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Welcome to CAT Base, the new and improved CAT+FD wiki, designed to support programming by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development at Xavier University of Louisiana.

Looking for resources from a recent workshop? 2025-2026 Workshops / 2024-2025 Workshops

Brightspace Tutorials

• Brightspace: Instructors Quick Start Tutorial — To successfully teach your courses, you must be able to utilize basic Brightspace tools. If you are not already familiar with Brightspace, or if you need a refresher, start here.

• Design Course to Facilitate Learning
  • Customize Your Course Homepage in Brightspace — Customize your course homepages to enhance the course experience for your students.
  • Accessibility Is Not Just For Individuals With Disabilities - Create accessible course materials that can benefit everyone.
  • Set Students Up for Success Using Release Conditions - Create a more personalized, organized, and responsive learning environment.

• Help Learners Stay on Track
  • Utilize Brightspace to Help Students Stay on Track
  • Course Analytics: Insights to Empower Your Teaching and Improve Student Learning
  • Unlocking the Potential of Brightspace to Help Identify and Support At-Risk Students

• Accessing Learners
  • Proactive Strategies for Academic Integrity
  • Rubrics Reimagined: Save Time and Boost Feedback
  • Using Alternative Assessments to Improve Student Learning
  • Rethinking and Improving Online Tests in Brightspace
  • Secure the Testing Environment and Protect the Integrity of Online Tests
  • Allow Learners to Reflect on Their Learning
  • Rethinking Assessment Strategies in the Age of AI
  • Online Assessment Strategies in the Age of AI

• Collaborative Learning
  • Engagement Strategies for Online Discussions in Brightspace
  • Facilitating Group Work in Your Brightspace Course
  • Using VoiceThread to Enhance Lectures and Discussions

• Inclusive Teaching in Mixed-Mode
• Instructional Continuity — Anything from extreme weather to family emergencies can disrupt scheduled courses. An instructional continuity plan will assist you with continuing course delivery in the event of a disruption by minimizing the effects of the disruption.
• #LearnEverywhereXULA (Online/Hybrid Instructor Tutorial)
• Brightspace Small Plates — Timely tips from our award-winning blog.
• See also our Brightspace FAQ as well as our Brightspace documents.

EdTech Tutorials

• Achieving HTML Literacy — The mysterious code of web pages doesn't have to be so mysterious anymore.
• AI²: Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity
• Artificial Intelligence “Bootcamp” for Xavier Faculty Spring 2023 — explore the potential benefits and risks of AI, including the use of AI to improve your teaching and research
• Content Curation for Teaching & Learning — The content curator is emerging as an important role in the 21st century.
• How to create a personal website — These simple step-by-step instructions will guide you through the process of setting up a free personal website on WordPress.com.
• Everybody's a Visual Learner
• How to Make Excellent Video Lectures
• FaCTS 2024 — Human Learning in an AI World
• Mastodon and Beyond: Our Federated Future
• Using Camtasia
• Using Feedly
• Using VoiceThread for Teaching and Learning
• Video help

Pedagogy Presentations

• Integrate Equitable Grading into Your Own Course
• Show Up & Speak Up

Transformative Feast

• Mindfulness for You & Your Students
• Technopathology and the Mindfulness Movement
• Developing a Personal Vision — Articulating a personal vision can re-energize your efforts, inform your short-term and long-term plans, even improve your daily time-management skills.
• Developing a Personal Vision and a Personal Website
• Five Iron-Clad Laws of Extremely Efficient Time Management
• Social Media, Social Justice
• Maintaining Focus in a Fragmented World

Communities of Practice

• Faculty Portfolio Working Group: Develop a portfolio as a scholarly project that provides documented evidence of teaching from a variety of sources.
• Fall Faculty Book Club: During the fall semester CAT sponsors a book club for Xavier faculty.
• #LearnEverywhereXULA Advanced Certification
• P-MAX (Preparing Mentors and Advisors at Xavier): P-MAX is a training program that is designed to provide participating faculty with the knowledge and skills needed to mentor and advise undergraduate students, especially those engaged in research.
• Part-time Faculty Support: Links and resources for new and returning part-time faculty members.
• Xavier Faculty Writing Group: Each semester, the Xavier Faculty Writing Group provides a supportive community for teacher-scholars to further their academic writing.

Resources

• Brightspace Educator Share Showcase (The Orange Room)
• Brightspace FAQs
• Brightspace HTML Templates Resource
• Brightspace Known Issues
• Creative Commons Resources
• Equipment — Actual physical hardware Xavier faculty can borrow.
• Faculty Resources
• Inverted Teaching
• KeepTeachingXULA (Instructional Continuity Toolbox)
• QR Codes in Education
• STEM and Mentoring Resources
• Tips for Hybrid (Mixed-Mode) Presentations (in CAT+FD facilities)
• Transparency in Learning and Teaching
• Using CC Licenses and CC Licensed Works
• Writing and Research Productivity

Archived Resources

• Academic Integrity
• Assessing Student Learning (Assessment Toolbox)
• Career Pathways Initiative
• Digital Footprint Resources
• Grounding
• NASA SHELiB Bridge to High Schools
• Student Resources
• 2017 RISE & BUILD Summer Workshops
• 2019 RISE & BUILD Summer Workshops
• 50 Web Tools for Online Teaching and Learning