the CUNY SPS OpenLab, a powerful open-source digital platform for the SPS community to connect and collaborate through blogging, publishing, and social networking. The new SPS <\/strong>Faculty Community Hub<\/strong><\/a> is live! You’ll find all the previous teaching and learning content from the Commons, but enhanced with the power of the OpenLab. SPS now has a space where faculty and students can work together, experiment, and innovate. Please update your bookmarks, and come visit the new SPS Faculty Community Hub!<\/p>\n Launch the Hub<\/a><\/p>\n As we head into the Spring semester, training for faculty and staff in our new LMS is ramping up!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Brightspace Essentials<\/span><\/a><\/strong>, a self-paced and bite-sized learning experience for SPS faculty and Staff, has launched! This series of self-paced mini-lessons have been crafted to equip you with the fundamental skills for using the Brightspace Learning Management System (LMS).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>The first few<\/span> lessons will help you:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Dive into these<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> 15-minute lessons as a launching point for your Brightspace explorations.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>You can also<\/span><\/span> sign up for a Brightspace Demo<\/a> offered by the CUNY Central team that introduces basic navigation, course structure, the student experience, and accessibility. Register here<\/a><\/strong> for 1-hr webinars on Jan 18 at 1:00pm or Jan 23 at 11:00am.\u00a0 Prefer to watch a recorded session right away? View the <\/span>Brightspace Demo<\/a><\/strong> recorded on Nov. 29, 2023.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Finally, the CUNY<\/span> Central team has also announced their <\/span>Spring Workshop schedule<\/a><\/strong>, with sessions on:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>February and March<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> sessions are <\/span>open for registration<\/a><\/strong>, with further workshops continuing through June.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Our<\/span><\/span> Course Site Checklist for Faculty<\/strong><\/span><\/a> can be helpful when prepping your online course for the new semester.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>You will find<\/span> useful SPS quick guides from the OFDIT team and links to Blackboard Help pages, as well as a checklist of all the elements that need to be updated in a live course site for an upcoming semester, including:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span>Ensuring that all<\/span><\/span><\/span> dates for your course are accurate for the new semester is especially important; this includes dates mentioned in text items as well as assignment and folder availability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Though you will need to manually update any dates mentioned in any text, Blackboard availability and due dates can be reviewed and updated via Blackboard\u2019s <\/span>Date Management tool, either individually, as a group of items, or all of the dates at once. This is a great option if you are using content from a previous semester and would like to adjust your dates for the new semester. To learn more about how to use this tool, please see our <\/span>quick guide<\/a><\/strong>, or contact our team for assistance.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>An early alert<\/span> about a series of events exploring generative AI in higher education in February:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Decoding Generative AI:<\/span> Navigating the Fundamentals<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span>What is AI,<\/span> and how is it impacting the classroom? What are some current approaches and latest updates in this rapidly-growing area?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Using ChatGPT and<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> other AI tools as a brainstorming tool to enhance course learning outcomes and student success with experiential learning opportunities.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span>A CUNY Career<\/span> Success Fellows event, presented by Drs. Joseph Foy (Business) and Isabelle Elisha (Psychology)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>Let\u2019s Talk AI:<\/span><\/span> Student Roundtable.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span>What do CUNY<\/span><\/span> SPS students think about generative AI and their learning? What are advantages and issues regarding the use of these tools? What more would be helpful?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Hold the date<\/span> and keep an eye out for an announcement and registration links in the next few weeks!<\/span><\/p>\n The Committee on Institutional Equity and Diversity (CIED) is pleased to offer a workshop on \u201c<\/span>Pedagogy Grounded in Reality: Incorporating Chattel Slavery\u2019s Contribution to Higher Education\u201d<\/b> on <\/span>Thursday, February 15 from 12:00 \u2013 1:30 PM.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\nSPS Faculty Community Site<\/span>
\nNow a Communication Hub on OpenLab<\/span><\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2024\/01\/Community-Hub-Launch-Banner.png?resize=600%2C100&ssl=1\")
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\nBrightspace Update<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\nPreparing Course Sites for Spring<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\nTeaching with Intelligence:<\/span>
\nGenerative AI in the Classroom<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
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\nCIED Workshop<\/span><\/h2>\n