Office of Teaching & Learning
Spring 2013 Faculty/Librarian Development Events

For faculty/librarian development events hosted by other offices, visit the faculty development calendar (updated weekly).

For previous Spring 2013 Events, click here.

Upcoming Event

Part-Time Faculty Celebration: Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher

Join us Friday May 17, 9:30 – 1:00pm for our May Part-Time Faculty Celebration in the Maxwell Library Heritage Room (light breakfast and lunch included). The first 40 registered part-time faculty are receiving a $50.00 stipend. To register, please submit your name, department and food preference right away at our online registration form. Online registration is required, to help us track enrollment (again not by replying to this email, but at the online form above). The theme will be "Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher," inspired by Stephen Brookfield's classic book by the same name, which will be presented by Roben Torosyan our own Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning. For a sneak peek at Brookfield's ideas, see his intro chapter plus other selected excerpts. In the spirit of learning, sharing and reflecting together, three of our esteemed part-time colleagues -- Gloria Moran, Elementary Education, James Norman, English, and Jamie Kern, Physics -- will share stories of change in their teaching as a highlight of our interactive program. Looking forward to seeing you! Karen Richardson, Incoming Fellow for Part-Time Faculty & Roben Torosyan, Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL)

Recurring Events

Monthly Mindfulness Practice

Join us Fridays once/month, 2:30-3:15pm, CARS Conference Room, Moakley 221, for mindfulness practice: 2/1, 3/8, 4/5, 5/10.

These sessions provide a protected time and space for quiet observation and reflection amidst our busy professional days.   A trained facilitator will provide guidance before and during the silent meditation period. Feel free to invite co-workers - you can forward this Mindfulness Flyer which has details. There is no need to commit ahead of time - just show up.

STREAMS Open Classrooms

Follow this link for open classrooms for the spring 2013 semester.  Thanks to these faculty for volunteering to host others in their classrooms!
The idea here is that you might look at this list, and say, "gee, that sounds neat."  Then you email Allison Almeida (STREAMS Grad Assistant) at a2almeida@student.bridgew.edu.  Allison helps find a good day for you to go visit.  Allison will also work with the Office of Teaching and Learning to see that a little money goes onto the CONNECT card of the faculty member you are visiting, to pay for some coffee, tea, or snacky thing when you meet after the class to talk about things.

This is a great opportunity to learn by watching others and talking about what they are trying to do, especially in a subject area you don't teach.  I hope you'll find that to be the case too.

Previous Events

Flipping the Classroom

Wed., Mar. 20, 10:00-11:00AM;
Fri., Apr. 12, 2:00-3:00PM (REPEAT)
Conant Science Center Conference Room 471
Light refreshments will be served
Facilitators: Tom Kling and Karen Richardson
"Flipping the classroom" is jargon for arranging your traditional lectures or content presentation to be delivered outside of class and allowing class time to involve students in activities that build on the content. Flipping the classroom has the potential advantage of giving students flexibility in listening and digesting your lecture. It also has the distinct advantage of allowing you to work with a student during class in a meaningful way that can address the student's individual struggle. Or maybe it just opens possibilities for active, collaborative learning and discussion.

 In this active workshop, you will be asked to come prepared. (Do your homework, kids!)  And once there, you will have the opportunity to discuss the practice of flipping your classroom with two faculty who use this technique. As an outcome, you will make plans for at least one flipped class to try out.

 In preparation for the workshop please view the following clip (the first 7 ½ minutes are the critical ones), read the PDF on flipping the classroom, and think about the questions below. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFEUsudhfs

 (1)  In my discipline, what information and content is most important for me to convey?  Can I use technology to convey it?

 (2)  In my discipline, what tasks are the most relevant tasks that students learn to do?  What activities could I devise to most directly help them learn those activities if I had additional time with my students during "class" time?

 (3) What does Kahn say that surprises you, challenges how you've thought about teaching, or inspires you?  Does he say anything that you find to be simply wrong?

 Please RSVP to OTL@bridgew.edu

Managing Classroom Interaction During Mid-course Doldrums

Wed., March 20, 2:00-3:00PM (canceled due to illness and will be rescheduled in the fall)
Conant Science Center Conference Room 473
Light refreshments will be served
Facilitator: Maura Rosenthal (Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies)
About 6-8 weeks into the semester, our energy and our students’ energy starts to wane a bit. Come to this session where we will practice and share some techniques designed to unlock the secrets of keeping students engaged in our classroom discussions during this important time in the semester.

Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP to OTL@bridgew.edu

Webcast: "Integrating Information Literacy in the First Year"

Tues. March 5, 1-1:45PM
Conant Science Center Conference Room 473
Sponsored by the Office of Teaching and Learning and the Coordinator for First and Second Year Seminars

Faculty and Librarians interested in developing first year classroom experiences with a meaningful focus on information literacy are invited to attend this free webcast. We hope to jumpstart a campus conversation about  taking full advantage of the information literacy resources available to us and our students and how we, in our roles as teachers, can help students to become thoughtful, ethical users of the enormous amounts and sources of information available to them.

Click here for more details on this event.

Best Practices in Advising - What's the Fuss? (follow up on student success)

Wed., Mar. 6, 2:00 – 3:00 pm
East Campus Commons Room 113
How can your department improve its advising?  Come find out about two new practices adopted by Bridgewater departments that are enabling faculty to be more confident in their advising and that create conditions where students succeed.

Dr. Rebecca Metcalf (mathematics) will share the new faculty mentoring program centered on student advising that she has developed for mathematics faculty.  This comprehensive approach includes written materials specialized to all of the most common student needs.  While her materials are for math majors, they could be modified easily to meet your students needs.

Dr. Jennifer Mendell (biology) will share how the STREAMS grant has changed the culture of advising transfer students in the College of Science and Mathematics.  This includes the creation of a Science and Math Transfer Working group, closer connections to advising at the local community colleges, and the development of expertise in transfer student advisors within departments.

Light refreshments will be served

Please RSVP to OTL@bridgew.edu

Open Candidate Forum / Workshop:

Using Moodle To Help Students Learn Better in Any Class

 

Meet John Gallagher, Jason FitzSimmons and Jin Li, the three finalists for the Instructional Design Specialist position in the OTL:

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2:15 - 3:15 pm RCC 209 - John Gallagher

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2:15 - 3:15 pm Conant Science Room 473 - Jason FitzSimmons

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 12-1:00 pm, Conant Science Room 473 - Li Jin
By the end, participants should:

1. See one or two select best practices in using Moodle to help students achieve intended learning objectives. It’s not necessary to teach purely online to take away something of use from this workshop; rather, come see how to use a blended/hybrid or technology-enhanced approach no matter what your course, or where people meet.
2. Have time in the workshop to plan just one or two specific changes to a course assignment or other piece of a course, using one or more Moodle features
3. Get coaching or feedback from colleagues and from the workshop facilitator

Please RSVP to OTL@bridgew.edu

Using Movement to Enhance Learning in any Classroom

Tues., Feb.19, 1:00PM - 2:00PM;
Wed.,Feb. 20, 10:00AM - 11:00AM (REPEAT)

East Campus Commons Room 113

Facilitated by Karen Richardson and Deb Sheehy, Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies

Light refreshments will be served.

In this session, you will experience engaging ways to use movement in your classroom to enhance student learning and we will provide you with resources to expand your use of such kinesthetic teaching methods.

Please RSVP to OTL@bridgew.edu

Working with Individuals Living with Disabilities at BSU: Part II

<<CANCELED DUE TO STORM NEMO; TO BE RESCHEDULED IN APRIL>>

This workshop will build on the disabilities workshop from last spring. There will be three breakout sessions to choose from: 

1) Disability Etiquette & Accommodations 
2) Designing Inclusive Instruction & Environments 
3) Self-Awareness Work & Disabilities Issues (See videos & other resources)

This workshop will continue to deepen our campus dialogue about effectively working with individuals with disabilities at BSU. Delayne Connor, Associate Professor of Special Education and Communication Disorders; Jenn Manak, Assistant Professor in Elementary & Early Childhood Education; Sydne Marrow, Staff Assistant to the Dean in the College of Education and Allied Studies; Pat Connolly and Pam Spillane from the Office of Disability Resources; Roben Torosyan, Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning; and Sabrina Gentlewarrior, Director of the Office of Institutional Diversity, will facilitate our workshop and interactive discussions.

Fostering Classroom Interaction (and Managing it)

In response to feedback from our January faculty development event, here's the first repeat of one of the well received sessions.

Wednesday, January 30, 2:00-3:00PM

Conant Science Center Conference Room 473

Light refreshments will be served

Facilitator: Maura Rosenthal (Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies)

Appetizers: Get interactions started engage people early in a class.

Main course: bring discussion on track or use tangents to process content well.

Dessert: summarize or synthesize info to ensure it all gets used in the future to produce more learning. Ensure students leave with valuable nuggets over the course of a semester, or even within a single session, with concrete methods colleagues find effective.

Please RSVP to OTL@bridgew.edu

 

Visiting Lecturer Faculty Development Program

At Bridgewater State University, our "visiting lecturer" faculty (i.e., adjunct or part-time colleagues) teach a significant portion of courses. Full-time faculty number 316 in all and part-time faculty number 417 in all (NEASC 2012). You bear enormous responsibility whatever you teach here and we therefore want to provide you with increasing support in the months and years to come.

Therefore, back by popular demand, we again offer the Visiting Lecturer Faculty Development Program. Participants earn $150 for joining us for the full program: Thu. & Fri. January 3rd & 4th, 2013. Please see this link to an agenda and postcard invitation.

Note that early registrants receive (first come, first served) a copy of a handbook I consider one of the top five resources for my teaching (it's like Bean's Engaging Ideas meets Angelo & Cross's Classroom Assessment Techniques):
Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty (Higher and Adult Education Series) 
by Elizabeth F. Barkley (Nov 2, 2009)

Finally, here's some housekeeping business for the event: 

• In order to complete the necessary paperwork for your compensation, you will need your employee ID number.  You can find this number on your paper or electronic pay advice.  Please bring it Thursday.  We can't process your payment without the ID number.

 

• Many of you will find it useful to bring a syllabus, activity, assignment or other assessment method, tool, instrument (such as an exam or quiz) both days.  Don't panic if you can't bring these materials - this is just a recommendation, not a requirement.

 

• To get to the building:

On the electronic campus map (http://www.bridgew.edu/CampusMap/) Dunn is marked as "I".   If you click the link for the PDF version of the map, you will not (confusingly) find "Dunn" listed, but it is part of the Crimson Hall facility and is marked #38 on the map.  I suggest you park either in the Lower Great Hill lot ("K" on the PDF map) or Moakley lot ("P" on the PDF map).  If you're arriving by commuter rail, Dunn is adjacent to the MBTA parking lot.   

 

Directions to campus and the various parking areas are available here: 

http://www.bridgew.edu/Conferences/Directions%20to%20Buildings%20and%20Parking.cfm

 

Look forward to our conversations and work (and play) throughout the two days together.

Roben Torosyan, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Teaching & Learning

 

One-on-One

Midcourse Focus Groups: Confidential Student Feedback

Give us 20 minutes, we'll give you what your students say is helping them learn, what would help even better, and what *they* can do to improve learning in the course. Let me or an OTL Fellow survey students and get them to rank top points. Then meet. Learn more or enroll. (Limit 1 course section per faculty member per semester). 

Classroom Observation

This involves a pre-observation conversation with me or an  OTL Fellow (ideally addressing learning goals, teaching materials, etc. - this can be a short phone call or brief meetup), a class visit (for either part or all of a specific session), and a post-observation debrief (ideally within a week of the observation). Learn more or enroll. (Limit 1 course section per faculty member per semester).