Presentations at the 2015 Teaching Festival

Monday, February 16th – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Faculty Development Center

EXPANDING THE WALLS OF THE CLASSROOM: THE ILC CULTURE HYBRID COURSES

Paula Hanssen, Associate Professor, Coordinator of German Studies, International Languages and Cultures
Silvia Navia, Associate Professor, Chair, International Languages and Cultures

Silvia Navia and Paula Hanssen present their experiences with the "Hybrid Travel Course" and how the course learning goals meet curricular needs and learning outcomes, as well as the university mission. Three of the students who took courses from both Hanssen and Navia will briefly present their expectations, experiences and research topics.

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Wednesday, February 18th – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Faculty Development Center

PAPER, SCISSORS, PICTURES, AND WORDS: LITERARY SCRAPBOOKS

Margot Sempreora, Professor, English Department

I read a book called Writing with Scissors by Ellen Gruber Garvey about the role of scrapbooks in selectively recording and thus personalizing American history.  I decided to assigned scrapbook-making as a kind of illustrated reader’s journal in my “Women Create Women in Literature” course.  I supplied book-making materials—ring binders, colored paper, clear protective sheets—so that throughout the semester, my students might record and illustrate their responses to the works they were reading.  I gave few instructions as to content and composition, so the books were unique to each student, with the only common thread being our authors—Austen, Bronte, Eliot, Woolf, etc.  When the students shared the books at semester’s end, the personal connections they had forged to the literature became connections between students; and the emotional energy generated by their creations was thrilling.

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Thursday, February 19th – 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Library Conference Room

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO NEWS REPORTING AND ONLINE MEDIA WRITING

Alison Langely, Professor, Media and Communications, Webster Vienna

So here is the problem: Students were handing in sloppy reflections and stories, expecting me to edit and grade them. I was frustrated that they weren't internalizing methods of basic reporting and writing techniques. Based on conversations with students and a professor from another department, I added three features to the Fall 2014 class.

1. Each student built their own blog and added RSS feed to each other.

2. We "workshopped" stories before final drafts were due.

3. I added a grading matrix at the beginning of the course, so they knew how we as a class would critique the stories.

Feedback from the class was overwhelmingly positive. This session will present how we restructured the class and why I think it worked.

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Thursday, February 19th – 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Library Conference Room

SHOWCASING VIDEO CLASSROOMS

Ken Freeman, Vice President and CIO, Information Technology
Marty Martin, Director, Media & Academic Technology Services
Mindy Berkowitz, Center for Portfolio Development & Internships, School of Communications
Michael Freund, Media Communications Department, Vienna Campus
Kit Jenkins, Professor, Communications & Journalism
Debbie Psihountas, Associate Professor, Business

Webster has invested in a network of “video classrooms,” providing the infrastructure to connect Webster classrooms worldwide.  This session, comprised of a panel of faculty innovators, explores these rooms as an essential capability of a truly global university.  By sharing thoughts about how these rooms can be used, both by panelists and attendees, attendees will be better prepared to conceptualize and plan of this exciting new medium for teaching and learning.

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Thursday, February 19th – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Faculty Development Center

WHY COHORTS?

Dian Davitt, Associate Professor, Nursing
Mary Ann Drake, Professor, Nursing
Debra Savka, BSN, RN, current Webster University MSN student in the BJC cohort

Cohorts are becoming more popular in the university setting to address the needs of employers and certain types of populations. With increased prevalence, it’s time to consider: how does the cohort model impact the teaching experience for faculty and the learning experience for students? This session will reflect on two Nursing faculty’s experience with cohorts, specifically how the cohort model can influence the teacher-student relationship, change what motivates students, and affect the outcomes of a program.

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Thursday, February 19th – 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Faculty Development Center

MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE: ENGAGE YOUR 21ST CENTURY LEARNER

Dr. Paaige Turner, Associate Dean, School of Communications
Julie Smith, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville

Don’t just be a sage on the stage - encourage creation and engagement in your classroom. In order to achieve an active learning classroom, instructors need to rethink how they “communicate” and shift from “communicate to” towards “communicating with.” This workshop will provide strategies and technologies for making that shift including classroom management techniques, Kahoot, Poll Everywhere, WheelDecide, Padlet and WEB 2.0 sites for creating infographics, charts and timelines. During the last 30 minutes, participants will review their course syllabi and identify where they can immediately incorporate specific techniques. 

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Friday, February 20 – 10:00AM – 11:30AM

Library Conference Room

FORMATIVE FEEDBACK AND WRITING WORKSHOP

Roshaunda Cade, Assistant Director, Academic Resource Center

“Giving Formative Feedback” discusses the concept of formative assessment and its benefits then provides strategies to give formative feedback to students.  Giving formative feedback highlights faculty as disciplinary experts while requiring students to become responsible for their own learning.  Participants will have the opportunity to develop and practice feedback strategies.