Looking Back, Planning Forward with Julia Metzker

Tuesday, June 1 from 1–4pm. 

Guided reflection and planning activities, hosted by Julia Metzker, Washington Center, Evergreen State College.

Description

This last year has been like none other. We are now in a season of anniversaries, which include loss and change. As we look forward to the coming year and prepare for new possibilities, let’s collectively acknowledge how living and teaching in a global pandemic has left its mark on us. In a year of physical isolation, we’ve embraced new approaches to teaching. In this session, Julia Metzker will lead a structured reflection designed to help articulate the learning and growth we’ve collectively experienced over the past year. This session offers the gift of time to engage in sense-making - on the heels of a year that often didn’t make sense.

Facilitator

Julia Metzker - Director, Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education 

Julia Metzker serves as the director of the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education at The Evergreen State College. Julia received her first degree from Evergreen, where she learned firsthand the value of a transformative liberal arts education. She obtained a doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Arizona and completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of York in the United Kingdom. In her 10 years as a chemistry professor at Georgia College, she discovered the power of community-based learning to engage students in learning that matters. After serving as director of community-based engaged Learning at Georgia college, she moved to Stetson University as the founding executive director for the Brown Center for Faculty Innovation and Excellence. During her journey of discovering herself as an educator, she was fortunate to find a cohort of like-minded university educators who cofounded the Innovative Course-building Group (IC-bG)—a grassroots social network for learning that supports teaching faculty and staff across disciplines.  Recently, she co-authored a book (1) with colleagues from this group that takes a fresh approach to designing learning experiences for the 21st century. Julia believes in reimagining and reclaiming the democratic potential of assessment, work she champions as a member of the Imagining America’s “Assessing the Practices of Public scholarship” research group. She and her partner, Joe, raise chickens and bees with the help of an unruly Australian shepherd in the Pacific northwest.

(1) Zehnder, C., Alby, C., Kleine, K., & Metzker, J. (2020). Learning That Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education. Myers Education Press. 

Access the Session Materials

Designing Authentic Assessments with Jesse Stommel

Thursday, June 17 from 1–3pm.

How can we better assess student learning? Equity-minded practice discussion with Dr. Jesse Stommel, Hybrid Pedagogy Lab.

Alternative Approaches to Online (and face-to-face) Assessment: a brief presentation and open discussion

Description: Can we imagine assessment mechanisms that encourage discovery, ones not designed for assessing learning but designed for learning through assessment? Much of our work in education resists being formulated as neat and tidy outcomes, and yet most assessment takes the complexity of human interaction within a learning environment and makes it “machine readable.” When learning is the goal, space should be left for wonder and experimentation. This talk and open discussion will consider the history of grades, examine the bias inherent in many of our systems, and explore methods and approaches for designing assignments and assessments that push back against traditional notions of grading.

We'll start with a short presentation and opportunity for Q&A, setting the stage and laying out questions for us to consider together in an open discussion, drawing on the expertise and practice of everyone present. The session will be focused less on easy answers (or best practices), and more on us working together to find creative, compassionate, generative solutions—and likely more questions.

Jesse Stommel is co-founder of Digital Pedagogy Lab and Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy. He has a PhD fro University of Colorado Boulder. He is co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work fo Critical Digital Pedagogy.

Jesse is a documentary filmmaker and teaches courses about pedagogy, film and new media. Jesse experiments relentlessly with learning interfaces, both digital and analog, and his research focuses on higher education pedagogy, critical digital pedagogy, and assessment. He's got a rascal pup, Emily, a clever cat, Loki, and a badass daughter, Hazel. He's online at jessestommel.com and on Twitter @Jessifer.

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Enhancing Student Motivation in Curriculum and Instruction at GVSU with Margery Ginsberg

Thursday, July 8 from 1–3pm 

Facilitated by Margery Ginsberg, Ph.D., national expert on adult learning.

Description:

Inclusion and motivation are foundational to a productive learning environment, course completion, and equitable post-secondary outcomes. However, planning for inclusive and motivating academic learning among a range of students is often guesswork based on trial and error.  This faculty development institute responds to the question, how can higher education faculty, across disciplines and teaching formats, plan instruction that is culturally nuanced, inclusive, intrinsically motivating, and academic effective?

The institute offers a coherent research base, pragmatic tools, flexible teaching strategies, and a sample syllabus to make instructional planning intrinsically motivating without compromising rigor.  Much of the material is based on the facilitator’s co-authored book, Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults, 4^th edition (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 2017). Please participate in this institute for a productive and hopeful response to instructional improvement.

Outcomes

Participants will learn and apply -

• Why effective instructional planning for challenging courses in higher education is also intrinsically motivating planning.
• Four foundational conditions to coherently plan, initiate and mediate instruction face-to-face and online.
• Field-tested and research-validated intrinsically motivating teaching strategies, with tools, templates, and protocols to enhance learners’ emotional safety, value for learning, engagement & competence.
• Practices for equitable assessment.

For over thirty years, Margery has partnered with colleges and universities to enhance student intrinsic motivation and learning across academic disciplines.  Recipient of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Relating Research to Practice Award, her work builds on experience as a university professor in the fields of educational leadership, adult learning, instructional improvement, and institutional change.  For nearly a decade, Margery directed the University of Washington–Seattle doctoral program for aspiring educational leaders.  She later served as distinguished professor and director of an online M.A. degree program in diversity and adult learning. Earlier in her career she was a teacher on the Menominee and Southern Ute reservations, U.S. Dept. of Education-funded Title I technical assistance provider to state education agencies, coordinator of migrant education in a nine-state region in the Southwest United States, and director of evaluation for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES).

Her recent books include Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults, 4th ed. (2017), co-authored with Raymond Wlodkowski, Excited to Learn: Motivation & Culturally Responsive Teaching (2015), Teaching Intensive & Accelerated Courses (2010), and Diversity & Motivation: Culturally Responsive Teaching in College, 2^nd ed. (2009).

Margery has a Ph.D. in Bilingual/Multicultural/Social Foundations of Education from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois and can be reached at www.margeryginsberg.com or [email protected].

Access the Recording and Materials

Course Design Series Mid-Series Discussion: Reflect and Plan with Margery Ginsberg

Thursday, July 22 from 1–3pm

Facilitated by Margery Ginsberg, Ph.D., national expert on adult learning

Description:

We invite all faculty to join us for a facilitated reflection discussion. It is a bonus if participants have engaged with the resources shared through this series up to this point, but it is not necessary. Come with an open mind, to listen and/or share with colleagues.  

Most instructors are masters of their content, and many have attended a number of informative workshops on teaching and learning in higher education, including recent workshops at GVSU. However, planning for motivating and effective academic learning among a range of students requires time to apply instructional knowledge in ways that work together to enhance learning. For example, even the most expert assessment repertoire will likely be motivationally insufficient without a plan for teaching that also considers relationships, cultural and personal relevance, and intriguing problems to solve.

This faculty development institute responds to the question, how can higher education faculty, across disciplines and teaching formats, assess and apply new and older instructional knowledge in ways that are inclusive, culturally nuanced, intrinsically motivating, and academic effective?

Faculty will imagine that 4 former students return to tell current students what motivated them to succeed in a course you taught, from an instructional perspective. One learner speaks about inclusion with a focus on respect & connectedness. One learner speaks about maintaining a positive attitude with a focus on choice and cultural and personal relevance. One learner speaks about making meaning from challenging & engaging tasks, and one learner speaks about competence through assessment practices that are authentic & supportive of their effectiveness.

This session offers a coherent method to assess instructional repertoires and improve upon them.  Much of the material is based on the facilitator’s co-authored book, Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults, 4^th edition (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 2017). Please participate in this institute for a productive and hopeful response to instructional improvement.

Outcomes:

Participants will learn and apply -

• Four foundational conditions to coherently plan, initiate and mediate instruction face-to-face and online.
• A template and protocol to reflect on teaching in ways that apply new and older instructional knowledge to enhance learners’ emotional safety, value for learning, engagement & competence.

Access the Session Materials

A Pedagogy of Hope for Our Students and Ourselves with Kevin Gannon

Thursday, July 29 from 1–3pm.

Help our newest students have a successful Fall 2021; session facilitated by Kevin Gannon, Grand View University.

Description

While it may seem counterintuitive to talk about a pedagogy of hope in our current, fraught times, hope is the very foundation of student success. In this sense, hope is the product of agency and pathways. For our students to feel genuine hope that they will be successful in their time with us, they have to believe that success is in their power to achieve (agency), but also be able to discern what routes they need to take to reach it (pathways). This session will ask participants to imagine their own approaches to teaching and learning within this larger framework of creating hope for students. We’ll look at some of the most significant barriers to learning—such as not feeling a sense of belonging, or an unskillful approach to the learning climate—and identify specific strategies and practices to mitigate them. Finally, we’ll consider how embedding our pedagogy in an ethic of hope can help us find solidarity and community with our colleagues and sustain us in doing the hard work of teaching.

This session is the kickoff of our Strong Start Initiative reboot. We will be sharing resources and opportunities for instructors of courses taken primarily by first- and second-year students. This coming academic year is going to be a particular challenging one in terms of transitions. Topics that have heightened importance include: assessing prior learning, in-person learning following a mostly remote year, building academic confidence, fostering a sense of belonging, and collaborative learning. 

Kevin Gannon is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Professor of History at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. He is the author of Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto, published in April, 2020, as part of the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series from West Virginia University Press. He is a regular contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education, and his work has also appeared in outlets such as Vox, CNN, and The Washington Post. In 2016, he appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay. You can find Kevin online at his blog, thetattooedprof.com, and on Twitter: @TheTattooedProf.

Access the Recording and Materials

Course Design Series Conclusion: Reflect, Re-focus, and Apply with Margery Ginsberg

Thursday, August 12 from 1–3pm

Facilitated by Margery Ginsberg, Ph.D., national expert on adult learning.

Description:

We invite all faculty to join us for a facilitated discussion intended to foster reflection on where you are right now with respect to readiness for the coming academic year and help you re-focus and get ready to apply what you have been learning and/or considering doing differently. It is a bonus if participants have engaged with the resources shared through this series up to this point, but it is not necessary. Come with an open mind, to listen and/or share with colleagues.  

Most instructors are masters of their content, and many have attended a number of informative workshops on teaching and learning in higher education, including recent workshops at GVSU. However, planning for motivating and effective academic learning among a range of students requires time to apply instructional knowledge in ways that work together to enhance learning. For example, even the most expert assessment repertoire will likely be motivationally insufficient without a plan for teaching that also considers relationships, cultural and personal relevance, and intriguing problems to solve.

This faculty development institute responds to the question, how can higher education faculty, across disciplines and teaching formats, assess and apply new and older instructional knowledge in ways that are inclusive, culturally nuanced, intrinsically motivating, and academic effective?

Faculty will imagine that 4 former students return to tell current students what motivated them to succeed in a course you taught, from an instructional perspective. One learner speaks about inclusion with a focus on respect & connectedness. One learner speaks about maintaining a positive attitude with a focus on choice and cultural and personal relevance. One learner speaks about making meaning from challenging & engaging tasks, and one learner speaks about competence through assessment practices that are authentic & supportive of their effectiveness.

This session offers a coherent method to assess instructional repertoires and improve upon them.  Much of the material is based on the facilitator’s co-authored book, Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults, 4^th edition (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 2017). Please participate in this institute for a productive and hopeful response to instructional improvement.

Outcomes:

Participants will learn and apply -

• Four foundational conditions to coherently plan, initiate and mediate instruction face-to-face and online.
• A template and protocol to reflect on teaching in ways that apply new and older instructional knowledge to enhance learners’ emotional safety, value for learning, engagement & competence.

Access the Session Materials

Interested in one of the opportunities below?  The Pew FTLC may have some funding available to help cover the registration fees. 

Our Faculty Virtual Conference Grant, our Sponsored Teaching and Learning Event Grant, and our OLC Workshop Sponsored Grant are a great places to start.  Apply for any (or all) online via our grants system.