SPRING 2022 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS
Focus Seminar 2022: Oral Communication
Everybody speaks. But do we communicate? The Oral Communication Focus Seminar (dates below) will provide an opportunity for interested faculty to design, revise, and share activities that engage students in practicing and improving oral communication skills. The creation of discipline-based oral communication activities will be guided by the fundamental performance criteria articulated in LaGuardia’s Communication Abilities Rubric.
Seminar participants may wish to revise assignments or create new activities. Essential to our hands-on workshops is a charrette-guided critique of assignments aimed at strengthening a speaker’s ability to make ethical and effective decisions about ways to deliver a purposeful, coherent, and clear spoken message. Assignments will integrate program-specific learning objectives, align with a designated competency, and allow for use in both face-to-face and online modalities.
Above all, participants’ oral communication assignments will reflect commitment to strengthening the speaker’s ability to express meaningful ideas, values, and beliefs relevant to the discipline and the audience.
Co-facilitators: Michele Piso Manoukian, PhD, CTL, and Patricia Sokolski, PhD, Humanities
Click here to apply
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ELIGIBILITY
Faculty representing departments or programs in Academic Affairs.
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SUPPORT
Contingent upon attendance and active participation in all seminar activities, each Academic Affairs full-time faculty participant will receive a stipend of $600. Adjunct faculty may receive non-teaching pay or a PD fund if eligible.
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DATES
The Oral Communication Focus Seminar will meet via Zoom from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the following Fridays;
- Spring I, 2022 Design and Revise: March 11, April 8, and May 6
- Fall I Showcase: November 4.
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INQUIRIES
OER Seminar, Spring 2022
Open educational resources (OER) are open access learning materials that anyone is welcome to create, use, and remix. Given the high price of commercial textbooks, free OER alternatives are one effective tool in reducing the price of higher education and increasing access to learning materials. OER also present a unique opportunity to further develop a college-wide practice for collaborative, cross-disciplinary learning at LaGuardia. By incorporating open and critical pedagogical practices, faculty can better meet students’ needs with greater control over teaching materials. The seminar will address six key areas related to OER selection, adoption, development, and implementation:
- Finding high-quality OER
- Selecting the right platform/LMS
- Accessibility/ADA compliance
- Copyright & licensing
- Open pedagogy
- Assessment
Faculty members who attend this seminar will make a plan to create or select an OER for one of their courses, which can be a textbook, assignments, or other ancillary materials. Attendees are encouraged to teach their course with adopted OER during Fall 2022. This seminar is co-led by Associate Professor Alioune Khoule (MEC), Assistant Professor Joshua Tan (Natural Sciences), and Associate Professor Ian McDermott (Library), all of whom have experience developing and teaching with OER.This seminar meets via Zoom.
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ELIGIBILITY
Full-time and part time faculty and staff.
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SUPPORT
Contingent upon attendance and active participation in all seminar activities, each Academic Affairs full-time faculty participant will receive a stipend of $500. Adjunct faculty may receive non-teaching pay or a PD fund if eligible.
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DATES
- Mondays, 3:30-5:30 via Zoom
- March 14
- March 28
- April 11
- May 2
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INQUIRIES
Writing in the Disciplines
At the heart of Writing in the Disciplines (WID) pedagogy lies the assertion that writing, itself, plays a key role in critical thinking. Writing can be a powerful tool to cultivate students’ engagement with course material and their understanding of their own thought processes. Writing is the medium through which students can begin to learn and deepen their understanding of discipline-specific content and modes of inquiry.
WID pedagogy holds that writing to learn and learning to write are intimately linked. When you present students with problems and ask them to identify and challenge assumptions in writing, writing itself becomes an act of problem solving. Continuous writing practice helps students improve their writing and better understand core concepts. The Writing in the Disciplines (WID) seminar will support faculty as they develop strategies to guide students to use writing to formulate and shape their ideas, and to make sense of course content. It will provide faculty with a workshop-based forum to design, adapt, and incorporate a range of writing assignments and activities into their courses. These will be discipline-specific materials, designed by faculty for the specific courses they teach. They will include in-class, ungraded activities as well as “high stakes” assignments, such as research papers, lab reports, business plans, and other materials. Faculty will receive the resources, support, and feedback necessary to explore and integrate these strategies into their courses.
Faculty will be asked to workshop their syllabi and course assignments, hold honest discussions with their peers about teaching, and develop materials that can support student learning.
Key themes to be explored will include: “writing to learn,” coaching the writing process, various assessment and grading practices, responding to student work, and addressing grammar issues. The seminar will incorporate a substantial amount of new material, including deeper discussions about the affective dimensions of writing, how to think about writing across different modalities, writing and online forums/platforms, and alternative assessment practices.
This seminar is open to full-time and part-time faculty members, including those who completed the seminar five or more years ago and who wish to refresh their WID pedagogy.
We encourage any faculty member scheduled to teach a writing-intensive course for Spring I who has not completed the WID program to sign up for the seminar. Faculty members who are interested in teaching writing-intensive courses in the future must take the seminar to get certified. All urban studies and capstone classes in the college are designated writing intensive.
Facilitators: Karen Miller (Soc Sci) and Irwin Leopando (English)
Meetings will start online with the possibility to move to in-person.
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ELIGIBILITY
FT/PT faculty, preferably those interested in and/or assigned to teach writing-intensive courses, and WID participants prior to 2017.
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SUPPORT
Contingent upon attendance and active participation in all seminar activities, each Academic Affairs full-time faculty participant will receive a stipend of $600. Adjunct faculty may receive non-teaching pay or a PD fund if eligible.
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DATES
Meetings will start online with the possibility to move to in-person. Mondays from 3:30-5:30 PM on the following dates: - March 14
- March 28
- April 11
- April 25
- May 9
- May 23 and
- June 6
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INQUIRIES
2021-22 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Food Insecurity, Inequality, and Justice
Forty million individuals, including 12.5 million children, are estimated to be food insecure. If we consider global populations, the number rises to nearly nine hundred million people who experience chronic hunger. Food Justice, a grassroots initiative, considers access to healthy food as a human right and addresses structural barriers to that right. At approximately 39%, the prevalence of food insecurity and inequality among CUNY students has been exacerbated by the pandemic and is significantly higher compared to student populations across the country.
Food Justice examines questions of access to healthy, nutritious, culturally appropriate food, as well as ownership and control of land, credit, knowledge, technology, and resources. Food secure individuals and households have access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life. In other words, for the food secure individual, nutritious food is readily available, adequate, and safe. Second, food secure individuals and households can acquire their desired food in a socially acceptable way.
The CTL Food Insecurity, Inequality, & Justice Seminar (FIIJ) invites colleagues to explore and construct content and pedagogical knowledge about food justice from local, national, and global perspectives, with emphasis upon the ways food production and consumption are subjected to the pressures of global climate change. Our seminar locates the themes of food insecurity, inequality, and justice at the center of inclusive, interdisciplinary pedagogies.
We hope the seminar’s experiential activities and events will prompt faculty, departments, and offices to incorporate food insecurity modules and awareness into their work. We hope, too, that the seminar prompts its members to contribute to the ongoing creation of an equitable community that acknowledges experiences of inequality within the LaGuardia classroom and across our campus. To realize these aspirations, FIIJians will:
- Gain familiarity with the language & practices of food insecurity, inequality, and justice;
- Engage with the topic of food insecurity, inequality, and justice across disciplines, addressing the experiences of our students’ and local communities;
- Facilitate discussions of a variety of FIIJ resources, and collaboratively design activities and research projects;
- Reflect on our pedagogical and food consumption practices;
- Design teaching strategies that engage students’ prior knowledge;
- Invite guest presenters, faculty, and staff to present analyses of systemic issues emerging from and related to food insecurity; and
- Examine syllabi and curricula to determine how and when to integrate disciplinary content with themes of food insecurity and inequality.
The themes threaded through our year-long seminar will include colonization, botany, plantations and the changing food landscape; migration and culinary practices; urban food systems; and the connections among food security, trade, human rights, and social development. Site visits/guests can include local gardens, Hogs Head Ranch, and the Collaborative Urban Resistance Banquet, also known as The C.U.R.B., an organization that educates urbanites about their local food webs. Walking and eating is also anticipated. Final projects may include implemented and critiqued classroom assignments, videos, virtual manuals with readings, or an annotated bibliography.
Fall 2021, Mid-Winter, and Spring 2022 Seminar Outline
I. At our first Fall session, we will identify and draw upon our prior knowledge about themes, causes, and consequences of food insecurity. Facilitators and participants who commit to full participation and attendance will plot Fall semester activity timelines to accomplish shared goals. Facilitators and participants may co-design individual seminar sessions and model teaching and learning activities, identify disciplinary perspectives and approaches, and initiate reflections, auto-ethnographies, and case studies. In the Fall semester, we will:
- Review current literature; identify resistances to food Insecurity and inequality;
- Explore our disciplines/courses for ways to incorporate seminar themes; and
- Design, implement, and evaluate FIIJ classroom activities and assignments.
Toward the end of the fall semester, and with an eye toward mid-winter discussions and sharing of preliminary research and/or pedagogical directions, we will identify ways to contribute to LaGuardia’s current food insecurity initiatives. For example, we may wish to participate in a variety of onsite and/or community and experiential activities geared to increase understanding of the causes and effects of food insecurity.
Mid-Winter
II. At our Mid-Winter session we may create teams and present action/research projects.
Spring I
III. We may refine, present, and critique FIIJ first semester/mid-winter project drafts; create short/longer term teaching and learning goals; and develop action plans for a campus-wide, cross-disciplinary, and student-centered event. Members may also choose to prepare conference presentations. In sum, during our time together, we will:
- Understand food security concepts, identify campus and local resources and advocates;
- Explore/apply diverse CUNY and national implementations of approaches to food security interventions;
- Share FIIJ pedagogies that may strengthen disciplinary content knowledge.
Seminar Projects and Outcomes
At the conclusion of our seminar, we will have completed a cycle of innovative and integrative assignment design and implementation that incorporates reflection and feedback on evidence-based pedagogical approaches to food insecurity, inequality, and justice. We plan to share the results of our explorations in a public event that, with the support of LaGuardia’s community of food justice advocates and experts, will promote increased access, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture. In these ways, we will contribute to disciplinary and pedagogical content knowledge, support and learn from current campus initiatives, and offer additional teaching and learning resources that identify and decrease food insecurity.
Co-facilitators: Nicolle Fernandes, Health Sciences; Ryan Mann-Hamilton, Social Science; Michele Piso Manoukian, CTL, and Rhonda Mouton, LaGuardia CARES.
Click here to apply
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ELIGIBILITY
Faculty and staff representing departments or programs in Academic Affairs and ACE.
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SUPPORT
Contingent upon attendance and active participation in all seminar activities, each Academic Affairs full-time faculty participant will receive a stipend of $600. Adjunct faculty may receive non-teaching pay or a PD fund if eligible.
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DATES
Fridays (10 to 12:00) unless noted - Fall 2021: 9/24, 10/29, 11/19, 12/17
- Fall 2 2022: Mid-Year Institute: Date to be decided
- Spring 2022: 3/18, 4/22, 5/13, 6/3
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INQUIRIES
Teaching Across Borders: Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)
The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program at LaGuardia provides a platform for faculty in geographically and culturally remote locations to develop a collaborative class-to-class course project that enables students to learn the course content through a global lens. Synchronous and asynchronous online exchanges are designed to facilitate international team projects that allow students to communication across difference and work together toward a common goal. Students interrogate the questions of otherness and belonging and challenge monolithic and essentialist views of culture. COIL helps to achieve equity by providing the opportunity to experience international settings without physical travel and it introduces an active dimension to LaGuardia’s Core Competency of Global Learning.
Funded by the grant from U.S. Department of Education, Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program (UISFL), this seminar will introduce participants and their international partners to COIL methodology, theoretical frameworks, and best practices in facilitating intercultural communication. Prior to the seminar, each faculty participant will locate a partner from an international institution through their own network or LaGuardia’s network of global partners. During five 2-hour seminar sessions in Fall II, they will be guided to develop content for their COIL modules in accordance with their course learning outcomes, select relevant technology platforms, and develop assessment tools informed by LaGuardia’s Global Learning Core Competency. Seminar facilitators will support faculty throughout their implementation of COIL projects in Spring I 2022. Ongoing team mentorship will be complemented with two 90-minute check-in for several teams at a time to allow for productive collegial support. At the end of Spring I 2022, COIL faculty and students will participate in LaGuardia’s signature COIL Faculty & Student Showcase.
Deliverables:
- Participating in five 2-hour synchronous seminar sessions that will include team-time with international faculty partners
- Completing 5 hours of asynchronous assignments in preparation for the synchronous sessions
- Meeting regularly with faculty partner to plan activities during the seminar in Fall II and during implementation in Spring I
- Attending two 90-minute synchronous check-in sessions during implementation in Spring I
- Participating in the COIL Faculty & Student Showcase
Facilitators: Olga Akskakalova (ENG), Anita Baksh (ENG), and Pablo Avila (CTL).
Click here to apply
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ELIGIBILITY
Full-time and adjunct Academic Affairs faculty are encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to faculty who have not implemented COIL before.
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SUPPORT
Contingent upon attendance and active participation in all seminar activities, each Academic Affairs full-time faculty participant will receive a stipend of $700. Adjunct faculty may receive non-teaching pay or a PD fund if eligible
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DATES
Synchronous sessions on Fridays from 9 - 11 am on 1/7, 1/14, 1/21, 1/28 and 2/25
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INQUIRIES
Making Online Auto-graded Assignments
During the pandemic, many instructors became versed in the tools for creating online assignments, tests, and quizzes. CUNY’s Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard, provides many ways for students to submit classwork and for instructors to grade it. One of the exciting features for faculty juggling multiple projects is the way that certain kinds of assignments can be developed to be automatically graded. On Blackboard, these assignments are usually of the multiple choice or simple numerical sort. This seminar will explore a powerful online system called MyOpenMath to help faculty develop the “next level” of auto-graded assignments.
Initially made for placement tests in mathematics, this system can now be used for teaching a wide range of subjects with 1) libraries of user-generated questions in science, engineering, business, and statistics, and 2) auto-graded and randomization options for question types as varied as multiple choice, matching, numerical, drawing, and even character-matching (strings). Integrating additional web-based tools enables instructors to create a fully-integrated LMS that is open source and free for students.
In this seminar, instructors from all disciplines will be supported to develop teaching tools using this platform for use in their classes. We encourage those who are completely new to this system as well as those who have already experimented with the software to apply. We will share sample assignments that illustrate how the system can be used in a wide range of courses (for example, anthropology, study skills classes, and mathematics for liberal arts courses).
Facilitators: Joshua Tan (Natural Science), Alioune Khoule (Mathematics, Engineering, and Computing), and Pablo Avila (CTL)
Click here to apply
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ELIGIBILITY
Academic Affairs and ACE instructors.
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SUPPORT
Contingent upon attendance and active participation in all seminar activities, each Academic Affairs full-time faculty participant will receive a stipend of $600. Adjunct faculty may receive non-teaching pay or a PD fund if eligible.
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DATES
- Thursdays from 2:30 - 5pm on 9/23, 10/21, 11/18, 12/9, 1/13/22
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INQUIRIES
Flexible Learning Spaces with the HyFlex Model [Mini-Seminar]
During the pandemic, many instructors became versed in tools for delivering course content online via synchronous and asynchronous modalities. As the University embarks on plans to return to campus, the HyFlex model has gained attention as a modality to allow instructors to teach on campus with students joining remotely or in person. Over the spring, the CTL has been working collaboratively with the Division of IT to outfit rooms with the necessary technology to allow instructors to teach in this new modality; a group of faculty will pilot the HyFlex model in their courses in Fall 2021 and open a mini-seminar opportunity in Fall 2 2021 to faculty who are interested in adapting their courses to this new modality.
Participants in this seminar will:
- Consider existing HyFlex structures and work towards adapting one existing course to at least two key components of this modality: in-class face-to-face live session with students, andonline synchronous live sessions with students joining remotely;
- Engage with technology on campus at least twice during the Winter to practice the delivery of their course in this new modality;
- Identify and establish a plan to address the needs of all students those in person and those joining remotely
- Develop or adapt existing activities to engage all students with course content equally; and
- Provide feedback on the HyFlex experience to contribute best practice for faculty implementing this new modality in future semesters.
This seminar is open for up to 12 participants only.
The co-facilitators are Neetu Kaushik (Social Science) and Pablo Avila (CTL).
Click here to apply
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ELIGIBILITY
Full-time or part-time Academic Affairs faculty.
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SUPPORT
Contingent upon attendance and active participation in all seminar activities, each Academic Affairs full-time faculty participant will receive a stipend of $500. Adjunct faculty may receive non-teaching pay or a PD fund if eligible.
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DATES
Meets during Fall II from 2 - 4 pm on 1/6/22, 1/11/22, 1/13/22, 1/18/22, 1/20/22
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INQUIRIES
Faculty Scholars Publication Workshop
In this year-long seminar, designed to assist LaGuardia faculty with their scholarly writing, faculty scholars seek to complete current academic writing projects and place them in external, peer-reviewed journals. LaGuardia faculty scholars from various disciplines—ranging from Accounting to Communication Studies, from Mathematics to English, from Library Science to Sociology—come together to read, critique, and support one another’s writing within their respective fields. Past FSPW participants have benefited from the peer support structure of this seminar and have successfully revised and submitted work subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals.
Depending on COVID19-related circumstances, the workshop may meet remotely via Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate rather than in person. Should this scenario occur, workshop members will decide on the structure and platform that works best for everyone. Workshop participants will be kept informed of any such changes as they arise.
The seminar will be led by Nancy Berke (ENG).
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Universal Design Workshop
Through hands-on techniques, brief readings, and group discussion, this three-session workshop series will help participants develop inclusive, accessible learning resources and pedagogical approaches. We’ll explore questions such as: why are students with disabilities often marginalized? What hands-on techniques can ensure that OER (Open Educational Resources) and other learning materials are accessible for students with limited vision, hearing, or mobility? How can Universal Design guide educators? What does accessibility actually mean for remote, hybrid, or in-person learning?
By attending the 3 workshop sessions and doing the reading, participants will be able to:
- identify ableist practices and assumptions in education
- contribute to developing an inclusive learning environment for students by using Universal Design concepts
- ensure that the Open Educational Resources they use or develop are accessible
Co-led by Derek Stadler (Library) and Priscilla Stadler (CTL)
Click here to apply