I'm working today, but tomorrow I plan to stay in bed all day drinking bubbles. Yes, I'm serious. I'm taking President Ward's directive to find a bit of joy in my daily life very, very seriously and for me that means linen comforters, a bottle of Gamay, and possibly some cheese and bread, dogs close by. There might also be a bit of grading, yes.

Today's CELT Notes is a long one -- time sensitive stuff is at the top --- spring semester planning stuff towards the bottom.

Today - Friday - Hypothesis Webinar at 2:45

There is still time to register for the Hypothesis Webinar this afternoon at 2:45.

Register here. We are piloting with Hypothesis, a social annotation tool installed in Katie. Adding Hypothesis to readings in Katie supports student success by placing active discussion right on top of course readings, enabling students and professors to add comments and start conversations in the margin of text. Join us to check it out. Resources will be posted on the CELT page soon.

Classroom Needs - Spring Semester

If you haven't yet -- wander over to your spring semester classrooms and take a look at the space to make sure it supports your teaching needs. Please email Kate if you have any questions.

Disrupt the Disruption -- take control of the pace of your spring semester

Returning to the pace of a semester will be a welcome relief to most of us. Doing so without the mid-semester break, however, might be causing you a bit of consternation. Consider small shifts in your course schedule to build in breathing room for both you and your students. These certainly won't replace a week-long break, but will make the 14-week push more manageable. Here are some suggested by CELT and our friends at Furman University.

• Sprinkle in active asynchronous course activities that provide opportunities for students to reflect and share ideas or hone their thinking. These active learning activities can be used to replace a synchronous course meeting day. 
• Embrace writing or research days. Rather than meeting in person, designate days where students are expected to be working on cumulative projects. You could meet in person -- or have open office hours for questions on Zoom. One idea I love is to have Zoom Write-in sessions. This is where you all are on the same call, students might be in individual breakout rooms, actively writing or researching. You stay in the main room (working on your own writing project, maybe?) Students can then call for help if they need immediate feedback or want to chat about the assignment.
• Use synchronous meeting time for group projects. I love this idea and have used it to great success in non-pandemic semesters. If you have projects planned for spring that require students to work in groups for success, consider turning a couple of your synchronous meetings over to group work. This is particularly helpful for students who have difficulty finding time outside of class to work on projects. You might leave it up to them how they would like to meet. Some students really prefer to limit their contact with others, and will appreciate being allowed to meet on Zoom. If you are worried about missing important content -- record some asynchronous material for them to watch as homework and you can pick the content back up in the next class meeting. 
• Schedule a couple of weekends off. Why have I never thought about this? Pick a weekend or two where you neither assign homework nor do any prep work or grading. Yes, that might mean that your week leading up to the break work is intense, but two-days "off" can go a long way in helping us survive another disrupted semester. Your students will appreciate the lightened workload too. 
• Build campus events into the rhythm of the class, especially if they will be taped! In lieu of a class meeting, assign a lecture, performance, or other campus event. Give your students a prompt or two ahead of time, have them complete some reflective writing, and then talk about it in your next meeting. One important caveat - think of access -- if the talk will not be taped, have an alternative assignment ready for those who cannot attend the event that is scheduled outside of your regularly scheduled class. 
• Individual Field Trips Group field trips may be difficult to accomplish this semester, but getting students out of their dorm rooms and outside is a fantastic way to connect classroom learning to the world outside of campus and our Decorah community. There are a lot of great ideas out there. (And send any ideas my way, I'll share them with the faculty next week!) In my classes, sending them down to the Vesterheim and asking them to simply pay attention to how objects are displayed always results in a fantastic discussion in our next meeting. 
• Small group consultation. Substitute a full class synchronous session with short, small-group consultations around a major project, paper, or in preparation for an exam. 
• Make our breaks actual breaks. Consider adjusting assignment deadlines so that they do not fall directly before or after the short Easter break. This will ensure that students are able to take advantage of the breathing room of the break AND you won't be grading (as much) during your break. 

50/50 might mean empty classrooms

Many faculty are choosing to meet online for one of their weekly scheduled course meetings this spring semester in order to facilitate small group discussion or workshops. If you know you will NOT be using your scheduled classroom on a regular basis, please email Kristen Underwood in Campus Programming. Campus spaces are at a premium. They will appreciate the notice.

The Inclusive Syllabus 

Kevin Gannon from Grand View University led a workshop here at Luther in summer 2019 on Inclusive Pedagogy. One of the most helpful tools he shared was his checklist for a more inclusive syllabus. It is linked here and will be available on the CELT website. I walk you through the checklist in this Voice Thread. I think one of the most helpful activities we did was exchange our in-process syllabi with a colleague and worked through the checklist, thinking about how the syllabus sounds to a student brand new to our classrooms. I learned a lot about the unintended punitive tone of my own syllabus, which I've amended. Consider grabbing a partner or colleague from outside your department and working through the activity together. I am always happy to work with you too.

Enough for now! We'll send out another CELT Notes early next week, but for now, here's to full fridges, soft couches, and the days getting longer.

Of course, students may bring these things up in their course evaluations, but consider asking them directly if you have any specific questions.

We are always happy to do a course post-mortem with you.

Email Kate to set up a consultation. 

More soon! We are almost there!

Kate

23. January 2021

In the spirit of meeting needs, we have created a faculty interest survey, which is available here. Please take a few moments to help us assess what (if anything!) will be MOST helpful to you next semester.

The last question of the survey asks this: Finally, this has been a year of great disruption. So many of us have completely had to change the way we've always taught, what we've always assumed, and what we've always expected out of our students. What lessons have you learned these past semesters that will stay with you? On a more practical level, what strategies have you tried out of necessity that you will continue to do if and when we return to normal?

Tools to help students evaluate media sources

Other tools can help you get your students to evaluate the reliability of their information. 

• The Media-bias chart from Ad Fontes Media has made the rounds, but it remains relevant today. 
• Jennifer Gonzales from the Cult of Pedagogy introduced her Tech Tools to Try in 2021 last week. There are a lot of free tools on that list that you might want to look into, but I'll highlight AllSides.com. This site takes current topics like COVID-19 response and gives you "a curated list of news and opinion pieces from publications that are clearly labeled as leaning left, leaning right, and centrist." When students click on those articles, AllSides takes them to the site where they were originally published, which I'm especially excited about! The podcast is available here. 

But Don't Forget your Campus Experts!

As always -- reach out to your librarians -- digital literacy is literally what they are trained to do and they would LOVE to brainstorm ideas about how to infuse your spring classes with assignments and activities to help your students hone their literacy skills. Can't remember who your departmental librarian is?

Here is the staff list. 

'Me and White Supremacy' working groups for faculty and staff

We have almost 20 faculty and staff signed up. Please join us!

CELT is sponsoring a second round of working groups for all faculty and staff who are willing to put in hard, self-reflective work to examine their own biases and their own complicity with white suprematism. Groups will begin Feb. 8 and end March 8. Meeting times will vary. Sign up online by Jan. 25.  If you are willing to serve as a moderator/organizer for a group, please email Kate Elliott <ellika03>.  

Event Notice: Dr. Bettina Love on January 18

I'm really looking forward to hearing more from Dr. Love. Her book,

We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom, is on my reading list. I hope you can carve out some time to hear her speak on Monday.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Lecture: Dr. Bettina Love Jan. 18

Dr. Bettina L. Love, an author, activist and public speaker will give Luther College's 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Lecture at 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 18. Love's lecture, "Living a Hip Hop and Abolitionist Life: Resistance, Creativity, Hip Hop Civics Ed, Intersectionality and Black Joy," will educate viewers about racial violence, oppression, intersectional justice and how to make sustainable community change. The viewing link for this lecture, which is free and open to the public, can be found on luther.edu/events.

That's it! I hope you get a chance to tramp around outside today. Sometimes winter puts on an incredible show for us here in Northeast Iowa. I'm going to try to remember days like today in the grey muddy days of early March.