Category Archives: Online Teaching

Workshop Recap: “Equity through Creativity: Examples of Transformative Teaching Across Disciplines”

We had the opportunity to present the workshop Equity through Creativity: Examples of Transformative Teaching Across the Disciplines, in which each of our colleagues and their students collaborated in multiple ways. The main goal of this workshop was to highlight, communicate, and share the ways in which we engage with our students in the classroom, particularly using multiple creative outlets, such as visual arts, film and documentaries, inclusive pedagogy/teaching, and literacy narrative. Our workshop brought experiences centered in multidisciplinary approaches, and student-centered pedagogy, with the ultimate goals of fostering equity, inclusivity, and critical thinking when centering student voices in our classrooms.

Prof. Noëlle Warden King (Department of Art & Music, Bronx Community College) presented an artistic project that centers the creativity, voice, and joy of students in her classroom. The project 3 Letters of My Alphabet showcases the students and that which is of great importance to them. Each student chooses 3 letters (not limited to the English alphabet) that are the first letter of a word of significance to them. They then make a short PowerPoint of four slides; the first a self-introduction, followed by their three letters and a short paragraph explaining the meaning of each word for them. Some of the samples of their projects can be found in this short blog post.

Dr. Stephanie Hershinow (Department of English, Baruch College) shared at the workshop an assignment she provides students with in her class so they can get to know each other better, to make them feel valued as individuals, and to teach them writing. This assignment is a literacy narrative—a common assignment in many first year writing classrooms. Since 2018, Dr. Hershinow has centered the First Year Writing course on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – highlighting the history and theory of the novel, and 2018 marked its 200th anniversary, resulting in a trove of fascinating responses and connections to contemporary events that Dr. Hershinow has been able to take advantage of her course. For their first assignment, students write an analysis of the novel, and the second assignment asks them to think of the novel more as inspiration. Many of the students wrote about their lives, their families, and their heritage. Dr. Hershinow shared in the workshop the audio clip recordings of students reading their inspiring essays.

Image obtained on Flickr

Dr. Asrat Amnie (Department of Education, Hostos Community College) presented The Power of Inclusive Pedagogy: The Application of Inclusive Teaching-Learning Practices To Foster Equity, Inclusivity, and Diversity in the Classroom. Dr. Amnie described his inclusion of TLH principles in the courses he taught this semester: curricular revisions, intentionality of including diverse set of materials in his course (multimedia), OER textbooks, among other adaptations. The instructor made sure the course reflects historical and current perspectives of diverse societies about addiction (War on Drugs, racial disparities on the criminal justice system, among other important societal issues). Dr. Amnie also highlighted other aspects that demonstrate the inclusion of aspects that fostered equity, and a comprehensive classroom: person-first language, online etiquette, and using Blackboard Ally, which helped increase accessibility to alternate versions of the course materials. All these aspects fostered an inclusive environment, which resulted in higher student-faculty participation in the course.

Prof. Joseph A. Torres-González (Department of Anthropology, Brooklyn College) presented Documentaries, Videos, and Podcasts: Fostering critical thinking & creativity in the virtual classroom. Prof. Torres-González highlighted how he used audiovisual materials – documentaries, videos, podcasts – and Open Educational Resources (OER) to foster critical thinking and creativity. He mentioned how he integrates multimedia as a teaching tool in relationship to the themes discussed during the semester. Audiovisual resources present opportunities to foster critical thinking, engage in creativity and reflection, along with providing a space to create empathy, and having a voice about present and future. One student mentioned: ““The documentaries we have watched in class this semester […] allowed me to better see a variety of topics through other people’s perspectives.”

Teaching Resources from TLH Fellows Asrat Amnie and Anita Cheng

TLH Fellows work to foster equitable, creative, student-centered pedagogical methods throughout CUNY. We’re delighted to share these resources developed by fellows, Asrat Amnie (Hostos Community College, Fall ’22) and Anita Cheng (Hunter College & Brooklyn College, Fall ’21) that address the use of educational technology in the classroom.

Universal Design for Learning: Fostering Neurodiversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Through Educational Technology

Pulling Distance Learning Tools Into In-Person Classes

Accessible Course Design and Hybrid Teaching after COVID

Image: CUNY mascots pose with members of the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities (CCSD) at the 2018 NYC Disability Pride Parade.

The pandemic forced a rapid shift to online teaching, but what will we return to and what will we adapt in the future? Some students have benefited tremendously from a move to online learning, especially those who have difficulty with public transit due to a disability, difficulty affording transportation, or a long commute to class. Other students have struggled with having only online or asynchronous courses and learn best with in-person instruction. Educators have been forced to innovate during the past 18 months under the cloud of the pandemic and its related crises, and with the larger systemic problems that higher education was facing before COVID.  Continue reading

Register for “Thriving, Not Just Surviving in a Time of Crisis: Expanding Our New Learning Environment,” the 2021 CUNY CUE Virtual Conference

 

Over the last year, CUNY colleges have developed new and innovative practices to ensure student success during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty, staff, and students at CUNY are reflecting on lessons learned as they look forward to future undergraduate education initiatives at their college.

In order to highlight this important work, the Office of Undergraduate Studies is joining forces with leaders across CUNY to host the 2021 CUE Virtual Conference. “Thriving, Not Just Surviving in a Time of Crisis: Expanding Our New Learning Environment” will be held virtually on four Fridays, April 9th, April 23rd, May 7th, and May 21. This year’s conference seeks to feature the transformative work being done at CUNY. Continue reading

Making Public Contributions to Knowledge

Openly exchanging teaching resources is how I learned to teach. I owe a debt of gratitude to colleagues who shared generously: they emailed me their syllabi, explained what a “fishbowl” or “Think-Pair-Share” is, and introduced me to Reacting to the Past. Now after a decade of teaching as an adjunct, I’m certain that one of the best ways to give back to the profession is to share a public contribution to knowledge about teaching.

This is a lesson for our students as well. Ample research shows that students write better when they know they are writing for a large public—whether that’s a publication on a class blog visible only to peers or a professional peer-reviewed journal (see Prof. Danica Savonick’s “Write Out Loud“), a paper delivered at a student or professional conference, a presentation at a local club or community group, a poster at a university symposium, or in any other venue beyond the classroom (see Laken Brooks’ IHE piece on service learning). Writing for an authentic audience increases student engagement in a real-world process where conventions and rules must be adhered to and deadlines must be met. Continue reading

Resources for Teaching Online

Many educators this Fall 2020 semester, particularly those new to online teaching, are talking about how teaching during this global health crisis feels like teaching for the first time. Even those with many years of experience feel this way. Fortunately, colleagues around the world are sharing their online teaching resources. However, it can be hard to navigate this avalanche of advice and information mid-semester. To help you, we’ve broken up some of these tips and resources into categories below. You can also access more resources at the CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy. Continue reading