The posts below are from a bi-weekly digest that encapsulates a range of evidence-based best practices and cutting-edge insights on innovative teaching strategies, effective use of technology, student engagement techniques, and effective assessment, to name a few. The content, diligently curated or crafted by the director Dr. Lew Ludwig, is grounded in robust research and drawn from a wide array of innovative articles, books, and online resources. The goal is to support timely, ongoing faculty development with the most current and impactful knowledge in the field.
Denise Magner of the Chronicle reminds us to not waste those final minutes trying to cram in eight more points or call out as many reminders as possible. Here are two tips she gives, based on a piece by James Lang
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, is partnering with the Boston Globe to launch The Emancipator , “a resurrection of an early 19th-century abolitionist newspaper with a hope to reframe the national conversation in an effort to hasten racial justice.” In the fall the center conducted a reading group using Kendi’s book How to be an antiracist.
Like many of us during the fall, Dr. Chris Weingart – Biology, had a lot on her plate. To help manage everything she knew she had to keep her classes organized. In this video interview, Chris shares how she used a simple Google doc to organize her classes. This led to a more equitable experience for her students as everyone had the same access to resources, materials, and schedule no matter if they were in-person, remote, or happened to miss a class.
Most of us have been using Zoom for about a year now, but some of the terms around the different ways to access Zoom can be confusing. The Zoom “client” is the application that is installed on your computer. The Zoom “web portal” is the website denison.zoom.us where, among other things, you can access and schedule your meetings, view your recordings saved to the Zoom cloud, setup polling, and import breakout rooms.
Which is the most important factor in successful learning:
The answer, according to cognitive psychologist Stephen Chew, may surprise you. Lendol
In August, Dr. Mays Imad hosted a webinar for Denison where she shared her work on trauma informed pedagogy. As we look forward and what a fall return will look like, Mays will host the webinar:
Leveraging the Neuroscience of Now: Toward Healing & Recovery
Friday, March 26, 2021
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PDT (3:00 PM EDT)
Register: https://pima.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsce-orzMpGt2DsqhxvQnJPvErr3kz1Yvo
In this recent Tomorrow’s Professor post, Stanford researchers have identified four key causes for zoom fatigue:
And provide some simple fixes.
This semester ETS has been helping several faculty members get setup to use Zoom on multiple devices during their hybrid classes. This approach allows you to have one device/camera set to show you, the professor, while the other device/camera can show the classroom or the whiteboard. It does not need to be a complicated setup with multiple headsets, iPads, and phones.
In this week’s deeper dive, Dr. May Mei, Mathematics, shares ideas from the two-page article Critical Learning Communities: Top Five Principles to Guide Your First Month by Kristen Luschen and Becky Wai-Ling Packard. May gives practical suggestions on how to make midterm course adjustments to ensure a smoother and more productive finish to our semester.
With our scheduled no-class days this week, it is not only an opportunity for our students to catch their breaths, but for us as well. This Chronicle piece by James Lang gives us three resources with strategies to consider to help us refresh and refocus:
