Latest Issue of CELT Notes
March 12, 2025

Note from the Asst. Director

Hi, all.

We are so close to Spring Break! Yay!!

And, there is so much grading to do. Yay?!

We all know that midterm grades are critical to student success. We also know that nearly everyone is overstretched and in need of a break. Even more so if you also taught a J-term course and are, then, basically in week 11 of a seemingly endless semester.

If you’re tired and need a little motivational help, or if you are just interested in streamlining your grading process or trying something new, I offer a couple of tips to ease the pain of midterm grading:

1. Before midterm grades are due, upload each of your major assignments and assessment grades into your KATIE gradebook, if they aren’t there already, so that students can see how their midterm grade shakes out over the course work they’ve completed thus far, even before the Norsehub deadline.

2. If participation or engagement is a grading category in your syllabus, make sure you input each student’s midterm grade in this category for the first 7 weeks (with just a bit of feedback). This will help students understand how they are doing in this category now so that they can improve throughout the rest of the semester.

It may be helpful to ask students to take a quick participation/engagement self-assessment like this at the end of this week, or the first day you see them after Spring Break, to see how they think they are doing in relation to your participation/engagement rubric. This also gives you a chance to talk about what good participation and engagement looks like in your course as a reminder, and add some examples of how students may improve in the coming weeks.

If you’re like me and you’re always looking for something to make grading seem less arduous or anxiety producing, I’d like to propose two “thinking questions,” to quote our colleague in the English department, Dr. Marie Drews, for you to ponder over the next several days:

1. Does every major assignment and assessment in my course(s) align with at least one of the learning outcomes for the course? Do a bit of reflective thinking and writing on this. If you find that one or more assignments and assessments do not seem to align with your learning outcomes, it may be time to remove or revise that graded item. Look for upcoming course redesign institutes this summer or contact Christy or Erin in CELT for 1:1 help redesigning these aspects of your course(s) now.

2. Are you curious about finding other ways to assess your students’ work that feels more authentic, is AI-resistant, and may lead to less time “grading” student work in the traditional sense and open up space in your courses for students to participate in high-impact practices like reflection and self-assessment? Check out the ACM opportunity below, mentioned by Destiny Crider in our Full Faculty Meeting on Tuesday. If you can’t commit to the full program, reach out to Christy in CELT for more information about alternative grading options and practices, and stay tuned for CELT programming that addresses this pedagogical area.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, folks. Enjoy the rest of the week with your students, try to stay warm, dry and safe in whatever weather is in store for us today, and I hope you are able to take advantage of some well-deserved rest and recovery over Spring Break.

CELT Notes will be back on Wednesday, April 3.

Warmly,
Christy

1:1 Consultations | vrtich01@luther.edu | Valders 240 | 563-387-1587 | Mobile: 804-201-1688

And if you missed it last week, exciting CELT announcements!

Erin Zidlicky, instructional technologist, is now a certified instructional designer from Georgetown University. This achievement comes after Erin also earned her Quality Matters Certification. She’s now even more equipped to support you in designing and refining your courses. If you’re looking to elevate your course design, reach out to Erin!

Enhancing Accessibility for All Students

Panorama, by Yuja, is now available in KATIE! This powerful tool supports accessibility by offering alternative formats for course materials, conducting accessibility analysis, and providing feedback to improve digital content — creating a more inclusive learning experience for everyone.

Curious to learn more? Contact Erin Zidlicky for a quick 5-minute demo. Ready to activate Panorama in your KATIE course? Erin is happy to visit your class and show your students how it can enhance their learning journey!

Spring Programming

Sign up for Spring 2025 Workshops here.

Spring Inclusive Excellence Institute

This semester-long institute will consist of four, one-hour workshops. Each workshop will be offered once. All faculty and teaching staff are invited to participate in any of the workshops, regardless of whether you can attend all four.

 All workshops will be held in the CELT Conference Room, Valders 242, from 9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m., unless otherwise noted.

Workshop #4: Making Mistakes Learning Opportunities (AI and others), Thurs., May 1.

Teaching with AI workshop series

Sign up for Spring 2025 Workshops here!

This workshop series will consist of three, one-hour workshops focused on learning about Generative AI, learning how to use it, and learning how to design assignments and assessments with AI in mind. While this is a workshop series, faculty and teaching staff are invited to attend any of the workshops that interest them and fit in their schedules. Attendance at all three workshops is not required. All workshops will be held in the CELT Conference Room, Valders 242, from 9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m., unless otherwise noted.

Workshop #2: Designing Assignments and Assessments with AI in Mind, Thursday, March 20

Workshop #3: Designing Assignment Sequences with AI, Thursday, April 24

Spring Backwards Course Design Institute

Sign up for Spring 2025 Workshops and Book Groups here!

This institute will lead attendees through the work of designing or redesigning one course, beginning with student learning outcomes, and moving to assessments, then, assignments, and finally activities and course materials. Even if you can’t attend all workshops in this series, we welcome drop-ins to any/all remaining workshops in this series. All workshops will be held in the CELT Conference Room, Valders 242, from 9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m., unless otherwise noted.

Workshop #3: Backwards Design: Assignments & Activities, Thursday, April 10.

Workshop #4:. Backwards Design: Course Materials and Instruction, Thursday, May 8.

ACM Opportunities

Leveling Up Grading in the Liberal Arts

About

ACM FaCE Grant 2025 (Last updated: March 18, 2025)

• Organizers:
• Destiny Crider, Luther College
• Marc Falk, Coe College
• Peter-Michael Osera, Grinnell College

Among the strongest communication tools we yield as educators are our grading systems and assessments. Grades serve as a standardized tool by which we emphasize what material is most vital in our courses. Both students and external parties utilize grades to understand students’ mastery of the course learning outcomes and personal achievement. However, recent research suggests that grading’s perceived benefits are less potent than we might believe, and traditional grading systems perpetuate inequity in our classrooms.

In this project, we promote the development of alternative grading techniques, including mastery-based grading, specifications-based grading, and “ungrading” at ACM institutions.

Through a virtual spring reading group and summer workshop, participants in this project will craft grading systems and assessments based on these alternative grading techniques tailored to their specific courses. In the fall, participants will support each other through a virtual alternative grading cohort as they deploy their systems and wrestle with the practical realities of alternative grading systems. Throughout, we will also help participants develop the necessary knowledge and tools to promote alternative grading in their institutions.

Finally, we will also make publicly available the alternative systems and assessments developed throughout this project to further encourage ACM members to adopt these practices.

Activities

We will coordinate three interleaved activities during the 2025 calendar year aimed to help a cohort of faculty from ACM institutions develop and deploy alternative grading systems in their classrooms.

• Spring: a virtual reading group centered primarily on Robert Talbert’s Grading for Growth, a recent book that rapidly gets instructors up-to-speed regarding the literature surrounding the alternative grading practices. It also dives into the practicalities of implementing these systems in real-world courses. The reading group will meet monthly.
• Summer: a two-day summer workshop hosted at Grinnell College, where participants will design grading systems and assessments, building on the lessons learned from the spring reading group. Participants will bring materials for an upcoming course (or courses) they will teach in the fall and produce a preliminary updated grading system and drafts of assessments appropriate for that system by the end of the workshop.
• Fall: a virtual cohort that will support each other in deploying alternative grading systems during the fall semester. The cohort will communicate through an online medium, e.g., Slack, where participants can continue to share experiences and ask questions about their grading systems. We will additionally organize periodic (e.g., monthly) check-in virtual meetings with the cohort.

Additionally, we will put together a final portfolio of participants’ grading systems and assessments by the end of the calendar year.

Schedule

• Week of 3/17: advertisement of activities
• Week of 3/24: sign-ups due (Friday 3/28)
• Week of 4/7: no activity
• Week of 4/14: first reading group meeting
• Week of 4/21: no activity
• Week of 4/28: second reading group meeting
• Week of 5/5: no activity
• Week of 5/12: third reading group meeting
• Week of 5/19: no activity
• Week of 5/26: fourth reading group meeting
• Week of 6/2: workshop (Friday/Saturday?)

Sign-up

To sign up, please fill out this form by Friday, March 28.

From the Library Director

Database trial: Sage Business Cases [extended through April 11]

The library is hosting a free trial to Sage Business Cases. This database offers a global collection of over 6,800 real-life examples of successes and failures in industries from 1920 to present. The cases cover a range of disciplines including accounting, leadership, marketing, corporate social responsibility, DEI, and more. The cases can be browsed or searched in a variety of ways, including by region. Please contact Kay Bronshteyn if you would like a spreadsheet of the case titles.

Not included in the trial, but a part of a paid subscription, are teaching notes. Select samples of teaching notes are available separately. A three minute overview video on teaching notes describes their usefulness. Additional instructor videos explain more about searching and using the cases. If you trial the database, please email Kay your thoughts. A few seniors are currently using the database in their projects.

Informal Programming for the Week of Mar. 19 – Mar. 21, 2025

Friday Flow

Escape to the CELT Office for a new perspective on Friday, March 21, between 1:00-4:00 p.m. Bring any type of writing project (or grading!) and work for one hour or three! This is a non-directed, come-and-go-as-you-please opportunity to block out writing  or grading time at the end of the week.