Previous Workshops
Enhancing Inclusivity in Undergraduate Courses
On 3/5/18, Dr. Barbara Lom (Chair of Biology at Davidson College) offered a workshop titled Practical Strategies for Enhancing Inclusivity in Undergraduate Courses. Participants considered a variety of specific, practical, and evidence-based strategies with the goal of identifying strategies we are currently employing in our courses, strategies that do not fit our courses, and most importantly, strategies that can be adapted to fit the unique constraints and opportunities a specific course we each teach. As part of this work we also examined simple strategies to understand student experiences that inform choices that aim to create more inclusive and effective learning environments for all of our students. These materials are from Prof. Lom’s workshop.
Teaching Large(r) Classes: What's the problem?
On 9/21/17, we welcomed Dr. Laura Cruz (Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Tennessee Tech University) and Dr. Brian Smentkowski (Founding Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Idaho) to present interactive workshops exploring the assumptions, challenges, and opportunities that come with teaching large(r) classes, entitled Teaching Large(r) Classes: What's the problem? and a second workshop titled The Road Less Travelled: Creative Problem Solving in Teaching and Learning. In this lively session participants engaged in "design thinking," a structured process for cultivating highly creative solutions to complex problems.
Metacognitive Teaching
On 9/23/16, Dr. Aaron Richmond visited Sewanee from Metro State University of Denver with a workshop called The Compleat Metacognitive Teacher. Prof. Richmond is co-author of the book, An Evidence-based guide to college and university teaching: Developing the model teacher, published by Routledge in 2016.
In the workshop, participants learned why it’s important for students to understand themselves as thinkers and learners, and how thinking about one’s thinking can lead to deeper learning. These slides and other materials from Dr. Richmond’s workshop include practical strategies and tools for incorporating metacognitive practices into your classes in any discipline: concrete strategies to improve your daily practice of teaching; ways to incorporate metacognitive instruction; and ideas for using meta-teaching by planning and setting goals, choosing appropriate instructional strategies to achieve goals, monitoring student progress, and evaluating implementation of instructional strategies.
Inclusive Classroom
On 2/26/16, Dr. Hsiao-Wen Lo offered a workshop entitled "Creating an Inclusive Classroom Environment: Barriers and Strategies.” These materials are from her workshop. Dr. Lo offered practical suggestions and strategies for use in the classroom and discussed Sewanee-based scenarios supplied by faculty participants.
What the Best College Teachers Do
A handout from Ken Bain, who visited campus in 2015 to share his ideas for constructing what he calls “the promising syllabus.” The handout includes questions to ask yourself when designing a course, characteristics of deep learning environments, a list of what the best college students do, and more. Based on his best-selling books, What the Best College Teachers Do and What the Best College Students Do. These materials are utilized at Bain’s Best Teachers Institute, http://www.bestteachersinstitute.org/
Writing Recommendation Letters
Each year the CFT and Sewanee Career Readiness hosts Don Asher, the author of Graduate Admission Essays: Write Your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice
These materials are provided by Mr. Asher to help faculty write better letters of recommendation for our students.
A session led by Deon Miles, Professor of Chemistry. These slides include tips and strategies for teaching large classes as well as links to further information and useful resources on this topic. Dr. Miles focused on how to encourage student engagement and what you can do to make your course workload more manageable. A panel of Sewanee faculty then shared their perspectives on teaching large classes, both on campus and at other institutions. The panelists were Chris McDonough (Classics), Ron Pongdee (Chemistry), Sarah Sherwood (EES), and Jeff Thompson (Art, Art History, & Visual Studies).
