Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful responses to the questions in the RSVP form for the planning meeting of the SOH Faculty Learning Community.
We’ve had a very robust response—large enough that we can split into two groups. This approach takes care of one logistical challenge: scheduling. The time for the first meeting overlaps with the weekly staff meeting for Humanities Core, which affects some of the learning community members. So for future gatherings, we’ll add another meeting. We can also discuss moving the Monday mid-day meeting slightly earlier or a bit later, as long as the new meeting times capture everyone who’s signed up so far.
Meeting times for Fall 2018
Options that seem to work based on your responses in the RSVP:
- Mondays 10:30 – 12:00
- Mondays 11:00 – 12:30
- Mondays 2:00-3:30
- Thursdays 11:30 – 1:00
- Fridays: 2:00 – 3:30
Please consider your schedule and use this Google.form to communicate your preference for a meeting time in November and December. Please respond before we meet on Monday.
Agenda 10/15/18
- Introductions
- Goals & outcomes: a conversation about teaching
- Goals for the FLC
- Next meeting: content
- Next meeting: scheduling
To facilitate our first conversation, I’ve synthesized the group’s responses to the questions on the RSVP form.
Teaching challenges:
- Improving students’ reading & writing skills
- Grading papers in a manner that might actually affect student learning (and not kill me).
- Increased student participation in class
- Inclusive environment in class
- More transfer of “in-class” to “whole life” skills/engagement
- Framing open-ended questions that still meet instructional goals
- Balancing advanced course material v. a decentralized classroom community
- Student-driven learning–individually and in groups (not just scoring points)
Topics you’re most interested in reading about:
- Active learning
- Instructor feedback on writing
- Students’ digital literacy
- General overview of SoTL
Collective activities in addition to reading & discussion:
- Peer review of materials (not as much enthusiasm for peer observation; the group can facilitate this for those who are)
- Develop assessments and assignments
- Interdisciplinary collaborations
- Skills building across a sequence of classes
Reading for Monday 10/15
Based on these responses, I suggest we read the introduction to Arum, Roska, and Cook, Improving Quality in American Higher Education: Learning Outcomes and Assessments for the 21st Century (Jossey-Bass, 2016). The chapter, “Defining and Assessing Learning in Higher Education,” gives us a basis for thinking about the goals of higher education. It’s also a starting point for grappling with assessment. I know that’s a fraught term, but in order to get at useful peer review of each other’s teaching materials, or work on developing assessments and assignments, we need to be clear about our intentions for teaching. And we’ll want to know how experts in the field are thinking about assessment. (If you’re curious about the larger SSRC project that the book describes, you can read more here.)
I realize that I’m springing a reading on you with short notice. I hope you’ll be able to take a look at it before Monday, because I think a shared text will help us begin to develop connections across our diverse interests and areas of expertise.