CTL-Hub Events

Spring 2023 Events

    Transforming Teaming: Designing More Equitable and Effective Teamwork

    BU faculty are invited to join Geoffrey Pfeifer and Elisabeth Stoddard for an in-person workshop on asset-based approaches to teamwork. Participants will learn about concrete models for running team-based assignments. Light reception to follow. 

    • Monday, April 10, 2023, 3:30-5pm  Register online. Location: Center for Computing & Data Sciences, Room 1750.

    Sponsored by the BU Cross-College Challenge (XCC), the College of General Studies, and the Center for Teaching & Learning.

    Spring Hub & Pub

    Join faculty from across BU to chat about teaching in the Hub and teaching in general! Refreshments: appetizers, wine, beer. Register here.

    Seeding the Muse II: Arts in the Curriculum

    The BU Arts Initiative, BU Hub, and CTL host a casual lunch during which we will explore strategies for teaching creativity and innovation as well as integrating the arts into the curriculum. Our featured guests will be Li-Mei Lim and Felice Amato.

    • Wednesday April 19, 2023, 12pm- 1:30pm. Contact Ben Keating (keatingb@bu.edu) for more information.

    Li-Mei Lim is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Boston University and one of the 24 mathematician artists who collaborated to create Mathemalchemy. She also currently serves as the Executive Director for PROMYS, a summer program for talented high school students.

    Felice Amato is an assistant professor in the School of Visual Arts. Amato’s interests lie in the field of material performance; she works at the intersection of education, visual arts, theater, and performance. She co-teaches the BU Hub Cross-College Challenge course Thinking through Puppets and Performing Objects: Using Theatrical Tools to Communicate the Complex, the Abstract, and the Technical.

    Past Events & Programs

    Office Hours for Developing & Proposing Hub Courses (Zoom)

    Come with questions about designing a Hub course and/or questions about the proposal process in general. Note that proposals for courses to be offered in Spring 2024 (spring-only courses) are due to the General Education Committee by March 15, 2023.

    • Tuesdays and Fridays starting 1/27 and ending 3/1. Check the CTL calendar for details. Registration not required. Reach out to Ben Keating (keatingb@bu.edu) with questions. 

    Hub 101 Info Sessions (Zoom)

    Join us for a short overview of the Hub. We’ll cover resources for teaching Hub courses and the proposal process for “Hubbing” a course, leaving plenty of time for questions and discussion. All faculty welcome!

    Spring 2022

    Two men and a women in the center on a panel discussion in front of an audience

    Virtual Hub & Pub: Teaching Social & Racial Justice Through the BU Hub

    Friday, February 4, 2022

    12-1:30pm

    BU faculty and staff are invited to join the BU Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) and the BU Hub for a Virtual Hub & Pub focused on teaching social and racial justice through the Hub. As part of this event, the BU Hub and CTL will 1) provide an update on Hub initiatives related to social and racial justice; 2) facilitate a conversation around how social and racial justice issues might be addressed through the Hub; and 3) gather feedback from participants, so that this feedback can be shared with the BU Hub Council.

    Guest speakers will include:

    • David Carballo, Assistant Provost for General Education; Professor of Archaeology, Anthropology, and Latin American Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
    • Sophie Godley, Clinical Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health
    • Vincent L. Stephens, Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, College of Arts & Sciences
    • Kyna Hamill, Director, College of Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum; Master Lecturer, College of Arts & Sciences

     

    Four headshots of Kyna Hamill, Sophie Godley, David Carballo and Vincent Stephens

     

    We hope you will join us for this conversation and share your perspective on the possibilities for drawing upon the Hub to support the teaching of social and racial justice topics in the classroom. To attend this event, please register here. You will receive information on how to join the event via Zoom when you register.

    Spring 2021

    February Hub & Pub

    Please join us for our Virtual Spring Hub & Pub: “LfA: The Second Time Around” on February 2nd, 2021 from 3:30pm – 4:30pm, where we discuss successful strategies from our fall classes that we can adopt and adapt for Spring 2021. In this participatory event, we will be focusing on what teaching strategies worked in LfA V1 in Fall 2020 and how can we adapt those strategies to provide rich and varied learning experiences in our LfA V2 classes in Spring 2021. Please come with your ideas and questions for a stimulating conversation that will provide us all with excellent advice and practice to support our Spring teaching.

    This conversation is open to all BU instructors and will be facilitated by the  CTL Hub Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellows : Kaytlin Eldred (Lecturer, Health Sciences, SAR), Sophie Godley (Clinical Assistant Professor, Community Health Sciences, SPH), Joseph Harris (Assistant Professor, Sociology, CAS), Irit Kleiman (Associate Professor, Romance Studies, CAS), and Benjamin Siegel (Assistant Professor, History, CAS). he Zoom information for the meeting will be sent in a confirmation prompt following registration.

    Please register here for the Virtual Spring Hub & Pub.

    Fall 2020

    October Hub & Pub

    Please join us for our Virtual Fall Hub & Pub: Building Faculty and Student Resilience, where we discuss ways of supporting resilience for instructors and students.

    • Date & Time: Wednesday, October 21, 2:30–3:30 pm
    • Event/Topic: COVID-19 has impacted the lives of faculty and students at BU and prompted important new conversations about how to promote and sustain learning in times that are challenging. How does one sensitively navigate struggles faced by students? What are faculty doing to take care of themselves? How can faculty embed resilience in the classroom?
    • Guests: This open conversation will be facilitated by the  CTL Hub Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellows Benjamin Siegel (Assistant Professor, History, CAS), Joseph Harris (Assistant Professor, Sociology, CAS), Sophie Godley (Clinical Assistant Professor, Community Health Sciences, SPH), Irit Kleiman (Associate Professor, Romance Studies, CAS), and Kaytlin Eldred (Lecturer, Health Sciences, SAR).

    Join the conversation on Zoom (Meeting ID: 986 2159 4583, Password: 152045). No registration required, but please RSVP

    Spring 2020

    April Hub & Pub

    The BU Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) and the BU Hub invite you to join us for a special edition Hub & Pub event where faculty can gather in a time of difficulty to share experiences and challenges with remote teaching, including course adjustments, student experiences, grading, and any other topics that participants wish to discuss.

    • Date & Time: Monday, April 13, 3:30–5 pm
    • Event/Topic: An opportunity for faculty to gather in a time of difficulty to share experiences and challenges with remote teaching, including course adjustments, student experiences, grading, and any other topics that participants wish to discuss.
    • Guests: Included CTL Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellows Benjamin Siegel (Assistant Professor, History, CAS), Joseph Harris (Assistant Professor, Sociology, CAS), Sophie Godley (Clinical Assistant Professor, Community Health Sciences, SPH), Irit Kleiman (Associate Professor, Romance Studies, CAS), and Kaytlin Eldred (Lecturer, Health Sciences, SAR

     

    Inaugural Hub & Pub

    • Date & Time: Monday, January 27, 3:30–5 pm
    • Location: The BU Hub Office (5th floor of the GSU, 775 Commonwealth Avenue)
    • Topic: Teaching in the Hub: Creativity/Innovation, Writing-Intensive Course, The Individual in Community
    • Guest Speakers: Benjamin Siegel, Assistant Professor of History; Joseph Harris, Assistant Professor of Sociology; and Sophie Godley, Clinical Assistant Professor of Public Health
    • Registration: Please RSVP for this event

    About the Hub & Pub Series: In Fall 2018, Boston University kicked off its Hub & Pub Series: Conversations on Teaching & Learning in the BU Hub. A collaboration between the BU Hub Office and the Center for Teaching & Learning, the Hub & Pub gatherings are designed to provide members of the BU community a forum to share their experiences teaching in the Hub and to learn from each other. These discussion-based sessions, each led by different faculty members and exploring a specific topic, tackle questions and issues in Hub courses. The setting is informal and grounded in faculty-to-faculty peer conversations. A selection of seasonal beers, wines, and hors d’oeuvres will be offered.

     

    HTEFF Reflections on Remote Teaching

    Joseph Harris and Sophie Godley, two of Boston University’s Hub Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellows (HTEFF), offer their reflections on the Spring 2020 semester transition to remote teaching.

     

    Scheduling a Consultation

    If you are a faculty or staff member developing or revising courses or cocurricular experiences, CTL staff will be available to answer your questions and provide feedback on your course or cocurricular materials. To schedule a consultation, please email the CTL (ctl@bu.edu).

    Individual, Team, or Group Consultations

    The CTL offers individual and small group consultations by request.

    Department or Program Workshops

    To schedule a department and program workshop, please complete our workshop request form.

    Online Resources

    As you think about your BU Hub course, view some strategies other faculty have used and found effective.

    Past events

    Faculty Forum: Writing Intensive Courses in the BU Hub

    Friday, January 26, 2018, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

    This partial day event will be from 10am-12pm, and will feature faculty-led discussions around writing intensive courses in the BU Hub. To begin the morning, Dr. Neal Lerner will discuss his most recent research “The Meaningful Writing Project: Learning, Writing, and Teaching in Higher Education” (Utah State Univ. Press), a cross-institutional study of undergraduates’ most meaningful writing projects. Afterward, a panel of BU faculty will consider student writing in their courses (e.g., what works, what do students struggle with, what is distinct about writing in one’s own discipline, what do students learn through writing) and about how the Hub has shaped their particular choices in syllabus design, assignments, feedback strategies, metacognitive reflection, etc., especially as these are related to the students’ writing tasks and writing in the discipline.

    Faculty Panel:

    Participants will experience how writing-intensive learning outcomes are taught across the disciplines and discuss how they might apply these strategies into their own courses. This is an opportunity for faculty to share with one another practices and pedagogy that may be new, old, and/or newly informed by the advent of the Hub.

    Faculty Forum: Critical Thinking in the BU Hub

    Friday, September 22, 2017, 10:00m – 12:15pm

    Join us for a half-day, faculty-facilitated forum on teaching Critical Thinking in the BU Hub. A faculty panel will share examples and resources from their teaching of Critical Thinking and discuss their research in this Hub area. Participants will experience how critical thinking is taught across the disciplines and discuss how they might use these strategies in their courses. There will be time set aside for faculty to work on their own courses to incorporate materials from the workshop in consultation with the faculty presenters and CTL staff.

    Hub Day: A Series of Faculty Led Forums

    Thursday, September 28, 2017, 9:30am – 4:45pm

    This day-long event features faculty-led forums on the BU Hub areas of Critical Thinking, Teamwork/Collaboration, Creativity/Innovation, and Writing-Intensive courses. We invite you to drop in as your schedule allows to learn from other BU faculty members with expertise teaching in these Hub areas. In various sessions throughout the day, participants will discover, engage with, and apply effective teaching and assessment strategies best suited to their own Hub courses.

    In addition to faculty forums, Hub Day will co-feature Center for Teaching & Learning course-revision workshops, as well as “walk-in consultations” with the CTL staff and Provost’s Office on course design and Courseleaf.