Teaching and Scholarship Hub News

Happy first day of class! This is always an exciting and peculiar time, when breaks are always too short, and there’s a tension between wanting to hold on to unstructured time and the pull to prepare for everything starting up right now.

With my longtime love for the Muppets, I always hope that the start of the semester feels something like Kermit and Fozzie in The Muppet Movie on a road trip: light and fun, shaped by the simple act of moving forward together, with the sense that uncertainty is not isolation. There is something grounding here, particularly right now, for us when long-standing institutions, cultural reference points, and the ways we teach and learn feel increasingly in flux.

Holding anticipation and familiarity together—the energy of what lies ahead paired with the presence of a friend and compassion for one another, even as they face (in their case, literal) forks in the road—feels like the best way to start the semester. I hope it’s an amazing one!

Read more here…

As I approach my 25th semester at UR, I’ve been thinking about what changes and what endures. In those 12 years, we’ve seen digital trends like Digital Storytelling give way to the current ubiquity of AI. And, of course, Boatwright Library has been under construction for what feels like my entire career. Yet, despite the roughly 15,000 students who have passed through our doors during my time here, the core of what we do is unchanged. The heart of this university is still the human relationships that begin on the first day we walk into the classroom. As you step into yours next week, I hope you find those meaningful moments of connection that remind you why we do this work. Welcome back.

Keep reading here.

My colleagues and I in the Faculty Hub get to see—up close and every day — the creativity and care that UR faculty put into their teaching and scholarship. We are also well aware of the energy your work requires, especially in these final weeks. As we wrap up this semester, we hope the coming break offers you some time to rest and recharge. In recognition of the fact that each of you might be in a different headspace as the semester comes to a close, I thought I’d offer a choose-your-own-adventure prompt for my recommendations below. Sending you best wishes for the coming break, the end of 2025, and the beginning of the new year. See you in January!

Read about upcoming events in January here!

If you are reading this, congratulations, you made it to finals week! That final push can be a challenge, so we have a few things lined up that we hope will help. During this hectic time, we invite you to experience the Swedish tradition of fika, taking a bit of time out of your day for a warm beverage, a treat, and conversation with your colleagues. Let us know if you plan to join us anytime between 2 and 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10. We are also hosting two Writing AND Grading Retreats from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (or anytime in between that works for you). Sign up for a retreat either on Thursday, December 11, or Monday, December 15, to write and grade in community with your colleagues.

See what else is happening in the Hub here.

I’ve been rereading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes strips since its 40th anniversary a few weeks ago (apologies if that makes you feel old). The nostalgia of the comic strip is a comforting reprieve and a sorely needed invitation to take the world a little less seriously, but it’s also been a useful reflection on the passage of time. While this week is a time to congratulate yourself, your colleagues, and your students for nearing the finish line, it becomes all too easy to forget the smaller moments and insights that made this semester what it was. The payoff comes through a series of panels, one might say.

For myself, these moments happened in the weekly conversations I had with student and faculty partners in IP3, where we joyfully uncovered details that we only noticed when we reflected with others. I hope you have had some similar opportunities to laugh this semester, and if not, that December brings a chuckle or two.

Keep reading here.

As we near the end of term (!!!???), we’re in a place where everything risks feeling rote. You might think your students are tired of talking about the same subject all semester, because you might be feeling the same way. It’s downhill from here, but it’s still an exhausting ride, perhaps from just being residually exhausted from the term (or because it gets dark at 5 p.m.). This stretch makes it easy to lose track of what’s sustaining you. For this week, I hope you can pause and name one thing you’re grateful for, even if it’s small or fleeting.

I’m grateful to the organizers and participants who made the Faculty and Staff Mini-Symposium happen the other week, and grateful to have been able to attend both sessions. Hearing the amazing work people are doing across disciplines and watching those conversations spark connections in real time felt energizing in a way I think I needed. It’s easy to fall into disciplinary silos; it’s harder, and way more rewarding, to keep coming back to the cross-campus conversations that make this place what it is.

If you attended, I hope something from those sessions is still echoing for you. (I’ll be thinking about horses and amphetamines for a while.) And if not, I hope you have a moment that reminds you good work is happening all around you, and that you’re part of it.

See what is coming up here…

With Blackboard Learn reaching its end of life in just over a year, conversations are underway across campus about what’s next—what platform we’ll move to, how we’ll support it, and how we, as an institution, can best take advantage of the transition. I have a long history with Blackboard, having started my career here providing direct technical support for it, so this moment feels both familiar and full of possibility.

While challenges certainly lie ahead, I’m convinced that our digital learning environment is about to take a major step forward. The Faculty Hub won’t be making the final decision on which LMS we move to, but we’ll be deeply involved in helping faculty make the most of it once it arrives.

In the meantime, my colleague, Ryan Cales, and I would love to hear from you—your thoughts, anxieties, hopes, or excitement, whatever’s on your mind as we prepare for this next chapter.

Keep reading here.

Lately, the question of how to manage time in class effectively has come up frequently in my consultations. What do we prioritize during class time–and how do we fit that into the three hours or so we have each week in class with our students? To paraphrase Mary Oliver, what are we going to do with those few wild and precious hours? The answer to that question will vary wildly from class to class and professor to professor, but I thought I’d share some questions that I find helpful when I’m facing that quandary myself.

• What are the most important learning outcomes for my students this week/this semester?
• What parts of learning require class time versus what can be done outside of class?
• What kinds of activities will push students to think critically?
• What chances will students have to practice what they are learning?
• What ways will my course support students to learn from each other in community?

And, of course, we’re always happy to meet with you for a one-on-one consultation to talk this (or anything else) over—and help you prepare for your final assignments.

Keep reading here.

The spookiest week of the year is upon us! We hope you will join us for the last of the Battling the Semester Scaries Series of Morning Blend this week in the South Meeting Room of Dhall from 8:45 to 9:15 a.m., featuring The Participation Séance: Summoning Life Into the Classroom. We also invite you to stop by the Hub anytime on Thursday or Friday to pick up a Tips and Treats bag filled with candy and a teaching tip! Also, now’s the perfect time to talk to your students about having a healthy Halloween, if you have not already. Have a great, spooky week!

Read more here…

With both the holidays and final exams looming over the horizon, I’ve been thinking a lot about the pleasures of being in good company. As a recent graduate who has returned to campus, I am constantly being reminded of how much of my work is shaped simply by the joys of being with others in the labs and classrooms, in the Faculty Hub, and in the hidden corners of campus we come to know intimately over the course of our (many) days here.

In that direction, the Faculty Hub invites you to join us at our ongoing Dhall breakfast gatherings: Morning Blend on Wednesdays and the Building AI Literacy FLC on Fridays. As feminist scholar Donna Haraway reminds us, ‘company’ finds its roots in the Latin cum panis, or ‘with bread,’ or, more likely for the rest of us, ‘with coffee.’ So, while our to-do lists grow longer and the daylight gets shorter, we nevertheless look forward to gathering with you in the upcoming months.

Keep reading here.