Getting Things Done at MCC

October is the month to Get Things Done!

We now have six copies of Getting Things Done by national bestselling author, David Allen down in Professional Development (A210) for you to borrow and peruse. Our own Timothy Linehan has been presenting a workshop based an Allen's theories, and he will be re-running this popular GTD session on October 22.

Getting Things Done (or GTD) is a time-management protocol. Although it might sound boring, the method has attracted such a passionate following that some have (half-jokingly) accused GTD of reaching a cult-like status.
Widely-adopted in fields such as information technology and business management, the GTD craze has not fully reached academic circles. This workshop seeks to remedy that problem. Overflowing inbox? Cluttered workspace? Forgotten deadlines? Stop worrying and start Getting Things Done.

Timothy's workshop on October 22 is appropriate both for newcomers and previous GTD workshop participants in need of a refresher. And as someone who is a convert, I highly recommend this session.

Register through the Professional Development auto-registration, now!

Get Ready for Fall 2014 Faculty Development Day

We're just about three weeks out from our 2014 Fall Faculty Development Day and New Student Convocation, and the day has shaped up nicely. Take a look at what you can look forward to in the morning:

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and in the afternoon and evening:

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Make sure to check your MCC email for the formal invitation letter and a PDF of the program.

We're looking forward to seeing you on August 14!

A Sneak Peak at Fall Faculty Development Day

Fall Faculty Development Day is quickly approaching (Thursday, August 14, 2014) and we in the Office of Professional Development are getting ready.

Here are the curriculum maps for a few of the workshops our terrific MCC faculty and staff have prepared:

Advising Summit: Click to Enlarge Image

New School--Game-based Design: Click to Enlarge Image

Performance in the Classroom: Click to Enlarge Image

Check your MCC e-mail later this week for the invitation letter and full program. See you in August!

Is the Professor Who is on Summer Break Happy?

On Saturday morning, while my husband and I waited for the first World Cup match of the day to begin, we sat with our coffee and watched the recently released documentary by Michel Gondry, the filmmaker who made the sweet and funny films Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind, and the action adventure movie The Green Hornet.

His new movie, Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? isn't like any of these, however; it's an animated documentary (which sounds antithetical) about Noam Chomsky. Though it's not really about Chomsky, per se, but rather an 88-minute long interview of sorts where Gondry attempts to get at the heart of how Chomsky thinks and what he thinks about.



I'm writing about Gondry's movie here on this blog because not only is the film thought provoking--covering topics of education, linguistics, meta-cognition, philosophy, and scientific inquiry--and about a man, perhaps one of the greatest thinkers of our time, who wrote in his book Manufacturing Consent that "Education is a system of imposed ignorance," but also because Gondry, a whimsical thinker and filmmaker, represents us, the audience, in this dialogue with Chomsky: someone who respects the man, but doesn't always understand or agree with him.

It's the perfectly thoughtful kind of brain candy you all might want to chew on while you're on summer break.

The movie is available for instant streaming on Netflix (and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is available on DVD from the MCC Library)--let us know what you think!

More Canvas Videos For You!

Our own Meri Winchester has been creating Canvas tutorial videos for her YouTube channel, and she's just completed three more. Here they are!

Creating and Using Rubrics in Canvas


Basic Discussion Set Up

Discussion Settings in Canvas 

More Excellence in Teaching

Our third installment of the Excellence in Teaching Showcase brings us ideas from Stephen Mujeye (CIS) and Sarah Ruthven (ART). Stephen wrote them up for us to show off to all of you!

Stephen Mujeye, Instructor of Networking in Computer Information Systems wrote about pedagogy, and the teaching strategy was using technology as appropriate and available. The assignment was to teach students how they can use Group Policy in Server 2008 to set the homepage site on all network computers. The instructor was going to demonstrate a similar policy in Group Policy and then a volunteer students would be selected to lead others in setting and changing the homepage site for all computers.

Stephen's lesson is a great way to get students involved in peer-to-peer instruction, and as we all know, teaching something is a great way to master it.

Sarah Ruthven, Instructor of Art History wrote about pedagogy and the teaching strategy was holding students accountable to performance expectations. The assignment was an Art History I research assignment. The assignment included annotations and three Canvas discussion boards for each preparation step of:

1. Theme and Images
2. Topic Statement
3. Organization

The assignment would be graded for completion and comments will be provided to students by the instructor.

Sarah's lesson is a great way to informally scaffold an assignment and keep students on track.

For more information about either of these assignments, contact Stephen or Sarah, and stay tuned for even more from MCC faculty members on how they exemplify Excellence in Teaching.

Canvas Tips on YouTube

Meri Winchester, MCC Instructor of Digital Media, has started creating helpful Canvas tutorials and adding them to her YouTube channel.

We'll be sharing them here, and you can also visit her channel so see what else she's posting!

Excellence In Teaching Showcase, Part 2

At the end of the Fall 2013 semester, we had an Excellence In Teaching Showcase during one of our Fifth Tuesday meetings. We collected your note cards, which detailed an activity, assignment, project, or approach you use in your classroom that mapped back to one of the E.T. tenants of subject matter, pedagogy, assessment, and professionalism.

We promised to share those note cards with you, and here's the second of what we hope to be many posts!

Contributed by the MCC reference librarians and edited by Kate Kramer:

Got a research project or paper for your class? The librarians would LOVE to help!! They can create a research guide in support of your discipline, course or specific project. Check out this research guide that was competed for a research project in GEL 110 (Geology of the National Parks). Contact the library at 815-455-8762 or refdesk@mchenry.edu to discuss your options.

So,  take advantage of the time you have this summer and work with our terrific reference team on a Lib Guide for your class!

#happyatMCC

Please save the date for our Fall Faculty Development Day on Thursday, August 14!

We'll again be partnering with the New Student Convocation, which is exiting, and we're currently putting the finishing touches on the program for the day's activities.

You can look for the full program and a formal invitation letter in your MCC email box in June.

And check back here for some summertime Faculty Development!

Dancing with the Circulatory System

Yesterday afternoon I got a message from Deborah Firak, one of the hundreds of extraordinary faculty members here at MCC who go above and beyond their students' needs to deliver content in innovative and exciting ways.

Deb, who teaches biology, shared a video with me that she made "for [her] students to memorize the structures of the heart & circulatory system." She wrote a "ditty" to help them remember this important information, and then she put that song to work in this video, which is, for lack of a better word, adorable. Please watch it:



Now that you're bopping your head to those dancing little blood droplets and know a bit about the heart and circulatory system, send me a message to let me know what you have been up to. Because guess what? You're also one of the hundreds of extraordinary faculty members here at MCC, and you go above and beyond your students' needs to deliver content in innovative and exiting ways. So let's hear about it!