The Center for Teaching & Learning

Message From the CTL Director

Faculty Focused:

• Understanding Artificial Intelligence in Education
  
• Building career preparation into the curriculum
• Staff And Faculty Innovation & Research Exhibition

Student-Centered:

• Negative Evaluation Associated with Suicidal Ideation for Some College Students
• The Value of the Humanities

Equity Emphasized:

• Communication Accommodation with Individuals from Different Cultural Backgrounds
• March Observances
• Statement of Support for Racial Justice and Equity

Online Oasis:

• Deliberate Online Strategies
  

Scheduled:

• March 28th: Considering the Conversation
• April 11th: 3MT
  
• April 15th: SPIRE Symposium

The CTL is excited to offer our drop-in events called “Continuing the Conversation,” which provides faculty opportunities to discuss challenging experiences in the classroom among other things. See below for the details. If you can’t make it to a drop-in session, feel free to reach out with your questions. And, if it’s relevant, consider watching this recorded webinar from the Constructive Dialogue Institute called “Reshaping the Discourse: Strategies to Integrate Free Speech and Inclusion.”

If you’re looking instead for equity-based resources, I encourage you to download this open-access free text called “The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching” by Artze-Vega, Darby, Dewsbury, and Imad or check out the recordings of the workshop series on equity-minded pedagogy.

The Faculty Committee Preference Form is out now and awaiting your response! Service is an important part of our jobs, at every stage of our higher education careers. It can be tempting to take time off by declining all service invitations or nominations after an especially challenging year or semester. I ask you to consider this: Per the Nominating Committee’s spring report, In AY 2023-2024, 27% of tenured faculty do not serve on any elected committees while another 35% serve on 2 or more. The more time these overcommitted faculty members commit to service, the less time they have available to support students, prepare for class, and participate in faculty development opportunities.

Academic Innovation Grants are due no later than March 25th! Please consider applying to support your innovative teaching ideas (AIG) or the inclusion of new High-Impact Practices in a course or curriculum (AIG-HIP).

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a part of our daily lives. Learning about the tools and how to use them helps us shift from curiosity to competency. Consider these options for learning more:

Teaching with technology: Faculty Focus reviews some of the more prominent AI tools for educators in this piece.

AI Webinar Series: In this series of recorded webinars by AI for Education, viewers can explore AI ethics, teaching strategies, assessment, and policies among other topics. Some webinars are inclusive of higher education, while others are K-12 focused.

Digital Learning Workshops: Every Learner Everywhere offers a series of pre-recorded workshops on all things education, including two recent recordings on “Building AI literacy with students” and “AI in higher education: The student experience.”

Recent survey results indicate that students are looking for faculty involvement in preparing for life after college. "[About 7 in 10] of Student Voice respondents say at least one professor has helped them explore potential careers or develop specific career skills, whether as part of a class or one-on-one. Nearly four in 10 students say that one professor has helped them in this way, while closer to three in 10 say multiple professors have helped. Just over three in 10 students, however, say no professor has helped them explore or prepare for potential careers... By major, students in the arts and humanities are most likely to say that more than one professor has helped them like this, at 41 percent versus 30 percent for the natural sciences (n=1,495) and 31 percent for the social sciences (n=1,291).” To read the full article, click here. This data supports Hood’s shift in the new core curriculum. For more information about what future Hood grads will learn to prepare for life after graduation, talk with Paige Eager or another member of the Core Implementation Group!

In her essay on engaging students in their learning, Chronicle writer Beth Murtrie interviewed several professors. While “getting students’ attention has always been a challenge,” Jeanine Turner of Georgetown says, “Today’s audience has more agency, more choice than they have ever had in the history of presentations. Now, because of that device, every single moment they’re choosing whether to pay attention to you or pay attention to that device. And because of that, you never have this kind of idea of a captive audience. You’re always competing.” To read the full essay, click here.

In 2023, Hood hosted the inaugural Staff And Faculty Innovation & Research Exhibition (SAFIRE). SAFIRE is a great place for faculty and staff to present their best work! Whether you plan to present a completed research project or an innovative program, SAFIRE welcomes your submissions! For this year’s SAFIRE, faculty/staff sessions will take place at 9am and 1pm during the larger SPIRE Symposium on Monday, April 15th.

Proposals are due by EOD on Tuesday, March 19th and require just some basic information, a title, and a brief abstract. To submit your SAFIRE poster proposal, click here.

Center for Teaching and Learning Academic Innovation Grant

• Annual contract faculty (0.5 FTE or greater) may apply for the Academic Innovation Grant.
• The Academic Innovation Grant provides a stipend or reimbursement of expenses of up to $2,500 for projects designed to enhance teaching and learning.
• The Center for Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee will review faculty proposals.
• Academic Innovation Grant Application deadline – March 25, 2024.

Center for Teaching and Learning Academic Innovation Grant for High Impact Practices

• Annual contract faculty (0.5 FTE or greater) may apply for the Academic Innovation Grant for High Impact Practices.
• The Academic Innovation Grant for High Impact Practices provides a stipend or reimbursement of expenses of up to $2,500 for the development of a new or expanded high impact learning experience associated with a course.
• The Center for Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee will review faculty proposals.
• Academic Innovation Grant for High Impact Practices Application deadline – March 25, 2024.

The CTL has a dedicated bookshelf space in the Library Commons for CTL resources and materials! Feel free to check out these books and return them when you are finished. If you would like the CTL to order other materials to increase our repository, contact Kerri Eyler with your request.

A new study published in the Journal of American College Health reports that a fear of being evaluating negatively is associated with suicidal ideation. The article on their study begins, “Suicide is a leading cause of death among emerging adults in the United States. In 2017, over 6,200 young people died from suicide, moving suicide to the second-leading cause of death among individuals ages 15 to 24, trailing only car accidents. The college years are an especially vulnerable time for many young people as they leave home, engage in new experiences, and often find long-held beliefs challenged. Although these years foster growth and positive opportunity, college students also face significant mental health challenges. Unfortunately, college students are at an increased risk for suicidal behaviors. Indeed, prior research indicates that over 20% of college students consider suicide, and about 9% attempt suicide, greatly exceeding national average rates (e.g., 2.7%).” To read the full article, click here.

Last summer, Oxford University released a report titled “The Value of the Humanities.” Among the report’s key findings:

Humanities graduates develop resilience, flexibility, and skills to adapt to challenging and changing labor markets.

Critical thinking, strategic thinking, ability to synthesize, empathy, and creative problem-solving, all skills developed by studying humanities degree, are “highly valued and sought out by employers.” To read the full report, click here.

According to Wahed and Palmer-Wackerly in a recent Faculty Focus article, “When members of different cultural backgrounds interact, they are potentially opposed to each other because of their different expectations/perceptions, creating a clear sense of “us” and “them” (Gallois, Watson, and Giles, 2018). Such communication can be tense and hostile, and it can descend into overt discrimination and misunderstandings. Thus, understanding and negotiating intercultural conflict is imperative to resolving misunderstandings.” In this article, they describe an activity that “allows students to leave their comfort zone and learn to accommodate different cultural norms/perceptions.” To access the activity, click here.

March is a busy time for religious observances, as nearly every major religion celebrates a minor or major holiday. As you consider that which you or your students may observe in your course planning, you may also find the following awareness days and weeks important to note:

Mar 1: Self-Injury Awareness Day

Mar 4-8: Say Something Week

Mar 8: International Women’s Day

Mar 10-16: National Sleep Awareness Week

Mar 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Mar 31: Transgender Day of Visibility

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) condemns all forms of systemic racism, bias, and aggression against Black people, indigenous peoples, people of color, and those of marginalized genders, as well as discrimination based on socioeconomic status. We understand that excellence in teaching, by definition, must reflect our shared humanity and promote inclusive practices such as:

• being conscious of biases, racial abuse, micro-aggressions, and those who are minimized or left out;
• understanding and supporting those underrepresented in our Hood community; and
• promoting ways to actively foster equity, diversity and inclusion in our classrooms, research, and publications.

The CTL is determined to raise awareness of all those who have been systematically oppressed and call upon Hood faculty to join us in this commitment to create a more inclusive world. As members of the CTL Advisory Board, we stand united and affirm that Black Lives Matter

“Despite growing interest and potential for the medium to revolutionize learning and break down barriers, too many online courses offer a lackluster learning experience, resulting in poor outcomes that can leave vulnerable students worse off. Not all online learning is created equally...” To read the opinion piece from Scott Pulsipher from Western Governors University, click here.

The 3MT competition was founded in 2008 by the University of Queensland in Australia and is now held at more than 350 colleges and universities across 59 countries worldwide. At Hood, graduate students present their research projects each spring in three minutes using just one PowerPoint slide. No other resources or props are allowed. Students are judged on clarity, pace, audience engagement and stage presence. All audience members are then welcome to cast their votes for best presentation. There is a judge’s winner and two People’s Choice Awards.

Join in the celebration of student, staff, and faculty research, innovation and more at the annual SPIRE Symposium.

• Student proposals are welcome here by the end of the day on March 19th.
• Submit staff and faculty proposals for the SAFIRE part of the event here by the end of the day on March 19th.

• Michelle Gricus, Associate Professor of Social Work, Director of the CTL
• April Boulton, Associate Professor of Biology & Dean of Graduate School
  
• Catherine Breneman, Assistant Professor of Social Work
• Ashley Coen, Assistant Professor of Education
• Paige Eager, Professor of Political Science, Dean of Faculty
• Jessica McManus, Assistant Professor of Psychology
  
• Heather Mitchell-Buck, Associate Professor of English; Coordinator of Digital Learning
• Katherine Orloff, Associate Professor of Journalism
• Kathryn Ryberg, Reference & Education Services Librarian
• Atiya Smith, Assistant Professor of Psychology & Counseling
• Jill Tysse, Associate Professor of Mathematics
  
• Jeff Welsh, Director of Instructional Technology in the IT division
• Adam Weintraub, Graduate Assistant for the CTL

Email: CTL@hood.edu
Website: www.hood.edu/CTL
Location: Hood College, 401 Rosemont Avenue, Frederick, MD
Phone: (301) 696-3397