Faculty-led concurrent sessions will be held from 11 a.m. to noon in Eberhard Center classrooms. Specific session locations will be provided in the Conference program. 

ONE

Solving the Collaborative Learning Conundrum: Strategies for Successful Collaborative Engagement

Kristine Mullendore, Criminal Justice, Heather Wallace, Public Health, Peter Wampler, Geology, and Kurt Ellenberger, Honors (Session Chair)

Collaborative Learning is, perhaps, one of the more challenging pedagogies to incorporate into General Education courses.  Developing a set of varied and effective assignments can be difficult, and designing a grading system that is robust and equitable can be even more difficult. Last year, FTLC facilitated a Faculty Learning Community that studied some of the literature on Collaborative Learning as well as sharing our own “home grown” GV solutions. We will share a few of our assignments and grading schemes that have been developed and refined over many years. Participants will be invited to share their own solutions to the Collaborative Learning challenges in this interactive session.

TWO

I’m Teaching an Online/Hybrid Course…How Might a Peer Review My Course?

Rick Geisel, Educational Leadership and Counseling, Erica Hamilton, Literacy and Technology, and Amy Schelling, Teaching and Learning

As more courses are being offered in an online or hybrid format across the university, it is important that we are able to demonstrate the high quality, rigor, and engaged teaching and learning that occurs in these courses.  It is also important that online/hybrid instructors have a means of engaging in the peer review process. This session will provide a discussion around strategies for conducting peer reviews of online and hybrid courses.  The session will also provide a presentation and implementation discussion of the Faculty Peer Review Tool recommended for use at GVSU.

THREE

Collaborating for Student Learning Success: What One Faculty Learning Community Learned About Increasing Information Literacy 

Gayle Schaub and Cara Cadena, University Libraries

Of the nine general education student learning outcomes, information literacy may not be as clearly or uniformly defined or understood among faculty. Learn how one FTLC Faculty Learning Community explored information literacy with its members’ various disciplines. Librarians Gayle Schaub and Cara Cadena will help you identify potential troublesome information literacy content in your class materials, and present ideas for collaborating with your library liaison to increase your students’ research skills.

FOUR

Assessment Updates – What’s New at GVSU? Are You Ready for Review?

Chris Plouff, Office of the Provost and Jon Hasenbank, Mathematics, University Assessment Committee  

A new assessment approach, process and timeline were introduced this year, along with new language and expectations for academic and co-curricular units. Learn about how assessment of student learning has changed and been further integrated with strategic planning. Topics include: the current process and expectations for academic program review by the University Assessment Committee; standardized language around assessment and strategic planning; and, use of the new assessment management system – GVAssess.

FIVE

We VOW to Improve Our Teaching ( We Value Our Work to Improve Our Teaching)

Salvatore Alaimo, Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration, Lisa Kenyon, Physical Therapy, and Raymond Higbea, Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration 

This interactive session is based on the Faculty Learning Community, "Valuing Our Work" where these presenters read the multi-authored book, Faculty Work and the Public Good and engaged in meaningful and insightful dialogue. Participants will come away with a new understanding and enhanced valuing of their work through reflection and exchange on how our roles in education and citizenship come together to impact the public good. This session is appropriate for faculty from any discipline and at any point in their career.

SIX

Remaking the Academy: The Potential and the Challenge of Collaborative Engagement at GVSU

Jennifer Getting-Jameslyn, Brooks College Office of Integrative Learning and Advising, Danielle Lake, Liberal Studies and Amy McFarland, Honors

This session will explore the challenges and benefits of engaging in collaborative work on campus and in the community. We will highlight existing resources and collaborative relationships on campus and discuss ways to cultivate networks and partnerships to create opportunities for students, faculty and staff.

SEVEN

Turn your classroom into a learning laboratory

Nancy DeFrance, Literacy and Technology 

Classroom learning labs bring together teachers who seek to become ever more reflective practitioners by studying relationships between teaching and learning in each other’s classrooms. Be our guests! Come experience the process. See how colleagues are collaboratively learning and growing as well as forming enjoyable and valued professional relationships in the classroom learning lab project (generously supported by an FTLC grant).

EIGHT

The Benefits of Integrating Undergraduate Students into Your Research

Jae Basiliere, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Jennifer Moore, Biology, Lisa Sisson, Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Bret Linford, Modern Languages and Literatures 

We’d like to help faculty think about how they could integrate students into their research. Students gain immense benefits when they collaborate with faculty on projects. The value of high-impact experiences like these is indisputable. Students who participate in them are more likely to stay in school and to persist to graduation. However, the benefits are mutual. Faculty also stand to gain from student involvement in their research, not least of all by drawing on the energy of young scholars. Faculty from various disciplines across the university will talk about how they were able to reinvigorate and advance their projects by drawing on student power.

NINE

Designing Learning Adventures

Jody Vogelzang, Allied Health Sciences, Amy Gyorkos, Movement Science, and David Coffey, Mathematics

Equipping students with the skills and mindsets to challenge current understanding, and move those ideas into form that may have future social and cultural impact, requires a creative learning environment. Motivating students to go willingly from knowledge held in clenched fists to a more creative learning environment does take a certain amount of magic and confidence. This workshop focuses on using design thinking methods to develop the essential elements of a fluid, yet effective, course. Participants will experience firsthand activities that we have used to develop empathy and support creativity in our course design.

TEN

Strategies and Practices for Creating an Inclusive Classroom

Suzanne Zack, Visual and Media Arts, Charles Ham, Classics, and John Golden, Mathematics 

Faculty share insights and strategies for creating an inclusive classroom gained from their participation in the FTLC Inclusive Excellence Teaching Institute, as well as their year of working to incorporate these ideas into their classrooms.

ELEVEN

Mindful feedback through specifications grading: Motivating students, raising standards, and optimizing time

Stephanie Schaertel, Chemistry, Josh Veazey, Physics, Ginger Rohwer, Math, and Taylor Short, Math

Imagine grading methods that support your pedagogy and impact student growth. If you have ever wondered whether your time spent distinguishing between 1 point or 1.5 points out of a 2 point question is really benefitting student learning, then join us for a discussion of alternative grading methods. In this session we will discuss adaptable versions of grading systems sometimes called "specifications grading," "mastery grading," and "standards-based grading," along with practical examples of their implementation in a variety of courses.

TWELVE

From There to Here: International Experiences and How They Influence our GVSU Classrooms and GVSU

Community Back Home

Amy Masko, English

Carla Slabaugh, Occupational Therapy

Jeanine Beasley, Occupational Therapy

Jeroen Wagendorp, Geography and Planning

The panel will discuss their international experiences with GVSU students, and how the experiences 

impacted their teaching back on campus. The unique aspects of each international opportunity will be 

highlighted including experiences within Guatemala, (Ecuador), Ghana, and the Netherlands.

THIRTEEN

Civic Engagement Student Learning Outcomes: Integrating Civic Life Across Disciplines

Susan Carson, Educational Foundations and Russell Rhoads, Anthropology 

Come join the discussion related to the Civic Engagement Student Learning Outcomes. This session will explore ways your disciplinary coursework and pedagogy may align with efforts to educate students for civic life beyond GVSU. In addition to an introduction of an articulation of Civic Engagement Student Learning Outcomes, we hope to begin a  dialogue with you, connecting your current coursework examples to share with the campus community.