Category Archives: Midd Points

News from the Office of Digital Learning

critical instructional design, digital learning, For Faculty, For Staff, Hindi, information environmentalism, language, language learning, Midd Points, pre-immersion, School in India

Updates

The Office of Digital Learning has recently begun a series on our blog about the newly-formed information environmentalism movement as an integral part of cultivating digital fluency. As Amy Collier writes in her post Attending to the Information Environment of the Web, “Misinformation on the web is polarizing us, it’s radicalizing us, and we should be paying attention.” Amy makes a call for higher education in general — and Middlebury in particular —  to lead the way in improving our information ecosystem. To learn more about information environmentalism, and to join in, we invite you to begin by reading Amy’s post.

To learn more about other projects and initiatives supported by the Office of Digital Learning, we invite you to peruse This Week in ODL, a series on our blog where readers can find updates on the projects, news, and developments underway at our office. And don’t forget to check our Projects page where you can find descriptions of and links to our many projects.

Blog

The ODL has an active blog and we would love to count you among our regular readers! To receive blog updates in your inbox, subscribe to our blog by scrolling to the bottom of our website and adding your email address to the subscribers list. While you’re there, we hope you’ll check out our latest blog posts:

New Workshop — Tech Services Overview for New or Recent Hires

Midd Points

Hello My Name Is <Place name here>Information Technology Services (ITS) is offering a new workshop with recent hires in mind called “ITS & You:  Technology Services Overview.”  We’ll introduce services and resources provided by ITS to all Middlebury College employees, including: email, file storage, account security, online learning, and how to obtain computing help.  The workshop format will be a presentation with questions entertained along the way, followed by an optional half hour for hands-on assistance with specific questions.

Visit http://go/techworkshops/ to view the schedule and sign up using our online form.  Although geared toward new or recent hires, everyone is welcome to attend – you might surprise yourself with an “aha” moment or two.

Holiday Pay Time Entry Reminder for 2017-18

For Staff, Human Resources, Midd Points

horn-o-plentysnowmanHere is a review of procedures regarding time entry during the November and December breaks.  Hourly (non-exempt) employees must use specific pay codes to record time during the designated breaks. Exempt (salaried) employees do not have use special codes since the appropriate number of days for each of the breaks will default in as Holiday Pay.

The 2017-18 holiday schedule is:

Thanksgiving Break: 5:01 p.m. Wednesday, November 22, through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, November 25 (regular operations resume Sunday, November 26.)

December Break: 5:01 p.m. Friday, December 22 through 11:59 p.m. Monday, January 1 (regular operations resume Tuesday, January 2, 2018)

Hourly Employees:  There are two pay codes – Holiday Pay and Holiday Premium Pay – that are used only during the designated holiday periods:

Holiday Pay (HOL): a benefit that is provided by Middlebury College to keep benefit-eligible employees’ pay whole without having to use CTO during designated holiday periods. It is not intended to provide extra pay: HOL, which pays at an employee’s regular hourly rate, is to be entered for normally scheduled hours by non-exempt benefit eligible employees on days during the specified holiday break periods whether or not they work.  For the Thanksgiving break, up to two days may be entered, for the December break, up to six days may be used.  Employees who work variable or flexible schedules should coordinate entry of HOL with their supervisor to determine the appropriate number of HOL hours.

Holiday Pay Premium (HPP): a benefit that pays eligible non-exempt employees extra for working during the designated holiday periods. HPP, which pays at time-and-a-half the employee’s base hourly rate, is to be used by all eligible employees for hours worked during the specified holiday break periods. A limited number of part-time non-benefit eligible employees (such as those who work at the Snow Bowl, as the Snow Bowl is open for regular business during the December break) are not eligible for HPP. Please speak with your supervisor or Human Resources if you have questions regarding your status or eligibility for HPP.

Who Worked on a Holiday Who Did Not Work on a Holiday
Hourly benefit-eligible staff Enter Holiday Pay for any normally scheduled hours AND Enter Holiday Pay Premium for hours actually worked.* Enter Holiday Pay for any normally scheduled hours.
Hourly non-benefit-eligible staff Enter Holiday Pay Premium for hours actually worked.* No action needed.
Hourly non-benefit-eligible staff in positions designated as ineligible for HPP Enter Regular for hours actually worked.* No action needed.
Salaried, exempt staff No action needed. No action needed.  Holiday Pay code will default in during payroll.

* Remember to enter hours on the correct shift.

Please contact Human Resources if you have additional questions regarding time entry of HOL or HPP.

FAQs

Q: I understand that holiday pay is for benefit eligible staff. However, I had coordinated with my supervisor and indeed worked during Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving. Can I enter the hours normally in this case?

A: Worked hours during the holiday breaks should be entered as Holiday Pay Premium (HPP) by all non-exempt staff, whether or not they are benefits-eligible. The only exception would be Snow Bowl non-benefits eligible employees during the December break, since, unlike the rest of the campus, the Snow Bowl is open for business.

Q: I am a benefits-eligible employee who normally works Tues-Sat; how would I enter time for the Thanksgiving break if I am off Thursday and Friday, then work Saturday? Would I get three days of holiday pay?

A: Remember, the maximum holiday pay benefit is two days for the Thanksgiving break, so you would have to use CTO for one of the three days if you were off all three days.  If you work on Saturday, you would enter holiday pay premium for the hours if you work, but it wouldn’t be necessary to enter CTO since you would receive two days of holiday pay for Thursday and Friday.

Q: I normally work Sunday through Thursday; how would I enter my hours for the Thanksgiving break?

A: You would enter holiday time for Thursday, and nothing for Friday and Saturday since you would not normally be scheduled to work on those days. Sunday would be regular hours, or CTO if you did not work.

News from the Office of Digital Learning

data, digital environmentalism, digital learning, domain of one's own, For Faculty, For Staff, language teaching, Midd Points, MiddCreate, Office of Digital Learning, social media, Spanish

Updates

Things are happening at the Office of Digital Learning! To keep abreast of what the ODL is up to, we invite you to read the weekly series on our blog called This Week in ODL where you can access updates on the projects, news, and developments underway at our office. We invite you to click here for a complete listing of our weekly updates. And don’t forget to check our frequently-updated Projects page, where you can find information about our many projects.

Blog

The ODL has an active blog with regular readers from both within and beyond Middlebury. We hope to count you among them! To receive blog updates in your inbox, subscribe to our blog by scrolling to the bottom of our website and adding your email address to the subscribers list. While you’re there, we hope you’ll take a minute to check out our latest blog posts:

Registration for 2018 Winter Term Workshop Now Open

Midd News & Events, Midd Points

Winter Term Workshop 2018

Here’s your chance to broaden your horizons and/or develop a new interest! This January is your big opportunity to participate in Winter Term Workshops offered by Student Activities. Be sure to take advantage of this year’s workshops ‐ open to the entire College community ‐ and make the most of Winter Term. Registration begins at 8:00am Sunday, November 19th and ends 8:00am Monday, December 18th.

To check out the workshops being offered; go/wtw

To register to participant in a workshop; go/ideal

 

 

Streamlined Productivity Webinar with Porter Knight

Midd Points, Midd/MIIS Collaboration

Monday, November 27th, 2017 at 4:15 – 5:45 pm EST/1:15 – 4:45 pm PST (90 minutes)

Sign-up: Click here to register and view details

The hours in a day are finite yet the demands on your time seem limitless. How can you effectively get your work done when you’re pulled in so many different directions? This workshop will put you back in charge of your day so you can get organized, be effective, and focus on what’s important. You’ll learn time management tricks, strategies to stay on top of email, and ways to communicate your tasks and priorities to others.

Join us for this lively and interactive program. You’ll leave with tools you can put in place immediately to get more done with less stress.

*To join the webinar, you will need a computer with the Zoom software downloaded and an internet connection.

  • You can create a Zoom account for yourself at any time by visiting go/zoom, clicking sign-in, and logging in with your Middlebury credentials.  Monterey users will need to use their full @middlebury.edu address.
  • More details on how to join the webinar will be sent before the session.

College Community Chorus in concert Nov. 18-19

For Faculty, For Staff, Midd News & Events, Midd Points

The Middlebury College Community Chorus takes to the Robison Concert Hall stage at Middlebury’s Mahaney Center for the Arts for its annual Thanksgiving concert, this year with the theme “Heart and Home.” Performances take place on Saturday evening, November 18, 7:00 pm, and on Sunday afternoon, November 19, 3:00 pm. Admission is free.

College Community Chorus rehearsal

Rehbach leads students and community members in rehearsal in Chorus rehearsal. Photo: Anastasiya Prokhorenko ’19

Conductor Jeff Rehbach notes that through a rich variety of historic and present-day music abounding with vivid writing for chorus and piano, the program evokes our longing for home, our heartfelt desire for peace and hope, as well as our joy in celebration and thanksgiving. Rehbach leads the 100-voice chorus as virtuoso pianist Timothy Guiles accompanies the ensemble.

The group delights in presenting music by Moira Smiley, who grew up in New Haven, Vermont, and now travels across the globe to share her music and songs. Stand in That River encourages us to “Come and stand in that river, current gentle and slow, send your troubles down-water, down on that water flow.”

The chorus reflects on life at home with These Green Hills, Vermont’s state song, in a new arrangement just written this past spring by Maarten van Ryckevorsel. The Road Home, by Minnesota composer Stephen Paulus, uses a tune from The Southern Harmony Songbook (1835) with new words: “There is no such beauty as where you belong; rise up, follow me, I will lead you home.”

The choir remembers those who have been a part of our lives with two works by contemporary American composers, Good Night, Dear Heart by Dan Forrest and Homage by Z. Randall Stroope. The first poignantly sets the words of a classic poem by Robert Richardson that Mark Twain notably placed on the headstone of his daughter who died in her early twenties. The second honors beloved parents and all who shape our lives.

Music wells up in our hearts with a passionate yet sensitive setting of I Dream a World by Langston Hughes, set by African-American composer Rosephanye Powell: “A world I dream, where black or white, whatever race you be, will share the bounties of the earth…and joy, like a pearl, attends the needs of all mankind.” Norwegian-American composer Ola Gjeilo sets the ancient church text Ubi caritas (“Where charity and love are, God is there”) in a breath-taking setting that features solo piano alongside the chorus. Rosephanye Powell sets her newly composed song, I Will Sing, in a toe-tapping gospel style: “When freedom rings, I will sing of the love, of the peace, of the hope, of the joy that fills my heart.”

The program includes settings that depict a heavenly home with music from the 18th and 19th centuries: How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place by Johannes Brahms, and Agnus Dei (Lamb of God, grant eternal rest) by French composer Gabriel Fauré. The group will present Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant us Peace) from the Mass in B minor, one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s final compositions. The choir will also sing Jubilate Deo (O be Joyful) by the German composer Felix Mendelssohn, based on an historic psalm of thanksgiving.

Members of the College Community chorus travel for weekly rehearsals from throughout the region, including Cornwall, Weybridge, Middlebury, Ripton, Goshen, Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, New Haven, Waltham, Vergennes, N. Ferrisburgh, Charlotte, East Middlebury, Salisbury, Leicester, Brandon, Randolph, Orwell, and Shoreham. College students hail from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, China, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Texas, and California. The group is open without audition to all singers who delight in participating in this 150-year-old community tradition, hosted by Middlebury College. For additional information, check on the web at http://go.middlebury.edu/communitychorus or contact director Jeff Rehbach at 989-7355.

TEDxMiddlebury THIS Saturday!

Midd News & Events, Midd Points

TEDxMiddlebury: Lost and Found will be held on Saturday, November 11th from 10:00am to 1:30pm at the Middlebury College Center for the Arts Robison Concert Hall. The theme, Lost and Found, is about the perpetual discovery and rediscovery that is essential to our existence as human beings. It questions what it means to feel lost and find purpose once again, be it in the formation of ourselves or the creation of our communities.

This year’s speakers include the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Outreach Director, a Vermont-based design professional, a Kentucky state legislator, and a Spanish linguistics expert. Speakers will also include the winner of this year’s Student Speaker Competition, Nia Robinson ’19, as well as Middlebury alumna Rana Abdelhamid ’15.

We hope that you will join us for a wonderful morning of TEDx talks and conversation. Tickets can be purchased from the box office in McCullough Student Center, in the Center for the Arts, or online here: https://tinyurl.com/y8s62db3.

For more information on this years event and TEDxMiddlebury, please visit our website (http://sites.middlebury.edu/tedx/) or our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TEDxMiddlebury/). For questions, please email tedxmiddlebury@middlebury.edu.