17 May
“CITLS and Mellon Program: An Arts Infusion and Partnership Showcase.” 12:00p.m. – 1:00p.m., 206 Gendebein Room of Skillman Library
Lafayette has recently secured a Mellon Grant to support the infusion of global arts into the curriculum and to encourage partnerships in these efforts across the campus, but also across the community. As a way of beginning the conversations about this effort, the Arts Advisory Committee for the Mellon Grant invites you to a showcase panel presentation of three recent projects which have involved a partnership between several academic departments including the arts, but also the broader community. This session is sponsored by the Arts Advisory Committee and the Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship.
19 April
“Using Student Self-evaluations to Improve the Classroom Experience”. 12:15p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
Tests, quizzes, and written assignments all provide students with regular feedback about their progress toward course outcomes. How do students know if they are participating satisfactorily in class? In our syllabi, we frequently tell students that their class participation will account for 10, 15, or even 20% of their course grade, but do we provide them with meaningful feedback on their participation? While assessments of class participation are subjective, they can nevertheless be quantified.
This presentation by Prof. Christian Tatu from the College Writing Program will discuss a student self-evaluation instrument for class participation, which professors can modify to reflect their own classroom values and make visible for students some of the discourse practices we value in academia.
Christian Tatu is a self-described “assessment geek” who coordinates the College Writing Program and teaches College Writing, FYS, and VaST.
16 April
“The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: How a Teaching Problem Becomes a Catalyst for Research”. 5 p.m. – 7 p.m., 104 Scott Hall
Dr. Jacqueline M. Dewar, who is a Professor of Mathematics at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA, will present a workshop on how to design research projects from questions raised by our classroom teaching.
In 2003, she was selected as one of 26 national Carnegie Scholars and has been the recipient of a number of grants to study and develop educational programs in mathematics in higher education, including projects to improve teacher preparation. Prof. Dewar is a recipient of a number of national and local awards for her teaching and a co-author of several mathematics textbooks, and numerous journal articles in mathematics pedagogy and faculty development. At this workshop, participants will learn a taxonomy of SoTL questions to help them reframe teaching/learning problems as research questions. They will see examples of SoTL questions and the types of data, both quantitative and qualitative, that might be gathered in a SoTL study. During the session, participants will also practice applying this information to design a study of their own.
3 April
The New Faculty Orientation Series: What every faculty member should know about advising.12:15p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
At this session, we will have an important discussion for those of you (and that’s most of you) who will become advisors at the end of this term. Most new faculty do not advise students in their first year, but would normally be assigned major advisees at the end of the year to begin advising these students with the fall term. Under our current system, first year students are advised by a special cadre of trained, experienced advisors, and second year faculty do not usually advise that group, but will often be advising in their department in their second year on the faculty. This session will be giving you the basic information and tools to help you in this task, one that can be very enjoyable. Celebrity guests will be Erica D’Agostino who is the Dean of Academic Advising, Karen Clemence, Senior Associate Dean, and Frank Benginia, our Registrar.
6 March
Using Extant Data Sets for Class Projects. 12:15p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
This year, through an initiative coordinated between the College Counseling Center, the Office of the Provost, and CITLS, a number of extant data sets are being made available to faculty to use in class assignments and other student projects such as independent study or Honors projects. These data sets include a number of long-term and on-going national and college-originated projects concerning a large range of student attitudes and behaviors. At this panel discussion you will learn how two colleagues, Miranda Teboh-Ewungkem, Mathematics, and John Shaw, Psychology, used some of this data in class assignments and projects. They will discuss some of what the students learned in the exercise as well as what they and the students thought about the projects. Registration is required.
2 March
Lessons from the Arts: Engaging Presentations. 12:00p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
Theater Professor Mary Jo Lodge and Music Professor Jennifer Kelly draw from the work they do in the performing arts to offer ideas for creating engaging presentations in the classroom, conference, and beyond. In this program, they’ll focus on using performance techniques to develop a classroom presence and on balancing technology in one’s presentation.
28 February (postponed for a later date)
The New Faculty Orientation Series.12:15p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
At this meeting, we will be discussing how to cope with the failing student. This was a topic suggested by the group last semester. Our celebrity guests will be familiar friends, Karen Clemence, Erica D’Agostino, and Karen Forbes.
15 February
Teaching Teaching and Understanding Understanding. 12:10p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
For this program, we will watch a video which presents several aspects of the teaching and learning dynamic. The video uses a “quasi-documentary”format with student and faculty actors playing their respective roles. Levels of teaching and levels of understanding (surface versus deep) are presented, along with a theory of teaching called “constructive alignment” which was developed by John Biggs. There will be an opportunity to discuss the concepts in the video and to see if they can be applied to our teaching. Lunch will be provided.
6 December
Student Response Systems: Using “Clickers” in Class. 12:15p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
At this meeting, we will be having discussion about the use of Clickers, also known as student response systems, in classes. Faculty who are or have recently used clickers in their classes will be talking about the benefits and costs of using clickers in the classroom. What seems to work? What doesn’t. What do students think about using them? What should an instructor think about before adopting them? Lunch will be provided.
2 December
Last CITLS New Faculty Program for the Semester. 12:00p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
This program will be an informal discussion of the first semester of teaching at Lafayette. What worked well, what didn’t? What were the surprises? What did you expect, but didn’t happen? What questions do you have about teaching, technical, strategic, or otherwise, as we move to the spring semester? What kinds of programs would like to see the Center provide for new faculty next semester? For the entire faculty? Lunch will be provided.
29 November
An Interdisciplinary Project to Develop an IPad App for Recording Field Data. 12:00p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
In this CITLS program you will hear how an interdisciplinary team composed by Profs. Chun-wai Liew (Computer Science), Lawrence Malinconico and David Sunderlin (both from Geology) developed an application for tablet computers which students could use to collect geological field data while making full use of the features found on devices such as the IPad to include note taking, GPS, and photography. The process followed by this team may be informative for others interested in developing apps for their research or teaching. This work was supported by NSF and EXCEL grants and was tested in the field by geology students.Lunch will be provided.
22 November
Stressed Students: How can you help? 12:15p.m. – 1:00p.m., 104 Scott Hall
As we lead up to finals, students are bound to experience increasing amounts of stress; while the majority of our students will cope well with this pressure, some will experience negative impacts on their health and academic performance. At the meeting, Dr. Karen Forbes and Prof. Alan Childs will facilitate a conversation about this topic. Lunch will be provided.
Co-sponsored by CITLS and the Dean of the College Office
11 November
Information Literacy Brownbag. 12:15p.m. – 1:00p.m., 04 Skillman Library
Professors Carrie Rohman (English) and Asma Sayeed (Religious Studies) will host a lunch time discussion on how they integrated information literacy into their respective courses: VAST 227 Creature: Humans and Other Animals in Contemporary Culture and REL 304 Islam in the West. If you would like to learn more about their endeavor and/or are interested in applying for an information literacy grant for Spring 2012, please come and join the discussion.
Co-sponsored by CITLS and Skillman Library
2 November
Applying Research on Learning & Memory to Teaching. 12:00p.m. -1:00p.m., 223 Oechsle.
Have you asked yourself whether to make class notes available to your students? And if doing so will decrease attendance or attention in class? Have you considered giving quizzes in addition to exams but wondered if the costs outweighed the benefits? Have you been at a loss to advise your students on the best ways to study? In an update of a workshop she gave two years ago, Prof. Talarico, Department of Psychology, will discuss how research in cognitive psychology can help you answer these questions and help you help your students.
SEPTEMBER
12 September
Faculty Workshop about Scholarship in Teaching and Learning (SoTL). 5 p.m. – 7 p.m., the Wilson Room (Pfenning Alumni Center).
Dr. Mary Taylor Huber, Senior Scholar Emerita and Consulting Scholar at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, Calif., and well-known author of a number of books and articles on teaching and scholarship, will present this workshop on how to think about, design, and conduct research on teaching and learning. Dinner will be provided. This workshop is for faculty in any discipline and with any level of experience in SoTL, especially if you have none at all. This workshop will help get you started. Registration will be required, and a link to register will be available later in the semester. If you have any questions, please contact Alan Childs.