If you’ll be teaching an online synchronous class this summer, think about how you could use your Zoom background as an icebreaker and way to build community. For example, you could set your background to a photo related to your research or to the class. Then you can start the class chatting with students about the image. Or, you could ask students to set their Zoom backgrounds as a way to answer a prompt: Set your Zoom background to a photo of the city/town you’re in right now. Or set your Zoom background to a photo of a hobby you have. Or set your Zoom background to something you know about our course topic. Start the class by chatting with students about these images. Have you used this technique in the past and if so, how did it work for you?
5th Annual CITL Summer Reading List
Wow. Can you believe we have been sharing a summer reading list for 5 years?! I hope you have come to look forward to these as much as I look forward to compiling them. There have been quite a few really great new releases over the last few years and while this list is not all-inclusive, I hope you’ll find something that sparks your interest. If you’ve missed the previous reading lists, you can find them by searching “reading list” in the search bar on the CITL blog page or by clicking on the links below:
The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students (Jack, 2019)
In his inaugural book, educational sociologist, Anthony Jack, presents his work examining the experiences of lower income students at an elite college. Jack introduces the reader to students he calls doubly disadvantaged (attended local, typically distressed public high schools) and privileged poor (attended boarding, day, and preparatory high schools). Anyone working in higher education (not just elite institutions) will find something valuable in this book.
Keeping Us Engaged – Student Perspectives (and Research-Based Strategies) on What Works and Why (Harrington, 2021)
If you want new ideas for engaging students in your small or large classes, this is the book for you. It is rare to find a book that so effectively incorporates student voices into every single page. Each research-based engagement strategy is followed by a firsthand account from one of the 50 student contributors about the specific class in which they encountered the strategy, and how it helped them engage in the course content and with their instructor. – contributed by Madeleine Gonin
Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto (Gannon, 2020)
Historian Kevin Gannon, claims that to teach well is a radical act based in hope. In describing this pedagogy of radical hope, Gannon lays a foundation of 4 essential features: it should be life-affirming; center student agency; be inclusive; and move beyond theory to praxis. Opportunities for applying content to your own courses are included at the end of each chapter.
Trans* In College (Nicolazzo, 2017)
Much of the research about trans* students in higher education focuses on their struggles. While Nicolazzo does write about that, she also focuses on trans* community and resilience. Readers may find helpful terminology and practices as the book concludes with trans* students offering suggestions. Trans* readers may find a sense of community through reading the book, as Nicolazzo explains she turned to books when she first came out/in. – contributed by Leslie Drane
A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum (Calarco, 2020)
A hidden curriculum is the norms, values, practices that we learn and that contribute to our success even though they’re not explicitly taught. Graduate school is full of these types of lessons and Jessica McCrory Calarco pulls back the curtain to make these lessons explicit. While the target audience for this book is current and prospective graduate students, faculty and staff members in higher education will also benefit from this extensive resource.
Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (Brookfield, 2017)
While the first edition of this book was released in 1995 and the second edition 5 years ago, Stephen Brookfield’s message is more timely than ever. Through this book, faculty are provided activities and reflective prompts to uncover their assumptions regarding teaching and learning and begin reframing their approach in more intentional ways. Brookfield encourages faculty to regularly examine their work through the eyes of students, colleagues, theory & research, and experience.
Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (Felten & Lambert, 2020)
In their new release, Peter Felton and Leo Lambert present the findings of nearly 400 interviews with students, faculty, and staff at 29 higher education institutions across the country in order to discuss the importance of relationships in education. The authors go further by providing readers with practical advice to develop and sustain powerful relationships that ultimately enhance education.
If you are interested in reading Relationship-Rich Education, consider joining us for a reading group this summer sponsored by the SoTL program within CITL. Meetings will be held via Zoom from 10-11:15am on the following Fridays: June 25, July 16, and August 6. Participants will receive a copy of the book. The reading group is open to all faculty and AIs of Indiana University, but registration is limited. Please fill out the brief application form no later than Sunday, June 6, 2021.
Quick Tip: Allow Extensions to Show Care and Support
As we’ve learned this past year, building community is an important part of an online course. An aspect of building community is projecting care and support. A quick way to do this is to build in opportunities for students to have deadline extensions without having to ask you permission for them. Build in “oops tokens” or “no questions asked deadline extensions” that students can use for a 24-hour extension once a semester. If you’ve used a technique like this before, how did it work?
Source: Darby and Lang (2019) Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes.
Quick Tip: An Icebreaker Idea
Need a quick ice breaker for your summer class? Consider using images to which students can relate. Create a PowerPoint slide showing six different images, with a mixture of happier and darker pictures. Ask your students, “which picture best exemplifies how your weekend went?” Or “What picture best exemplifies how you feel about the upcoming exam?” See the example slide for inspiration. What questions might you ask your students using this image prompt?
Quick Tip: What to Keep After the Return to Face-to-Face Teaching (Pt. 5)
Part 5. Recordings of Class Sessions and Course Content
One aspect of online learning appreciated by many students is the recorded lectures created by instructors and posted to Canvas. When returning to in-person teaching, instructors may want to continue to provide some recorded lectures rather than using valuable class time to lecture on the material. In this way instructors could “flip” their classes by requiring students to view a recorded lecture before class. Class time could then be spent engaging students in activities or discussion to enhance and deepen their learning. The recorded lectures would also be available for students as they review content to prepare for exams, providing further learning benefit.
This quick tip has been drawn from “Improved student engagement in higher education’s next normal,” by Ed Glantz, Chris Gamrat, Lisa Lenze, and Jeffrey Bardzell, in the Educause Review, Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
If you want to share your own ideas for what you will keep in your teaching when you head back to the in-person classroom, fill out our form and add your idea to our collection (to appear on our website in late April).
Quick Tip: What to Keep After the Return to Face-to-Face Teaching (Pt. 4)
Part 4. Breakout Rooms for Collaborative Learning
During the pandemic, instructors teaching in Zoom have learned to take advantage of its “breakout room” feature to encourage student engagement and collaborative learning. After the return to in-person teaching, some classes may remain hybrid, with face-to-face and virtual students in the same classroom simultaneously. Group work in these circumstances can be challenging, but one way to engage virtual students with in-person groups might be to have some students in the classrooms put on headphones and go to a Zoom breakout room to engage with their virtual peers. This would give the breakout-room groups access to digital tools such as whiteboards and screen sharing. Instructors could visit the breakout rooms to monitor progress.
This quick tip has been drawn from “Improved student engagement in higher education’s next normal,” by Ed Glantz, Chris Gamrat, Lisa Lenze, and Jeffrey Bardzell, in the Educause Review, Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
For more on Zoom breakout rooms, see our Quick Guide, “Using Zoom Breakout Rooms Effectively.”
If you want to share your own ideas for what you will keep in your teaching when you head back to the in-person classroom, fill out our form and add your idea to our collection (to appear on our website in late April).