Biggio Center faculty fellows to hold teaching and learning workshops

Throughout the spring 2023 semester, the Faculty Fellows of the Biggio Center will host a series of teaching and learning workshops centered around a various themes. More information can be found below, on the center's website, or by contacting the Biggio Center.

Building Diversity, Equity and Inclusion into your Teaching: Hands-on workshop to help elevate your pedagogy 

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Monday, Jan. 23, 2–3 p.m., ACLC 259A/Zoom

Facilitator: Tal Peretz, Associate Professor of Sociology and Women’s & Gender Studies.

Increasingly, faculty and graduate students both desire and are being asked to include greater awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, in all aspects of our professional lives, including teaching. Many of us are working towards this goal with little guidance, support, or experience. This workshop will provide a structure and support for these efforts, focusing on making immediate, actionable changes to improve both DEI content and pedagogy in your classes.

 Problem/Project-Based Learning (PBL): Are We Doing It Right?

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Monday, Feb. 20, 2– 3 p.m., ACLC 259A

Facilitator: Min Zhong, senior lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Join us in a hands-on experience of Problem/Project-Based Learning where we will be working through a PBL approach to identify the value and relevance of PBL in current teaching and learning practices. The attendees will have the opportunity to develop and design a PBL session for their own students while embedding the principles of effective PBL design. In the last part of the workshop, the attendees will be learning how to advance their PBL teaching practices to scholarly output.

Games and Pedagogy (or, How I Learned to Play in the Classroom)

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Tuesday, March 14, 2–3 p.m., ACLC 259A

Facilitator: Ana Grinberg, lecturer in the English Department.

Scholars have mentioned that “we are born primed to play” (Portnoy 14) and actually “good games can be effective learning tools” but their effectiveness is not related to fun but to acquisition of specific skills (Whitton and Langan 1001). Join us in this workshop to establish a common vocabulary for game-based learning, briefly consider some of the extant scholarship (articles and book chapters) on this topic, and share ideas to enhance long-term knowledge retention (from simple classroom activities to collaborative projects). Faculty of all ranks, post-docs and graduate students are welcome.

Tools to Facilitate Student Engagement and Collaboration 

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Tuesday April 11th 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., ACLC 259A

Facilitator: Kimberly Garza, associate professor and graduate program officer in the Harrison College of Pharmacy’s Department of Health Outcomes Research and Policy.

Join us for a fun and interactive workshop where you will experience tools for engagement from a learner’s perspective as well as hear first-hand experiences from a faculty user. Various tools will be demonstrated that can be used for administrative duties like taking attendance all the way to higher level learning such as peer collaboration and idea generation. Polling software including free and paid options will be showcased, touching on topics such as capturing student attention, assessing readiness for learning, and allowing students to self-assess their grasp of content. We will also introduce ways to collaborate and share ideas through technologies such as Jamboard and Slido.