Academic Development Day
Once every semester, the College devotes a day to faculty conversations about relevant curricular issues and other faculty development activities. If you have a suggestion for an Academic Development Day breakout session or keynote, please contact us.
Spring 2008 Academic Development Day
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Martin Institute
8:30 Coffee and Pastries
9:00 Keynote panel
"FACULTY PERSPECTIVES ON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT"
Panelists: John Lanci, Wendy Peek, Patricia Sankus, and Maura Tyrell
To kick off our morning's focus on student engagement, a panel of Hegarty-award winning faculty will share their thoughts on what "engagement" means in their classes and what they do to encourage students to take a more active role in their education. We'll conclude the session with time for questions and discussion.
10:15 Concurrent Break-out Sesssions I
"ATHLETICS, A LEARNING EXPERIENCE"
Facilitators: Mark Kazarosian and others in the Team faculty Advisor Program
The main focus of this session will be to discuss the role of "Team Faculty Advisors (TFAs). It is open to faculty, student athletes, and coaches. A panel of TFAs, student athletes, and coaches will lead our discussion of how we can improve this program that connects academics to athletics. We will begin the session with a brief overview of what the Academic/Athletics committee does and what it means to be a division II student athlete, and a division II school. Then, we'll open up for questions and discussion.
'DISTRESSING STUDENTS AND STUDENTS IN DISTRESS: THE WHAT, WHEN, WHY, HOW AND WHERE OF RESPONDING"
Facilitators: Counseling and Testing Center Staff
This session will present information concerning distressed students both from a national and Stonehill perspective. Program participants will be encouraged to share their successful experiences of identifying and referring students to helpful resources both on and off campus.
"TEACHING ACTIVE READING'
Facilitators: Beth Belanger, John Golden, and Daniel Itzkovitz
With so much discussion these days about improving student writing, the importance of teaching students to be good readers can be overlooked. And yet most faculty have struggled at one time or another with getting students to read "actively" or critically - or to do the reading at all. In this discussion-based session, we'll talk about what role reading plays in our classes and what strategies we've found helpful for encouraging students to read more consistently and actively.
'VIDEO, SUMMER WORKSHOPS, AND NITLE'
Facilitators: Glenn Everett and a faculty panel
The bulk of this session will be devoted to talking about ways Stonehill faculty have found to successfully incorporate video in their courses, both in the classroom and outside it, and what pedagogical goals the use of video serves. We will also preview this summer's summer workshop schedule - which will mostly take place off-campus, at NITLE-sponsored workshops.
11:30 Concurrent Break-out Sessions II
"ENGAGING STUDENTS THROUGH CASE STUDIES"
Facilitators: Jim Millikan, Cristina Muise, and Anna Ohanyan
The use of case studies in teaching is already commonplace in some disciplines - and is gaining ground in others. Cases encourage students to apply what they've learned to realistic situations and to connect theory to practice, thus reinforcing student learning and increasing student engagement. In this session, we'll discuss the different ways we use cases in the classroom, what we've learned about using them effectively, and how they might be incorporated into other disciplines.
"TRAVEL PEDAGOGY"
Facilitators: Carole Calo, Sue Mooney, Jennifer Swanson, and Karen Talentino
A teaching goal shared by many faculty is to shift students out of their comfort zones so that they can look with new eyes at the subject being studied. Courses that incorporate travel - whether to a neighboring town or to a distant country - can enable such shifts, dramatically changing students' perceptions of the world and their place in it. In this discussion-based session, we will share our own experiences traveling with students and the lessons we've learned in trying to implement "travel pedagody." We'll also talk about what resources are available to faculty interested in bringing travel into a course.
"WRITING THE ENGAGING SYLLABUS"
Facilitator: Stacy Grooters
In this hands-on workshop, we'll discuss what role the syllabus can play in establishing a productive and "engaging" class environment. We'll look at a number of different approaches that Stonehill faculty have taken to syllabus design and discuss what we think makes a syllabus effective. We'll also make time for you to get feedback from colleagues on your own syllabi, so consider bringing a couple copies of a current syllabus to share.
12:30 Lunch
At the beginning of lunch, we'll have two very brief presentations (about five minutes each). George Piggford will give an overview of the recently approved Academic Honor Code. And Dick Grant will speak about first year advising.