Dear Colleagues,
I hope that your semester has gone well. We write to solicit your ideas and involvement in an upcoming Teaching Circle, a collaborative experience wherein faculty and staff share ideas on a theme relevant to teaching. If interested, please read on!
Join our Circle: “The New Normal? Looking Back and Looking Forward.”
The semester is nearly over, and it’s clear that things are not “back to normal.” How have faculty adapted to the ongoing need for masking, COVID protocols, and the challenges of increased student absence? Have students responded to new initiatives, such as virtual office hours? How have classes gone in general? Please join us for a relatively unstructured retrospective discussion of teaching this semester while we think about the semester to come.
This two-session circle will be held from 12:00 to 1:00 on Monday, November 29th and Monday, December 13th.
Please register at: https://clarkson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpd-6rqDwoHdTKjbcREF_UmPo_GqQtvEk_; you can also create a calendar link from there.
Have Ideas?
When possible, we like to include faculty and staff in the planning and facilitation of sessions. Is there something relevant that you’d like to talk about? Is there a reading or talk that we might want to discuss? Experiences to share or problems to solve? Reach out to Alexander Cohen (acohen@clarkson.edu) and we’ll work to incorporate them into the Circle! If you have ideas for other, future Teaching Circles, likewise let him know!
Teaching Circles Overview:
The Institute for STEM Education and the Teaching Mentoring Program Committee are proud to sponsor Clarkson University’s Teaching Circles Program. First launched in Spring 2020, Teaching Circles are intended to host communities interested in sharing concerns and interests around topics of interest related to teaching and learning. Teaching circles are safe spaces in which colleagues (1) generate and share developments related to teaching, (2) ideate innovations or interventions designed to enhance student learning, (3) seek scholarly research and resources to inform and support implementation of trials.
Suggest a circle topic or start your own: Our aim is to grow the number of circles based on topics and interest from within the Clarkson community. You can help shape this program with your willingness to get involved. Suggest a topic, facilitate a circle or contribute suggestions. More on this in Moodle.
When applicable, teaching circles will contribute to Clarkson’s greater community of teaching and learning through presentations/publication of findings to colleagues.
Participation is open to any faculty, staff, and graduate teaching assistants, and is not restricted to STEM fields or instructional modality. Read below for more information. Contact us at teaching@clarkson.edu with any questions or reach out if you would like to pose a Teaching Circle topic.
What to expect:
- Each circle will be theme or topic focused and is guided by a facilitator or co-facilitators. Facilitators are responsible for organizing circle meetings, posting to the circle’s online forum, circle goal setting & check ins, facilitate discussions, arranging for outside expertise (speakers, guest contributors, etc) and encouraging members to contribute fully. Facilitators volunteer in this leadership role for professional development and exploration of topics of interest.
2. Circle Rules:
· Join as many circles as you like
· Drop out of a circle at any time
· Participate actively
· Be respectful and inclusive
3. Teaching circle members will engage in active discussion and contribution is encouraged. Circles meet via Zoom for bi-weekly discussions and will have a home in a Moodle course, as a platform for hosting/sharing resources, facilitating online discussion.
How to Join Teaching Circles:
Click to enroll in the Teaching Circles course in Moodle and complete the Choose a Teaching Circle activity.
For questions, contact a Teaching Mentoring Program Committee Member:
Alexander Cohen, acohen@clarkson.edu
Kathleen Kavanagh, kkavanag@clarkson.edu
Laura Perry, lperry@clarkson.edu
Christopher Robinson, crobinso@clarkson.edu
