STEARNS CENTER FEATURED SESSION [for Instructors]: From COVID Crisis to Change: Pandemic Pedagogy and Small Changes Going Forward (90 mins) with remarks by Interim Provost Ginsberg

Authors

  • Shelley Reid George Mason University, Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning, Director for Teaching Excellence
  • Laura Lukes George Mason University, Stearns Center, Assistant Director for Teaching Excellence
  • Jered Borup George Mason University, College of Education and Human Development, Associate Professor, Learning Technologies in Schools
  • Kathleen Clare
  • Yvonne Demory George Mason University, School of Business, Assistant Professor, Business Legal Studies
  • Lila Fleming George Mason University, College of Health and Human Services, Term Assistant Professor - Global and Community Health
  • Alexandra Masterson George Mason University, College of Science, Assistant Professor - Biology
  • Eric McGlinchy
  • Esperanza Roman-Mendoza George Mason University, Associate Chair/Associate Professor, Spanish, Modern and Classical Languages
  • Kamaljeet Sanghera George Mason University, Associate Professor/Exec. Director STEM Outreach, Information Sciences and Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13021/itlcp.2020.2854

Abstract

Since everything -- everything! -- about teaching is evolving right now, and will likely still be in flux throughout the academic year, this panel is a works-in-progress discussion about what faculty are doing now in response to new demands on teachers and learners, and how we might take what we're learning forward to build a stronger future for higher education. In this session, we focus especially on small changes: alterations that faculty have made or could make with their courses during this "unprecedented" time that don't require wholesale revision but still serve to support or even improve student engagement and learning.

The session will open with a very brief description by each of our panelists from across the disciplines at Mason of one "small change" that they made last spring, this summer, or for this fall to support student learning, along with a question that they are still exploring about teaching in this new era. We will then break into smaller groups so that participants can also share their changes and questions, and return for a final conversation about how we might all carry the best things we've learned during this  stressful time forward, to improve our teaching and Mason students' learning in the future.

 

Takeaway: Participants should leave with several examples of "small teaching changes" that they can implement or adapt for their current and future courses across all our new modalities. In addition, they will be asked to brainstorm at least one way that their teaching can adapt to align with some of the likely evolutions in higher education as we strive to come out of the pandemic not just having survived, but having improved how we serve students and support one another.

Author Biographies

Laura Lukes, George Mason University, Stearns Center, Assistant Director for Teaching Excellence

Laura is both a geologist and a geoscience education researcher, currently serving as the Assistant Director of Stearns Center. Her research focuses on how learning environments, teaching practices, and beliefs influence the strategies and tactics students use to manage their own learning in classroom settings (self-regulated models of learning). Laura is an award-winning educator who has experience teaching in a variety of settings (university, community college, K-12, informal, in the field, in person, online) and class sizes (6-95). She also has experience collaborating with faculty and providing training for graduate students in how to incorporate active learning methods into their classrooms.

Prior to joining the Stearns Center in June 2014, she served as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Office of Polar Programs. During this time, she served as Director of the Joint Science Education Project (JSEP), an internationally-collaborative field science research experience on the Greenland ice sheet for students and teachers from Greenland, Denmark, and the US. Laura continues to be an active leader in the national and international geoscience education communities. She served as President of the Geoscience Education Research Division (GER) of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) and the chair of the Education Committee of the Geological Society of America (GSA). She received the 2017 Biggs Award for Earth Science Teaching from the Geological Society of America.

She has served as the ITL Conference Director from 2014-present.

Lila Fleming, George Mason University, College of Health and Human Services, Term Assistant Professor - Global and Community Health

****ATEA 2015 Winner****

Alexandra Masterson, George Mason University, College of Science, Assistant Professor - Biology

****TEA 2018 Winner****

Esperanza Roman-Mendoza, George Mason University, Associate Chair/Associate Professor, Spanish, Modern and Classical Languages

****TEA 2009 Winner****

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Published

2020-07-31

Issue

Vol. 12 (2020): Teaching Towards the Future

Section

FRIDAY 1:00pm-2:30pm STEARNS CENTER FEATURED SESSIONS