The annual Winter Faculty Convocation is an opportunity for all BMCC faculty to gather to discuss teaching and learning in support of student success.
The 2018 Faculty Convocation was held on January 24.
We will begin with an address from Senior Vice President and Provost, Karrin E. Wilks, at an all-faculty meeting at in Theater One.
Presentations and discussions on teaching and learning, facilitated by BMCC faculty, will continue throughout the day. Below is a tentative schedule of session and topics.
The event began with an address from Senior Vice President and Provost, Karrin E. Wilks, in Theater One. Her presentation, Designing for Success: Equity, Care, and Momentum, is available here.
That was followed by a panel of faculty talking about pedagogy and student success. The panel was moderated by Associate Dean Jim Berg and comprised Erica Campbell (English), a participant in the BMCC Teaching Academy; Matthew Marcus (Academic Literacy and Linguistics), recipient of the BMCC Distinguished Teaching Award, and Geoffrey Klock (English) recipient of the BMCC Distinguished Teaching Award.
Presentations and discussions on teaching and learning, facilitated by BMCC faculty, were offered throughout the day. Below is a list of the sessions and topics.
Workshops: 1:00-2:30 p.m.
- Open Alternative Textbooks
Title: Pedagogy of Open Educational Resources: A Hands-On Workshop
Description: In this interactive session, we’ll use backward design to move from learning outcomes to OER and learn what OERs are, where to find them, and how to decipher the Creative Commons licenses. We’ll also explore other no-cost options available through the library and on the web. You’ll leave with OERs in hand and be ready to replace some or all of your course materials with zero-cost options.
Faculty Leads/Participants: Jean Amaral
Location: N485 - SOTL and Non-judgmental Peer Feedback (Teaching Academy)
Title: Just the Facts: Improving Teaching and Learning Through Description and Non-evaluative Feedback
Description: Awareness of what is really happening in one’s classroom can become the foundation for reflection, experimentation, and improved teaching and learning. We can increase our awareness through our own observations and evidence-gathering, and through peer observation. However, the observations we make about our own teaching practices and about our students pass through the filter of our habits, assumptions, and biases. At the same time, peer observation is often experienced in an evaluative context, and for that reason can become a source of anxiety and the subject of avoidance for many faculty. In the BMCC Teaching Academy, increasing awareness through descriptive, non-evaluative feedback is a core principle, and a tool that empowers and informs. This presentation will discuss what it means to describe rather than to judge, will discuss its importance in reflective teaching, and will share tools and strategies for the individual teacher.
Faculty Leads: Judith Yancey and Suvro Banerjee
Location: N486 - Active Learning
Title: Addressing students’ misconceptions in the classroom
Description: This presentation focuses on classroom interventions to address students’ misconceptions in chemistry. Data from a preliminary study at BMCC showed that students are able to solve problems in chemistry without fully understanding the underlying scientific principles. The knowledge obtained from this study has been used to design an instructional method in which students do the lower-level cognitive work at home and the higher-level cognitive work in the classroom, a method with broad applicability across disciplines such as the humanities, social sciences, and others.
Faculty Lead/Participant: Maria Green
Location: N487 - Blended Hybrid Learning (Digital Education)
Title: Let’s make a plan: organizing your online space to increase student preparedness, engagement, and retention
Description: This session will introduce ways of organizing online materials to maximize student preparedness and retention, and strategies to keep students engaged and on track. Specific examples will be provided for online and hybrid courses. Participants will have the opportunity create and develop an updated course guide, including effective and easy to follow timelines, that can be used by both faculty and students in an upcoming online or hybrid class.
Faculty Participants: Gillian Bonanno, Eda Henao.
Location: S613 (Computer Lab) - Arts Across the curriculum (STEAM)
Title: Using Creative Arts to Engage Analytical Thinking
Description: The goal of this interactive workshop is to explore integration of the creative arts across the higher-education curriculum to engage students in inquiry-based and experiential learning, to inspire creative thinking and perspective-taking, and to provide opportunities for community building and collaborative learning. Integrating the arts into the academic curriculum offers opportunities for professors to differentiate learning experiences to engage students through multiple modalities and allows students to construct meaning based upon their lived experience.
Faculty Leads: Mindi Reich-Shapiro, Thaddeus Radell and Holly Fairbanks.
Location: Fiterman - Meeting the Needs of English Learners
Title: Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners
Description: This workshop will focus on how to scaffold classroom activities and assignments to increase students’ comprehension and performance.
Faculty Lead: Cheryl Comeau-Kirschner
Location: N488 - Reading across the curriculum
Title: Reading Across the Curriculum: Strategies for Improving Student Reading Comprehension
Description: This workshop will address how instructors can identify areas of difficulty in assigned texts. We will also present strategies aimed at scaffolding assignments in order to improve student comprehension. This workshop is intended for faculty that teach credit-bearing courses where reading assignments are a significant part of the course. Faculty that have previously participated or are planning to apply to the Reading Across the Curriculum program should not attend.
Faculty leads: Katie Figueroa and Ken Levinson
Location: N489 - Geography & Spatial Thinking Across the Curriculum (GeoSTAC)
Title: Geography & Spatial Thinking Across the Curriculum (GeoSTAC)
Description: This session will introduce faculty to basic Geographic concepts and offer ideas about employing spatial thinking into the academic curriculum. We are living at a time of rapid Geospatial Innovation, where location enhanced technology is increasingly integrated into our everyday lives and decision-making process. Hence, it is vital for students in most academic disciplines to master essential Geospatial skill or thinking in the changing economies and technologies of the 21st century. This session will include some hands-on GIS/mapping activity, as well as highlight the rich online spatial data and web-based mapping resources (GeoSTAC web Portal) at BMCC Library. Participants will also learn about the new “Geospatial Hour” help sessions for Faculty available at the Social Science Research Lab.
Faculty Leads: Henry Bulley and Kathleen Dreyer
Location: N789 (Computer Lab)
Panels 2:45-3:45
- Academic Mindset
Title: Academic Mindset: Changing the way we see ourselves
Description: Some students have never seen themselves as successful. They show they can persevere in their everyday lives, but when it comes to academics they struggle or give up too quickly. They do not picture themselves as professionals who will impact the world. This panel will discuss the necessity of fostering a growth mindset in which students realize they can learn from every mistake and they can develop new talents; everyone can learn. It will discuss how we can instill in our students a desire to struggle and help cultivate academic grit. It will discuss how we can get our students to act as professionals and help them develop a sense of belonging. We will look at academic mindset from multiple perspectives and present strategies that can be implemented in the classroom.
Faculty Lead: Mahatapa Palit; Participants: Nettie Vinsonhaler, Elizabeth Jaffe, Ewa Barnes.
Location: N485 - Title: Learning Communities and Integrative Learning
Description: This panel will address the pedagogy and philosophy of learning communities, which are shown to foster student success and often lead to deeper learning, better grades, and a connection to the college. The BMCC Learning Academy’s learning communities consist of one or two academic courses linked with an advisor-led success seminar. Faculty and advisors from the BMCC Learning Academy will discuss their experiences developing integrated course content and shared assignments and reflect on the benefits and potential challenges of teaching in learning communities.
Leads: Amy Sodaro, Sara Crosby.
Location: N489 - Integrating Experiential Learning into the Classroom, including Maker’s Space
Title: Experiential learning, sharing ideas and challenges
Description: Faculty will share their approaches to learning by doing in the classroom; what works and what were the challenges to get there. There will be short informal presentations from varied disciplines and participation from all that wish to share their experience, give and take ideas. From faculty to faculty. The intention is to encourage new approaches to experiential learning, and motivate those on the fence to try out for the benefit of their students.
Lead: Catarina Mata, Participating Faculty from SCI, SOC, MEA, ACC
Location: N486 - Title: Responding to Microaggressions: One Avenue to Creating Safe and Equitable Learning Environments
Description: In consideration of BMCC’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, this event will explore micro aggressions as they may occur in the classroom. Some questions that we will consider include: What are micro aggressions? How have faculty responded to micro aggressions? How do micro aggressions impact student engagement, feelings of inclusion, and experiences of equity? How can we create safe and equitable learning spaces, and specifically how do we respond to microaggressions? Panelists from a variety of college offices will share student experiences. There will be ample time for discussion by all participants. Other questions and issues about micro aggressions are welcome.
Faculty lead: Leslie Craigo
Location: N487 - Title: Culturally Inclusive Pedagogies: Strategies and Challenges of Experiential Learning
Description: This panel intends to discuss the different strategies faculty from various academic fields utilize when teaching in a diverse classroom setting. Topics will include how teacher and/or students’ identities and personal experiences can affect pedagogical practices that bring about conversations of social justice and equity, and how these can help students relate to the course content.
Faculty lead: Yolanda Medina; Participating: Alex D’Erizan, Vincent Cheng, Linta Varghese, Soniya Munshi, Elizabeth Robb
Location: N488 - Supplemental Instruction
Title: SI: Peer Facilitated Learning
Description: This panel discussion will feature a description of the Supplemental Instruction Program at BMCC. An overview of how the SI Program at BMCC has evolved and outcomes in specific disciplines will be presented. The panel will feature a faculty member and Supplemental Instruction Leader who will provide a first-hand description of the SI process including best practices.
Lead: Janice Zummo; Participants: Nandrani Algu, Gia Blackwell.
Location: N490
Poster Session: 4:00-5:00 South/North Bridge on the 2nd Floor
Faculty and administrators will present their research projects and programs. Attendees will have an opportunity to engage with the presenters and ask questions about their investigations and program aspects.
Faculty Posters:
- Mahatapa Palit
- Lauren Wickstrom & Nipa Deora
- Lalitha Jayant
- Abel Navarro
- Roderick Snipes
- Alicia Perdomo
- Evan Siegel
- Digital Education Center (2)
- Daniel Torres
We look forward to seeing you in January for this exciting new BMCC tradition.
For more information, contact Jim Berg, Associate Dean of Faculty, or Anna Krupitskiy, Director of Faculty Appointments.
