Education Commons^™

First-Generation Students And Advising, Kimberly A. Murphy

Center for Faculty Enrichment

First-Generation Students and Advising – Friday 10/2 8:30-9:30am in Wilson Center

For first-generation students, going to college is uncharted territory. Many first-generation college students turn to their academic advisors for the support needed to succeed in college. In this session, we will share foundational information about first-generation students and an overview of common challenges facing these students. In addition, we will develop strategies and tools that can be used in your advising work with first-generation students.

Signature Work And The Core Curriculum, Brian P. Katz

Center for Faculty Enrichment

Signature Work and the Core Curriculum - Thursday 9/10 4:30-5:30pm in the Wilson Center

What is the goal of a Liberal Arts education? The college's Mission is to prepare students for meaningful lives of service and leadership in a diverse and changing world, and the notion of "Vocation" asks students to seek the intersection of their skills, their interests, and the needs of their communities during and after college. On the national stage, the AAC&U is advocating for ALL students to have access to "Signature Work", in which they pose and explore problems important to themselves and the world. …

Gendered Pronouns In The Classroom (August 24, 2015)

Center for Faculty Enrichment

Gendered Pronouns in the Classroom- Monday 8/24 4-5pm in Gävle Room 1

Last spring, the college community asserted that it will be inclusive of people of all genders. Since this affirmation, members of the campus community have requested professional development about the basic ideas in this discussion ("What is the difference between sex and gender?") as well as techniques for being inclusive ("How can I avoid misgendering a student or respond when others do?"). In this session, we will share foundational vocabulary, develop strategies for inclusion around gendered pronouns, and hold a Q&A with a couple of students about …

Workshop: Enhancing Content For Mixed Skill Classrooms, Lesley Skousen

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

The explosion of online learning has provided many unbelievable new options for reaching students and engaging them on a personal level. However, so many options make responsible lesson-planning a daunting task. This presentation will explore the best practices of using online platforms for both native speakers and an international audience. Dr. Skousen draws from her experience working with international students and seven years of online course design, teaching, and consulting in order to present various lesson plans that engage students personally. In addition to discussing the creation of modules to facilitate different learning styles, there will also be a practical …

Objects, Omeka, And The "Oops!" Factor: Two Case Studies Of Collection-Based Projects At Wheaton College, Claire Buck, Leah Niederstadt

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

In Spring 2014, Omeka was first used as part of a course assignment at Wheaton College. Students in Professor Leah Niederstadt’s Introduction to Museum Studies were each asked to conduct provenance research on an object from Wheaton’s Permanent Collection. They shared their research using Omeka, an online content management platform. Throughout the semester, students learned new technology, conducted research using primary and secondary sources, and identified images to support the provenance narratives they discovered. Lastly, they presented their research using Omeka. Assessment was conducted at the start and end of the semester to determine the project’s effect on student learning. …

Teaching Critical Thinking Through Online Writing And Debate, Douglas Harvey

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

Establishing an asynchronous learning environment that fosters critical thinking can be difficult due to the constraints of the format. The value of back-and-forth exchange of ideas and points can be muted by the lag time between posts. Students also tend to view forum posting as an individual writing activity, not the debate or discussion that faculty designed such environments to foster. This presentation will examine an attempt during the spring 2015 semester to employ a scaffold approach that supports moving students from individual blogging to debate in an online course. The course content involves the study of the impact of …