This fall the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) offers a series of programs that includes seminars, workshops, reading groups, and lunchtime conversations. Most require an RSVP - so mark your calendars!
–(Thursday) SEPTEMBER 8 – 2:30 to 4:00 pm
Diverse Pedagogies in Your Classroom
Belk Pavilion 201
facilitated by Crystal Anderson (English and Multicultural Faculty Fellow).
Last year many Elon faculty discussed the state of diversity in our classrooms. In those conversations, faculty frequently expressed both a desire for support in implementing diverse pedagogies into the classroom as well as ambivalence in undertaking course design they deemed as “a risk that brings negative consequences on student evaluations.” This workshop seeks to address these dual concerns by providing faculty with tools to transform an existing course or create a new course that reflects the inclusion of diverse content and use of diverse pedagogies as well as ways to document that transformation.
This is an active workshop. It will introduce faculty to resources on diverse pedagogies and inclusive course content, but the majority of the time will be devoted to the identification of goals for course transformation, brainstorming on strategies to use in a specific course(s), and receiving feedback from fellow workshop participants. As a result, faculty should bring their laptops to take full advantage.
Lunchtime conversations about teaching and learning
(Wednesday) SEPTEMBER 14 – 12:15 to 1:25 pm
Engaging minds with engaging lectures
Belk Pavilion 200
Lunch provided if you RSVP to Barbara Guy – bguy@elon.edu by Sept. 6.
Can lectures be part of engaged learning? This discussion will consider ways to enhance lectures as effective and engaging learning experiences. We will talk about research-based strategies for organizing and presenting material in, and assessing learning during, lectures.
(Thursday) SEPTEMBER 22 – 12:25 to 1:45 pm
Help your students develop the will and skill
to come to class prepared
Belk Pavilion 200
Lunch provided if you RSVP to Barbara Guy – bguy@elon.edu by Sept. 15.
How can you instill in students the need and desire to study and prepare for class, to make academics a top priority in their busy lives? The answer is not just a matter of compliance; students often need motivation and guidance in active reading, writing to learn, and reflecting on what they do or don’t yet fully understand. This session will explore strategies for creating an environment that encourages studying and careful preparation for class without adding a lot more work to your already busy life.
(Friday) SEPTEMBER 30 – 12:15 to 2:00 pm
Travelling with Excess Baggage:
Shedding the Burdens of Privilege in International
and Domestic Service-Learning Partnerships
Belk Pavilion 201
Workshop facilitated by Prudence Layne (English)
Lunch and a workbook included if you RSVP to Barbara Guy by Sept. 16.
How can teachers/practitioners structure international or domestic service-learning projects to disrupt students’ class privilege and the stereotypes they hold about the people and communities in which they serve? This workshop is designed to help faculty and staff:
– assess the ways and levels in which class privilege is embedded in their institution’s practice and messages and their own approach to service and design of service-learning projects; an
– generate strategies and approaches for equipping students prior to, during, and after the service engagement with the tools they need to analyze how the “excess baggage” of their class privilege prevents/limits ongoing transformative learning from taking place.
From the novice to the expert, the session is appropriate for anyone who has ever led or plans to lead Elon students in a service-learning experience and its objectives will apply to both domestic and international experiences.
(Monday) OCTOBER 3 – 12:15 to 1:25 pm
Facilitating fruitful classroom discussions
Belk Pavilion 200
Lunch included if you RSVP to Barbara Guy by Sept. 26.
Professor-facilitated in-class discussions are common at Elon. What practical things might we do to make these discussions even more powerful learning experiences? This session will focus on three questions: Why do we have class discussions? What are the most common problems with them? What can we do to help promote more fruitful discussions?
Reading group: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered
RSVP to Peter Felten by Sept. 8.
This new book, written by three scholars from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Hutchings, Huber, & Ciccone, 2011), defines the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) as “a broad set of practices that engage teachers in looking closely and critically at student learning in order to improve their own courses and programs, and to share insights with other educations who can evaluate and build on their efforts” (xix). This book provides an overview of the current literature and emerging trends in SoTL, and explores ways that SoTL can be more deeply integrated into faculty work and campus life.
This group will meet three times during the semester, at times that are convenient for all (or as many as possible) interested folks.
Reading and Research Group: Threshold Concepts
RSVP to Katie King by Sept. 8.
“Threshold concepts” are complex ideas that learners have to grapple with in order to continue on toward deeper learning in a discipline (for background, check out Ray Land’s plenary at Elon’s August teaching and learning conference, online at www.elon.edu/teaching).
By focusing on threshold concepts, we gain insight on why our students tend to “get stuck” in certain places and how to help them “cross the threshold” into powerful new ways of viewing our disciplines and even, perhaps, themselves and the world!
Supported by grants from the associate provost’s office and Funds for Excellence in the Arts and Science, a number of small research projects are about to be launched. Come find out what the buzz is about, and see how your own scholarly inquiry into threshold concepts can enhance your understanding of teaching and learning. Meeting times and locations TBA.
Student Voices in Course Design
RSVP to Katie King for an initial informational session, time and place TBA.
Elon faculty have a history of partnering with students in innovative ways. Since 2005, more than a dozen faculty have experimented with faculty-student course design groups. Students bring unique perspectives to the course design/redesign process which can improve many aspects of our pedagogy.
What kinds of activities do they find worthwhile and which seem like busy work?
Which textbook is more likely to be used, instead of languishing on a shelf?
What rich funds of prior knowledge, experience, and expectations do they bring to the classroom?
How does your class fit into their learning goals and plans for the future?
Students who have been involved in these groups report greater appreciation for how and why professors do what we do and a new sense of responsibility for their own learning and that of their peers.
Course design groups and individual teaching consultations
Course Design Groups
Later in the fall we will offer course design groups for faculty who are designing new or redesigning existing courses for winter or spring (http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/teaching/facultyGroups.xhtml). Sign up for a group now by contacting Peter Felten, pfelten@elon.edu, or just look for the mid-semester email.
Individual Consultations
To schedule a consultation or focus group, email Barbara Guy or call 5106.
CATL also provides individual, confidential consultations with faculty about teaching and learning, including our widely-used mid-semester focus groups.
If you have questions, comments, or needs related to teaching and learning at Elon,
please don’t hesitate to contact Katie, Mary Jo, Ben or Peter at 5100.