Well, how about a wrap of our academic year? Ok, I’ll go first.
This year we had some new members join us! We had Kim and Deb early in the year and we also had Salwa join us! We added Myra just a couple months ago. And as of this mailing, the wonderful Sunita Iyer is also now on the list. Can you think of someone who might join our efforts next year? Please let them know about our work and all our pesky rules.
In September, we started our “epiphanies” with the good people from the University of Windsor. It took a while to get it together and unlike some of our other sessions, there were several of them and we all shared ideas. In the end, we were able to see colleagues from Canada and hear a bit from Dave Cormier about his new book, Learning in a Time of Abundance. I have it here in the office if you wish to borrow it.
In October, we were graced with the wonderful Lisa Lane. She was just weeks away from completing a 30 odd year career as an educator. She has been such a trailblazer where professional development is concerned. Lisa shared a few thoughts with us looking back on her work with students and faculty.
In November, our very own Chelsea Nesvig shared some thoughts with us about the student perception of “open” and the challenges we face with privacy issues. She used a presentation she had given at the OpenEd conference as a starting point. Here is that presentation.
In December, our very own Yusuf Pisan joined us as a guest and shared some observations about developing a growth mindset, care, and the student experience.
In January, we had Sarita share her use of the Liquid Syllabus. I think. Somewhere in there I know that Sarita and I were planning for the “Syllabus Makeover” event that happened on March 4th. Not sure about February…
In March, we spent some time with Verena Roberts, another amazing Canadian guest. I recall that it was Open Education Week and I, had not pushed that out to our colleagues. Next year I hope that along with Myra, we can create some good opportunities for our colleagues here in Bothell.
In April, we met with Christina Hendricks. She shared her journey in creating a series of open textbooks in her discipline of philosophy.
In May, using our connections with the University of Windsor, we held a shared event with them. It was titled, Sharing our Stories – Vignettes on Teaching. Sarita, Becca, and Todd shared some ideas around the world of teaching and learning. The idea is sound, and sort of leads us to the University of Glasgow collaboration we will do in the fall.
Also in May, we took some notes around doing some collaborative writing with faculty and staff at the University of Glasgow. We just had another meeting with four faculty from Glasgow and they are ready to go! How exciting! It is taking shape and will happen during the month of November. More on this work later.
And here we are, on the last day in May. This summer we will continue to meet at 9 am on the second Friday of each month. Same zoom link.
An offer for summer! If you are feeling a bit arty and need an outlet, we are going to try to create about 20 postcards that in some way share a portion of pedagogy. Of course, the thing will be called, “Postcard Pedagogy.” What I see is about 20 faculty created postcards, literally the kind you could mail, that express some advice or thought about teaching.
One thing I hope to see is that they convey an invitation to connect with the creator of the card. An invitation to get to know their new colleagues.
Below are a few examples. If you want to play along, postcards are 4×6 inches. If you have an idea, and need some help making the dream come true, I can help. Any time.
Anything you want to do this summer? Next year? Let’s keep rolling along and make some amazing things happen!
