ACERT lunchtime seminars

Coordinators

ACERT and the Center for Online Learning are hosting two lunchtime sessions to introduce Brightspace from the perspective of faculty members who have spent the summer designing Brightspace courses. These “Brightspace Ambassadors” from a variety of fields created courses for different class sizes (small and large), modalities (in person, online, hybrid), and with the tools (quizzes, discussions, etc.) that work best in their teaching. You are invited to come hear their tips and tricks, and see what a fully designed Brightspace course can look like! 

Please note that these are not repeat sessions: each session will feature different faculty presenters, and you are welcome to attend both sessions.

Amber’s Course

ACERT and the Center for Online Learning are hosting two lunchtime sessions to introduce Brightspace from the perspective of faculty members who have spent the summer designing Brightspace courses. These “Brightspace Ambassadors” from a variety of fields created courses for different class sizes (small and large), modalities (in person, online, hybrid), and with the tools (quizzes, discussions, etc.) that work best in their teaching. You are invited to come hear their tips and tricks, and see what a fully designed Brightspace course can look like! 

Please note that these are not repeat sessions: each session will feature different faculty presenters, and you are welcome to attend both sessions.

Ellen’s Course

How have our students changed over the last five years? What are their specific learning needs and how might we begin to address them? Last Spring faculty and staff from across the College explored these questions in a teaching scholarship circle, led by Jillian Báez (AFPRL). Join this session to hear the initial takeaways and continue the conversation about our current student population.

Recent discussion of phone bans in classrooms has brought renewed interest in the role that phones and other devices can and should play in the classroom. In this session, we will explore the use of devices from both faculty and student perspectives. How do we, as educators, regulate phone use in the classroom – official policy, classroom culture, or not at all? Should we regulate them? How do we embrace phones – as quick in-class engagement tools and note taking devices? Do students even want phones in the classroom or do they just happen to already be holding one? Join us to discuss and share strategies and perspectives.

• Presentation slides (Ingrid Lundeen)
• Presentations slides (Katie Winkelstein-Duveneck)

(Anthropology),

Katie Winkelstein-Duveneck (English)

We all want civically engaged undergrad and grad students to know how to make good decisions. Utilizing a UDL friendly GUTS and Go Framework, the presenters will discuss a decision making model created by Hunter Faculty that is pertinent to those within the fields of education, psychology, social work, political science, economics, and more.

Resources

• Presentation slides: The Hunter SOE/DDPC Decision Making Curriculum
• Project website: NYS Decision Making Curriculum

Artificial intelligence’s increasing presence in our daily lives raises many complex ethical questions. How should we navigate AI’s potential biases and its impacts on society, especially on marginalized communities? In this session, we will explore these issues and provide examples of how to bring these topics into the classroom. We’ll consider strategies for incorporating debates into the classroom and reflect on the pedagogical benefits of such activities. Additionally, we will examine the specific impacts of AI on marginalized communities and discuss best practices for teaching ethics in software engineering. The session will conclude with a Q&A, offering time to share strategies, experiences, and perspectives. Participants will leave with practical insights on how to foster meaningful discussions on AI ethics and bias in their own classrooms.

Resources

• Presentation slides – Raj Korpan
• Presentation slides – Edgar Troudt

Can AI change the way that we (and our students) do research? There are AI tools available that promise to help us with discovery, analysis, and even synthesis. For this session, we’ll review a few of these tools, demonstrating their unique features, and also suggesting recommendations for how to evaluate these tools. We hope to open a conversation about how these tools can help us with research and pedagogy of research and information literacy.

Resources

• Presentation slides- AI Tools

(on Mon

schedule)

In a facilitated discussion, Instructors will be invited to share their mid-semester challenges and successes, including such questions as:

• How can we motivate students mid semester as some of the initial energy and enthusiasm drops off, and students (and instructors) are feeling stressed?
• How can we change patterns of engagement that may have emerged, for example when some students dominate the discussion and others remain silent?
• How can we re-engage “disappearing” students?  
• How can we make the most out of mid-semester evaluations or feedback?

Resources

• Presentation slides “Gamified Grading” (Ingrid Lundeen)
• Presentation slides “Decentering Grades” (Stephanie Margolin and Margaret Bausman)
• Presentation slides “Ungrading as Undisciplining the Humanities” (Austin Bailey)

Resources:

• Presentation slides “Disruptions to Learning” (Kristen Hodnett)
• Behavorial Response Team (BRT) at Hunter College

This past year we have seen our students passionately engaged in socially and politically charged topics, but in ways that sometimes challenged each other and us. This session describes different models for engaging in intellectual and civil discourse in the classroom, from the structured format of debates to the more collaborative open-ended conversation of dialogue. We will also explore the role of emotions when discussing contentious issues, and how the art of rhetoric and other techniques can be used to persuade, find common ground, and turn the temperature down. 

Resources

• Presentation Slides: “Listening to Each Other” (Vicki Lens)
• Presentation Slides “Using Student Strengths and Expanding Our View of What Argument Is” (Katie Winkelstein-Duveneck)

During this session, you’ll learn more about the new CUNY learning management system Brightspace from the perspective of faculty members who have taught on Brightspace this summer. Join us to hear about their experiences and insights, and see what a fully designed Brightspace course can look like. 

• CUNY Brightspace Basic Series of Trainings
• Recordings of CUNY trainings

• Center for Online Learning workshops
• Hunter College Brightspace transition website

For the final Lunchtime Seminar of the Fall semester, we’ll meet on Thursday October 31, 12-2pm for an in-person session at the 68th Street Campus, featuring lightning talks and lunch!