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Sheridan Newsletter
September 2024
Learning Technology Updates
Sheridan’s Digital Learning & Design Hub released its updates article highlighting changes in learning technologies for the fall term. Our featured update is the new option to Randomize Student Order in SpeedGrader. Instructors now have the option in SpeedGrader to randomize students and hide their names in an effort to support anonymous grading. (For some of the research that supports anonymized grading, please see Inclusive Assessment of Student Learning.)
Programs and Resources for New Instructors
The Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning welcomes new instructors to the teaching community at Brown! Below, find our online resources and orientation events for new faculty, postdocs in teaching roles, graduate student instructors, and undergraduate teaching assistants. Please also contact us at Sheridan_Center@brown.edu if you would like to set up a confidential 1:1 consultation or early student feedback session.
For New (and Newish) Faculty:
Lunch Roundtable with Provost Doyle
Tuesday, September 17, Noon - 1:15 PM
In-person
All new faculty in their first or second year are invited to lunch with Provost Frank Doyle; Associate Dean for Faculty Development Esther Jones; Assistant Provost for Community Johanna Hanink; and Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning Mary Wright. This will be an informal conversation over a lunch held in an indoors space. Space is limited; please register.
For Graduate TAs: Teaching Essentials
Online and asynchronous
In this fully online, asynchronous, self-paced program, Graduate Teaching Assistants engage in a reflective exploration of their own practices and beliefs about teaching. For more information and to register, visit our website. For questions, please contact Dr. Sara Misgen (sara_misgen@brown.edu).
For Undergraduate TAs: Teaching Essentials
Online and asynchronous
This fully online, asynchronous program helps Undergraduate TAs (UTAs) prepare for their work as educators. Through modules, UTAs reflect on their beliefs and practices around teaching. We strongly suggest that students be compensated by their departments at the unit’s hourly pay rate. Students must register to be added to the Canvas site.
UTAs interested in an academic course that explores many of these same topics, with a community of other UTAs, may be interested in the Problem-Solving Fellows Program, which involves enrollment in UNIV 1110: The Theory and Practice of Problem Solving this Fall. For questions about the UTA Orientation or the Problem-Solving Fellows Program, please contact Dr. Christina Smith (Christina_Smith2@brown.edu).
Fall Programs
Info Session: Proposing Pre-College Humanities Courses and Collaborative Research
Friday, September 20, 1:00-2:30 PM
In-Person, Cogut Institute for the Humanities, Andrews House, Room 106
This session will introduce resources for individuals interested in developing humanities and humanistic social sciences course proposals for Summer@Brown, with a particular emphasis on opportunities presented by the Collaborative and Scholarly Experiences (COEX) curricular designation. All Brown faculty, graduate students, post-docs, and staff with appropriate credentials and teaching experience are eligible to propose a course. Light refreshments provided. Register here.
Look Closer: Brown-RISD Workshop Series
An Introduction to Object-Based Teaching
Wednesday, September 25, Noon - 1:15 PM
Intentional Instruction with Art & Design:
Thursday, October 3, 6:00 - 7:15 PM
Intentional Instruction with Primary Sources
Wednesday, October 30, 5:30 - 7:00 PM
How can close looking support active learning? This in-person workshop series, a collaboration among the Sheridan Center, Brown University Library, and the RISD Museum, focuses on strategies for intentionally incorporating art, design, and primary sources into your instructional practices. The series will help instructors learn how to craft an engaging lesson plan, course, or assignment based on your course’s learning objectives. Learn more and register for the series here. Please contact Dr. Sara Misgen (sara_misgen@brown.edu) with questions.
Teaching Statements & Teaching Portfolio Peer-Review Sessions
Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are invited to sign up for a teaching statement, teaching portfolio, and diversity statement peer-review workshop, held via Zoom. Participants will have four opportunities for peer-review and can select the session that works best for them:
Thursday, September 12, from Noon-1:00 PM
Wednesday, October 2, from 1:00-2:00 PM
Tuesday, October 15, from Noon-1:00 PM
Wednesday, November 13, from 5:30-6:30 PM
Register for a peer-review session here.
Note that these workshops require the completion of the asynchronous Teaching Statements, Portfolios, and Diversity statements workshop. For questions, contact Dr. Sara Misgen (sara_misgen@brown.edu).
CIRTL: The College Classroom
Tuesdays, September 24 through December 10, 2:00-3:30pm
Zoom
Get an introduction to key learning principles and the basics of effective, evidence-based teaching practices in this 12-week course about teaching in the college classroom. This course will focus on developing inclusive, learner-centered approaches to teaching. Participants will explore the interconnectedness of learning objectives, assessment, and learning activities through both discussion of course materials and developing and practicing their own lesson plan. Registration opens on September 9th. Spots are limited!
Fall Teaching and Learning Communities
Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows
Applications for the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows Program are now open. We welcome Lecturers and Assistant Professors to join this learning community centered around evidence-based pedagogy in higher education. To learn more and submit an application, visit the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows website. Applications for the 2024-2025 program year must be received no later than Monday, August 26, 2024.
Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash
Faculty Writing Group
10:00 AM-12:00 PM on Fridays, beginning Friday, September 13, 2024
Zoom
Faculty of any rank and any staff are invited to participate in a Faculty Writing Group. Writing groups can be an invaluable source of motivation and accountability, and the Faculty Writing Group is a “guilt-free” group that prioritizes spending time in community and goal-setting together. Each group meeting begins with a brief goal-setting exercise and concludes with a short reflective conversation. Writing projects can be any works in progress, and historically have ranged widely from articles to conference presentations to letters of reference.
Register to receive the Zoom link for the sessions here. Questions can be directed to Annie Gjelsvik (Public Health; Provost’s Faculty Teaching Fellow) at annie_gjelsvik@brown.edu.
STEM Ed Fridays
Select Fridays, Noon - 1:00 PM
SciLi 720 (lunch provided) and Zoom
Are you interested in discussing STEM education at Brown? STEM Ed Friday is a vibrant learning community where STEM instructors and staff members share ideas, experiences, and challenges related to STEM education.
Friday, September 27: In our first meeting of the semester, we’ll welcome new colleagues, review and refine our community agreements, and collaboratively select the topics for discussion this academic year. Register for this session.
Please register for an upcoming session:
Photo by Martin Springborg
Large Class Learning Community
The Large Class Learning Community is an interdisciplinary group of faculty members that meets monthly to discuss issues surrounding the teaching of high-enrollment classes. If you are interested in joining these conversations, please contact Provost Faculty Teaching Fellow and Sociology Senior Lecturer Lisa Di Carlo (lisa_di_carlo@brown.edu) to be placed on the contact list. You'll also be added to the group's shared Google Drive, which contains notes from previous years' meetings.
Brown Learning Collaborative
The Brown Learning Collaborative provides opportunities for undergraduate fellows to collaborate with faculty and peer partners in key academic areas: Data Science, Problem Solving, and Writing.
Witing Fellows
Recommend Undergraduate Students for Writing Fellows Course
There are still spots available in “The Teaching and Practice of Writing” (ENGL 1190M), taught by Dr. Jenna Morton-Aiken (Senior Associate Director, Writing and English Language Support, Sheridan Center) this fall semester! Though this course is required for students interested in working as Writing Fellows, it is designed to support all students interested in learning more about the writing process and power of communication in a variety of situations and disciplines.
The seminar-style course unpacks and engages with writing theory and pedagogy, best practices to support revision habits for (in)experienced writers, and effective methods for responding to writing in a/synchronous formats. The class is interdisciplinary, and we especially welcome students from STEM fields to join us. Please encourage undergraduate students to register. Override codes will be given in the first two weeks of class. Questions? Please contact jenna_morton-aiken@brown.edu.
Problem Solving Fellows
Sign Up for a Problem Solving Fellow Consultation!
Are you a UTA, tutor, or professor who wants a student perspective on your teaching? Especially as the Fall term begins?
Sign up for a Problem-Solving Fellow (PSF) Teaching Consultation! PSFs are undergraduate students trained to give feedback on any and all elements of teaching or assisting in teaching a course. If you are looking to increase the effectiveness of your assignments, lecturing, or general teaching strategies, consider reaching out! Each consultation is confidential, personalized, and led from a student-based perspective! Please fill out our interest form to get started.
Questions? Please contact psf@brown.edu
Instructor Resources on AI
Syllabus Resources
This Sheridan Center newsletter includes sample syllabus statements to guide students in their use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. For additional examples of non-Brown syllabus statements, please also see Classroom Policies for AI Generative Tools. Examples here include statements that restrict students' generative AI use (see, for example, Example 11 from Salem State University), those that allow use of these tools with clear guidelines (e.g., Example 54 from University of Maine), and those that require its use (e.g., Example 16 from Clemson University).
Canvas Commons AI Module
Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning and Brown University Library staff have designed a Canvas Commons resource on artificial intelligence ready for import into Canvas course sites. This learning resource helps students to develop an understanding of generative artificial intelligence technology, the social impact of this emerging technology, and the impact it may have on the writing process. Instructors who wish to use this Canvas Commons module can do so by using the "Commons" on the left menu of their Canvas page and then looking for "Writing and Citing Critically: An AI Guide for Informed Students."
While the module designers would encourage you to use all five sections (Introduction, Generative AI, Social Impact, Writing and Research Process, and Conclusion), faculty are able to select only specific modules for import.
Asynchronous Programs
Recorded presentations available upon request for the Brown community include:
- Fostering Student Mental Wellness
- AI and Teaching (Brown faculty panel)
- The New Landscape in Higher Education
- Relationship-Rich Education
- A Call to Innovation: Hope, Joy, and Risk
- Towards Anti-Racist Pedagogy
To view these recordings, please complete this brief request form.
Creating a Teaching Portfolio
This online, self-paced Canvas workshop from the Sheridan Center guides participants through the process of writing a teaching statement and creating a teaching portfolio. For more information and to register, see the Sheridan website.
Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash
Designing and Teaching for Online
This online self-paced Canvas tutorial guides Brown instructors through the design or redesign of an online or hybrid course. There are three pathways (Developing an Online Course, Structuring an Online Course in Canvas, and Teaching an Online Course) that allow instructors to work through the sections at their own pace based on their own needs and interests. Sign up to access the Canvas site: Designing and Teaching for Online.
Planning Resource: Sheridan Calendars
Interested in knowing when Sheridan Center programs typically run during the year? Please see the calendars below.