Summer Consultant Projects with CTL
Project 1: Supporting New Faculty
Do you remember what it was like to be starting out in your teaching role? What resources would be helpful to BU’s new faculty as their start teaching in the fall?
Our goal for this project is to prepare resources and plan for programs that will support new faculty in their teaching roles at Boston University.
The outcomes we would like to achieve:
- Develop and send survey for new faculty from previous year to see what resources and programming would be most helpful
- Plan for guide and/or targeted resources to be developed and on CTL site by early August
- Plan for event in early fall to bring new faculty together
Meet our Faculty Consultants
Bonnie Koch
Bonnie is a Adjunct Professor in the College of Communications who teaches Mass Communications.
She eager to help develop resources and content to support new faculty across disciplines. As a leadership coach with Core Coaching & Consulting, she frequently works with individuals and groups on coaching, educating and developing custom content.
David Sherman
David is a researcher in Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences.
In his work, David has focused on developing resources and workshops for young faculty and graduate student educators to encourage adoption of evidence-based, innovative, and high-impact practices
Trish Babb
Trish is an Adjunct Professor in Metropolitan College.
As a new faculty member, Trish find out new tips and tricks that she wished she knew before her first class. She would love to help design an onboarding program that addresses more than just the tech in and outs, but also helps with establishing connections with other professors, answers to “where do I find” and “how do I XYZ” as well as advice on how to deal with keeping curriculums fresh, managing multiple sections, cheating, cross-cultural group work, exams, TAs, etc.
Project 2: Learning Communities focused on alternative grading approaches
Continue the conversation! This past year, the Center for Teaching & Learning held a series of events surrounding different grading alternatives. This summer, we are looking to expand our digital resources and create Learning Communities available to faculty members in AY 22-23.
Our goal for this project is to create resources for CTL site and to plan for Learning Communities in AY 22-23
The outcomes we would like to achieve:
- Create balanced and well-informed resources for CTL site on alternative grading approaches for a variety of class types
- Plan framework for two grading Learning Communities: a reading group and a research group
- Create advertising materials and selection process for groups, to be posted to CTL website by mid-late August
Summer Consultants
Sarah Madsen Hardy: Director, Writing Program.
Jae-Hyung Sim: PhD student, Mathematics & Statistics
Lucy Steinert: Lecturer: QST Strategy & Innovation
Cliff Chuang:
Project 3: UDL Resources
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework helps us think about how to create resources and learning experiences that work for many different learners. To support BU’s instructors, we would like to develop our resources in this area!
Our goal for this project is to create resources for CTL website that provide an overview for UDL and its application to creating accessible class materials
The outcomes we would like to achieve:
- CTL webpage with an overview of UDL and its connection to DEI
- Clear guides for creating specific types of materials/activities
Summer Consultants
Amy Bennett-Zendzian
Amy is a Lecturer in the Writing Program
She holds an MA in English from Boston University as well as a dual MA/MFA in Children’s Literature and Writing from Simmons University. She has been an instructor and writing consultant at Boston University since 2009 and at other colleges in the Boston area since 2004. She works to develop accessible teaching practices and to be an advocate for students and faculty with disabilities in the Writing Program, and serves on her department’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Bryanne McDonough
Bryanne is a PhD candidate in the department of Astronomy
She has an extensive background in the UDL model. She attended the 2021 CAST UDL Summit and learned the basic guidelines, while exploring how they could be implemented in a higher ed setting. She has been using the guidelines since to improve how she runs her lab sections as a teaching fellow, including examples of diverse scientists and varying how she presents material. She keeps the guidelines in mind when making edits and updates to the lab manuals we use, particularly clarifying language and symbols used.
Project 4: Classrooms of the Future project
Looking to the future, how do you envision the classroom? What do you think is the most effective classroom design? Our Classrooms of the Future project will help us collect resources and think about pedagogical practices and classrooms design.
Our goal for this project is to gain a sense of future effective pedagogical practices and classroom design through surveying recent articles (scholarly, magazine, and other sources).
The outcomes we would like to achieve:
- a working bibliography of relevant materials and scholarly sources
- a succinct written report and/or website materials to be used by CTL in future discussions on classrooms and pedagogy
Summer Consultants
Caleb Farny
Caleb is a Professor in the College of Engineering
Caleb started out teaching with a traditional lecture approach but has investigated a mix of active learning techniques and semi- to fully-flipped classroom environments. The classroom physical layout plays an important role in implementing a given strategy and he has actively campaigned for various classroom assignments to fit these needs. He led pedagogy workshops with my faculty peers and have attended the ASEE-sponsored National Effectiveness Teaching Institute workshop.
Hagere Yilma
Hagere is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Her courses rely on group work and she has found that the physical design of the classroom, as well as the available tools within a classroom, can hep or hinder the quality of groupwork. She is interested in investigating how we can shape a classroom so that students feel personally responsible for their own learning. She would like o work with other faculty across BU to understand what has worked for them in re-designing their classroom and the extent to which technology can be adapted for in-person teaching.
Luis Menendez-Antuna
Luis is a Professor in the School of Theology
In his own teaching, Luis uses a flipped model where the classroom space becomes an experimental space where the learning community engages in practical and dialectical reflection. He is invested in discussing with others how to improve this model and how to organically incorporate learning tools focused on collaborative learning.