UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Karen Eifler

Teaching Tip of the Week From the TLC: Know Where to Go for Teaching Help

With the new school year officially and remotely launched, this is a good time to make sure you know where to find answers for your teaching and learning questions, especially those related to remote instruction. Colleagues were busy throughout summer leading workshops for each other, testing out new digital tools, and sharing wisdom about self-care. This first Teaching Tip of the Week points you toward those resources, each one worth lots of poking around in while you enjoy a triple shot latte:

Moodle Basecamp for Hybrid & Online Teaching. In addition to the tools and advice, the interactive forums are live, a great way to join in conversations and pose questions about teaching online.

TLC website: The Teaching & Learning Collaborative houses practical peer-produced videos, dozens of teaching tips, links to how-to tutorials and inspirational shots in the arm to renew your dedication to your craft.

Campus Coaches: we have talented and generous colleagues willing to chat with you about tools, confidence and course design. Add your name! Suggest a friend!

TLC is listening! If there is a topic or type of support that you are not seeing, let us know, and that will be remedied. Contact Karen Eifler (eifler@up.edu) with suggestions. And no, making a suggestion does not automatically mean you will be asked to lead it…but we can’t provide the right support until we know it’s missing. Please don’t suffer in silence!

Moodle Basecamp for Hybrid & Online Teaching is Ready!

An “all you can eat buffet” Moodle course for all faculty on the topic of Online and Hybrid Teaching has launched. An inclusive sub-committee worked to gather all the existing tools, tutorials, and emerging wisdom into one place for faculty to explore at their own pace as they prepare for fall courses. Every tool shared here is available to all members of the UP community and is well supported by our amazing ATSI and IT staffs.

The team is optimistic that your efforts this fall will feel a teensy bit less frenetic than the tectonic shift in March, as you engage with the Moodle Basecamp. The team was interdisciplinary, and the course itself allows for plenty of contributions and questions from the entire teaching community via the Forum functions. This includes a call for “Campus Coaches,” a roster of our peers who are willing to provide support—technical and moral—to anyone on campus. This roster grows each day through peer and self-nominations. We have an amazing, generous and talented faculty.

The Basecamp for Hybrid and Online Teaching is presented in scrollable blocks that faculty can dip in and out of as their time and needs dictate. The labelling is clear and intuitive. Everyone who teaches at UP has been enrolled in the course, and the team worked hard to have this ready in time to support the enormous effort faculty will put forth to be ready to welcome students in mid-August. For more information, please contact Jeffrey White at white@up.edu.

Sacred Art Songs Inspired by Feisty, Faithful Women of the Bible

Gift yourself with a mini-retreat and enrich your sacramental imagination with another podcast from the Garaventa Center vault: Women of the Book Concert, featuring February 2018 world premieres of stunning music by UP and local artists.

For other uplifting and stimulating presentations, we invite you to check out some of our greatest hits from the last 5 years, or browse our complete archive of podcasts. For more information contact Karen Eifler at eifler@up.edu.

More Patron Saints For The Current Condition: Did You Know?

Did you know that there are patron saints for most anything, even the internet? “Patron saints” in Catholicism are venerable women and men from throughout history who are heavenly advocates for places, professions and people. It is good to know that in the oddest of times there are saints who we can turn to as an aid on our way. In this time when we are leaning heavily on the internet, it is good to know who to turn to for continued support.

As the internet was gaining sway in everyday life, Pope St. John Paul II named St. Isidore of Seville the patron on the internet, which is interesting because St. Isidor was bishop of Seville in 600 AD – a few years before the internet came to be. As bishop he created a school that became a model for early universities. He also sought to establish for the community good norms for social justice and representative government as well as firm foundations in the faith. Yet the main thing that helped get him connected to the copious content of the internet is his twenty-book opus where he sought to set out the origins of as many things as he could, from language to law, from biology to agriculture, from Church history to road building. He tried to share as much knowledge as there was to be shared, and is therefore seen as someone who had in mind the great potential of sharing that comes through the internet.

Also noted as a possible patron of the internet is St Maximillian Kolbe, who built a large media service to bring news, information, and religious education to rural areas of Poland in the 1920s. In a similar vein for how we hope to gain much of what we find on the internet, he would give away all of his material for free. While often best-known for offering his life in the place of another in a German concentration camp, it is well worth looking up his many other contributions for the good of others.

All you holy women and men, pray for us.

“Did You Know” is a regular feature in UPBeat that reveals the wondrous and occasionally peculiar world of Catholicism. We will close out this academic year with info on patron saints for the current condition. Direct questions or ideas to Fr. Jim Gallagher C.S.C., or Karen Eifler.

Patron Saints For The Current Condition: Did You Know?

Patron Saints in Catholicism are venerable women and men from throughout history who are heavenly advocates for places, professions, and people. In these unprecedented times, we’ll share some especially relevant patron saints to intercede for us all.

St. Clare of Assisi is the patron saint of televisions and computer screens, believe it or not. An early follower of St. Francis, Clare founded The Order of Poor Ladies, which eventually became known as the Poor Clares. Late in her life, she fell too ill to attend church, and one day the images and sounds of the entire Mass appeared in full on the wall of her room. This story would have been well-known to Italian native Pope Pius XII, who in 1957 named her the patroness of this new invention—television—that, in his words, “is a wonderful instrument… which can be the source of very great wealth, but also of deep troubles.” This may be why he chose a saint steeped in humility, poverty, and love of God as its patroness. St. Clare is also the patron saint of sore eyes and embroidery, so let us invoke her prayers on our behalf as we learn to teach and work online and perhaps cultivate new hobbies as we shelter in place. St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us!

“Did You Know?” is a regular feature in UPbeat that reveals the wondrous and occasionally peculiar world of Catholicism. We will close out this academic year with information on patron saints for the current condition. Direct questions or ideas to Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C., or Karen Eifler.

Lift Your Spirits With David Haas Concert Recording

Continuing in the joy of Easter, we invite you to enjoy this feel-good podcast from the Garaventa Center vault: A Concert of Songs for Worship with renowned liturgical musician David Haas, composer of “We are Called,” “You are Mine,” “Blest are They,” and many more beloved hymns.

For other uplifting and stimulating presentations, we invite you to check out some of our greatest hits from the last 5 years, or browse our complete archive of podcasts. The Garaventa Center will be featuring some of our favorite podcasts here weekly through the end of the term; contact Karen Eifler (eifler@up.edu) with questions or requests.

“How to be Happy in Unhappy Times” with Abbot Jeremy Driscoll

Need a little pick-me-up in these uncertain times? Here’s one of our most popular podcasts from the Garaventa Center vault: How to be Happy in these Unhappy Times with Abbot Jeremy Driscoll, presenting the 2017 Red Mass lecture.

For other uplifting and stimulating presentations, we invite you to check out some of our greatest hits from the last 5 years, or browse our complete archive of podcasts. The Garaventa Center will be featuring some of our favorite podcasts here weekly through the end of the term; contact Karen Eifler (eifler@up.edu) with questions or requests.

The Easter Triduum: Did You Know?

Did you know about the Triduum?

As the Christian community enters into the final week of preparation for Easter Sunday, a week often called Holy Week, members of the Catholic community will begin to start talking about something called Triduum.  Taken from a Latin root that mean “three days,” it is a period of time that traces the final days of Jesus’ life, his death, and his resurrection from the dead.

Starting on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, each day is traditionally marked with a particular liturgy. On Holy Thursday there is the Mass of the Lord’s Supper that marks the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples, wherein he showed them what it means to serve by washing their feet. It is also meant to mark what is seen as the establishment of the celebration of the Eucharist (or Mass).

Good Friday is marked with fasting and prayer as a way to remember Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. The Good Friday liturgy involves the reading of Jesus’ passion and death from the Gospel of John as well as an opportunity to pray with and venerate a cross – the instrument of Jesus’ death and our salvation.

Holy Saturday is meant to be a quiet day, remembering the empty space that was present for the disciples of Jesus after his death and before his resurrection. They did not expect the resurrection and so were left in a place of grief.

After sundown on Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil is celebrated. It one of the longest of Catholic liturgies, involving several readings from scripture tracing God’s care for humanity, the baptism and reception of new members of the Church, the celebration of the Eucharist, and a great many joy-filled songs. It was that night when Jesus rose from the dead. It is that great victory over sin and death that the community celebrates.

The community will then gather again on Easter Sunday to celebrate Mass and continue to the joyous songs of celebration. Jesus Christ has risen to die no more! Humanity has been invited into that same trajectory through death to life.

Unfortunately, due to the needs of our current situation, our community will not be able to gather in person for the Triduum Liturgies. However, the private celebration of the Holy Cross community will be streamed live from the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. Please feel free to join online using this link.

The schedule of the liturgies will be: Holy Thursday at 4:30 p.m., Good Friday at 3 p.m., Holy Saturday Easter Vigil at 8 p.m., and Easter Sunday Mass at 10:30 a.m.

“Did You Know?” is a regular feature in UPBeat to help staff and faculty understand dimensions of this Catholic, Holy Cross university. You can send questions to Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C. (Campus Ministry) or Karen Eifler (Garaventa Center).

St. Joseph, An Extraordinary Man: Did You Know?

Did you know about St. Joseph?

You only get a vague image of this extraordinary person in the New Testament.  This unusual man, Joseph believes in the Incarnation, God becoming human, long before any theologian taught about this. He trusts that something special is happening in Mary, his betrothed, becoming pregnant with Jesus. As you read further in the Gospel account, there is a story of Joseph seen as a man who perceives God’s communication to him through dreams. Thus, believing in one of those dreams, he takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod, the king who seeks to put Jesus to death. However, in terms of a real description of Joseph’s virtue, the Scriptures leave us one central word. Joseph is spoken of as a “just man.”

A classical definition of the word “just” is to give to all what is due them. Therefore, you can imagine Joseph being a carpenter who worked hard to provide a good service and asked reasonable recompense. Where else did he offer what was due? One possibility is that he treated his foster son and Mary his wife as sacred people.  This is based on the fact that Joseph’s life was filled with a great deal of hallowed mystery. God had asked him to live in mystery and to be a husband and father of faith.  He fulfilled that role of “protector of the sacred” by giving Mary and Jesus what was just, everything that was due to them.

Perhaps our call to justice involves our treatment of others ahead of anything else. Ask yourself, “Are all the people in my life being given what is due to them while treating them as part of a sacred mystery?”

“Did You Know?” is a regular feature in UPBeat to help staff and faculty understand dimensions of this Catholic, Holy Cross university. You can send questions to Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C. (Campus Ministry) or Karen Eifler (Garaventa Center).