Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to footer content

Office of IDEAS

Fall 2024 Faculty Professional Development Opportunities


Programs descriptions for fall 2024 are available below. Applications for fall are now closed. 

Winter and Spring programming opportunities will be listed here later in the fall.

Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (AIM)

The overarching goals of this six-week program are to provide a variety of engaging faculty training resources to promote student success through positive and inclusive mentoring. You are expected to participate two hours per week - one in a Canvas course and one in a discussion group with your colleagues.

Dates: 6 Weeks from Sept. 16 - Oct. 25

Introduction to AI Tools in Higher Education

This three-week online course is an introduction to Artificial Intelligence tools where guided experimentation empowers participants to understand some of the basics of AI functionality, including its workings and methods for detecting its usage. Learn basic AI terminology, engage in hands-on exploration of AI Tools, learn strategies for detecting AI-generated content, and techniques to address potential misuse of AI tools by students. Participants will apply the knowledge gained to develop a personalized AI use policy for their course, and find resources to maintain currency in this dynamic field. This course will be open to Fresno State faculty and staff.

Dates: Sept 16 - October 6 |  October 14 - November 3

Clifton Strengths Finder

The goal of our Strengths Finder program is to explore what you do best in each of the 34 Clifton Strengths themes. The assessment provides you with a list and descriptions of each of your strengths and our faculty learning community will be to explore your signature strengths as well as your social identities in our educational context. There will be three faculty learning community sessions to discuss and explore the meaning of your strengths in the context of your teaching, research, and service. You will also have access to small group or one on one Clifton Strengths coaching sessions. 

Dates: September 20, October 25, & December 6 from 2:30 - 3:30 pm

Equity Minded Pedagogy (EMP)

The goal is for faculty to understand the specific structural barriers for underrepresented students as well as pell eligible students. Faculty will use Human-Centered and course design principles to redesign content, assignments, assessments, support, stories, and imagery in their courses.

Faculty will engage in the co-creation of their course with student input. Faculty will set data-driven goals to improve inequities in their classroom and positively impact retention and graduation at Fresno State. 

Dates: September 23 - December 9

Faculty Book Club: Essentials of College Teaching

This faculty learning community (FLC) is open to all faculty members and led by Dr. Connie Jones, author of The Essentials of College Teaching book, with lots of experience creating and running faculty or TA “bootcamps” to enhance teaching, and a leader of “Preparing Future Faculty” workshops for almost 20 years. Books will be provided.

Dates:

  • Book discussion:  9/11 8:30 - 9:45 am
  • Troubleshooting discussion: 9/18 8:30 - 9:45 am
  • Book discussion: 10/2 8:30 - 9:45 am
  • Troubleshooting discussion: 10/16 8:30 - 9:45 am
  • Book discussion:  11/20 8:30 - 9:45 am

Publishing Scholarly Works

Suitable for novice and advanced Faculty and Staff, we will learn how to write a journal article and a book proposal. During the weekly writing retreats faculty will have the space to do these writing activities. Participants will need to purchase the book Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks, Second Edition: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success by Wendy Laura Belcher, if desired. 

Dates:

  • Mondays September 9 - December 9 from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m on Zoom
  • Optional Writing retreats:  Oct 25 & Dec 6

Learning and Teaching with R Studio

This Faculty Learning Community (FLC) aims to equip faculty with the tools to learn and use R in their teaching practice. R and RStudio are an open-source statistical software package that is widely used in a variety of disciplines and non-academic industries. RStudio is a zero cost tool that is similar to Stata or SPSS with its accessible user interface.This FLC is organized in two parts. First, faculty will learn fundamentals for using R and transfer one research project workflow, course exercise, etc. (as needed) to R from their current statistical software package. They will also gather and annotate helpful available resources for teaching and learning with R that will become part of the FLC library. Second, faculty will work on transferring other course and project materials to R and will spend more time learning more advanced techniques in R. 

Dates: Starting the week of September 16; day/time TBD


Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Workshops

Learning About WAC/WID

This 2-hour workshop is designed for instructors who want to learn more about WAC/WID before committing to teaching or designing a (W) course. This is a good opportunity for instructors to better understand how WAC/WID prepares students for professional careers and ways to incorporate more writing-intensive assignments into their courses that still meet course learning outcomes.

  • Tuesday, 10/1: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., on Zoom
  • Wednesday, 10/2: 10:00 a.m. to noon, in person

Instructing a W Course

This 2-hour workshop is designed for instructors who would like to ease into developing a designated W course by strengthening their pedagogical approaches to teaching writing or for those who teach a W course and would like a refresher.  

  • Wednesday, 11/13: 10:00 a.m. - noon, in person
  • Thursday, 11/14: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., on Zoom

CSU Online Course Services - Quality Learning & Teaching (QLT)

Registration for fall sessions is now open

All CSU-OCS courses are taught by Certified CSU Facilitators, 3-weeks in length, online, asynchronous, and require 15-20 hours. While you are able to move ahead in the course, you must follow the due dates as peer-to-peer collaboration is integral to each course.

Introduction to Teaching Online (Q1)

For faculty new to teaching online using the CSU QLT rubric. Content includes orienting students to the online course, setting up the structure and navigation, designing online modules for content delivery and engagement, developing discussions, developing assessment tools, and using technology tools.

Reviewing Courses Using the QLT Rubric (Q2)

Ideal if you have prior knowledge and familiarity with QLT and plan to review courses seeking QLT certification. Participants will engage in hands-on experiences using the QLT objectives to rate elements of a sample course, learn how to write helpful recommendations, and discuss examples for setting up a peer-review process on their campus. 

Advanced QLT Course in Teaching Online (Q3)

Participants will complete a QLT Core-24 self review on their own course for reflection and to identify areas of improvement and will produce a final project showcasing three course changes made in the course while completing the training. Faculty will need to have a partially or fully developed online/hybrid course is required prior to registration.

Introduction to AI Tools for Teaching & Learning

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence tools where guided experimentation empowers participants to understand some of the basics of AI functionality, including its workings and methods for detecting its usage. Learn basic AI terminology, engage in hands-on exploration of AI Tools, learn strategies for detecting AI-generated content, and techniques to address potential misuse of AI tools by students. Participants will apply the knowledge gained to develop a personalized AI use policy for their course, and find resources to maintain currency in this dynamic field.

Apply for an OCS course