2019 Spring Semester Dates:
All sessions are 11:30 a.m – 1:00 p.m. in Farrington Room, Dewar Hall unless otherwise noted.
March 1, 2019
Dr. Kellie Bean
Committee on Academic Standards Procedures
March 21, 2019
Dr. Kimberly Van Orman, Instructional Consultant
Dr. Van Orman holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University at Albany.
9:30 – 11:00 – Teaching For a Growth Mindset: Strategies to Encourage Student Perseverance Toward Deep Learning
Eaton Lounge, Bresee Hall
Our teaching choices, from the policies we choose to how we provide feedback, not only affect what and how our students learn, but whether they believe they are welcome in our discipline or even in college. While it may sound like the realm of fantasy, research suggests that small shifts in the language we use (even one sentence!) about our assessments and our courses, can work to undermine or to profoundly support our students. This workshop will present strategies for interactions that build a growth mindset in students, help to diminish stereotype threat in underrepresented students, and create a culture of learning.
11:30 – 1:00 – Build Tenacity in Your Students
Farrington Room, Dewar Hall
In order to be successful at the college level, students need to be able to persist in the face of difficulty, learn from their mistakes, and recognize the value of multiple attempts at difficult tasks. However, many of our students haven’t yet developed this ability. So how can we help them become more adept at working through and overcoming challenges in our courses? In this workshop, participants will learn what research has to say about how students become more persistent in their approach to learning and will practice strategies for framing the work in our courses in ways that help students develop these crucial habits of mind.
2:00 – 3:30 – The Power of the “Naïve Task”: Put them to work before they know anything
Eaton Lounge, Bresee Hall
We often want to incorporate more active learning into our courses, but aren’t sure where to start. Start at the beginning! One of the most powerful times you can use a task is when students are first learning new material. We can use activities as we introduce new topics to both provoke students’ prior knowledge and pull out biases and misconceptions in a way that also provokes their curiosity when they fully realize (rather than are told) that they don’t know as much as they think they do. Come and learn how to create these effective activities.
April 5, 2019
Faculty Council
First Year Seminar Objectives and Possibilities
April 12, 2019
Provost Tannenbaum
Proposing New Academic Programs
Cheseboro Room, Dewar Hall
April 18, 2019
Umayyah Cable
Media Studies: A Faculty Primer
Umayyah Cable will lead a discussion among faculty to assess what kinds of materials, topics, literature, and methods should be included in a course in order for it to be eligible to fulfill a Media Studies minor/major requirement. We will also discuss how to incorporate new material in order to meet such criteria.
April 26, 2019
We Don’t Know What They Don’t Know
Betsey Bloom
Cheseboro Room, Dewar Hall
Many of us have noted that our students avoid or struggle to read the informational texts we assign in our classes. The general level of comprehension seems to be deteriorating as well. This presentation will reveal the gap between our expectations and the reading skills students’ bring from today’s high schools. We will also discuss concrete strategies that faculty in all disciplines can use to improve their students’ comprehension.
May 1, 2019
E-Hub grant recipients
Maker Space E-Hub, Yager Hall
E-Hub Initiative coordinators and faculty advisors for current E-Hub projects will share experiences from this year. Discussion will focus on how advisors developed their projects, the obstacles they encountered, the successes they had, and what structures exist or could be established to facilitate completion of similar projects.
