The Center for Instructional Design and Teaching Innovation provides an array of services and activities to support faculty development at Cheyney University. The Center organizes workshops and programs throughout the course of the year to enhance faculty skills to support innovations in teaching and to specifically meet the needs of the students we serve. Faculty professional development provides essential skills to enable synergy across learning communities, to meet the needs of at-risk students, and to support learning amidst Cheyney’s unique diversity of student needs.
The Center provides a variety of technology integration and support services to the Cheyney community, including:
- Instructional design training and support to faculty who are interested in developing online and hybrid courses
- Assistance with University-wide planning, development, and adoption of instructional technology
- Identifying and communicating best practices regarding the application of technology to enhance teaching and learning
- Designing, developing and producing print-based and digital guides and tutorials to assist faculty and students in performing a variety of technology-related tasks
- Conducting workshops and one-on-one consultations on leading productivity applications and the University’s learning management system
- Evaluating emerging technologies that have potential value for teaching and learning
Online Instructor Certification
All faculty are required to complete the Online Instructor Certification Course (OICC) to teach online at Cheyney University. The OICC is a self-paced asynchronous online course that focuses on designing courses according to the Quality Matters standards.
The OICC is performance based requiring faculty to demonstrate proficiency in the LMS (Brightspace Desire2 Learn as well as in aligning their courses according to Quality Matters. Faculty completes the course at their own pace over a 3-week period. As of fall 2022 87% of faculty (permanent and adjunct) have successfully completed the course and gained certification.
Online Course Development
To assist with design and development of online courses, Cheyney provides the expertise of our Instructional Design and Innovation Center as a resource for our faculty. Support includes:
- Re-conceptualizing face-to-face courses for online or hybrid delivery
- Developing appropriate technology based formative and summative assessments
- Planning, cooperative, collaborative assignments and activities
- Choosing appropriate educational technologies and developing online course materials to enhance teaching and learning
- Revising and redesigning existing online courses
- Testing a course site for usability and functionality
- Suggestions based on current research in educational technology and online learning
Training/Professional Development Spring 2023
Audience |
Topic |
Date/Time |
Format |
| Faculty | Fostering Student Interaction with Perusall | 2/3 @ 10:30 – 11:30 am | Online, via Zoom |
| Faculty | Building Community to Foster Student Engagement | 2/17 @ 10:30 – 11:15 am | Online via Zoom |
| Faculty | Measuring Student Engagement with the Vitalsource Dashboard | 3/3 @ 12:45 – 1:30 pm | Online via Zoom |
| Faculty | Measuring Student Engagement with D2L Intelligent Agents | 3/17 @ 12:45 – 1:30 pm | Online via Zoom |
| Faculty | Managing Student Engagement with D2L Conditional Release | 4/7 @ 12:45 – 1:30 pm | Online Via Zoom |
*All sessions are virtual. To register, please contact Linda Brawner at lbrawner@cheyney.edu.
BrightSpace Desire2Learn Tutorials
| Feature | Description | Tutorial |
| Profile | The Profile contains any information you want to share with your students and is a convenient way to have students introduce themselves to each other. | Profile |
| Announcements | The News (Announcements) feature communicates important updates and information to students. | Announcement |
| Modules | Modules enable you to organize your course. Three common organization models are: chronological, topical, and by content type. | Module |
| Discussions | The Discussions tool is a communication tool designed for interacting with course members to enhance the online course environment. | Discussion Forum |
| Assignments/Dropbox | The Dropbox is a useful tool that creates a container for students to submit the assignments. | Drobox Folder |
| Grades | The Grades tool allows yo to enter assignment grades, track a student’s progress, and calculate final grades. | Understanding Grades |
Contact the Center
For workshops, consultations and support, please contact Linda Brawner at lbrawner@cheyney.edu, call 610-399-2588 or visit the center located in Rm 234 Duckrey Hall.
Dr. Chris Barnes serves as faculty coordinator, and he may be reached at cbarnes@cheyney.edu