ViEWS Pedagogical Support
The ViEWS project is being supported by CIDER through the creation of the Instructional Communications Development Program (ICDP). The ICDP provides university-wide and departmentally-based workshops, access to communication consultants, and a Faculty CxC Summer Institute.
The Instructional Communications Development Program (ICDP) is focused on helping faculty initiate, increase, and improve the ways in which they and their students use various forms of communication in their classes and beyond. These forms may include writing and drawing, speaking and singing, seeing and visualizing, and movement and gesture. These communication forms are used to create instructional environments that fosters students' critical thinking, problem solving, analogical reasoning, knowledge application, and knowledge construction.
Additionally, ICDP is working to create a university-wide consciousness and enthusiasm about Communication across the Curriculum (CxC), an expansion of the Writing Across the Curriculum movement that broadens the focus to include all forms of communication, including oral, written, visual, and technological. In attempting to meet these goals, we have developed the following initiatives:
Departmental Resources
Departmental resources include Communication Presentations, the 5-Minutes to Communicate series, Communication Digests, and Individual Consulting. Communication Presentations are roughly 45 minute, portable presentations that are presented to departments upon request. These presentations address a variety of communication-oriented topics such as how to give an effective PowerPoint presentation; low stakes writing activities for learning; rubrics for grading visual communication assignments; how to effectively use, monitor, and grade group presentations; and listening as a communication skill. The 5-Minutes to Communicate series offers mini-presentations appropriate for departmental faculty meetings addressing a single communication strategy . Communication Digests are online resources for faculty seeking condensed, written guidelines addressing specific communicative challenges.
Communication-themed Workshops and Work Sessions
Themed workshops and work sessions, presented as part of CIDER's Interactive Colloquia series, will cover similar topics as the Departmental Resources and will vary somewhat from year to year depending on needs assessment as well as faculty availablility to present.
Faculty CxC Summer Institute
The Summer Institute on Communication across the Curriculum (CxC) explores best practices for incorporating formal and informal instructional strategies designed to increase and strengthen students' communication skills and covers the latest technologies supporting various communication practices. Sessions will address spoken, visual, written, and technology-based communication skills such as active listening, interactive discussion, graphic design, message clarity, group presentation, learner-centered PowerPoint, podcasting, and more. These communication strategies will be explored within various contexts including face-to-face classrooms, distance learning, and ePortfolios. This institute will focus on the development of concrete pedagogical strategies and skills and how to implement them in your classroom.
Communication Consultants
CIDER is assembling a team of communication experts from within the university to serve as Communication Consultants. Communication Consultants will provide departmental presentations or interactive colloquia, provide online essays addressing communication strategies, and help to shape the services offered by the ICDP and CIDER.