NIU’s Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center will continue its monthly FacDev Friday program with a discussion of online course components from noon to 1 p.m. today in Altgeld Hall, Room 100.

Faculty are invited to share their thoughts and learn about various aspects of online course components, such as NIU’s Blackboard service, said Carol Scheidenhelm, assistant director of the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center.

“It’s an informal sharing of ideas,” Scheidenhelm said. “One of the goals is for faculty to share with each other the things that are effective.”

This month’s topic will focus on classes that meet in the classroom but also have an online portion in their curricula.

While the list of courses being offered online grows gradually, the number of “blended” courses – those traditional courses that use online resources and occasional online meetings – is growing exponentially, said Amy Deegan, secretary of faculty development.

“A lot of times, faculty will use Blackboard but they won’t know how to use the different parts of it. Faculty will come and share their online strategies and how they logistically do it,” Scheidenhelm said. “Not only should faculty be able to use technology, but they should be able to use technology well.”

The topics of past FacDev sessions over the last year have included time management, creating learning objects, plagiarism and cheating and student accountability and responsibility.

“I have learned something every time we’ve had one of these,” Scheidenhelm said.

Past FacDev sessions have brought in anywhere from six to 15 faculty members. There is no prior registration needed and faculty are welcome to stay as long as they like.