Activities & Gatherings

Recordings of Past Activities

Spring 2021

Bandwidth Tax of Uncertainty: Transforming Our Schools to Help Students Recover in COVID-19 and Beyond -- The cognitive resources for learning of many of our students have been and are being diminished by the negative effects of persistent economic insecurity and discrimination and hostility against non-majority groups based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity, and other aspects of difference – and, currently, by the levels of uncertainty related to the pandemic and social unrest. Recognizing that these students are no different than their peers in terms of cognitive capacity, we can implement strategies and interventions – and examine all of our processes – to help students regain the cognitive resources to learn and thrive in college. View the recording of this conversation with Dr. Cia Verschelden, author of Bandwidth Recovery: Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism, & Social Marginalization. 

Summer 2020

August 11: Equity, Efficiency, & Flexibility in Grading -- Grab your lunch, and let's talk about grading in all of the newness this fall. Any degree of going remote has implications for how we thinking about grading, and how we manage the acts of grading.  Come with your good ideas, learn about specifications grading from a group of colleagues who've been using this approach that's been getting a lot of attention for its flexibility and equity, and take away some ideas for managing the grading load.  [ To view the recording and access the handout with strategies for managing the grading load, see this document. ]

July 28: Engaging Second Language Students through Interactive and Student Presentations, Close Readings/Viewings, and Interactions with Native Peers in the Online Classroom (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) -- Facilitated by Genny Ballard, Florin Beschea, Mark Preslar, & Susanna Weygandt. This Workshop is organized as a Teach & Tell for making online language teaching engaging through activities that hone second language speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills. Through short teaching demonstrations, we will share mixed content- and communicative-based approaches to activities that use synchronous and asynchronous elements. Instructors and students share control of the screen and interact in Zoom breakout rooms, and often students are matched with native speakers, acquiring grammar through content-based discussions. We will give instructions and approaches to scaffolding content, links to videos, and Powerpoints. We invite participants to share elements of their teaching related to communicative and scaffolded techniques. [ To access recording when it comes availabl, scroll down on this page. ] 

July 23: Designing Student-Centered Class Activities for Blended Synchronous Equation-Based Courses (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) -- Facilitated by Andrew Bell and Carol Ann Downes. Workshop participants will be equipped for adapting student-centered activities to simultaneously engage both in-person and virtual students to master equation-based content and foster a collaborative, inclusive class culture. Through activities modelling such engagement, participants will help compile a toolbox of learner-centered activities paired with free/inexpensive easy-to-use technological tools (such as digital whiteboards) that support real-time, student-peer and student-instructor communication of equations, notation, graphs, and diagrams. We will focus on tools and strategies that help participants create a time-efficient workflow. [ To access recording, scroll down on this page. ] 

July 22: Near, Far, Wherever You Are: Models for Building Community in the “New” First-Year Experience (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) -- Facilitated by Peter Gess, Michael Hughes, Cathy Jellenki, and Katherine Troyer. In ordinary first-year seminars, communities often form organically. But these are not ordinary times. Current teaching models demand more intentionality in creating connections that foster the trust, support, and responsibility critical to students’ success in the first year and thereafter. In this workshop, we will explore team-building and learning strategies to help first-year students enjoy the cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of their community, regardless of location. In small groups, participants will create and share a matrix of techniques for building community and a shared purpose in various modalities (remote, partially remote, asynchronous and synchronous, and socially distanced instruction).  [ Here's the Powerpoint, as well as their Resource Handbook. To access recording, scroll down on this page. ] 

July 21: "Ready When You Are: Flexible Delivery and Excellent Pedagogy in Blended Delivery, Active Learning Classes" (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) Facilitated by Ryan Brazell, Kylie Korsnack, Kimberly McArthur, & Julie Sievers. Workshop participants will re-imagine one of their courses in the context of a blended delivery model, focusing on the virtual components of the course. Participants will consider how to maintain critical interactions that constitute a course (self-reflection, student-content, student-peers, student-instructor), when some or all of those interactions may occur virtually and asynchronously. Participants will leave the workshop with concrete synchronous and asynchronous virtual learning options to implement in their fall courses. Further, participants will leave the workshop better prepared to advocate for the specific combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning that best achieves their pedagogical goals.  [ To access recording, scroll down on this page. ] 

July 20: "Strategies for Teaching and Learning Online and Hybrid Environments Backed by Cognitive Science Research (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) --  Facilitated by Jessica Alexander & Jennifer Queen. As we work to plan our fall classes amidst so much uncertainty, we all want to make sure that we maintain the integrity of the liberal arts experience for our students. You will start with a short asynchronous online course and finish with a synchronous workshop on teaching and learning strategies backed by cognitive psychology research into the mechanisms of learning, memory, and attention. While these principles can be applied in any course, the online/hybrid environment offers unique challenges and opportunities, so we will focus on how to bring research-backed strategies into your online/hybrid course to maximize student learning. You will finish the workshop with a plan to alter assignments and activities for a fall class. [ Here's the Google doc with the workshop materials including a link to the recording. Note from facilitators: Remember that one of our goals was to entice you to go to (or return to) our asynchronous material. Here is the link if we succeeded: https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/2096540 (Note: Even if you have an institutional login, you will need to create an account in the free version of Canvas to access our course. This is so that people from multiple institutions can participate.) There are two ways to get enrolled in the course: https://canvas.instructure.com/enroll/M7AEEC or https://canvas.instructure.com/register and use the following join code: M7AEEC. If neither of those work, please email us a jalexander@centenary.edu or jqueen@rollins.edu and we will do our best to help. We also plan to leave the course available at through the end of the calendar year. ]

July 17: "STE(ngage)M: Adapting the Case Study Method through Universal Design for Learning" (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) --  Facilitated by Ellen Barnett, Jonathan King, Aditi Pai, & Katie Troyer. The case studies method is one powerful way to create courses that employ student-centered inquiry that is not dependent upon one teaching model or modality.  In this workshop, participants will be empowered to focus on the potential opportunities for effective STEM instruction in a high-flex teaching environment using the case studies model. Through both experiential learning (engaging in case studies) and discussion, we will explore how to adopt and adapt case studies to emphasize Universal Design for Learning so that students are able to experience multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression [ To access recording, scroll down on this page. ] 

July 9: "Remote Summative Assessment In Equation-based Courses:  If They Can Look Up the Answer, How Do We Know They Learned It?" (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) -- Facilitated by Megan Leonard, Prayat Poudel, and Todd Tinsley. Did your move to remote assessment in your mathematics-heavy classes go smoothly? If so, this workshop isn’t for you. If, on the other hand, you had issues with academic integrity or noticed students blindly pattern-matching to solve problems, then we want to collaborate with you. In this workshop we will introduce several examples of assessment designed to promote real learning in a remote or hybrid course. We will present specific examples from economics, mathematics, and physics. Please come with a specific course in mind and enthusiasm for collaborating with other participants. [ To access recording, scroll down on this page. BONUS resources from the facilitators: "In our shared google drive folder, you will be able to access the slides from the workshop, pre-workshop resources, rubrics, and a summary from your breakout sessions. We will also be uploading the video of the workshop to the shared folder when it’s available.  Finally, in the shared resources folder, you will also find a folder labeled Creating questions. We hope you will be willing to share your assessments with other participants here, and this folder will provide room for collaboration as we start planning for our classes this fall." ]

June 29: "Making Learner-Centered and Inclusive Pedagogical Choices for an Unpredictable Fall Term" (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) -- Facilitated by Kent Andersen, Barbara Lom, Kerry Paumi, and Betsy Sandlin.  In response to new challenges such as physical distancing, remote learning, and reconfigured academic calendars, all instructors now face considerable uncertainty and difficult choices in designing learner-centered and inclusive courses for Fall 2020.  The session will emphasize principles of learner-centered teaching and inclusive pedagogies as foundations to develop and evaluate instructional strategies for learning in varied contexts (traditional, socially distanced, remote, hybrid).  Participants will leave this workshop with resources and strategies to help them make important instructional choices for their fall teaching (and beyond).  [ Powerpoint file; recording coming soon]

June 24: "Purposeful Planning for the Distinctive Learning Experiences of Small, Residential Liberal Arts Colleges" (ACS Advancing Pandemic Pedagogies Workshop) -- Facilitated by Nancy Chick, Kent Andersen, Betsy Sandlin, Stephanie Rolph, & Linda Boland. What will teaching and learning look like in Fall 2020? How can we be intentional about fostering the rich learning environments unique to small, residential liberal arts colleges when so much is uncertain—except the fact that “where” we teach will look very different? Join us to begin answering these questions by first identifying some distinguishing features of teaching and learning on our campuses, and then brainstorming together ways to bring these features into the range of scenarios that are likely this fall. To prepare, we encourage participants to read our blog post, “Distinctive Learning Experiences: Can We Identify the Signature Pedagogies of Residential Liberal Arts Institutions?”   [ View the presentation materials, small-group notes, and recording of the workshop here. ]

June 15: "From the Spring 2020 Pivot to a Fully Remote Maymester: Lessons Learned & Good Ideas for the Fall" -- As we think about planning for the upcoming year, much is still unknown.  We can, however, draw on what we've collectively learned so far, to make some plans and gather examples to adapt for when we know more. Join Rachel Newcomb, Lee Lines, Lucy Littler, and Kasandra Riley for a panel discussion about key successes from their spring and/or Maymester classes that are informing their fall planning. Each will explain a few specific experiences and epiphanies, as well as how they may be helpful for others, and then we'll have plenty of time for discussion and questions. [View the recording here.]