Author: Jane Bise

Dear Colleagues,

The Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) is offering several professional development opportunities this summer.

This flyer provides information on 4 workshops (90 minutes each). You are welcome to attend any or all that meet your interests.

The workshop topics include:

• Robust and Flexible Course Design in the Natural Sciences, Post-Pandemic (June 23, 1-2:30 pm EDT)
• The Benefits of Spending Time in Nature for the Well-Being of Educators (July 1, 10:30- 12 pm EDT)
• Developing the Mindset of an Academic Leader- for department chairs (July 27, 10:30-12 pm EDT)
• Crafting a More Inclusive and Learner-Centered Syllabus (Aug 4, 1:30-3 pm EDT)

ACS has also facilitated the formation of seven working groups to develop resources to share by the end of summer. I will email when the materials become available on the ACS website.

The resources to be developed include materials to address:

• Enhancing the first-year experience
• Fostering a sense of belonging in the classroom
• Preparing department and program chairs for their leadership roles
• Advising of non-traditional students
• Study abroad in the post-COVID world
• Decolonizing the curriculum
• Leveraging digital pedagogies for learning

Best wishes,

Linda

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub

Dear Colleagues,  

The Faculty Hub would like to share some news about a new appointment in the Hub and information regarding summer opportunities, a collaboration between Boatwright Library, CCE, and the Faculty Hub, and a reminder about applying for next year’s IP Cohort. 

Coordinator of Faculty Development in Teaching  

We are happy to announce that Dr. Libby Gruner, Professor of English, is the new Coordinator of Faculty Development in Teaching for the Faculty Hub. In this new role she will develop, improve, and coordinate programming for the professional development of faculty in their capacity as teachers, co-facilitate the Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort with the Faculty Hub’s Educational Developer, and work with the Faculty Hub Director to continue to evolve the goals of the Faculty Hub. Libby brings with her a wide range of experience at the University as a former Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences, former Director of Academic Advising, former Coordinator of the First-Year Seminar Program, as well as many years as a professor in the English department. She also co-facilitated a faculty learning community on Inclusive Pedagogy in 2016-2018 then joined the larger inclusive pedagogy cohort in 2018. Her work in the Advising Office, as well as her earlier work as FYS Coordinator made her keenly aware of the importance of inclusive pedagogical practices for equity, retention, and access. Most recently, as a Faculty Hub Associate, she has been able to work across department and school lines by facilitating working groups of faculty interested in exploring a variety of approaches to assess student learning.   

The NCFDD Summer 14-Day Writing Challenge  

It can be very hard to find 30 minutes a day for focused writing time, especially under current conditions.  However, if you would like to give it a try, here is a program that uses some motivational approaches to help you engage or re-engage in your writing. 

Consider participating with us in a 14-Day Writing Challenge sponsored by the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). This will occur from June 21-July 4 and registration begins on May 19 (see below).   

UR has an institutional membership to NCFDD. Follow these steps to activate your account and sign-up for the challenge: Visit the NCFDD website 

• Click “Join NCFDD” 
• Select your institution from the drop-down menu 
• Click “Activate My Membership” 
• Complete a basic sign-up form with personal and professional information 
• Activate your account by clicking the link in a follow-up confirmation email 
• Once you are logged in, you will see information about signing up for the challenge under “Start Learning” on the main dashboard or under “Events.”  

 Boatwright Summer Book Club 

Join us for the 4th Annual Boatwright Summer Book Club! In support of the university’s Thriving and Inclusive Community strategic goal, Boatwright Library, along with the CCE and Faculty Hub, will be hosting a summer reading group. This year we will read selected chapters and essays on the theme of Education for Freedom, including works by Tressie McMillan Cottom, Paulo Freire, Audre Lorde, Resmaa Menakem, and Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang. More information, including links to the readings for each session, can be found on the Boatwright Summer Book Club homepage. 

 Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort for the Next Academic Year  

If you would like a deeper engagement in becoming a more inclusive teacher, please consider applying for next year’s Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort. This initiative is sponsored by the Office of the Provost. Applications for next year’s cohort are due by Friday, May 21. For more information, eligibility, and details on how to apply, please read the call for applications for the Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort.  

Sincerely,   

Linda Boland  

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub  

Dear Colleagues, 

We would like to invite you to participate in a new faculty development opportunity and remind you of a few others. 

June 8-10: Lecture Breakers Virtual Summer Conference 

Do you want to use active learning strategies to promote student learning but do not have much time to prepare before fall term? The Lecture Breakers Conference will help by teaching strategies to engage students in any classroom format. Two of the nine speakers will focus on technology applications; one will focus on inclusive teaching; all will focus on active engagement of learners. In all, there are three hours of training per day for three afternoons on June 8-10. The conference also includes one evening keynote on the topic of minimizing faculty burnout. If you miss any live sessions, your registration gives you access to the recorded sessions through July 8. 

You can register on your own ($297) OR join our UR cohort. The Faculty Hub will pay for ten faculty members to gain this professional development in advance of fall term (first come, first serve). If you would like to join our Lecture Breakers cohort or have questions, please contact Kylie Korsnack in the Faculty Hub by May 20.    

Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort for the Next Academic Year 

If you would like a deeper engagement in becoming a more inclusive teacher, please consider applying for next year’s Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort. This initiative is sponsored by the Office of the Provost. Applications for next year’s cohort are due by Friday, May 21. For more information, eligibility, and details on how to apply, please read the call for applications for the Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort. 

Summer Blog Series: Forward Thinking 

What aspects of your “pandemic pedagogy” will stay with you as we return to face-to-face teaching? We invite you to contribute to our blog series, Forward Thinking – an informal collection of stories and examples of what UR faculty will carry forward into future teaching. For inspiration, check out the first post from the Faculty Hub’s own, Dr. Andrew Bell. If you would like to contribute, please email Andrew Bell for more details. 

1-1 Consultations 

Lastly, a reminder that the Faculty Hub is available to provide faculty with personalized support for teaching and scholarship through confidential, individual or small group consultations this summer. Schedule a consultation on our website. 

Best wishes as you complete spring term grading. 

Sincerely,  

Linda Boland 

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub 

Dear Colleagues, 

As we near the end of a challenging spring term, the Faculty Hub wants to relay our tremendous gratitude and pride in how the faculty have adapted to new modes of teaching this year. The work has been difficult, the issues surrounding us have tested our resolve, and faculty have amplified their support for an inclusive academic environment. While we are always working to improve individually and collectively, we have heard that our students have felt your support and we thank you for your deep commitment to student-centered work.  

We wanted to alert you to a few upcoming faculty development opportunities: 

Call for Applications: Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort 

If you would like a deeper engagement in becoming a more inclusive teacher, please consider applying for next year’s inclusive pedagogy cohort. This is a great opportunity to grow in your teaching and to build community with colleagues from across campus. This initiative is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and open to any interested full-time University employees who are faculty or who teach academic courses as part of their responsibilities.

The Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort meets every two weeks on Fridays from 12-1:15 p.m.* Each member of the cohort receives a $750 stipend for completing the program. Applications for next year’s cohort are due by Friday, May 21. For more information and details on how to apply, read the call for applications for the Inclusive Pedagogy Cohort. *Note: If you have a conflict with noon on Fridays, we encourage you to still apply and indicate the conflict in your application. We will do our best to accommodate the schedules of all those chosen to participate in the cohort.

An Invitation to Share With Your Colleagues 

As we have all tried new teaching approaches this year, we invite you to pause and reflect on the new teaching practices, assignments, or tools that have become part of your pedagogy. What aspects of your “pandemic pedagogy” will stay with you as we return to face-to-face teaching? 

• We have heard from faculty who recorded verbal feedback on students’ written work and found students to be receptive to this, finding it more helpful than written comments.   
• We have heard from faculty who have valued the use of collaborative documents to draw more students into conversation and want to continue to find ways to help all students be comfortable contributing their ideas.   

What will you carry forward? Do you have a story to share? We invite you to consider contributing to our blog series, Forward Thinking – an informal collection of stories or examples of what UR faculty will carry forward to future teaching. For inspiration, check out the first post from the Faculty Hub’s own, Dr. Andrew Bell. If you have an idea to contribute or a story to share, please email Andrew Bell for more details. 

Best wishes as you complete your courses and grading. 

Sincerely,  

Linda Boland 

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub 

This is an update from the Faculty Hub on some re-scheduled events and a reminder of upcoming events and resources that may be useful to you at this point in the semester.

Re-Scheduled Events

• Faculty Hub Morning Blend: Distracted (Continued): Due to the ice storms, we have re-scheduled our follow-up discussions on Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It on Thursday, February 25 from 1-1:45 p.m. and Friday, February 26 from 9-9:45 a.m. Whether you attended the book talk with Dr. James Lang or not, you are invited to join us to review key points and how we might apply them to current modes of teaching.  No registration is needed, please use this Zoom link. (If you missed the book talk you can view it here.) We are using our Morning Blend format in which a brief presentation is made (generally, about 15 minutes), a tip sheet is provided, and an open discussion is invited for anyone who wishes to do so after the presentation. We are mindful of faculty time in how we package these weekly events.  If you are not yet familiar with our Morning Blend series, we invite you to explore the archived resources from prior sessions, several of which are timely at this point in the semester: Developing Time Efficient Workflows for Grading, Strategies for Virtual Office Hours, and Strategies for Gathering Midterm Student Feedback, a topic that Jim Lang also referenced in his talk last week and that could be applied now or in the next few weeks.

Reminders: Key Events in March

• Radical Empathy: We invite you to join us for a faculty development session with Dr. Terri Givens who will address structural racism and the persistence of inequality while offering practical steps for calling out racism and affecting radical social change.  The session will be part presentation and part workshop and is based on her book, Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides. If you are among the first 40 people to sign up, we will send you a copy of the book! To learn more, please see this excerpt and consider joining us on Monday, March 22 from 1-2:30 p.m. Register for the Book Talk!
• We will also hold a follow-up conversation about radical empathy on Thursday, March 25 from 9-9:50 a.m., facilitated by Keith “Mac” McIntosh and Linda Boland. If you would like to join us, please register here.
• Faculty Hub Conversation: Are you currently teaching as an adjunct professor or as an instructor on a part-time or temporary appointment in A&S, RSB, Jepson, Law, or SPCS? Would you like an opportunity to ask questions, build community, and make connections with faculty in similar instructional roles from across campus? The Faculty Hub invites you to join us for an informal conversation to share knowledge, practices, success stories, questions, and considerations for teaching at the University of Richmond. This Faculty Hub Conversation* will be co-facilitated by Kylie Korsnack (Faculty Hub), Carol Wittig (Library), and John Zinn (SPCS) and will be offered on Friday, March 5 from 12-12:50 p.m. Sign up here!  *Note: This is the second conversation that we are offering for adjuncts this semester. If you came to the first session, we hope to see you again! And if you missed the February meeting, we hope you’ll consider joining this time!
• NCFDD Writing Challenge: If you would like to try a new approach to building a regular writing habit, please join us for the NCFDD writing challenge. The name may be misleading–it is not a competition but a chance to gain peer support to encourage the habit. Writers decide when to write each day and there are no penalties if you miss some days! If you have not tried this approach and want more information about the logistics or potential impact, please contact Linda Boland.
• Consultations: Are you thinking about mid-term assessments or improving your digital workflow? To learn more about how the Faculty Hub can help you, please consider our one-on-one consultations which can be scheduled at mutually convenient times.

The Faculty Hub invites all faculty to participate with us in two faculty development opportunities in March.

• Book Talk with Dr. Terri Givens on Radical Empathy

We invite you to join us for an important faculty development opportunity with Dr. Terri Givens, founder/CEO of Brighter Higher Ed, political scientist, consultant, and a former vice provost and provost.

Dr. Givens’ forthcoming book Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides addresses issues of structural racism and the persistence of inequality and offers practical steps for calling out racism and affecting radical social change. This 90-min session will be part presentation and part workshop.  The book is not available until 2/25 and you do not have to have read it in order to gain from this session. If you are among the first 40 people to sign up, we will send you a copy of the book as soon as it’s available!

To learn more about the forthcoming book, please see this excerpt and consider joining us:

• Date: Monday, March 22
• Time: 1-2:30 p.m.
• Register for the Book Talk!

We will also hold a follow-up conversation on Thursday, March 25 from 9-9:50 a.m, facilitated by Keith “Mac” McIntosh and Linda Boland. If you would like to join us, please register for the follow-up conversation.

• 14-Day Writing Challenge

It can be very hard to find 30 minutes a day for focused writing time, especially under current conditions.  However, if you would like to give it a try, here is a program that uses some motivational approaches to help you engage or re-engage in your writing.

Consider participating with us in a 14-day writing challenge sponsored by the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). This will occur from March 22-April 4 and you must register by March 17 (see below).  During the week of April 5, the Faculty Hub will offer a follow-up conversation for UR participants so that we can reflect on our experiences, celebrate our successes, and share tips on how to continue our writing momentum into the coming months.

New to NCFDD? No problem! UR has an institutional membership. Follow these steps to activate your account and sign-up for the challenge:

1. Visit the NCFDD website
2. Click “Join NCFDD”
3. Select your institution from the drop-down menu
4. Click “Activate My Membership”
5. Complete a basic sign-up form with personal and professional information
6. Activate your account by clicking the link in a follow-up confirmation email
7. Once you are logged in, you will see information about signing up for the challenge under “Start Learning” on the main dashboard or under “Events.” Registration closes on March 17!

Greetings and best wishes for a good start to your spring semester!  Below please find information about new professional development events in the Faculty Hub.

Faculty Hub Book Talk: Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It with Dr. James Lang

Why are attention and focus so difficult and so important to effective learning?  What is the impact of technology on attention spans? What role can teachers play in facilitating attention and reducing distraction in students? If these questions interest you, we invite you to join a Faculty Hub book talk by Dr. James Lang, author of Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It. To learn more, please see a series of articles by Lang in the Chronicle of Higher Education that cover some of the topics from this book.

Sign up here to join this book talk on Monday, February 15 from 3-4:15 p.m.

The first 40 people to register will receive a copy of the book through campus mail. If you are teaching remotely and are unable to come to campus, please indicate this on your registration form and provide your mailing address.

The Faculty Hub will also facilitate a discussion on Friday, February 19 from 9-9:45 a.m. to explore how we can employ some of Lang’s ideas in our teaching. As Lang’s book was written just prior to COVID-19, we want to explore how to facilitate student attention and focus in our new teaching modes. No registration is required for the follow-up session which will use this Zoom link. 

A Faculty Hub Working Group on Alternative Assessments is a new opportunity to discuss specifications grading, portfolio grading, oral exams, ungrading, student self-evaluation, and other alternative assessments of learning. If you’ve ever considered implementing an alternative form of assessment in one or more of your classes, or if you’re doing so now, please consider joining with other faculty for regular discussions this semester to share ideas and resources, promising practices, and pitfalls. Meetings will be held over Zoom at mutually convenient times, and the group will determine the frequency of meetings (but probably no more than once a month). Contact Libby Gruner at egruner@richmond.edu by Friday, January 22, for more information or to join the group.

Please join us for the Faculty Hub’s Morning Blend sessions: (1) Social Annotation on Thursday, January 21 at 1 p.m. and Friday, January 22 at 9 a.m. and (2) Active Learning: Peer to Peer Thursday, January 28 at 1 p.m. and Fri January 29 at 9 a.m. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and join us for a short presentation (10-15 minutes), a takeaway document (tip sheet), and an informal open discussion on each topic. All Morning Blend meetings will use this Zoom URL, no registration required.

 

I want to thank and congratulate all faculty and academic staff who have worked so hard to make this semester as successful as possible.  Alongside numerous staff at the university, the faculty have worked extremely hard to adapt to the new and constantly changing challenges of blended and remote teaching.  Thank you all for your efforts.

We are conscious of the time challenges we have all faced since March, yet we also want to capture some of those lessons learned and use them to our mutual benefits during spring term. Before we move fall term teaching to the past tense, we invite you to consider joining us to share with your colleagues what you learned this semester.  What worked well?  What needs re-alignment?  What additional professional development support would be most helpful?

Next week, the Faculty Hub is offering facilitated conversations about our fall term teaching experiences.  Please consider if one of them meets your interests and please know that you are welcome to participate for a duration that works for you.  We hope that you will find it meaningful to share and learn with your colleagues.  We also list below some planning that is under development for January 2021, to help you prepare for spring term.

Faculty Hub Conversation: Teaching FYS 

Did you teach an FYS course during the fall semester or are you preparing to teach an FYS course in the spring? Do you have strategies or successes from your experiences this fall to share with colleagues? We invite faculty to come together to share knowledge, practices, success stories, and considerations for remote or blended teaching of FYS courses. Two sessions will be offered:

• Tuesday, December 8 from 4-4:50 p.m. — Open to all with a focus on Remote Teaching. Register for Tuesday’s session here!
• Wednesday, December 9 from 9-9:50 a.m. — Open to all with a focus on Blended Teaching. Register for Wednesday’s session here!

Faculty Hub Conversation: Fall Semester Debrief

Do you have strategies or successes to share from your teaching this fall? Would you like to ask questions and receive feedback from colleagues as you plan your spring courses? Please join faculty from across campus for a semester debrief session in which we will share knowledge, practices, success stories, and considerations for remote or blended teaching. Two sessions will be offered:

• Thursday, December 10 from 3-3:50 p.m. – Open to all with a focus on Remote Teaching. Register for Thursday’s session here! 
• Friday, December 11 from 11-11:50 a.m. — Open to all with a focus on Blended Teaching. Register for Friday’s session here!

Can’t make any of these sessions but still want to participate? Please email us to let us know if you would be interested in attending a similar type of session in January or to receive a one-on-one recap with a member of the Faculty Hub.

Descriptions of the Types of Programming Offered by the Faculty Hub

• Conversations: Informal, interdisciplinary conversations (50 minutes) around a topic of shared interest (this is the format for the December sessions noted above).
• Panel Discussions: Short presentations on selected topics (5-10 minutes) by 2-4 faculty members followed by Q&A (20-30 minutes).
• Morning Blend: Informal “coffee break-style” discussions on a topic that impacts teaching and/or scholarship. Each session includes a brief presentation (10-15 minutes) followed by optional discussion time.  The Faculty Hub produces a one-page tip sheet to guide you in implementing a strategy or approaches discussed.  Visit our website for the recorded presentations and tip sheets from fall term.
• Workshops: Hands-on, interactive sessions (75-90 minutes) that allow participants to take a deeper dive into a specific topic or practice with a teaching approach.
• Faculty Hub Institute: Intensive workshops (full day or multi-session) designed to deepen faculty knowledge and skillsets to help propel their pedagogy and scholarship into the future.
• Consultations: The Faculty Hub is available to provide faculty with personalized support for teaching and scholarship through confidential, individual or small group consultations. Schedule a consultation on our website.

A note about recordings:  To maintain opportunities for authentic sharing by colleagues participating in a program, periods of open dialogue are not recorded in our sessions.  Most public presentations, invited speakers, and scheduled presentations within the program are recorded and some sessions include handouts, worksheets, or tip sheets which we will share with attendees and anyone else who wishes to use them.  We encourage individual or small group consultations if a topic interests you but you cannot attend at the scheduled time.

We are in the planning stages for our January 2021 programming.  Here is a quick preview of topics we are working on and the formats for engagement.  If you would like to help in a session from this list or suggest another topic, please email us!

• Panels: (1) Alternative Assessment, (2) Social Annotation, and (3) Collaborative Documents
• Conversations:  Reflecting on Course Design
• Morning Blends: (1) Course Organization in Bb and (2) The First Day of Class
• Workshops: (1) The Blended Classroom Experience and (2) Zoom Pedagogy
• Institute:  Data Visualization with R (register here)

The Faculty Hub has been asked about resources on assessment design in advance of the virtual final exam period.  Below are some resources we have shared via our website and Blackboard courses.

In addition, we are happy to offer 1-1 consultations regarding remote learning assessments. Email facultyhub@richmond.edu, or book an appointment directly with one of the consultants using the following links: Kylie, Ryan, or Andrew.

From our Morning Blend Series:

• Designing Effective Open Book exams Tip sheet & Presentation

From our Responsive and Flexible Teaching course:

• Assessment Design: presentation & slide deck
• Alternative Assessments: presentation & slick deck
• Academic Integrity: “Fostering Academic Integrity in the Digital Age”

From our curated resources:

• LinkedIn Learning Teaching Techniques, “Creating Effective Learning Assessments”
• Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching – “Giving Exams Online: Strategies and Tools”

University of Richmond Honor Code:

• You might also find it useful to review UR’s “Honor Code”

Dear Colleagues,

I want to let you know about two upcoming opportunities for faculty development.

1- Tomorrow, Friday, November 13 at 2:00 pm ET, Cengage (an education and technology company) is hosting a webinar on Oral Exams: The Secret to Assessing Students During COVID.  This event features Dr. Della Dumbaugh, Assistant Chair and Professor of Mathematics and author of the recent Inside Higher Ed article, “Revitalizing Classes Through Oral Exams.”  The webinar is free and you may register here.

2- In January, the Faculty Hub will initiate a new program for faculty development, The Faculty Hub Institute.  Institutes are multiple session workshops for faculty to learn together, gain professional feedback, and advance teaching and scholarship goals in a supportive environment for experimentation.

Would you like your students to create data visualizations that are both beautiful and effective narrative tools? Would you like to better communicate your data in scholarly publications and presentations?  If these questions interest you, please consider joining us for the first Faculty Hub Institute:  Data Visualizations in R.

We will host two faculty cohorts for this Institute. The first cohort will begin with a full-day workshop on January 13, followed by additional spring term sessions with members of the cohort and built-in opportunities for one-on-one support.  Learn more about the course content and the schedule here. A second cohort will meet for professional development in a more concentrated format in May. This schedule will be available early in the spring semester.  As for all Hub activities, faculty from all five schools are invited to participate.

We are currently accepting registrations here for the cohort that begins on January 13. Please note that we will be offering the Institute in a blended teaching format with up to eleven (11) in-person spots, to be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis. Other members of the cohort will participate remotely.  If you want to learn more about this opportunity and the time commitment, please contact the Faculty Hub.

As you consider these or other professional development opportunities, please note that we are also available for individual consultations.  Let us know how we can help you.

Best wishes as you near the end of the semester.

Sincerely,

Linda

Linda M. Boland, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub