The Teaching Innovation Center kicked off their SPARC* Series with a workshop titled, " Reimagining collaboration: With Professors Jon Harrison, Pierre Deviche, and Kevin McGraw" on Wednesday, September 1, 2021. The SPARC* series stands for, " SOLS Plan to Adapt and Reimagine Courses, " and is geared toward discussing the benefits, challenges, and examples of adapting and reimagining aspects of courses, both online and in-person. As classes have transitioned back to the physical classroom from distance learning in the wake of the pandemic, faculty have had to reimagine how to approach instruction. In the same sense, online courses that have continued to function online are taking a look at what works, especially in terms of engagement and collaboration. There is an opportunity to explore what has been most effective in online learning and how we can reimagine it for the physical classroom and the online sphere. The topic of this workshop was collaboration. Collabo...

Do you feel disconnected in online spaces? Do you feel like it is difficult to connect with your students online and create community? This week we learned from Courtney Plotts, Ph.D. who shared small changes you can make to your online course that can make a big difference for you and your students.  The presentation featured discussion around the standards from the Council for At -Risk Student Education and Professional Standards (CASEPS) . Dr. Plotts shared  three strategies to increase a sense of community in the online space: Identify what your students are missing most and support them Define and share the online community culture and values Create a common experience Missing Community We began by defining the online space, and understanding the community, especially how both faculty and students can feel isolated. One example of how you can connect, is by asking your students what they miss most or if they are feeling disconnected in the online space. This can be made ...

Group work whether online or in-person almost always begets one or more emails that read “I’d really rather not do group work. Can I complete this project alone?”. Students, limited on time and juggling a number of courses and responsibilities rarely get a thrill at the thought of a “group project”. Despite our best efforts as instructors it can be difficult to inspire in students the notion that life and work in general are often group projects, and one can rarely go at it alone. We want our students to experience collaborative and active learning, and group work is often one way of doing this on a smaller, more intimate scale ( Hesterman, 2016 ). How can we relieve the pressure and the fear that one group member feels will become their solo burden under the name “group project”? Group contracts and reflections may be a good place to start. What is a Group Contract? In several of our courses we begin group projects with a Group Contract, a collaborative document signed by all group m...