In these pandemic times, no one has a lot of “spare time,” so we’re keeping our Winter Quarter workshops short and impactful. Connect with your colleagues from across campus to explore new tools and approaches that you can use right away in 2021.
Reflection: 30-Minute Micro-Workshops | Tools for Transformative Learning
Reflection Micro-Workshops
The ability to reflect on experience is the key to transformational and enduring learning. Reflection can be particularly powerful in experiential learning courses, though it is a useful skill for all students to develop, no matter their field of interest. This series of half-hour micro-workshops will help faculty learn techniques and develop skills to strengthen the impact reflection can have on student learning. Scroll down to read the session descriptions and register. 1 PD hour per workshop (6 PD hours total). Completion of 5 or more Micro-Workshops will earn a $75 stipend.
Thursday, January 21, 2:30pm-3:00pm
Reflections often have a bad reputation; they are seen either as overly touchy-feely or as objective observations, neither of which create opportunities for meaningful student learning. In this session, participants will learn a few simple structures to move from reflection to critical reflection, and thus deepen the impact of the reflective practice.
Monday, January 25, 11:30am-12:00pm
When designing questions that prompt reflection, we often leave them broad. However, to deepen learning and guide students to essential learning, it is important to allow them to build connections between coursework, experiences, and the world around them. In this session, we will explore how RISE’s 8Cs of Reflective Connection can strengthen the questions you ask.
Thursday, January, 28 2:30pm-3:00pm
The most common form of reflection is the journal. It can be easy to pose a few questions on Canvas for student response. However, journals can also encourage students to think from different perspectives, build connections to their community, and plan actions. In this session, you will learn how journals can be designed to draw out new meaning for students.
Monday, February 1, 11:30am-12:00pm
Written formats – journals, online discussion posts, exit slips – are the most popular ways to build reflection into courses. However, these tend to cater to those for whom writing is a strength. Class discussions, movement, and team activities can help reflections reach more students while making the practice more enjoyable. This session will introduce a few of these formats and techniques.
Thursday, February 4, 2:30pm-3:00pm
You have decided to build multiple reflections into a course, but you are uncertain how to distinguish them in meaningful ways for you and your students. This workshop will cover Reflection Mapping, a simple technique for organizing topics, formats, and contexts into your different reflections. This technique can be applied to discussion or other activities, as well. Attendance at any of the previous workshops would be beneficial, though not required.
Monday, February 8, 11:30am-12:00pm
While not all reflections need be graded, it is likely that you will want to assess student learning and expression through assigned reflections. This final micro-workshop will introduce participants to grading rubrics and to the ABC method for assessing reflections.
Tools for Transformative Learning
Our workshops, teaching talks, and panels will get you talking, thinking, and doing. We feature faculty from across campus to highlight approaches that can be used in multiple disciplines.
Research & Discovery-Based Approaches in the Online Classroom, a Faculty Panel
Tuesday, January 19, 2:30-3:30pm
COVID has closed our lab and studio classrooms and made “hands-on” learning challenging. But our students can still engage in discovery and authentic research. This cross-disciplinary panel will illuminate ways that BC faculty are bringing discovery-based and undergraduate research approaches into online environments.
Panelists: Jackie Miller, Molecular Biosciences; Kathy Hunt, Anthropology; Sonya Doucette, Chemistry; Madhura Sohani, Psychology; and Stacy Alvares, Biology | 1 PD hour
Explore the Power of Mini-Projects, a Teaching Talk & Discussion
Friday, January 22, 12:30-1:20pm
Looking to add some project-based learning to your course but don’t have space for a multi-week project? Mini-projects can help with that. Kurt Friedrich, Associate Professor of Information Systems & Technology, will demonstrate how he uses two-week mini-projects to help students master content, build teamwork skills, and prepare for multi-week team projects in future courses. Tech employers use Agile project management techniques and often have coders work in pairs, so mini-projects work especially well in technical courses . . . but they can be used effectively in any discipline. If you use mini-projects in your courses, please come prepared to say a few words about your approach.
Teaching talk by Kurt Friedrich; discussion facilitated by Michael Reese & Miranda Kato | 1 PD hour
Community-Engaged Teaching at a Time of COVID
Two Offerings: Monday, January 25, 2:30-4:30pm OR Tuesday, January 26, 12:30-2:30pm
With the protests around police use of force, discussions and actions about anti-racism, political changes due to the elections, and the current and future effects of the pandemic, there has never been a better time to integrate real-world community issues and actions into a course. However, how do you develop a community-engaged course when COVID-19 is making it hard to actually work in and with the community? Come explore approaches, collaborations, and tools BC faculty can use to teach course content through community connections.
“This workshop helped me flesh out assignments and gather helpful resources to get my students engaged in their CEC projects.” Jeremiah Allen, English
“The course…on community-engaged learning is invaluable. I was able to take simple and specific tools to use in my classroom.” Komal Ram, Business Management
Workshop facilitated by Sapan Parekh | 2 PD hours
Keeping It Real: Building Student Engagement with Authentic Projects
Rescheduling for Spring
Faculty know that students engage with course content in a different way when they see the relevance of what they are studying and its connection to their lives. But it is not always easy to make those connections clear to students who are struggling with “Zoom overload” and with real-world challenges. And there is no single recipe for making an assignment or project feel authentic to students. This two-part workshop will start by giving you a chance to explore many different ways that faculty from across campus have built real-world applications, student choice and voice, or community connections into their projects. Then you’ll have time to work collaboratively to add impact to a project that you’re already doing in one of your courses—or a project that you’d like to start doing.
Workshop facilitated by Miranda Kato and Michael Reese | 6 PD hours | $75 stipend; Rescheduling for Spring
Boost Student Learning and Engagement through Innovative Online Assessment
Thursday, February 25, 1:30-3:30pm
Are you feeling stuck when it comes to assessment in your virtual classes? Are you looking for innovative ways to make your assessments more equitable and relevant to students’ lives, particularly in this uncertain time? In this 2-hour session, we will share creative assessment strategies and tools that can be adapted to any discipline, going beyond the assessments you give in your on-ground classes. Faculty Commons, eLearning, and RISE are combining forces to bring you this offering! Grab your coffee/tea and join us!
Workshop and conversation facilitated by Jen Anderson, Faculty Commons, and Michael Reese
2 PD hours | Register on the Faculty Commons site
Trello, a Visual Tool to Facilitate Teamwork
Thursday, March 4, 1:30-2:00pm
When you assign team projects, do your students complain about slacker teammates or poor communication? Documenting roles and responsibilities in a visual fashion reduces confusion, improves communication, and facilitates more equitable teamwork. Trello is a simple web-based tool that allows you to create and move cards just as easily as you place sticky notes on a white board. It’s used by many tech companies in our region, but it’s a student-friendly tool that’s very easy to use.
Micro-workshop led by Michael Reese
Last Updated March 3, 2021
