Teaching Roundtables
Some fully remote, some in person, Teaching Roundtables typically begin with two 亚色影库 faculty briefly sharing their thoughts about a particular teaching question, followed by open discussion with the group. Faculty and graduate student instructors are welcome to attend.
Accommodation Requests
The Center for Teaching Excellence is committed to providing equal access to its events and programs. Individuals with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations or who have questions about physical access may contact聽centerforteaching@bc.edu.
Past Programs
Navigating Self-Disclosure in the Classroom
Wednesday, March 16, 2:00-3:00 (via Zoom)
Prior to COVID-19, many instructors brought intentionality and deep thought to self-disclosure in their classrooms, as whole bodies of literature from queer and disabled scholars on 鈥渃oming out鈥 in the classroom attest.聽Even instructors who didn鈥檛 think as deeply about self-disclosure still exercised some control over their teaching personae by curating what personal information they shared. But a year and a half of remote and hybrid teaching disrupted that norm for many, as everything from family configuration to health status was often disclosed by necessity or happenstance. As we reacquaint ourselves with the physical classroom, we have an opportunity to reconsider our approach to self-disclosure, its potential benefits and costs, in our current context. Join your colleagues to hear about how they think about self-disclosure in their teaching before sharing your own questions and experiences. The session will begin with brief reflections from Tara Casebolt (MCA&S Honors Program) and Stacy Grooters (CTE) and then shift to open discussion.
Exploring Trauma Informed Approaches to Contemplative Pedagogy
Thursday, September 23, 2:00-3:00 (via Zoom)
As our nation grapples with the suffering caused by COVID-19, political unrest, and racial and gender-based violence, some instructors have been turning聽more to contemplative and trauma-informed pedagogies to help them newly imagine what it means to construct supportive and empowering learning environments for their students and themselves. Join your colleagues to hear about their experiences experimenting with contemplative and trauma-informed pedagogies in the classroom and to share your own questions and ideas. The session will begin with brief reflections from Oh Myo Kim (CDEP) and Paula Mathieu (English) about their own teaching practice and then shift to an open discussion.
Assessing Learning In and Across Our Disciplines
Thursday, December 9, 2:00-3:00 (via Zoom)
Although assessment practices can vary greatly across disciplines, instructors share common challenges in their attempts to meaningfully evaluate student learning. How do we design assignments to give students their best chance at demonstrating their knowledge and skills? How can we maximize the usefulness of our feedback to students while managing our own workloads? This session will bring together perspectives from STEM and the Humanities on assessment, beginning with brief reflections from Juliana Belding (Math) and Dana Sajdi (History), about their own teaching practice. Then we鈥檒l gather in two groups, one centered on STEM and one on Humanities, for a chance to share experiences, questions and ideas before coming back together as a full group.
Teaching Lab Sciences in a Pandemic
Thursday, January 21, 10:00 - 11:00
Socially distanced and remote teaching has been demanding for all instructors this Fall, and Lab Science courses have faced distinct challenges. The Report from the Lab Courses Working Group last June aimed to address common concerns and guide practices this Fall, around four central areas:
- Following COVID-19 protocols in the lab setting (distancing, face covering, etc.)
- Modality of the lab course given the 50% capacity limitation
- Supplemental activities used to ensure content of the course is comprehensive
- Online-only version of the lab course for remote students
Join your colleagues to share reflections on how things went, questions you鈥檙e still considering, and what you鈥檙e anticipating for the Spring.
Navigating Expectations for Neutrality in the Classroom
Wednesday, February 10, 4:00 - 5:00
Instructors often find themselves holding their own scholarly and pedagogical commitments in tension with student expectations of instructor 鈥渘eutrality.鈥 Especially in courses that examine politically-relevant topics, students can be quick to call out what they perceive as partisanship. And as this nation lives through an inflection point of political violence, extremism, and disinformation, this classroom dynamic is raising urgent questions for many instructors. Join your colleagues for a wide-ranging conversation about how you are experiencing and responding to expectations for neutrality in the classroom.聽The session will begin with brief reflections from聽Margaret Lombe聽(SSW) and Sylvia Sellers-Garcia (History, MCA&S)聽about their own teaching practice and then shift to an open discussion.
Teaching Foreign Languages at a Distance
Tuesday, February 23, 4:00 - 5:00
Whether teaching socially distanced in-person or remotely, foreign language instructors have had to be particularly creative in adapting their courses for the current moment. Approaches such as managing pair and small group work, encouraging participation in the target language, and providing feedback to language learners have all required new strategies. This session is a chance for anyone teaching a foreign language to share lessons learned and success stories from this past fall as well as raise lingering questions for spring. The session will begin with brief reflections from Danny Bowles (Eastern, Slavic & German Studies,聽MCA&S) and Andr茅a Javel (Romance Languages & Literatures,聽MCA&S) about their own teaching practice and then shift to an open discussion.