ATL September Newsletter
The Academy for Teaching and Learning is dedicated to the enrichment of faculty through meaningful professional development. We recognize that our institution is a diverse organization, and we seek to provide engaged learning opportunities that are connected to practice. Through competency-based practice, we strive to augment our knowledge and skills to enhance our expertise and innovation as educators, while also forwarding the mission, vision and values of our College.
Active Learning Tip
To engage students in class discussion, use a ball or “talking stick.” The instructor begins by throwing the ball to a student for an answer (or giving the student the stick). The student then tosses the ball to someone else (or hands someone the stick) to elaborate or answer a new question.
Professional Development Workshops for Faculty
Have questions about our new PeopleSoft system?
The Academy and the Office of Professional Development will continue to help faculty with the transition to People Soft by offering open labs in the Faculty Resource Centers on each campus. Additionally, our faculty development specialists in the FRC’s offer one-on-one help with PeopleSoft, Blackboard, and course design.
We listened to faculty last year, and while we continue to offer help with Blackboard and our new PeopleSoft system, we have also incorporated more workshops that introduce technology tools specific to delivering content in the classroom. Additionally, many of our FSCJ faculty are sharing their expertise and knowledge this semester.
Through the Office of Professional Development, we are offering a variety of workshops. During the rest of September, Amy Baskin will offer a course that offers strategies to increase our students’ learning through innovative approaches in the classroom (5679).
Dana Kuehn encourages Self-Care for all employees (5662 and 5663), and Jeff Olma will explore new creative methods that will encourage critical thinking in the classroom (5645).
John Vail offers ideas to connect with those millennials through digital inclusion (5658), and Marilyn Metzcher-Smith will introduce participants to the principles of cooperative learning (5648).
Finally, Dr. Angela Browning, Director of Outcomes Assessment and Strategic, will discuss integrating rubrics into assignments for the purposes of assessment (5609).
Book for the Month (Recommended by the Academy’s Assistant Director, Dr. Susan Reilly)
To engage students in class discussion, use a ball or “talking stick.” The instructor begins by throwing the ball to a student for an answer (or giving the student the stick). The student then tosses the ball to someone else (or hands someone the stick) to elaborate or answer a new question.
Read a review of the book here:
For Discussion
We all complain about student writing. Here are author John Warner’s thoughts on what works and what doesn’t work when teaching students to write for the classroom. Do you agree?
Watch for a future opportunity to discuss how we can improve our students’’ writing through college wide collaboration.
Check out this link: What We Know about Teaching Writing
Academy News
The Academy for Teaching and Learning is excited to introduce the Faculty Development Institute.
The institute will support faculty through competency-based professional development, focused on developing and integrating practical strategies into practice. Our goals are to provide guidance in the continuing contract process, provide an orientation to FSCJ, expand knowledge of pedagogical best practices, encourage academic curiosity, expose faculty to service opportunities, and build a sense of community.
While the Institute is designed to support new faculty, it is open to everyone. During the course of the year we will hold roundtable discussions led by our Academy members, encourage participation in relevant workshops, and end the year with Micro-teaching presentations.
Bring us your ideas!
Do you know your representative? The Academy is run by faculty for faculty. Contact your representative with ideas you have for
professional development.
- Susan Slavicz, Director, South Campus
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Susan Reilly, Assistant Director, Kent Campus
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Samantha Ertenberg, Representative, Downtown Campus
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Dana Kuehn, Representative
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Nick Martino, Representative, Kent Campus
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Joanne Mechmech, Representative, North Campus
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