Commonwealth Connections: Instructor Days
On August 9th and 10th, join colleagues from the Penn State Commonwealth Campuses to energize for the upcoming semester.
The event will explore topics related to engaging and supporting students; assessment; diversity, equity, and inclusion; emerging technology trends; and more! Hear from your faculty colleagues as they share strategies and tools for success. Be sure to bring your questions and any stories of success you care to share.
When
12:00PM – 4:00PM EST
9:00AM – 1:00PM EST
Session Recordings & Resources
Welcome & Opening Panel Discussion – Instructor Days, Fall 2023
Welcome & Opening Panel Discussion – Instructor Days, Fall 2023
Join us for the plenary session in which 2 of the recipients will discuss their use of effective, active, and engaging pedagogy, their passion for teaching and students’ learning, and their approaches to teaching and learning activities.
Inclusive Teaching Meets Students Where They Are
Inclusive Teaching Meets Students Where They Are
In this session, we explore strategies that foster greater inclusion and belonging for students while enhancing learning through effective approaches to feedback.
Student Engagement with Top Hat and Poll Everywhere
Student Engagement with Top Hat and Poll Everywhere
In this session, faculty colleagues will discuss their use of 2 student response systems: Top Hat and Poll Everywhere. Dr. Yang will discuss her uses of Top Hat for class polling, student self-introductions, and group discussions. Dr. Taherian will discuss his use of Poll Everywhere for in-class quiz competitions in multiple courses to get students excited and engaged.
Using Library Resources to Innovate Sustainable Assignments and for Citation Strategies
Using Library Resources to Innovate Sustainable Assignments and for Citation Strategies
This session highlights the use of library resources! The first is an innovative and sustainable assignment using the ProQuest database, where students create a letter to the editor based on opinions found in a major newspaper column. This second will provide foundational citation information and related tips for works produced through artificial intelligence.
Strategies for Incorporating Immersive Technologies
Strategies for Incorporating Immersive Technologies
Using virtual reality (VR) in the classroom can be engaging and effective for student learning, and the preparation can be easier than expected! Join Stefani and Joie to learn about their experiences using VR in their classes and hear about the results they’ve seen with their students.
Unlocking the Power of Collaboration: Strategies for Successful Student Group Work
Unlocking the Power of Collaboration: Strategies for Successful Student Group Work
Group work can be both challenging and rewarding for students. In this session, three faculty members from the disciplines of sociology, engineering, and mathematics will discuss how they have successfully implemented student collaboration into their courses.
Facilitating Difficult Questions Emphasized on Racial Equality, Social Justice, and Sexuality
Facilitating Difficult Questions Emphasized on Racial Equality, Social Justice, and Sexuality
This session will incorporate the theme of discussing difficult but important questions based within undoing preconceived notions of race, social justice, and sexuality aspects. The faculty presenters will discuss assignments they use in their classes to take a deeper dive into conversations that many of our students experience every day.
Transforming and Innovating with Open Pedagogy
Transforming and Innovating with Open Pedagogy
Teaching Shapes: What, Why, and How to Start One on Your Campus
Teaching Shapes: What, Why, and How to Start One on Your Campus
Instructors are often isolated and left to meet the challenges of teaching alone. Teaching Shapes is a peer-to-peer, formative teaching observation program that encourages community building, idea sharing, and self-reflection. In this interactive session, the facilitators will share experiences from Penn State Scranton and Penn State Behrend, and provide you with a resource kit for establishing a Teaching Shapes program on your own campus.
Enhancing the Learning Experience: Real-World Strategies for Engagement and Assessment
Enhancing the Learning Experience: Real-World Strategies for Engagement and Assessment
Are you looking for new ways to create meaningful learning experiences? Join us to hear how experts from across the commonwealth campuses are using innovative real-world strategies to engage and assess learners.
AI-Powered Tools in Education: Creating Course Content and Empowering Students
AI-Powered Tools in Education: Creating Course Content and Empowering Students
Discover how faculty can leverage AI-powered tools and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to create engaging, effective course content and provide students with the knowledge and skills to harness the power of these tools in their own work.
Leveraging Peer Support for Learning
Leveraging Peer Support for Learning
Effective facilitation in education requires a focus on student engagement and finding diverse ways to enhance learning experiences. One such approach is leveraging peer support, where students collaborate on assignments and engage their peers.
Exploring Best Practices for Assignment Creation and Effective Assessment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Exploring Best Practices for Assignment Creation and Effective Assessment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Join this session to explore how two instructors address assignment design in light of artificial intelligence. Learn how one instructor is meeting ChatGPT head-on using a collaborative assignment. Another instructor will explain the best practices that promote academic integrity and effective assessments regardless of whether artificial intelligence is available for student use or not.
Bolster Engagement and Motivation Through Real World Cases
Bolster Engagement and Motivation Through Real World Cases
Case studies exploring complex challenges recently faced in the real world provided the opportunity for peer-to-peer teaching and the strengthening of problem-solving skills. In the communication and biology classrooms, students applied their learning to develop a range of solutions to real-world problems.
Strategies for Student-Centered Engagement & Support
Strategies for Student-Centered Engagement & Support
Meeting the needs of each student is essential for retention of students in courses and programs. Applying a student-centered perspective and approach can strengthen an instructor’s ability to meet the needs of all students.
Optimizing Online Teaching: Strategies and Insights
Optimizing Online Teaching: Strategies and Insights
This session will be focused on online teaching. The faculty presenters will share the teaching strategies they recommend for successfully teaching online. They will also recommend professional development opportunities they have participated in that have enhanced their teaching practices.
Active Learning Strategies
Active Learning Strategies
There are many ways to engage students with active learning. Join us as Lori and Hannah describe activities that have proven to be quite effective at getting students involved and producing deeper learning as a result, and active learning also moves the accountability for learning more explicitly into the students’ hands.
Rethinking the Curriculum to Strengthen Learning, Inclusion, and Belonging
Rethinking the Curriculum to Strengthen Learning, Inclusion, and Belonging
Integrating a global learning perspective into the curriculum expands students’ horizons and promotes inclusion and belonging. This approach creates avenues for students to delve into various worldviews, engage in cross-cultural communication, and address global challenges.
Strategies for Formative and Genuine Assessment
Strategies for Formative and Genuine Assessment
This session provides intriguing practical strategies and evidence-based approaches to foster a supportive learning environment and deeper student engagement
Meeting Students in a New Reality: Dealing with Accessibility, Engagement and Technology for Immersive Experiences in Virtual Reality Across the Curriculum
Meeting Students in a New Reality: Dealing with Accessibility, Engagement and Technology for Immersive Experiences in Virtual Reality Across the Curriculum
Immersive experiences provide great platforms for learning but implementing them in courses can sometimes be difficult. Virtual Reality technologies can help alleviate some of those issues and provide students with the ability to travel around the world and interact with places and objects in ways we only dreamed of as students.
Creating Authentic Connections with Students
Creating Authentic Connections with Students
In this presentation, Hannah Mudrick and Michelle Kaschak will share inclusive practices and tools that they have successfully used to create genuine connections with their students from the first day of class and throughout the semester.
Can We Share a Secret? Spotlighting Some Little-Known Tools Available at Penn State
Can We Share a Secret? Spotlighting Some Little-Known Tools Available at Penn State
Join us to hear how we created WestLaw video tutorials using Kaltura Capture to record user-friendly guides, and Canva to design a research poster on peer support for Math word problems. Both Westlaw and Canva are little-known resources at Penn State that help student and faculty research.
New in Canvas: Anthology Ally – Alternative Formats and Accessibility Tools
New in Canvas: Anthology Ally – Alternative Formats and Accessibility Tools
Anthology Ally is now enabled in Canvas. Based on our experience in the Spring 2023 pilot, we will discuss the alternative format options available to all students, the accessibility guidance features for faculty, lessons learned, and tips for how to get started using the tool.
Promises and Dangers of the Unknown: Generative AI and the Classroom
Promises and Dangers of the Unknown: Generative AI and the Classroom
In the spring of 2023, a group of Penn State faculty and researchers conducted a study on Penn State faculty and student perceptions of AI and generative technologies. In this session, the research team will discuss the summary of their findings. Using those results, they make several recommendations for instructors.
Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Jen Wagner at jlw83@psu.edu at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.