November Faculty Development

Coming Soon!

Engaging the Digital Learner: Strategies for Course and Assignment Design in the AI Era
Thursday, November 9 | 12:30 – 1:45 PM
Hyflex: BIC 1D07 and Zoom
Facilitated by Jason Snart
With the use of generative AI programs, fostering student engagement is more important than ever. During this workshop, we’ll explore course and assignment design strategies to keep students actively involved in the online learning process, both synchronously and asynchronously.

It’s safer to say nothing: Responding to the War in Israel/Palestine in Your Classes
Thursday, November 16 | 2:00 – 3:30 PM
BIC 1439
Facilitated by: Tom Tipton and Ken Gray

Our students may be living through one of the most historically significant moments in their education. The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and civilian deaths in Gaza and Israel will likely only increase. So how can we help our students understand the significance of these events through the lens of our respective disciplines? Even if you are in a field that has “nothing” to do with the war, your students are probably processing the events cognitively and emotionally, or worse, they don’t even know the events are taking place. What then are our ethical obligations as teachers, regardless of our field?

That question is complicated by the political polarization that is often connected with violence in the Middle East. When Putin invaded Ukraine, few students were likely to cheer him on, but relations between Israel and Palestine are much more fraught. What does it mean when individuals might identify with a “side” that has engaged in terrorism or war crimes? It may just feel “safer” to say nothing in such circumstances, hoping to avoid offending anyone. But is that the best way to fulfill our obligations to our students as their teachers?

This session will allow faculty members to engage in a problem-solution discussion about how they might bring up or acknowledge the war in their classrooms. Faculty can share examples from their own experience that “worked” or didn’t work. Or, we can formulate possible strategies with one another. The facilitators are senior faculty members who led a similar session at the start of the war in Ukraine.

Read over Thanksgiving Break, Discuss in December

Undoing the Grade – Teaching & Learning Book Discussion
Friday, December 1 | 2:00 – 3:30 PM
Zoom
Join Jenn Kelley to discuss the book Undoing the Grade: Why We Grade, and How to Stop by Jesse Stommel. Ungrading encourages instructors to shift away from traditional letter or number grades in favor of the kinds of qualitative feedback and self-assessment that fosters deeper learning and reduces performance-related stress. In this open-access online book, ungrading advocate Jesse Stommel presents “jumping off points, pedagogies, and practices to explore to make assessment more equitable.”
Participants will be encouraged to contribute discussion questions and facilitate conversation around chosen chapters.