I wanted to write an update to acknowledge the work being done by the growing number of faculty who have taken part in any of the Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) since we started them last fall. Their work to explore and improve teaching in the classroom directly impacts student success and retention. While students are our focus, faculty are at the heart of everything we do in higher-ed: sharing their expertise, driving innovation, and supporting student growth and learning with their teaching.
What follows is a summary of updates, some exciting things happening this semester, and future save-the-dates!
- Here is some info from a post by David Pace – one of the founders of Decoding the Disciplines (DtD) framework which we worked on with Judy Owen (Bio) at the helm back in fall 2018. He sent a bibliography illustrating the explosion of articles coming out with research using DtD framework!! Here’s the link: http://decodingthedisciplines.org/bibliography/We may also have a local paper to contribute to the list at some point – yay!! Nicole Muscanell (Psych) and I wrote up an article last year using DtD in one of her upper division Psych courses – it made it through the editor review of the journal and has moved onto peer review. So fingers crossed we get it in and can add our campus to that list! Here is a web page with resources we put together to support students in her course. If you are doing anything with critical thinking and classroom discussions, take a look https://spark.adobe.com/page/q8yUoT5pwB349/ Thanks, Nicole, for the opportunity to work together!
2. Fulgentius Lugemwa (Chem) is in Nairobi, Kenya on his sabbatical, teaching and doing research at an enormous university there – 98K students! Yay Fulgentius! He and I might be doing a Zoom session for faculty and students there on resilience, so wish us luck! And good luck with your work there, Fulgentius! We miss you in the reading group!
3. James Lang, author of the text we used in our Small Teaching group led by Bob Bartell (IST) in spring 19 will be doing a session for Schreyer in early spring, so stay tuned for that – It will be on Zoom.
4. The reading group this term is reading the Spark of Emotion book, led by Barb Eshbach (head librarian), looking at the role of emotion in teaching and learning. She has put together a great website with updates and resources here if you’d like to check out what we are doing. https://sites.psu.edu/sparkoflearning/ Bob Bartell, Ann Fetterman (English), Mary Ritchey (Chem), Megan Lorenz (Bus), Joan Smeltzer (Math), and Francine Baker (Educ) are participating. There’s still time to join us! I have one more book. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks, Barb, for taking the lead!
5. Noel Sloboda (English) is leading a really interesting FLC this semester on using the creative arts as an avenue to reflect on our teaching. We are focusing on poetry this semester. That has been a great experience so far as well! Thanks, Noel, for sharing your expertise with us! Dawn Oswald (library) Andrew Caldwell (Advising), Jen Nesbitt (English), Marcy Nicholas (English) and Fred Haag (Art) are exploring this topic with Noel.
6. Our weekly writing group, led by Jennifer Nesbitt, is also charging along with new members: Robert Foschia, our new corporate communications faculty member has joined, along with Marcy Nicholas (English) , and Betsy Wentzel (ESL). Renee Flascher (Acctg- Hbg), who joined us at the retreat, has also joined us via Zoom. She is starting a group at Hbg now, so that’s a great offshoot of the program!These folks join our existing group of faculty who come together in person or virtually each week to move forward with writing/research /creative goals, and offer support and community to each other – Joel Burkholder (library), Joy Giguere (History), Nicole Muscanell (Psych), Sonia Molloy (HDFS), and Barb Eshbach (library).
We are trying other avenues to include faculty for whom the library writing model doesn’t work – those working in biology labs (Anne Vardo-Zalik and Jess Petko), and those off campus for outreach during our meeting times (Amber Seidel, HDFS). Using Zoom, or reporting out at different locations while sharing a meal, have been some of the things we’ve tried this term.
Sukhdeep Gill will be leading us in October for the reporting sessions as Jennifer begins her fellowship year (congratulations, Jen!) Thank you, Sukhdeep – we are so happy to have you join us!!
We are already thinking about a possible spring retreat in the library for an extended work time for folks. Stay tuned for details. Take a look at the pics from the fall retreat at Wyndridge if you haven’t seen them already – https://photos.app.goo.gl/pqLLQXwCSPKRxGfn7
7. Spring 2020 reading group – we are in search of a book for the spring – it should be related to teaching and learning – send me your thoughts, and I’ll start to research the books now and look for funding for the book purchase. Laura Cruz (Schreyer) who did our workshop on Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) last Friday suggested SoTL in Action – but that might not be of interest to everyone – that might be a smaller sub-group working through that one… so send your ideas!
8. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for November 5th over the noon hour! Amy Kuntz (TLT) is coming to campus with Carla Seward (Media Commons) to explore integrating immersive technologies in to your classes. It will be a good overview and a chance to think about practical applications! Amy is a real pro with a lot of knowledge in this area, so even just as an info session, it would be worth your time!
I’m sure I’ve forgotten some things, apologies!!! But I hope you’ll agree that our faculty is indeed actively engaged with professional development that is both enriching and productive! Look at the “to” address listing to see all the participants since last fall!
Keep sending me your ideas for professional development, please! I’m really enjoying the professional development model of the FLC! Thank you to you all for your interest and participation. It wouldn’t mean a thing without you!
