Strategic Planning and Budget Work

As our UNW community continues to engage in the Strategic Planning process, I am thankful for the many faculty and academic staff who have volunteered to serve on one of the three "Theme Teams"--Grow, Discover, Declare. Each of these teams will begin meeting soon and will work for six weeks to identify and create actionable recommendations for the Strategic Planning Team and Dr. Cureton. Please be in prayer for the teams as they think creatively and envision possibilities for UNW's future. 

In light of our significant budget challenge for 2021-2022, I am likewise grateful for the hard work of the Deans' Council and Rebecca Hasselblad, who have been working with other offices, such as Business, Enrollment Management, and Central Reporting, to generate and help process relevant data. Their collaborative, focused efforts and energy, despite the difficult nature of the work, have been greatly encouraging. In the weeks to come, Academic Affairs will be working closely with the Department Chairs and Assistant Deans, Faculty Senate, Academic Program Advisory Committee, Faculty, and AA Staff as we seek to help address our budgetary “to-solve.” Please pray also for this process, especially for wisdom, patience, and grace. 

Study Rooms for Students

This spring, we are continuing to offer courses in a variety of modalities. The vast majority of classes are once again being conducted face to face (F2F); however, we still have a sizable percent of hybrid and virtual classes. While students are participating in hybrid or virtual classes, they may need to find a temporary space to participate remotely. To help support students in need of temporary space, study rooms have been identified and reserved for student use during the spring semester. A list of these rooms has been posted to the COVID-19 portlet of the Student Home tab on theROCK. Please ensure that your students know about these spaces, especially if you are teaching a hybrid or virtual class. Thanks so much for your help in spreading the word!

Christian Scholar's Review - Invitation to Participate

Sharing our scholarship both within our community and beyond is an important part of extending our educational values. To this end, Northwestern has recently become a sponsor of the Christian Scholar's Review (CSR). All UNW faculty are invited to consider publishing in the CSR. You can find out more about the opportunity to submit a contribution here. Margaret Diddams, the editor for the print journal, is happy to address any questions you may have about the submission process.

CSR also hosts a blog with regular posts from distinguished scholars. You are welcome to contact Perry Glanzer, the editor-in-chief, if you are interested in posting as a guest contributor.

Tips for Effective Lecture Capture

As you use lecture capture to facilitate your hybrid or virtual courses and to support students in isolation or quarantine, please see the tips below to help give your remote students the best experience possible:

1. Make sure the your microphone is set to use the Huddly camera in classrooms. This should be checked before every class and will provide the highest quality audio to students.
   
2. Watch your own recordings. Watching your recordings can give you the experience a remote student has. Can you hear yourself OK? Do you tend to walk away from the video? Note things that you might be able to do to improve the experience of remote students and to ensure they can see and hear you throughout the class session.
3. Get feedback from your students. You may want to ask your class how things are going and see if they have any suggestions for improving the experience of participating remotely in your class.

Additional information and support for hybrid teaching is available here.