Barnard Summer Pedagogy Symposium

The purpose of this session will be to help faculty with the basics of Zoom. We’ll cover scheduling and conducting a meeting from start to finish. We’ll go over basic functionality such as breakout rooms, polls, using the chat and reactions effectively, screen sharing, and A/V settings. We will also provide a space where faculty can ask the “obvious” Zoom questions that so many of their peers are wondering about. By the end of this workshop, faculty will feel more comfortable conducting course content through Zoom, and able to reach beyond the basics.

Padlet is software that allows the sharing of material on a virtual bulletin board and in a wide variety of forms: text, image, audio, video, and more. It is creative and effective means of getting your students to participate during in-class activities and homework assignments as well. Join us for a demonstration of how this easy-to-use and interactive tool can facilitate discussion and collaboration in both the virtual and the hyflex classroom. 

How do feelings come up in our classes? A short blurb about the counseling center on our syllabus? A shove of the tissue box during office hours? A 20-minute segment in a 75-minute lesson plan? This class will explore what are our options as educators, and not trained health professionals, to hold space for the feelings of our students. How can we call feelings into the class while attending to all many other course concerns? Through writing exercises, we’ll explore what it means to take a feelings-centered approach in the classroom. We will think about how caring for feelings can in turn impart greater care for the subject at hand. We will spend considerable time thinking about what it means to lead students “in and out of the fire” of opening up, all while attending to our own comfort level with doing such work. While the workshop activities are writing-focused, this class is open to teachers across disciplines, to anyone who hopes to make a classroom, in particular the online space, feel more human.

This workshop introduces participants to basic improv exercises and how they can be of use to one’s teaching, either by bringing them into the classroom or by applying improv philosophies towards a wide variety of disciplines. The session focuses in particular on how improv can support an online learning space. Doing a series of focus exercises, we’ll reflect on what it means to attune to a new way of focusing in a screen-sized classroom space. Shifting to some low-stakes scene work, we’ll explore how we can build a sense of trust amongst everyone in a virtual classroom, trust in this new shared space, so to do our best work together. We will specifically think about moments where we feel unsure in online teaching. Through our improv games, we will explore how we can “yes and” a variety of disruptions, so to move through them most efficiently and without getting “stuck.” This workshop is for performers and non-performers alike. We all improvised our way through this new transition. How can we now re-frame our relationship with the online space? How can we use improv to get playful within the Zoom frame, to make it bend and stretch and ultimately fall away?

Adapting arts, movement, design and making pedagogies online requires creativity and flexibility, especially if instruction was originally grounded in the physical.  For example: using a professional camera in a production studio; prototyping with the use of a 3D printer; or combining code with choreography in site-specific performance---these are all projects from the Media Center, Design Center, and Movement Lab that have to be reimagined and adapted to the virtual environment.  It can be done, however, and in this session we will outline case studies and workshops about how these Centers can support innovative curriculum and projects.

This session is for you if you are curious about Canvas but do not feel you have a solid foundation. In this intensive we will cover the fundamentals of Canvas by exploring three core course tasks/themes: managing content, establishing community/communication, and providing student assessment.

Covered by task, participants will learn to configure and utilize a number of tools in Canvas. At the end of the session participants will have heuristic knowledge of Canvas, scaffolded by tasks, and which tools will accomplish them. Please note, we cannot cover a large number of tools in great detail so anticipate applying knowledge from one Canvas tool to another.

Topics covered: Canvas: files, pages, assignments, quizzes, discussions, modules, mail-tool, NameCoach, plagiarism prevention, and settings.

Our community’s shifting and dynamic classroom setting pose unique challenges, inviting us to think critically about classroom communication and its myriad functions. How can we make students feel heard in our classrooms? How can we best amplify the ideas of students participating in person and remotely? What expectations and accountability systems can classroom communities establish to set a precedent for equitable communication?  Two senior Teaching Fellows, both equipped with crisis-oriented active listening training and years of Speaking Fellow experience, are here to start a dialogue about dialogue by presenting inclusive practices, introducing skill building strategies, and elucidating classroom communication dynamics from the student perspective. We’ll be focusing on the importance of active listening, specific tools for implementing a listening culture in hybrid-flex and online classrooms, and strategies to empower the students in your space. Together, we can create space for professors and students to foster mutual growth!

There is a need to share ideas between science, humanities, art, architecture and other related fields on how students can make observations and measurements in their local environments as a substitute for fieldwork near or on campus. Many of us tried this already in Spring 2020 and had success.  A session on this would allow us to highlight the best strategies and techniques used and to brainstorm more. Goals would be to discuss ways to convert lab and studio hands-on work  to an online format,  select methods for demonstration of  hands-on work, decide whether or not it is necessary to send lab/field supplies to students and share best ways to provide efficient feedback remotely.

What is an LTI?  What is Panopto, Piazza, or NameCoach?  I’ve heard of a colleague at a peer institution using an innovative tool that integrates with Canvas--is there a process or a way to also get this enabled at Barnard?  Please join an informal, conversational discussion about different applications and tools that are in Canvas, and bring any questions you may have (as well as coffee, tea, or beverage of choice).

The purpose of this session is to elevate faculty beyond basic Zoom users. We’ll talk about some of the more advanced features of the tool that will be useful for faculty who understand everything covered in the basics session, and who are looking to go beyond those functionalities. We’ll go over features such as closed-captioning, pre-assigning breakout rooms, advanced screen sharing and viewing options, sharing videos, attendance, and keyboard shortcuts. By the end of this workshop, faculty will feel comfortable exploring the more advanced features of Zoom to enhance their Fall courses.

As we move into the hybrid-flex learning reality, student assessment and presentation remain a question for our community. In this workshop with Barnard College Speaking Fellows, foray into a variety of presentation formats, structures and styles as we explore and build flexible formats for accessible assessment. This workshop will provide an open space for faculty to ask questions about student perspectives on the possibilities of presentation and assessment throughout this upcoming hybrid-flex semester. Our goal is to support faculty in creating inclusive, flexible, and accessible class experiences by offering the widest variety of assessment formats for students to choose from.

In the fall semester, students will be readjusting to receiving letter grades, and many of them may still be attending their courses remotely. These circumstances may pose challenges to grading. This session offers research and practices that demonstrate how frequent low stakes assessment can be beneficial for student learning. Rachel Austen, Professor of Chemistry, will share her course design for the fall with examples of low stakes assessment. Ben Rosner, Instructional Application Developer and Support Specialist at IMATS, will share how to use the Quiz function and Speedgrader in Canvas to support this type of assessment.

The purpose of this presentation is to share the use is Storymaps in the language classroom. This free tool allows instructors to create dynamic and interactive online stories that will host students’ projects. According to their website “StoryMapJS is a tool to help you tell stories on the web that highlight the locations of a series of events. With StoryMap you pin events on a map or any image you want and create a slide for each place in your story”. In our language classes we ask students to complete a final research project, which has been usually turned electronically to the instructor who is the sole recipient or audience. By using Storymaps we could: 1. Create a collaborative learning environment where students can help each other along the way, give and receive peer feedback. As noted by Kollar & Fischer (2010) peer assessment is an important part of a shift towards more participatory forms of learning in our schools and universities. 2. Expand students’ audience to reach other classmates as well as people outside of the classroom, adding an extra incentive to students to participate in such projects. During this presentation I will show how to I use the tool. I will also show some examples of a class project from my previous classes. Finally, I will open up for discuss possible uses of this tool that can be applied to different subject areas.

Navigating race in the classroom as a BIPOC identifying educator has distinct dimensions to teaching. This session will provide a space for BIPOC identifying faculty to discuss with one another challenges, benefits and strategies. We will also talk through several scenarios where race tracks unexpectedly and identify strategies for supporting ourselves and our colleagues particularly in this historical moment.  

What are the responsibilities of white identifying educators while teaching about race and racism? This is not a new question, but it is one that has become newly urgent at a time when anti-black state violence has converged with a pandemic that has intensified the U.S’.s racialized divisions of labor and geography. This session will explore questions and challenges that emerge for anti-racist educators when they are also the beneficiaries of the very inequalities they are attempting to help students deconstruct. It is open to anyone who would like to participate—from the person who has made the critical analysis of racism an ongoing part of their pedagogical practice to the person who hopes to change their syllabus in response to this historical moment. These conversations will contribute to the development of a more formal workshop on related topics during the Fall/Spring.

How do feelings come up in our classes? A short blurb about the counseling center on our syllabus? A shove of the tissue box during office hours? A 20-minute segment in a 75-minute lesson plan? This class will explore what are our options as educators, and not trained health professionals, to hold space for the feelings of our students. How can we call feelings into the class while attending to all many other course concerns? Through writing exercises, we’ll explore what it means to take a feelings-centered approach in the classroom. We will think about how caring for feelings can in turn impart greater care for the subject at hand. We will spend considerable time thinking about what it means to lead students “in and out of the fire” of opening up, all while attending to our own comfort level with doing such work. While the workshop activities are writing-focused, this class is open to teachers across disciplines, to anyone who hopes to make a classroom, in particular the online space, feel more human

During this session, we will present various methods for teaching software or programming (e.g. Excel, ArcGIS, R, etc) and the benefits and limitations of each method. We will discuss what we’ve learned in piloting those methods and what contexts we believe each would be most suited for. Students and faculty we’ve worked with will discuss their feedback as participants in our pilot workshops. After our presentation, we would like to collectively brainstorm with attendees other strategies for effectively teaching software/programming virtually and what challenges they anticipate for the upcoming semester. 

This workshop introduces participants to basic improv exercises and how they can be of use to one’s teaching, either by bringing them into the classroom or by applying improv philosophies towards a wide variety of disciplines. The session focuses in particular on how improv can support an online learning space. Doing a series of focus exercises, we’ll reflect on what it means to attune to a new way of focusing in a screen-sized classroom space. Shifting to some low-stakes scene work, we’ll explore how we can build a sense of trust amongst everyone in a virtual classroom, trust in this new shared space, so to do our best work together. We will specifically think about moments where we feel unsure in online teaching. Through our improv games, we will explore how we can “yes and” a variety of disruptions, so to move through them most efficiently and without getting “stuck.” This workshop is for performers and non-performers alike. We all improvised our way through this new transition. How can we now re-frame our relationship with the online space? How can we use improv to get playful within the Zoom frame, to make it bend and stretch and ultimately fall away?

Professor and peer feedback has been established as vital for creating and sustaining student motivation, creativity and interest and for diminishing fears of failure.  Cultivating a respectful, generative and constructively critical culture of feedback can help to form the classroom - whether it is remote, HyFlex or in person - into a place of conversation, experimentation, mutual negotiation amongst students and professors.  What challenges and possibilities come with HyFlex courses? What insights and lessons can students and professors share about their experiences during and prior to the spring 2020 semester that are helpful as we plan for the fall? This workshop will focus on these questions to share experiences from the student, graduate student, teaching assistant and professor perspectives,  present recent research on the effects of different types of qualitative feedback (and the effects of no feedback) and discuss concrete, process-focused and diverse approaches to professor and peer feedback in HyFlex courses.

This workshop will introduce existing and prospective library instruction opportunities around citation practices and intellectual property (IP) in the context of creating scholarly and creative works. We will facilitate discussion about the ways that librarians and faculty members engage students in the ethics and values of citation practices and citation justice. We will also go over library support for citation management software, specifically the open-source tool Zotero.

This session will cover building community around rituals, social norms, and group learning, particularly as a vehicle for engagement and having hard conversations.

In this session, AV/IMATS will present the classroom upgrades happening Summer 2020 in *all* instructional spaces (including labs, studios, and workshop spaces), enabling instructors to offer both remote and in-person instruction.  We will show examples, give instructions on how to use the equipment, and offer use cases.  In addition to the hy-flex classroom, the flipped classroom will also be explored--how to pre-record lectures and other instructional content outside of class time; best practices for creating online instructional videos; and case studies of impactful instructional online videos.  

The purpose of this session will be to help faculty with the basics of Zoom. We’ll cover scheduling and conducting a meeting from start to finish. We’ll go over basic functionality such as breakout rooms, polls, using the chat and reactions effectively, screen sharing, and A/V settings. We will also provide a space where faculty can ask the “obvious” Zoom questions that so many of their peers are wondering about. By the end of this workshop, faculty will feel more comfortable conducting course content through Zoom, and able to reach beyond the basics.

One component of a hyflex course is the ability to include students who have to miss synchronistic classes in meaningful and interactive asynchronistic ways.  Flipgrid and VoiceThread are intuitive educational platforms that can make your discussion forum more dynamic.  This workshop will walk you through how to use these platforms and help you design ways to use them in the courses you plan to teach in the coming academic year. 

The transition to emergency online teaching during the spring semester presented very real challenges, some triumphs and many creative and imaginative pedagogical approaches taken by Barnard faculty, students and staff to adjust and even to thrive.  Fall semester 2020 presents new contexts and new potentialities.  In this workshop, we will identify generative lessons from the spring that will be helpful for both remote and HyFlex courses in the fall and will present some concrete and helpful approaches to addressing and troubleshooting issues including but not limited to: teaching across multiple time zones, Wifi connectivity, accessing and using technologies, and cultivating classroom community. This session is part shared learning, part presentation and is discussion-focused. 

This workshop will describe the effects of trauma on our students and how it may impact their ability to perform in the classroom.  It will highlight signs to watch for and concrete steps to respond compassionately and effectively.

Have you ever run into a wall finding sources for your research? Ever imagined the thing you need might be among the 7 million items held by Columbia’s Libraries, but didn’t have the time or energy to find out? Perhaps you want to know where to get full text books and articles in your field, or how to verify a citation when you don’t have all the info.You are not alone. Bring your obscure, exciting, or just plain perplexing research questions. Barnard’s Personal Librarian team will demonstrate tips and tricks for navigating the 1500 databases, digital special collections, and the CLIO catalog, and more. 

Given the likelihood that many of our students will be learning online this fall, I'm exploring ways in which the social annotation tool Perusall might help to foster community and also help to develop students' close reading skills. I'll demonstrate some of Perusall's features, explain some of the ways I'm hoping to use it, and invite brainstorming about how it might work for other faculty. I'm also interested in broader questions about students' reading preferences, and about how to accommodate students who might prefer to work with physical books. I've set Perusall up in a Canvas Sandbox, so feel free to email me if you'd like to experiment with Perusall before or after the session.

Antiracist activism has recently reached a new level of visibility, urging us to center antiracism in our teaching, scholarship, and institutional work; to interrogate how our practices might perpetuate white supremacy; and to support those in our community who have already been doing antiracist work. We invite faculty to think of this reading group as a radical starting point, beginning with a brief but deep immersion into a few foundational texts on antiracist pedagogy. We’ll spend the hour discussing these texts, framed and gently guided by co-facilitators. This radical starting point has big goals in mind: to recognize the contributions of our colleagues of color, in particular Black women Barnard faculty and staff; to redistribute the labor of racial justice, breaking with the tradition of putting the work of antiracist pedagogy only on faculty of color, and particularly on Black and indigenous women faculty; to build a Barnard-wide resource for antiracist pedagogy; and to build a “Cite Black Barnard Women'' resource. All who are craving and committed to doing meaningful antiracist work are welcome, whatever your starting point may be. NOTE: Participants must complete assigned readings in advance. We will send links to the readings when you sign up.

The purpose of this session is to elevate faculty beyond basic Zoom users. We’ll talk about some of the more advanced features of the tool that will be useful for faculty who understand everything covered in the basics session, and who are looking to go beyond those functionalities. We’ll go over features such as closed-captioning, pre-assigning breakout rooms, advanced screen sharing and viewing options, sharing videos, attendance, and keyboard shortcuts. By the end of this workshop, faculty will feel comfortable exploring the more advanced features of Zoom to enhance their Fall courses.

The Barnard Zine Library is a signature collection and program at Barnard College and in BLAIS. How and why should faculty call on the messy, brave, vulnerable, radical, intimate, and caring materials that comprise the collection? This workshop will expose participants to the breadth of topics represented digitally in our library, including our COVID 19 collection, as well as in external zine archives. We will browse a small sample of zine pdfs and explore how zines may be relevant to curricula as primary and secondary sources, potential digital humanities projects, and how zine assignments can topple the white, upper class patriarchy in higher education.

This session will be an opportunity for faculty to learn more about the FLI identity and challenges these students may undergo during their time at Barnard College.  The session will provide an overview of the following:  a) national data on first-generation students in higher education, b) unpacking the FLI identity at Barnard, c) challenges that FLI  students face, d) the FLI identity and mental health, e) best practices for faculty to support FLI students.

Many majors at Barnard require a research experience that culminates in a senior thesis completed in context of a Senior Seminar. With a significant fraction (if not all) of students being off campus, a whole range of issues need to be resolved to give students the opportunity for a successful completion of an original research project. Questions for students and faculty include how to: (1) identify a research project and mentor while off site; (2) write a thesis while being off campus; (3) set reasonable expectations for remote research and writing; (4) provide efficient feedback remotely; (5) keep level of engagement/enthusiasm high; (6) facilitate student peer groups; (7) support student presentations (talk & posters); and (8) deal with physically present and online students at the same time (fall and spring). We plan to run this workshop primarily as a round table discussion, hoping that all participants have had some experiences already and are willing to jointly develop successful strategies. The outcome of the workshop is a set of at least partial answers to these questions and a list of resources to be shared among senior seminar instructors. 

After completing the asynchronous Hybrid and Online Teaching modules provided on Courseworks by the CTL, their staff will host a subsequent live portion over Zoom for faculty to ask questions, share ideas with one another and CTL staff, and strategize for their courses. During this session faculty will discuss asynchronous content and share ideas and strategies with colleagues; experience assessment tools;  engage with a mini-case study based on Spring 2020 student feedback; and discuss applying strategies to different class formats.The asynchronous portion of the institute is available through this link and should be completed by this session.

This workshop will cover assessment and grading on Canvas. Participants will explore various assignment types and their uses, organizing/grouping assignments, and additional features (e.g., weighting assignments, dropping lowest scores, score adjustments, etc.). Importantly we will review the SpeedGrader in Canvas, a utility that makes marking assignments of any type exceptionally navigable.   

This session will provide a basic overview of Universal Design for Learning and the Accommodations process, with an emphasis on digital learning for the fall semester. This session will also provide participants with an understanding of reasonable accommodations, web accessibility best practices and guidance for course design and assessments. We will discuss both practical steps for making courses more accessible as well as the broader frameworks for Universal Design. Participants will also receive contextual information about what trends CARDS is seeing within the student disability population at Barnard and tips for using the CARDS Faculty Portal.

As many courses and resources move online, students need support to engage with digital texts. In this workshop, you will learn about Hypothes.is, a tool for social annotation on the web that can be used within Canvas or as a standalone. With Hypothes.is, you can model critical reading and thinking skills. Students can learn from and engage with each other while grounding their analysis and questions in the text itself (unlike discussion fora, where discussions are divorced from readings). We will briefly discuss ways to scaffold annotation assignments to prepare students to effectively engage with online readings and will provide participants with additional resources on teaching with Hypothes.is. 

This session will provide a peek at some of the basics of a Reacting to the Past game for those who are brand new, and for those who are already familiar, the demonstration of Zoom and Slack for gameplay/class facilitation. We need a MINIMUM of 12 participants for this session to run– please register if you are interested!