Please join us for a relaxed event where faculty will meet with their peers to exchange ideas and hear presentations about teaching, research, and scholarship.
- Date: Wednesday, August 17
- Time: 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Table Conversations 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.; Formal Presentations 2:30 p.m.-3 p.m.)
- Location: Building D, Starbucks Common Area & D Classrooms
- Details: Light Refreshments
- RSVP: All faculty and staff welcome. RSVP optional to http://bit.ly/facultydevfest by August 15.
Table Conversations: 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Two rounds of table conversations are scheduled: 1 p.m.-1:45 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.-2:30 p.m. This will allow people to join more than one conversation.
Master Online Teacher Certificate
- Dave Braunschweig – CTP, CIS
- This conversation will be about the Illinois Online Network – Master Online Teacher Certificate offered through University of Illinois Springfield. It includes an overview of the course requirements, and highlights key learning points from the courses I completed that you will be able to apply to your own courses, face-to-face or online.
Learning Backwards
- Raeghan Graessle – MS, PHY
- Do you ever worry that your students are becoming little robots, preferring to solve problems using just one framework? Help them bust out of their rut and bend their brains by turning learning upside-down. Increase student performance through activities that force them to view, debate and solve problems upwards, downwards, forwards and backwards. You will leave this conversation with a re-designed activity, ready to turn your classroom creative again and teach students to learn in all directions.
Global Curriculum Infusion and Assessment
- Richard Johnson – LIB ARTS, ENG/LIT
- Nellie Khalil – MS, Biology
- In this conversation we will learn about the global curriculum infusion and assessment. Ever wondered how you might infuse your classes with international content? Join us for a conversation about how you can globalize your classes. We’ll also discuss how to assess global competencies and how to create a study abroad experience for your students.
Universal Design for Learning
- Pardess Mitchell – MS, KIN/HED
- I created a new syllabus format that follows the principles of universal design for learning. My end product is a “user-friendly” syllabus that is shorter in length, highly engaging, and is accessible. Let’s talk about how we create a classroom environment that promotes accessibility for all students in the following areas: Engagement: ways we stimulate interest and motivation; Representation: ways we present information and content; Action and Expression: ways we allow students to demonstrate knowledge.
Learning Communities
- Perry Pollock – LIB ARTS, ART
- I have developed a fully blended Learning Community called Intersections: Art and Literature in Contemporary Culture. It blends ART 105 with ENG 102 and this coming fall will be the third time it is offered. I also sit on the Integrative Learning Committee, which vets all Learning Community applications. This session is intended to promote new faculty involvement in teaching such courses across all divisions.
Why Do We Still Teach?
- Pearl Ratunil – LIB ARTS, ENG/LIT
- In my interview for a full-time position in 2008, the English Department search committee asked a question that has stayed with me: Why teach? This question continues to resonate as we face challenges in teaching and education: social media, global changes, economic down-turns, and social and cultural upheavals. Why do we still teach? This conversation is about that question, and I invite faculty who have reflected on this to share their insight or revelations.
Responding to Student Plagiarism
- James Vitullo – LIB ARTS
- Sara Stiberg – RFL, Library Services
- We are hosting a conversation about how we prevent or respond to student plagiarism. What have you experienced as a teacher? What are some challenges of recognizing or responding to plagiarism? What have been your most interesting cases? How have you handled them? How has technology or social media changed our experience of student plagiarism or academic dishonesty? What are some opportunities for us as teachers? We will also describe workshops we jointly host each semester on citations, plagiarism, and research in the Writing Center.
Presentations: 2:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.
What’s the relationship between writing, research, and teaching?
- Brian Cremins – LIB ARTS, English
- For me, the three are closely intertwined. If it weren’t for the students in my English 101 and 102 composition courses (not to mention countless other friends and colleagues), I don’t think I would have finished my first book, Captain Marvel and the Art of Nostalgia, which will be published by the University Press of Mississippi later this year. When I began to research the project—which is a study of the connections between American popular culture, family narrative, and memory—I had to be honest with myself: I had no idea what I was doing. To finish, I had to learn how to write all over again. That realization gave me a greater feeling of solidarity with my students. How could I teach anyone else how to write if I didn’t know how to do it myself? But, slowly, as I shared my process and practice with my classes, I figured out how to tell the story I needed to tell. As a result, I think I’ve also learned how to be a better writing teacher.
Current research in Teaching and Learning at the Community College: A Panel
- Robin James – BUS/SS, MGT
- The content of the panel will feature recent research from four faculty (HARTE) members that have recently earned their Ed.D in Curriculum Leadership. The proposed panel presentation could last 30 minutes, with 15 minutes for Q&A. Abstract: Community colleges promote educational equity by providing opportunities to a more diverse population of students in order to help people achieve better job and economic outcomes. Objective or Purpose: The members of this panel have all conducted research studies at the community college level to promote educational justice and equity by providing research findings and pedagogical implications related to teaching and learning at community colleges. Specifically, the discourse of pedagogy at the community college level; culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy; fostering community in distant learning courses, and teaching strategies and professional learning opportunities for community college faculty. The presenters will be Robin James (BUS/SS), Tara Mathien (BUS/SS), Stephanie Whalen (LIB ARTS), and Pardess Mitchell (MS).
Teaching with a Case Study
- Tong Cheng – MS, BIO
- Bacterial meningitis is a serious inflammation of the membranes (meninges) surrounding human brain and spinal cord. It can cause brain damage, hearing loss and learning disabilities or even death. In the United States, there are 4 common bacteria that can cause meningitis, each of which has its unique features that differentiate itself from the others. To teach students about this disease, I developed a case study besides traditional classroom lecture. Using this case study, students learned how the medical personals handle this disease in real life. They also learned the proper medical procedures for the diagnosis and treatment of bacterial meningitis. Come and join us with this 20 minute presentation. I will share you my experience of using case study to increase the students’ enjoyment of the topic and hence their desire to learn.
Student Success in Online Classes
- Marie Lapidus – BUS/SS
- As FORE IdEA, a 2015-2016 HLI group, completed its project on online classes at Harper and student success, we wanted to present our findings to the Harper Community. We asked Pardess Mitchell, who completed a dissertation on online student engagement and Dave Braunschweig, who has been instrumental in online class development and student engagement to present with us and start a conversation about student success in online classes at Harper College. 73.68% of our respondents want fully online degrees. 72.09% want flexibility of the online education and cannot come to campus. 33.89% are dissatisfied with instructor response time. Only 48% persist from Fall to Spring. Want more data? Come to our presentation!
Interested in more workshops or programs on related topics? Submit your ideas to academy@harpecollege.edu.