This Week for Faculty: Spring into Spring 2021: January Workshops

by | Dec 21, 2020

Hybrid & Online Teaching Institute

Preparing to teach a hybrid or online course for Spring 2021? If you haven’t already, be sure to enroll in the Hybrid & Online Teaching Institute to access a toolkit to help you plan your seminar, small lecture, or large lecture class.

Once you’ve completed the asynchronous modules in CourseWorks (approximately 4 hours), join the CTL and other faculty participants for a 90-minute synchronous online session via Zoom. Register through the links below. 

Dates and TimesMonday, January 4, 1:00 PM–2:30 PM or Thursday, January 7, 9:30–11:00 AM

Teaching Online with CourseWorks

Join us in exploring how to create community, support student engagement, and assess student learning in the online context using CourseWorks. This workshop will give you an overview of the CourseWorks interface and highlight a toolset that will allow you to set up a course with clear expectations for students, create opportunities for a variety of assignment engagements, and nurture an environment that encourages a culture of inclusive communication. Register through the links below. 

Dates and TimesTuesday, January 5, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM or Friday, January 8, 1:00 PM–2:30 PM

Ways to Be More Inclusive in Your Online Course

How do I create an online community in which all students feel a sense of belonging? What can I do to partner with my students on co-creating the learning environment? In this session, we will address these questions by reflecting on our teaching practices and considering five principles of inclusive teaching as they apply online. Participate in conversations with peers, share ideas, and leave with strategies to implement in your course. Register through the link below. 

Date and TimeTuesday, January 5, 3:00 PM–4:00 PM 

Planning Live Online Class Sessions

How do I avoid Zoom fatigue? Will lecturing help my students learn? What can I do to plan effective live online class sessions? In this session, we will address these questions by drawing on findings from the science of learning and consider ways of breaking up a live (synchronous) online class session to promote student engagement and learning. Register through the link below. 

Date and TimeWednesday, January 6, 10:00 AM–11:00 AM 

Teaching Large Online Courses

How do I engage and build rapport with students in my large online course? How can I promote academic integrity? How can I use my TAs effectively? In this session, we will explore these challenges and discuss evidence-based strategies to make large online courses more manageable and rewarding for faculty and students alike. Register through the link below. 

Date and TimeWednesday, January 6, 2:00 PM–3:00 PM 

Engaging Students in Online Discussions

How do I get students talking online? How can I keep the conversation going between class sessions? In this workshop, we will address these questions by exploring a three-step process as well as strategies to ensure that students engage in and learn from synchronous and asynchronous discussions, and leave class with clear takeaways. With intentional planning and facilitation, faculty can maximize student learning from online classroom conversations. Register through the link below. 

Date and TimeFriday, January 8, 11:00 AM–12:00 PM 

What is it like to teach and learn at Columbia in 2020? Listen to stories from Columbia voices below, and share your own voice.

Pallavi Utukuri, Assistant Professor of Radiology at CUIMC, shares how she redesigned the Diagnostic Radiology Elective course into a hybrid model. Professor Utukuri worked with the CTL to convert lectures into multiple short, image-rich, narrated videos, with clearly defined learning objectives.

“The major takeaway from this experience has been the overwhelming utility of online platforms for directed self-learning and engagement.” – Pallvi Utukuri

Janis Cutler, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at CUIMC, and Catherine Parker, student at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, share how the course Introduction to Psychiatry was transitioned to an online format in Spring 2020, and how more senior medical students were invited to participate in the education of their junior colleagues.