Western Carolina University logo with Coulter Faculty Commons

Jumpstart Your Semester with the CFC: Week Zero is Here!

by | Jul 21, 2025 | Active Learning, Assessment, Blog, Canvas, Faculty Development Workshop, Teaching and Learning

Week Zero

Looking to start the semester with confidence? The Coulter Faculty Commons (CFC) is launching a brand-new initiative this fall: Week Zero, a series of practical, faculty-focused sessions running the week before classes begin from August 11–15.

Designed to help you hit the ground running, Week Zero offers workshops on assignment design, Canvas, accessibility, and active learning. Whether you’re completely new to teaching or you’re looking to brush up on your teaching toolkit, there’s something for everyone.

Flyer for Week Zero with an illustration of an open book pointing to a rising sun. The text says "Get ready for Fall with the CFC, August 11-15, in-person and virtual"

With just four weeks to go until kickoff…

… now is the perfect time to:

Sign up for sessions that spark your interest

OR

Schedule a consultation with the CFC team if you’d like more tailored support

Register for Sessions
Week Zero Schedule
Schedule a consult

We hope to see you there!

Support Continues: Online Course Template Training This Summer

by | May 9, 2025 | Blog, Canvas, Online Learning

Get Course-Ready: Summer Training for Canvas Online Template

We’re continuing to support the rollout of the new Online Course Template with additional training opportunities throughout the summer! Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refine your course, these sessions are here to help you make the most of the template.

Register for Summer Training Sessions

CFC Online Course Template Training Sessions

  • Tue, May 27 (virtual), 10 – 11:30 a.m., Zoom 
  • Wed, May 28 (in-person), 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., CFC (HL 166) 
  • Mon, June 9 (virtual), 1:30 – 3 p.m., Zoom 
  • Tue, June 10 (in-person), 10:30 a.m. – noon, CFC (HL 166) 
  • Thu, July 10 (virtual), 1:00 – 2:30 p.m., Zoom 
  • Fr, July 11 (virtual), 10 – 11:30 a.m., Zoom 
  • Mon, July 21 (virtual), 2:00 – 3:30 p.m., Zoom 
  • Tue, July 22 (virtual), 9:00 – 10:30 a.m., Zoom 

For Summer and Fall classes, WCU’s Online Course Template will be added to all online course shells (distance and residential). While the university is not requiring faculty to use the template, some departments and programs have chosen to adopt it as a standard. The template is designed to enhance consistency, support, and engagement for both students and instructors.

Key Benefits

    • Consistent Course Layout: Standardized format for easy navigation.
    • Enhanced Engagement: Built-in features for interactive learning.
    • Streamlined Support: Simplified access to Canvas tools and resources.

What’s Included?

The template follows best practices in online course design and includes:

    • Verbiage for the Syllabus tool.
    • An editable master module for customization.
    • A sample module demonstrating best practices.
    • An Instructor’s Guide with video tutorials and quality guidelines.

Training & Support

The CFC continues to offer training sessions to help you integrate the template into your courses. Video tutorials are also included in the template for on-demand support.

We encourage faculty to adapt the template to fit their course needs while maintaining a cohesive structure across WCU. For questions or assistance, reach out to the CFC.

Canvas Online Course Template Training at Biltmore Park

by | Mar 27, 2025 | Blog, Canvas, Online Learning

Newly Added In-Person Training Sessions at Biltmore Park!

Due to popular demand, we’ve added two in-person training sessions at Biltmore Park! Join us on:

📅 Tuesday, April 1, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m., Biltmore Park (Room 336)
📅 Friday, April 11, 10:00 a.m. – noon, Biltmore Park (Room 338)

These sessions provide hands-on support and guidance to help you make the most of the university’s new Online Course Template. You can view the full schedule to find all available training opportunities, including virtual and on Main Campus, on our previous blog post Training for New Canvas Online Course Template.

Check out the schedule and join us at a session that works for you!

Register for Sessions at Biltmore Park

Training for New Canvas Online Course Template

by | Mar 7, 2025 | Blog, Canvas, Online Learning

New Online Course Template Launching Summer 2025

Starting Summer 2025, a new Online Course Template will be included in all online courses (distance and residential) at WCU. The template is designed to enhance consistency, engagement, and support for both students and faculty.

Register for CFC Training Sessions
Register for Sessions at Biltmore Park

Key Benefits

    • Consistent Course Layout: Standardized format for easy navigation.
    • Enhanced Engagement: Built-in features for interactive learning.
    • Streamlined Support: Simplified access to Canvas tools and resources.

What’s Included?

The template follows best practices in online course design and includes:

    • Verbiage for the Syllabus tool.
    • An editable master module for customization.
    • A sample module demonstrating best practices.
    • An Instructor’s Guide with video tutorials and quality guidelines.

Training & Support

The CFC will offer drop-in training sessions to help you integrate the template into your courses. Video tutorials are also included in the template for on-demand support.

We encourage faculty to adapt the template to fit their course needs while maintaining a cohesive structure across WCU. For questions or assistance, reach out to the CFC.

CFC Online Course Template Training Sessions

  • Mar 21 (virtual), 1 – 3 p.m., Zoom
  • Mar 26 (in-person), 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., CFC (HL 166)
  • Mar 26 (virtual), 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Zoom
  • Mar 31 (in-person), 3 – 5 p.m., HHSB 433
  • NEW @ Biltmore Park! Apr 1 (in-person), 2:30 – 4:30 p.m., Biltmore Park [Room 336]
  • Apr 3 (in-person), 3 – 5 p.m., CFC (HL 166)
  • Apr 3 (virtual), 3 – 5 p.m., Zoom
  • Apr 10 (in-person), 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., CFC (HL 166)
  • Apr 10 (virtual), 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Zoom
  • NEW @ Biltmore Park! Apr 11 (in-person), 10 a.m. – noon, Biltmore Park [Room 338]
  • Apr 28 (in-person), 3 – 5 p.m. – HHSB 433
  • May 12 (in-person), 3 – 5 p.m., HHS Room TBD

Increasing Student Engagement With Regular and Substantive Interaction

by | Nov 17, 2023 | Active Learning, Blog, Canvas, Educational Development, Help Your Students, Learn, Online Learning, Student Engagement, Teaching and Learning, Teaching with Technology

How many days do you log into Canvas and interact with the students? How quickly do you give helpful feedback on activities and assessments? Do you set your students’ expectations by including an email/discussion response statement in your syllabus?

Why do we pose these questions? Frequent interaction and purposeful engagement with students are a hallmark of excellence in teaching and learning. It looks different depending on whether you are teaching in-person, hybrid/blended, or online.  We ask students in our in-person courses to log into Canvas every day to see announcements, their grades and feedback, and content. This provides opportunities to increase engagement with students outside of the scheduled classroom time. For hybrid and online faculty, we can use best practices to increase engagement with students who may be residential or remote.

decorative image of regular and substantive interaction

Faculty who teach online regularly or occasionally should be aware of Regular & Substantive Interaction (RSI), a regulation from the Department of Education that went into effect July 2021. RSI is a determination of whether an online course is a correspondence course (which doesn’t qualify for Federal financial aid) or a distance education course. These recommendations also apply to in-person teaching.

Fortunately, we have resources like the Quality Scorecard from the Online Learning Consortium to help us identify how we are meeting RSI and areas where we may need to improve our efforts. Over the next few months, we will share the criteria with suggestions on how to put them into practice.

The scorecard is divided into 6 sections: Course Overview and Information, Course Technology and Tools, Design and Layout, Content and Activities, Interaction, and Assessment and Feedback.

Let’s look at the first two sections.

Course Overview and Information:

  • The course includes a welcome and how to get started, as well as an overall orientation. Content is organized in Modules.
  • Module overviews make content, activities, assignments, due dates, interactions, and assessments transparent, predictable and easy to find. *A suggested best practice is to include an overview page as the first page of each module.
  • Course outcomes are observable and measurable, and congruent with the assessments and assignments.
  • Include the online learner success resources and contact information for the department and program, in addition to instructor information.

Course Technology and Tools:

  • It is extremely important to use Canvas, WCU’s approved and supported LMS.
  • Include information on how to contact the IT HelpDesk in a prominent place so students can find it when they need it.

Remember, these RSI standards are useful in increasing student engagement in any modality!

Next up in this series: 

Designing for Student Engagement using RSI

The CFC would love to partner with you to design, redesign, or make improvements to your Canvas course.  Let us know what you need through our Consultations Scheduling Page.

 

Source: Regular and Substantive Interaction, SUNYOnline – https://www.sunyempire.edu/dlis/design-your-course/regular-and-substantive-interaction/

Summer Institute for Teaching & Learning (SITL)

by | Apr 20, 2022 | Active Learning, Blog, Canvas, Classroom, Educational Development, Educational Technology, Faculty Development Workshop, Summer Institute for Teaching & Learning (SITL)

It’s BACK!!

The Summer Institute of Teaching & Learning is back after a two year COVID hiatus. We will gather together in person on May 10 & 11th in HHS 204 for sharing and conversation.

We are keeping it low key this year. Come to relax, learn something new, and enjoy good food and conversation with your peers.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Sudhir Kaul, Professor, School of Engineering and Technology, and the 2022 UNC Board of Governor’s Teaching Award winner from WCU.

Lunch is provided on both days – registration is required.

Agenda:

Tuesday May 10: 

9:00-9:15 am –  Welcome  

9:15-10:00  –  Student Engagement in the Times of a Pandemic  Keynote: Dr. Sudhir Kaul, Professor, School of Engineering and Technology, BOG Teaching Award Winner, 2022

10:15 am-Noon  –   Workshop 1 – How to Engage with Students in any Modality

Noon-1:00pm   –    Lunch 

1:00-3:00pm  –    Workshop 2 – The First Steps: Instructional Design or Redesign

 Do you want to design or redesign an assignment, assessment, content, part of a course, or an entire course?  This interactive session will get you started with brainstorming and an action plan to get you through the summer

3 – 3:15 –     Summer Beach Read

3:15 – 3:30 – Sharing and Next Steps

 

Dr. Sudhir Kaul

Wednesday May 11:

9:00-11:30am –  Workshop 3 – Student Engagement through Assessment and Grading in Canvas

11:30am-12:30pm  – Lunch

12:30-3:00 pm – Workshop 4 – Undergraduate Students as Research Partners

3:00 – 3:30 pm – Sharing, Next Steps, and Closing

Registration

Use the QR code to access the registration form or https://wcu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1FX4RGQqj1AjF54

 

Looking forward to seeing you!

SITL Registration

Summer Institute of Teaching & Learning

May 10 & 11, 2022

HHS 204

Use the QR code below or go to the Registration Form

QRQ code to register for SITL