SPRING 2018 PROGRAMS
Friday, February 9: A Conversation with Kaleidoscope
Noon; Marlo Room- Farinon; Lunch provided
As you may know Kaleidoscope is a student organization whose mission is “to foster greater social justice awareness and facilitate intercultural conversation within our communities.” One way that they pursue this mission is through workshops for students in various courses or groups and often the workshops are required activities for the audience. The Kaleidoscope students have questions for faculty about how to manage conversations with resistant audiences, a problem many of us have in common with them in our classrooms–no matter our division or discipline.
The Kaleidoscope students invite you to participate in small group conversations with them over lunch on Friday, Feb 9 during noon-1 in the Marlo Room; lunch provided. They hope to find collaborative connections and exchange ideas on how best to share in this mission on campus. We hope to see you there!
Friday, Feb 16: Using Good Moodle Design Principles: Creating an Accessible Course Site
Noon; 103 Ramer History House; Lunch provided
During this session, attendees will learn about the different types of course formats and layouts available to them in Moodle, and the impacts these layouts have on the course experience. Examples of good layouts will be demonstrated, discussed, and compared to “bad” layouts. Finally, a demonstration will be provided of how materials might be intentionally organized in a Moodle course to provide an optimal experience for all students, including those needing accommodations. This session will be led by Greta Brubaker, Technology Training Coordinator, and Jason Simms, Instructional Technologist.
Wednesday, Feb 21: My Favorite Writing Assignment, co-sponsored by Skillman and College Writing Program
Noon; Gendebein Room – Library; Lunch provided
Faculty: could your writing assignments use some updating? My Favorite Writing Assignment is back! Join Han Luo (Foreign Languages and Literatures), Jorge Torres (Music) and Monica Salas-Landa (Anthropology & Sociology) for a discussion of their favorite assignments for teaching writing and critical thinking. Open to all faculty.
Friday, Feb 23: Designing Accessible Course Materials
Noon; 103 Ramer History House; Lunch provided
ITS staff will demonstrate a variety of tools and practices, which include using the built-in accessibility checker in Moodle, captioning video content, providing alternative “alt” text on images, creating accessible PDFs, techniques for creating accessible content from scanned materials, and providing students ready-made accessible materials through online sources like ebooks. This session will be led by Greta Brubaker, Technology Training Coordinator, and Jason Simms, Instructional Technologist
Wednesday, Feb 28: Inclusive Pedagogy with Dr. Matthew Ouellett (please see below for programs)
Dear Colleagues:
With a focus on student-centered, active learning, inclusive pedagogy is a holistic philosophy of education. Faculty maintain supportive classroom climates in which they also attempt to address some unnecessary and systemic barriers to success. On Wednesday, February 28, we’ll host Dr. Matthew Ouellett, Executive Director of the Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell University, who will help us dive into inclusive frameworks. He will deliver a keynote lecture at noon and then facilitate a workshop at 4:10 that day.
Learn more about Dr. Ouellett and his work here:
[ http://teaching.cornell.edu/ | http://teaching.cornell.edu/ ]
Wednesday, Feb 28, noon-1, Oeschle 224, lunch provided
Building and Sustaining the Inclusive Classroom: A Systemic Approach
This highly interactive keynote will engage participants in considering multiple points of entry for building and sustaining the inclusive classroom. We will address institutional, departmental, course and individual strategies for defining what it means in the context of Lafayette College to be inclusive and how we go about strengthening current efforts and identifying promising future practices.
Wednesday, Feb 28, 4:10-6, Ramer History House 103, snacks provided
The Inclusive Classroom: Assessment Strategies for Transformative Learning
How do we assess student progress in the context of courses in which participants’ deeply held ideas, values, and beliefs may be challenged? For example, the student who arrives at a science course strongly believing in creationism or sociology course that contests their beliefs about communities different from their own. This will be an engaging interactive workshop.
We’d like a preliminary count of attendees. Please RSVP for the events here:
[ https://lafayettec.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0d1kVpCiF4GWVBX | https://lafayettec.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0d1kVpCiF4GWVBX ]
We hope to see you there!
Friday, March 2: Reducing Student Textbook Costs with Open Educational Resources
Skillman Library and CITLS co-sponsor the following event on Friday, March 2 at noon in the Gendebien Room; lunch will be provided.
As Lafayette moves towards need-blind admissions, the Library is evaluating ways to encourage the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) as a way to alleviate the financial burden textbooks place on students. Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research & Instructional Services at Temple University will give some background on the OER movement and highlight the creation of Temple’s Textbook Affordability Project. Then Daniele Ramella, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Temple, will discuss his experiences incorporating OERs into his curriculum and the impact this had on student learning. Discussion and Q&A following the talk will highlight next steps we can take at Lafayette to build an OER program.
We hope to see you there!
Wednesday, March 28: Teaching with Technology Grantees
Noon, 117 Kunkel, lunch provided (co-sponsored by ITS)
We’ll hear from Christian Tatu (College Writing Program), Joann Ordille (Computer Science), Greta Brubaker (Art, ITS), and Adam MacHose (Art, ITS) on how they incorporated technology into their teaching recently. More information on the grant is available here: https://its.lafayette.edu/teachingtechgrant/
Monday, April 2: Faculty Research Forum: Inequality and Social Welfare
Noon, Gendebein Room, lunch provided (co-sponsored by Skillman and Provost Office)
Rebecca Kissane (Anthropology and Sociology) and Mallory SoRelle (Government and Law) will speak about their research, how they frame questions, and what methods they employ.
Wednesday, April 4: “Good and Better Practices” for Inclusive Education
Noon, 223 Oeschle (Psych building), lunch provided
Mary Armstrong (Women’s and Gender Studies), Chawne Kimber (Mathematics), Robert Kurt (Biology), Jenn Rossmann (Mechanical Engineering), and Kristen Sanford-Bernhardt (Engineering Studies and Civil and Environmental Engineering) will share research and methods at institutions highlighted at AAC&U’s “Transforming STEM Education” meeting.
Wednesday, April 11: Lecture recording pilot readout
Noon, 117 Kunkel, lunch provided (co-sponsored by ITS)
Last fall ITS rolled out a pilot to a select group of faculty members who recorded their classes in a variety of fashions- large lecture, intimate discussions, and presentations. We will hear about the experiences of the faculty members involved in the pilot including how they used the technology, what the student experience and use was like, and their thoughts on the process and pedagogy of using lecture capture. We will also demonstrate how the software is used, what hardware is required, and talk about how faculty can use this technology in their own teaching.
FALL 2017 PROGRAMS
Wednesday, Nov 1: Technology Roundtable: Video Content and Interactive Media Kylie Bailin (Libraries), Greta Brubaker (ITS), Ben Jahre (Libraries), and Jason Simms (ITS)
Noon, 103 Ramer History House, lunch provided
In spring 2017, 40% of the faculty responded to a Learning and Research Technologies survey asking faculty to prioritize potential teaching and learning projects related to interactive media and video content such as lecture capture and flipping a course. ITS will discuss how it’s supporting, and plans to support such projects, and the Libraries will feature some of its video content services.
We hope this forum will provide you a better understanding of what tools and services are available as well as an opportunity to ask us questions about these services. Further, we hope this will be a chance for you to connect with members of ITS and the Libraries who can help you develop or execute your vision of innovative pedagogy.
[Co-sponsored by CITLS, Learning and Research Technologies, and Skillman Library
Thursday, Nov 2, 3:30: “Rethinking Technology’s Role in Transforming Higher Education” – MJ Bishop (University of Maryland)
Sinclair 101 at Lehigh University
Abstract: Advances in available instructional technologies have many excited about the possibility that we may soon break free of the immutable “iron triangle” that has prevented higher education from increasing access, affordability, and quality simultaneously. But while we have seen advances in access and affordability, the 100-year history of technology use in education paints a rather bleak picture of the extent to which technology, in-and- of-itself, can lead to the kind of increases in learning outcomes that we seek. This presentation traces the many lessons learned from that history and explores how changing the way we view technology’s role might finally help us achieve meaningful and sustainable change.
MJ Bishop, PhD., Director, William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation at University System of Maryland, was previously the Program Director of Teaching, Learning, and Technology as well as an Associate Professor at Lehigh University prior to her time at University System of Maryland.
[Co-sponsored by CITLS, LVAIC, and the Teagle Foundation]
Friday, Nov 3: Information Literacy Brown Bag
Noon, Gendebein Room, lunch provided
Professors Andrea Armstrong (Enviromental Studies), Seo-Hyun Park (Government and Law), and Julie Smith (Economics) will lead a lunch time discussion on how they integrated information literacy into their respective courses: EVST 215 Enviromental Policy, GOVT 332 Globalization and Security, and and ECON 323 Money, Financial Intermediation and the Economy. Learn more about their endeavors and about how to apply for an information literacy grant for Spring 2018.
[Co-sponsored by CITLS and Skillman Library]
Friday, Nov 10: What’s in a Name?, part II: What do we call faculty and staff members?
Noon, Gendebein Room, lunch provided
In Fall 2016 we engaged in a vibrant conversation about the psychological impacts of proper pronunciation and use of students’ preferred names in the classroom. This year we turn the tables and convene a panel of students, faculty and staff to consider what we prefer students to call faculty and how all of us address staff members. Preferences are personal and vary on most demographics (gender, race, age, academic discipline, or staff member’s rank, or social perceptions). We look forward to a lively conversation among: Mary Armstrong (Women’s and Gender Studies), Bianca Falbo (English), Simona Glaus (Health Professions Coordinator), Chawne Kimber (Mathematics), Robert Kurt (Biology), Saeed Malami ’20, and YOU. [Co-sponsored by CITLS and Skillman Library]
Here are a few related articles to ponder about faculty-student interactions.
Molly Worthen on manners:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/opinion/sunday/u-cant-talk-to-ur-professor-like-this.html
Katrina Gulliver on familiarity:
Will Miller’s response to Katrina Gulliver:
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/03/10/essay-professionalism-and-formality-teaching
Tuesday, November 28: Data Swap!
12:15pm- 1:15pm; 103 Ramer History House, lunch provided
CITLS will host a data swap, providing an opportunity for those on campus who generate datasets to interact with those who use and analyze data in classes and/or their scholarship to see if there are possible fruitful collaborations. Participants will briefly share about datasets and/or analysis techniques to find common interests.
Wednesday, October 4: “Library/Technology Roundtable: ADA Compliance on Accessibility of Teaching Materials”
12:00pm-1:00pm; 103 Ramer History House, lunch provided
Faculty: The first open CITLS event of the semester. We’ll have a Technology Roundtable conversation with staff members from Learning and Research Technologies and the ATTIC about ensuring the accessibility of teaching materials. [Co-Sponsored by Learning and Research Technologies]
The next phase of implementation and enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 focuses on the accessibility of teaching materials on campuses. Some campuses are already facing legal action about this and so we’d like to try to get out ahead of things here at Lafayette. Some useful resources include the following:
— Tulane’s advice: https://accessiblesyllabus.tulane.edu/
— Some Lafayette advice: https://help.lafayette.edu/taxonomy/term/160
Join us for a conversation on how and why to get your materials up to ADA compliance standards.