Center for Teaching Update – April 9, 2020
From: “Victoria Russell (vrussel3)” <vrussel3@umw.edu>
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 11:39 AM
To: “Victoria Russell (vrussel3)” <vrussel3@umw.edu>
Subject: Center for Teaching Update
Hi, everyone,
A few updates and resources to support your work as we continue through the spring semester.
Center for Teaching Updates
- The Center wants to make sure we are meeting any needs for support or resources as we near the end of the spring semester and look towards summer and fall teaching. Please take a couple of minutes to complete our 3-question survey–let us know what we can do to best support you!
- We continue to offer individual consultations via phone and videoconferencing Monday-Friday. Please contact any Center for Teaching staff member with your questions, including using common UMW-supported technology platforms.
- We are still accepting applications for a Faculty Fellow to join Center staff for the 2020-2021 academic year. The application deadline is Friday, May 1st at 5:00 p.m. Contact Victoria with any questions.
Teaching Resources and Strategies
- After four weeks into remote teaching, we’ve had requests for ideas to maintain authentic engagement. Check out this blog post from Derek Bruff (author of Intentional Tech) highlighting a few ways faculty promote student engagement using technology.
- Tired of Zooming your days away, but worried about losing spaces for students to share ideas? Is the discussion board feeling stale in week 4? Daniel Stanford’s post offers several instructional options across the intersection of bandwidth requirements for students versus immediacy, or how quickly students must respond. Reach out to us if you would like to make these options happen in your chosen instructional platforms!
- Are you looking at the next two weeks and rethinking the workload? Are you planning for summer teaching and trying to determine the possible impact of your course requirements on student time outside of class? The Course Workload Estimator from Rice University offers an interesting perspective on what students may need to do time-wise to manage course expectations. Weigh this information with what you know about students’ individual learning needs and circumstances.
Fun While at Home…
- Take some time to refresh and unwind by unleashing your inner artist! Try this challenge to recreate famous artwork with regular household objects. It’s sure to bring a few laughs as you think outside the box. We’d love to see your creations on social media—tag @UMWTeaching so we can enjoy our community’s creations! Be on the lookout for at least one of our own staff members showing off her creativity!
Be safe and well,
Caitie, Victoria, and Melissa