February 19, 2025
Resources to elevate your teaching
Submitted by Office of the Provost
The Center for Academic Innovation, in the Office of Academic Affairs and Innovation at Kansas State University, announces a suite of resources and services to enhance your teaching experience. These services include access to teaching and learning experts, instructional designers, accessibility experts, video services, recording studios and more, all aimed at supporting faculty in creating engaging and effective learning environments.
To showcase our services, we are offering a synchronous virtual accessibility training session at two different times as well as an all-in-one experience where faculty can meet and collaborate with experts from across campus.
-
Digital Accessibility Basics — Join via Zoom:
- 12:30–1:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24
- 10:30–11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25
-
Drop-in session — 1:30–3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25
- Join us in person in Room 181 of Hale Library.
- This session will include instructional designers and partners from Teaching and Learning Center, Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab, Mediasite, Canvas, Academic Technology and the Student Access Center.
Faculty members are encouraged to take advantage of personalized support and discover new tools and methods to elevate their teaching. Feel free to bring along your laptop, syllabus or other materials. If you have a specific topic in mind, please RSVP and let us know. Walk-ins are welcome.
Instructional designers: The Center for Academic Innovation has a team of instructional designers available to any teaching faculty or teaching assistants. Services include:
-
Accessibility: Ensure your Canvas course meets accessibility and quality standards through an online course review.
-
Design and development support: Access personalized support for designing and developing both credit and noncredit courses.
-
Specialized training: Request customized presentations on instructional design topics tailored for your department’s needs.
-
Online learning resources: Utilize instructional design expertise through various authoring tools and technologies for online learning.
-
Canvas training: Receive instruction on Canvas, including how to effectively use the standardized K-State Canvas course template.
Teaching and Learning Center : The center has long been the source for faculty development. Services include: monthly teaching improvement workshops; increased emphasis on: engaging students in online classes, improving accessibility of course materials, effective teaching strategies — e.g., how to engage students, eliciting multiple perspectives, effective assessment practices and assessing student learning; biweekly newsletter to better communicate with the university community; enhanced social media presence via X, Facebook, and the Engage the Sage YouTube channel; more public recognition of outstanding teachers; and more.
Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab: Step into a world of limitless possibilities. The Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab offers K-State students, staff, faculty and the community the opportunity to unleash their imaginations and use the latest innovative technologies. Spaces and equipment include: Artificial intelligence studio, collaboration spaces, equipment checkout, Fabspace, immersion studio, Liquid Galaxy display, makerspace, media studio, media gallery, One Button+ studio, sound studio and video production studio.
Educational technology tools:
Canvas is K-State’s web-based learning management system.
-
Canvas integrates with KSIS and other applications to extend functionality, including grade submission, open educational resources and commercial learning tools.
Mediasite is a capture solution that enables instructors to create lectures and presentation videos as well as:
-
A distribution platform that allows students to watch content on their computers or mobile devices.
-
A video management system that places rich, individual-student-level analytics at instructors' fingertips.
-
A student-centered video player that empowers students to focus on the content most important to them.
For more information, please contact the Center for Academic Innovation instructional design team at idteam@k-state.edu.