2021 August Faculty Workshops Session Descriptions Archive
Session Dates
Wednesday, August 18
9:30 AM – 10:45 AM – Session One
101: Fall 2021: Transitioning Back to Face-to-Face Instruction
Teaching in 2020 was challenging in many ways; however, instructors across campus taught skillfully, and students provided overwhelmingly positive feedback for their online, synchronous courses. In this workshop, we will review those techniques that made your online class successful this past year, as well as how to bring those into your in-person courses.
Watch the recording of Session 101
102: Moving Beyond Accommodations: Creating Accessibility and Inclusive Classrooms
This is a workshop for faculty who want to create a more accessible classroom, but aren’t sure where to start, or what an accessible course even looks like. We will move beyond simplistic definitions of accommodation and offer best practices, strategies, and moves that can be adapted across disciplines.
Watch the recording of Session 102
103: Canvas Overview
This workshop is designed to introduce Canvas to those who have never used it before. From navigating Canvas to developing your assignments, this workshop provides a high-level overview of basic functionality within Canvas and will prepare you to publish your first Canvas Course.
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM – Session Two
201: Building Foundations for Undergraduate Students: A Deeper Dive Following the Foundations Summit
This session follows the Foundations Summit, held in early August, and designed to bring faculty and staff across the university into dialogue about how to support our undergraduate students in building strong foundations as they transition back to AU (or to AU for the first time). This session will take a deeper dive into the themes that emerged from the Foundations Summit—great for those who attended the Summit, or those who missed it!
Watch the recording of Session 201.
202: Incorporating ‘JEDI’ into Your Community-Based Courses
In this session participants will explore methods to bring a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) framework to their community-engaged teaching and research. We will examine prominent inequity issues in the Washington DC area and the pivotal role that the nonprofit sector plays in addressing them. Faculty practitioners will share how they collaborate with local organizations to make these issues real to students. Participants will also get to hear from a local nonprofit organization about prioritizing community needs in building equitable partnerships.
Watch the recording of Session 202.
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM – Lunch
Trauma-Informed Social and Emotional Learning for Academic Resilience
Trauma-Informed Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for Academic Resilience is essential to meet the needs of students and faculty who are dealing with stress and trauma. In this session, we will explore research on the impact of trauma; and the scientific basis for the need for a sense of safety, human connection, and community for relieving stress and trauma. Participants will begin to learn mindfulness-based social and emotional skills for relieving stress and trauma, and building resiliency.
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM – Session Three
301: Supporting International Students and Scholars in a Pandemic and Post-Pandemic World
The pandemic presented unique challenges for international students. The results of International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) surveys and student experiences have identified emerging needs for service delivery and academic teaching. This session will highlight successful strategies and techniques that could further advance international student successes and improve retention in a post pandemic world.
Watch the recording of Session 301
302: Open-Sourced Statistical Options for Teaching and Research
The ability to utilize data to make decisions is an important skill. Commercial software is expensive and can create barriers for access during and after school. In this workshop we will discuss alternative open-source statistical programs that can be accessed by anyone at any time for no cost.
Watch the recording of Session 302
3:30 PM – 4:45 PM – Session Four
401: Going Gradeless: How to Begin Rethinking the Role, Value & Future of Grading in Your Course
Despite the central role grades play in many teachers’ pedagogical lives, grading as we know it is a relatively new facet of education. In this discussion, I will present an overview of the research that explains how grades hinder education, frustrating students’ and teachers’ aims, and what some teachers are doing to move away from, if not totally beyond, traditional grading.
Watch the recording of Session 401
402: Utilizing NVivo for Qualitative Approaches to Teaching and Learning
NVivo is a qualitative software platform available to all AU faculty, staff, and students. It helps identify and analyze trends across multiple forms of qualitative data including: text, image, audio, video, and social media formats. This session introduces the use of NVivo for multimethod projects and considers applications for both teaching and research.
Thursday, August 19
9:30 AM – 10:45 AM – Session One
501: Teaching in Person: Incorporating What We Learned Online
In this interactive workshop, we will reflect on the pedagogical practices we developed during a year of teaching online, and think about what we want to incorporate into our teaching on campus. Topics covered will include: our philosophy of teaching; practices and techniques for content delivery and discussion; and types of assessment of student learning.
This session was not recorded.
502: Data Sharing for AU Researchers Via the Qualitative Data Repository
In 2020, AU became an institutional member of the Qualitative Data Repository (QDR, qdr.syr.edu), which gives AU researchers a new option for sharing qualitative research data. Come to learn about considerations for making such data publicly available, and about the benefits of using QDR and its services for that.
Watch the recording of Session 502
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM – Session Two
601: The First-Year Writer as Witness Book: How Dr. Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage Might Come Up in Your Class
Join a discussion on the book our incoming first-year students are reading this summer: Dr. Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage. Hear how faculty have used the book in their courses and brainstorm ways to use it in your own.
Watch the recording of Session 601
602: Canvas Overview
This workshop is designed to introduce Canvas to those who have never used it before. From navigating Canvas to developing your assignments, this workshop provides a high-level overview of basic functionality within Canvas and will prepare you to publish your first Canvas Course.
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM – Lunch
Supporting the Students of the Pandemic
As we return in person for the fall, the impact of the COVID pandemic is far from over. This session will highlight challenges facing students and provide tools for how faculty and staff can support student success. Topics to be covered include the student academic experiences, economic and social conditions, and educational equity.
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM – Session Three
701: Using the Anti-racist Praxis Guide: Strategies for Teaching and Research
This workshop will help faculty develop strategies to use AU’s Anti-Racist Praxis Guide inside and outside the classroom. Panelists will offer ideas for lessons to support our students—and ourselves—as we engage in the work of anti-racist action, followed by a group brainstorming session.
Watch the recording of Session 701
702: Leveraging Surveys with Qualtrics for Teaching, Research, and Learning
This session introduces the basics of survey design and distribution via Qualtrics. We will then consider ways that Qualtrics and survey research, more broadly, can be used to enhance your teaching and research.
Watch the recording of Session 702
703: Canvas Tools: Zoom and Kaltura Within Canvas
This workshop introduces you to two useful tools for student engagement within Canvas: Zoom and Kaltura. Zoom can help you collaborate with your students in class sessions, office hours, meetings, and group projects. There are several ways to integrate Zoom into your Canvas course to make facilitating meetings seamless. Kaltura is a video creation and streaming software giving instructors the ability to record mini-lectures and students the ability to create video presentations. In this workshop, we will go over the most effective ways to increase student engagement through mixed media.
Watch the recording of Session 703
3:30 PM – 4:45 PM – Session Four
801: Understanding Inclusive Pedagogy at American University: The Role of Antiracism
What theories, concepts, methodological perspectives, practices and strategies do you employ to best support all students in their learning, including those from underserved and marginalized groups? In this session, we will collectively engage and critically reflect on our practices to build inclusive and antiracist teaching and learning communities.
Watch the recording of Session 801
802: Metacognition: What is Means and How You Can Help Students Practice It
Though metacognition might be easy to sum up—“thinking about our thinking”—understanding its role in education and how to help students engage in authentic metacognition can be trickier. This workshop will offer an overview on the research regarding metacognition in the classroom, and then turn toward offering some practical exercises and assignments to take forward to your own courses.
Wednesday, August 25
9:30 AM – 10:45 AM – Session One
901: Teaching Inclusively in the Hybrid Learning Modality: on Campus, in Person with Technology
Structured discussion strategies lead to inclusive learning environments remotely or in-person with the trifecta of culturally responsive learning modalities, explicit instructions/learning objectives, and free online platforms. The presenter illustrates how to build learner competency by offering a guideline for participants on how to facilitate discussions on Pear Deck or Parlay Ideas so that learners can contribute with success.
902: Sparking Curiosity: Inquiry-Based Learning (This session was cancelled)
After a year of info dump PowerPoint slides and Zoom Doom, we’re all eager to get back to in-person teaching. This session will focus on how Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) pedagogies can promote curiosity, student engagement, and equity. Panelists will offer strategies for using IBL methods in your overall course design, assignment prompts, and daily classroom experiences.
903: Canvas Tools: Zoom and Kaltura Within Canvas
This workshop introduces you to two useful tools for student engagement within Canvas: Zoom and Kaltura. Zoom can help you collaborate with your students in class sessions, office hours, meetings, and group projects. There are several ways to integrate Zoom into your Canvas course to make facilitating meetings seamless. Kaltura is a video creation and streaming software giving instructors the ability to record mini-lectures and students the ability to create video presentations. In this workshop, we will go over the most effective ways to increase student engagement through mixed media.
Watch the recording of Session 903
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM – Session Two
1001: 10 Habits to Humanize our Classroom Interactions: Advancing Antiracist Pedagogies
Humanizing one another validates our students’ rights to show up as complex as they truly are and to claim the diversity of their lived experiences as meaningful. Beginning with a brief overview of antiracist pedagogy, this session will focus primarily on the best practices of humanizing classroom interactions for an effective start to a unique Fall semester.
1002: Teaching with Open Educational Resources: Adoption and Creation
Reduce the cost burden of higher education on students. With Open Educational Resources (OER), students have access to materials from the first day of class. In this workshop, we will discuss various options when it comes to teaching with freely available, openly licensed course materials. This includes the use of OER and the creation of your own OER such as textbooks.
Watch the recording of Session 1002
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM – Lunch
CTRL Faculty Award Presentation
In this session, Professors Pat Aufderheide (SOC) and Saif Shahin (SOC), the two winners of the 2020-2021 Ann Ferren Curriculum Design Award, will discuss how they revised their course “Digital Media and Culture to bring it in line with the learning outcomes of the Diversity and Equity (DIV) component of the AU Core Curriculum. The reorganization of the course helps students better understand the role that social differentiation and stratification plays in their own lives and how digital technologies might be exacerbating it. Further, Professor Sherri Williams (SOC), the winner of the 2020-2021 Milton and Sonia Greenberg Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, will discuss her systematic analysis and publication of her work with the Black on Campus project, a national project that Dr. Williams co-founded and co-directs locally with students at AU.
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM – Session Three
1101: Transforming Your Teaching Insights into Scholarship: A Discussion with SoTL Experts at American University
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) describes systematically studying the teaching and learning that occurs in our own higher education classrooms. This session will include discussion of the panelists’ SoTL research and answers to attendee questions about how to conduct and publish SoTL research. This panel includes the three inaugural CTRL SoTL Faculty Fellows (2019-2021) and the 2021 award winner of the CTRL Greenberg SoTL award.
1102: Online Information Literacy Materials for WRT 100 and Beyond: Using Credo Instruct in Your Canvas Space
The Library now offers Credo Instruct to supplement librarian-led information literacy instruction. Credo Instruct is a set of short videos, tutorials, and quizzes that can be integrated into Canvas. Attend this session to get ideas for incorporating Credo Instruct into writing studies learning goals and student learning assessment.
Watch the recording of Session 1102
1103: Canvas Overview
This workshop is designed to introduce Canvas to those who have never used it before. From navigating Canvas to developing your assignments, this workshop provides a high-level overview of basic functionality within Canvas and will prepare you to publish your first Canvas Course.
Watch the recording of Session 1103
3:30 PM – 4:45 PM – Session Four
1201: Welcoming Students to Your Classroom with the Right Name and Pronouns: An Introduction to New Technology
Members from the Name and Gender Identity working group and the team from Kogod who piloted the NameCoach software will present on the technological changes that allow students to record a pronunciation of their name, as well as to designate a chosen name, pronoun, and gender identity. This presentation is aimed at equipping staff and faculty to navigate the changes and be prepared for how students will present themselves and expect to be identified and addressed. We hope staff and faculty will walk away feeling stronger in their conviction and commitment to inclusivity on campus.
Watch the recording of Session 1201
1202: Organized and Open Source: Citation Management with Zotero
Whether you are new to working with a citation management tool or interested in transitioning from fee bases tools like EndNote, this session will prepare you to organize your research materials and cite as you write. Participants should bring their laptops to facilitate software download, transfer of existing citation libraries (if any) and practice the skills presented.
