While the Fall Conference this year will take a different form and format than in the past years, the idea of community is still at the center.  If there is one thing that 2020 has shown me, it's the heightened importance of keeping in touch, building virtual communities, and taking a harder look at who is and who is not a part of our communities.  I invite you to join us for four related, yet distinct conversations on Wednesday, August 26th.  You are welcome to join one or all.  Regardless of your discipline or the formats of the courses, each of these faculty-facilitated discussions will be relevant.  We have planned conversations to narrowly focus on a few topics aimed at preparing ourselves and our students to thrive amidst uncertainty and to fully realize the transformative nature of a liberal education.  I can assure you that the Pew FTLC is here to support you during this coming academic year; it will definitely be challenging, but I am certain that we will all do the very best that we can.  You are not alone; we will get through this together—as a community.

—Christine Rener
Vice Provost for Instructional Development & Innovation
Director of the Robert and Mary Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center

Keynote Address by José Bowen

Fall Conference Overview/Schedule

2020 Fall Conference Book Raffle List

Talking About Race in Any Course Breakout Session

Teaching About Race Breakout Session

Engaging Students in Online Environments Concurrent Discussions

Keynote Address by Dr. José Bowen

A NEW 3RS OF EDUCATION FOR THE FUTURE

Technology has created a new learning economy.  If we want this new economy to be more inclusive, we will need to prepare students better for learning new information on their own—after they graduate.  Good teaching is about making the teacher obsolete and creating self-regulated learners.  The old 3Rs were about content (reading, writing, and 'rithmatic).  Content still matters, but change is hard.  If we want students to become more skeptical and better able to integrate new information and adapt to new jobs that do not yet exist, then we need to focus explicitly on the process: we need to redesign curriculum around a new educational 3Rs of Relationships, Resilience, and Reflection.

FACILITATOR BIOGRAPHY

José Antonio Bowen has taught at Stanford and Georgetown, was a dean at Southern Methodist University and President of Goucher College. He has written over 100 scholarly articles and has appeared as a musician with Stan Getz, Bobby McFerrin, and others. He is the author of Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology out of your College Classroom will Improve Student Learning (winner of the Ness Award for Best Book on Higher Education from the American Association of Colleges and Universities) and Stanford honored him as a Distinguished Alumni Scholar in 2010. He was awarded the Ernest L. Boyer Award (for significant contributions to American higher education) in 2018. See his blog at teachingnaked.com or follow him on Twitter @josebowen.

Talking About Race in Any Course

Wednesday, August 26th
9—10 a.m.
(more introductory session)

It can be difficult to talk about racial disparities and racial injustice in our classrooms, especially when our course content may not seem to be directly related to these discussions.  This session is designed to help faculty address implicit bias and racial injustice in our courses, classrooms, and in our society and will offer some entry points for talking about race that unpacks white privilege and promotes anti-racist pedagogy.

Facilitated by Dr. Lisa Perhamus, Educational Foundations and Dr. Wendy Burns-Ardolino, Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural Studies

Limited to 30 participants.

Teaching About Race

Wednesday, August 26th
11 a.m.–12 p.m.
(more advanced session)

This teaching and learning session will be an opportunity to share resources and pedagogical strategies for those teachers and scholars who focus on race, intersectionality, and social justice issues in the classroom.  The session will also provide participants with the chance to connect with other GVSU faculty and to build a collaborative community able to support and develop practical approaches to teaching race in the classroom.

Facilitated by Dr. Jennifer Stewart, Sociology, Dr. Alisha Davis, Allied Health Sciences, and Dr. Christine Yalda, School of Criminal Justice

Limited to 30 participants.

Engaging Students in Online Environments

Wednesday, August 26th
1–2 p.m.

Whether you are teaching fully online, hybrid or in-person, there is something to learn about ways to engage students in online environments.  It takes intentional planning for an instructor to connect with students in meaningful ways.  Many exemplary practices exist for maximizing student interaction with course content and with their peers.  The catch-all term "engagement" is used here as a way to describe what we intend for all students in each of our courses; the how is a bit more challenging.  We welcome you to bring your questions as well as your own strategies.  This session will feature faculty-facilitated breakout room discussions.

2019

LIBERAL EDUCATION IN ACTION
DR. MONA HANNA ATTISHA