Schedule of Events

"Telling Our Stories: Building Students' Writing and Leadership Skills through Publication"
- presented by Pamela Cangelosi (NURS)

"They Use It (and So Do You): Helping Students Critique Wikipedia and Other Online Sources"
- presented by Ryan Swanson (HIST)

The Global Impact and Future of E-Learning
Dr. Badrul Khan, President and Founder, McWeadon Education

E-learning, increasingly enhanced by the availability of newer emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs), is growing globally. The prevalence of e-learning practices has been far more visible in the developed nations, however, developing nations are not lagging behind. Almost all nations are increasing incorporating ICTs in their national agenda for efficiency in information and knowledge sharing in education, governance, commerce, health, agriculture, and other sectors. Bangladesh has started a new initiative called "Digital Bangladesh" to connect people to emerging technologies that enrich their lives with education for greater economic development. Similar national initiatives are either in place or under way elsewhere. Newer educational policies are being formulated in various communities worldwide to enable educational institutions to come to terms with new learning technologies. One of the emerging issues at institutions of higher learning in Africa is e-learning and the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to deliver educational resources. In this presentation, A Global Framework for E-Learning will be introduced to discuss the utilization of e-learning methods and their implications for higher education from the perspectives of institutional, pedagogical, technological, ethical, interface design, evaluation, management, and resource support issues.

Dr. Badrul H. Khan is a world-renowned speaker, author, educator and consultant in the field of ICT and e-learning. Professor Khan has the credit of first coining the phrase Web-based instruction and popularizing the concept through his 1997 best-selling "Web-Based Instruction" book. His "Managing E-Learning" book translated into 14 languages. He is the founder of McWeadon Education (a professional development institution). Dr. Khan has served as a consultant to learning development and human resource development projects at the World Bank, the US federal government, the Asian Development Bank, and various academic institutions and corporations in the US and throughout the world.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation]

Developing Writing Assignments Across the Curriculum
Terry Zawacki (Writing Across the Curriculum)

This interactive session begins with an overview and rationale for teaching with writing across disciplines. Faculty will discuss how to ask relevant questions about the purpose and learning goals of their assignments, and how the assignment relates to what comes before and after in the course. The session provides advice on writing clear assignment prompts and straightforward evaluation criteria, and demonstrates strategies faculty can use to work on developing and/or revising their own course materials.

Terry Myers Zawacki is an associate professor of English and Director of the Writing Across the Curriculum program; she has also directed the Writing Center. Her research investigates how university faculty assign and evaluate writing, how non-native English speakers adapt to US academic discourse, and how students learn to write within their majors.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout 1] [PDF Handout 2] [PDF Handout 3]

Physics and Astronomy Experiences Using Personal Response Systems
Bob Ehrlich & Harold Geller (Physics/Astronomy)

We report on the use of personal response systems (such as I-Clicker) as a real-time assessment tool utilized during a course lecture period. The presenters utilized two different personal response systems in their conduct of classes at the 100- and 200-level. Ehrlich reports on the utilization of an infrared system in his physics course. Geller reports on the utilization of a radio frequency system in his introductory astronomy course. The latter system will be utilized during the workshop as part of the audience's participation in demonstrating the utility of personal response systems in a classroom setting.

Dr. Robert Ehrlich is currently the Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He promotes renewable energy education utilizing rev-up.org and workshops for teachers. He has conducted basic physics research, physics education research, and research in communicating science to the broader public.

Dr. Harold Geller designed, developed, and currently oversees the GMU Observatory. In 2008, he received the GMU Alumni Association's Faculty Member of the Year Award and published a book on the teaching of astrobiology. In 2009, he won two bronze Telly awards for his part in an educational video podcast.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation 1] [PDF Presentation 2]

Moving Dichotomous Positions Forward in the Classroom
Renay Scales (Multicultural Research and Resource Center) & Rebecca Walter (Multicultural Research and Resource Center/Communication)

Participants in this interactive workshop will learn how to reframe heated, polarized, and emotional/political positions by listening to all voices and taking the heartfelt concerns of each side into account. The presenters will also discuss strategies for locating the underlying issues in any conflict situation and resolving conflicts without further polarizing groups of students.

Renay Scales is the Director of the Multicultural Research and Resource Center. She has served for almost 30 years as a Chief HR and Diversity Officer in the corporate and higher education environments. Her research interests are organizational ethics and diversity.

Rebecca Walter is Associate Director of the Multicultural Research and Resource Center. Her research interests are whiteness/white studies, critical race theory, contesting/negotiating classroom space, feminisms, and the intersectionality/ multidimensionality of class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and nationalism in the United States.

This workshop includes advice on giving feedback appropriate to stages of the writing process, dealing with the errors that bog down reading, developing evaluation criteria based on learning goals, and constructing rubrics to allow for more effective and efficient grading. Advice and strategies are framed by an explanation of the rhetorical demands students face when they write in new and/or unfamiliar contexts.

Terry Myers Zawacki is an associate professor of English and Director of the Writing Across the Curriculum program; she has also directed the Writing Center. Her research investigates how university faculty assign and evaluate writing, how non-native English speakers adapt to US academic discourse, and how students learn to write within their majors.

Shelley Reid directs the undergraduate Composition program and teaches classes in writing and editing. Her research focuses on curriculum design and teacher preparation.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout 1] [PDF Handout 2] [PDF Handout 3]

New Technologies for Collaborative Learning
Dann Sklarew (Environmental Science and Policy) & Melissa Martin (Marketing)

Collaborative learning may be either facilitated or impeded by the environment, tools, and methods provided to students. We present the results of our experimentation with new technologies for collaborative learning within and beyond the classroom. This includes sharing our experiences in the university's new collaborative classrooms and with distance learning tools. Across fields of Marketing and of Environmental Science and Policy, we identify what worked and what didn't, then provide some guidance and lessons learned. Our session closes with peer-to-peer discussion and Q&A regarding potential best practices.

Associate Professor Dann Sklarew has been bringing unconventional instructional methods to benefit Ecology and Environmental Science and Policy students since his return to Mason in fall 2008. Before that, he worked for the UN for eight years. Now he's also promoting sustainability across the university and local K-12 watershed education.

Melissa Martin, Assistant Professor of Management and a 2005 University Teaching Award winner, entered academia following a twenty-year career in information technology. For the past eight years, she has applied her experience in software development, project management, and marketing in the classroom and in her consulting, focusing on effective use of technology in marketing.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation]

Lunch and Provost Welcome

Free for registered participants. Join mentor-teachers from across the disciplines for informal conversations about teaching. Provost Stearns will be delivering a welcoming message.

Evidence-based Practices in Online Learning
Dr. Marianne Bakia (SRI International)

After reviewing over 1000 empirical studies and closely analyzing more than 50 of them, the Department of Education recently released a report that demonstrates that online instruction has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning. Students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took "blended" courses — those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction — appeared to do best of all. Dr. Bakia will describe her role in conducting this research and the implications of it for university faculty.

Marianne Bakia is a Senior Education Researcher at the SRI International research institute. She has been active in the educational technology research and development community for 10 years as a program evaluator, policy analyst, and project director. She has led several evaluations of education technology projects in the United States and abroad, in both K12 and higher education settings. As an education specialist with the World Bank, she assisted client countries with the development of national educational technology projects, including field work in Turkey, Nigeria, and Mexico. She is currently a lead researcher on a major national study (480 teachers and up to 10,000 students) that evaluates the conditions and practices under which teachers are able to integrate technology more effectively into their classrooms.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation]

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the Arts: Collaboration Among Faculty and Students
Victoria Salmon (College of Visual and Performing Arts); Constance Dinapoli, Adriane Fang , & Karen Reedy (Dance)

Faculty from CVPA discuss how to blend undergraduate creative activity with inquiry procedures that evoke deep learning, synthesis of theory and practice, and student engagement. As collaborators in the artistic endeavor, instructors learn from their students also. In the arts, creative activity is faculty research and students are their academic partners. The panelists describe how they worked with students to balance creative and critical engagement to foster intensive learning in their classrooms.

Victoria Salmon (moderator) is Assistant Dean of CVPA.

Constance Dinapoli is an Assistant Professor of Dance. She has performed with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and stages dances for the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation. She has also taught at Barnard College in New York City, College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, and the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York.

Adriane Fang holds an MFA from George Mason University where she was on faculty in the Dance Department from 2006-2009. Prior to this, she was a member from 1996-2006 of Doug Varone and Dancers, an internationally acclaimed modern dance collective.

Karen Reedy, Assistant Professor of Dance, is a dance educator, performer, and choreographer. Following a professional career in New York, Ms. Reedy returned to northern Virginia with her contemporary dance company, Karen Reedy Dance.

Teaching for Social Justice
Lynne Constantine (Art and Visual Technology) & Suzanne Scott (Women and Gender Studies/New Century College)

This interactive presentation will address critical issues for faculty who want to integrate concepts of social justice and civic engagement into their curricula. Topics will include ways to:

• Work with controversial material (sexuality, racial or ethnic discrimination, religious differences)
• Encourage students to open themselves to new ways of thinking about complex issues
• Create a framework for critical thinking that differentiates argument from opinion, from bias, and from faith, so that students can understand the differing evidentiary requirements of each and the differing role each plays in civil discourse
• Create assignments that encourage active learning

Lynne M. Constantine and Suzanne Scott have co-taught "Art as Social Action" since 2003. Offered through the School of Art, Women and Gender Studies, and New Century College, the course explores the history and theory of socially engaged art practice and teaches students how to foster social change through cultural interventions. Lynne is Assistant Professor in the School of Art. Suzanne is Associate Professor in New Century College and Director of Women and Gender Studies.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation] [PDF Handout 1] [PDF Handout 2]

Telling Our Stories: Building Students' Writing and Leadership Skills through Publication
Pamela Cangelosi (Nursing)

Faculty can use a student-publication project to enhance learning, build program community, and develop critical leadership skills.

Learn principles for program-wide assessment of graduating-student competencies and determine if a comprehensive exam is appropriate for your own program.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Poster]

Faculty, especially in STEM classes, can identify core concepts and design short in-class problem-solving sessions to support just-in-time student learning.

Pedagogies that take advantage of new student feedback technologies can increase participation and critical analysis even in large classes.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

Faculty can use Mason Libraries' new online tools — guides, videos, and one-on-one contact — to provide or supplement research instruction in their classes.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

Find out how Zotero can help you and your students gather, organize, analyze and share research sources: citations, full texts, web pages, images, and other objects.

Even technologically-challenged faculty and students can use tools like Jing and WetPaint to share their work with one another.

Faculty can encourage students' research and creative projects through mentored projects.

Download Presentation Materials: [UAP Website]

Gain insight into how the systematic inquiry into your own practices can impact your thinking and development as a classroom teacher.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation]

Two Approaches to Distance Learning at Mason
Paige Wolf (Management) & Sharon Caraballo (Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering)

The presenters will discuss two distance learning courses at Mason. Different techniques and approaches to asynchronous learning will be discussed. MGMT 301 is a required course for all School of Management majors and typically enrolls over 500 students per semester. It has been taught in both fully asynchronous and hybrid approaches. IT 308 is a small upper-level elective for the IT major, which has been taught in a fully asynchronous mode since spring 2008. The presentation will include discussion of course development and tools used, delivery, and approaches to assessment.

Paige Wolf is a Term Associate Professor of Management. During her seven-year tenure, she has taught Management courses including Human Resource Management, Teamwork and Leadership, and Organizational Behavior. She has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and has experience managing a hybrid MBA program for a corporate client.

Sharon Caraballo is Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs in the Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering and Associate Professor in Applied Information Technology. She serves as chair of the Volgenau School's distance education committee. Dr. Caraballo developed and teaches the first asynchronous online course in the Volgenau School.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation]

"Celebrating Diversity" is Not Enough: Creating Equitable Classroom Spaces for All Students
Paul Gorski (New Century College)
**CANCELLED**

How can we ensure that all of our students find our classrooms to be safe and engaging places for learning? This presentation focuses on curricular and pedagogical approaches that help us work with a range of students across race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and so on. The session will also address ways in which some common "diversity education" strategies can actually contribute to inequity (such as "service learning" activities that don't consider sociopolitical context).

Paul C. Gorski is an assistant professor in New Century College. His scholarship focuses on equity pedagogy and social justice education. Gorski has consulted with educational organizations around the world on building equitable pedagogy across disciplines. He serves on board of directors of the International Association for Intercultural Education.

Teaching through the Lens of Students
Al Fuertes (New Century College)

This presentation will discuss pedagogical approaches that draw on what students bring to the learning community as active participants of their own learning. This pedagogy draws inspiration from Paolo Freire, who critiques the dominant banking model of education by emphasizing that "men and women develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world." The presentation will include examples from on- and off-campus learning environments to demonstrate how Freire's pedagogy can be liberating and empowering for all participants, including the teacher-facilitator.

Al Fuertes, Term Assistant Professor in New Century College, is a recipient of the 2008 GMU Teaching Excellence Award and the 2001 AT&T Asia-Pacific Leadership Award. He specializes in community-based trauma healing as an integral component in peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He travels in different parts of the world doing international consulting, particularly in places affected by war, armed conflict, and natural disaster.

Looking for new ways to deliver course content to your students? This presentation shows faculty how to use George Mason's iTunes University site to host audio and video content for their courses and the multimedia projects their students create. Participants will learn how to create a course on iTunes University; how to upload, organize, and tag content; and how to set up RSS feeds. Resources describing the various digital formats iTunes accepts will be provided, as well as information about converting files types. Also included are tips on creating a podcast, the most common digital format found on iTunes University, as well as the suggestions for creating audio and video recordings of course lectures.

Jessica Matthews is the assistant director of the Composition program. She teaches face-to-face and online writing courses, and has been using podcast assignments in her classes for several years.

Shawn Miller is an instructional designer and training coordinator at Mason; he leads a range of workshops focusing on new technologies. He is especially interested in video post production and new media.

Rick Reo is an instructional designer with a background in anthropology.  His current research interests coalesce around the pedagogy of social software tools, online learning, and open educational content, and he teaches various information technology courses.

Download Presentation Materials: [Download Podcast from iTunes]

Teaching Digital Natives: Tips, Traps, and Strategies
Star Muir (Communication) & Janette Kenner Muir (New Century College)

Our classes are now largely filled with digital “natives,” who have grown up with the internet and experienced a vastly different technological and social environment. This session briefly identifies characteristics of digital natives and discusses different teaching strategies that might be useful for digital “immigrants” who are doing the teaching. Sample assignments and assessments are provided, along with suggested technology etiquette norms, and discussion will include opportunities to share challenges and strategies.

Star A. Muir is an associate professor of Communication. His research focuses on instructional technology, including the use of PowerPoint and social networking. His work on distance delivery of video modules won several Communicator and Telly awards for educational programming. He teaches critical analysis of public communication and technology in higher education.

Janette Kenner Muir is an associate professor in New Century College and has been at Mason for over 20 years. Her main areas of teaching are in civic engagement, political communication and family relationships She teaches learning communities and often engages her students in experiential learning.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

Linking Visual Literacy with Interdisciplinary Learning: Critical Thinking Skills for Classrooms and Museums
Renee Sandell, Mary Del Popolo, Janet Micari, & Sean Murphy (Art Education)

Faculty will learn to use Form+Theme+Context (FTC) theory as an approach that rebalances and integrates learning content for critical thinking skill-building and deeper student engagement within diverse educational settings. As a visual organizer that balances formal, thematic and contextual considerations, the FTC Palette can be used to decode and encode any learning content, ranging from a work of art, piece of writing, product design, or even a cultural institution such as a museum. Following an interactive FTC demonstration, faculty (grouped by different fields/Colleges) will utilize the FTC Palette as a creative tool for helping students make stronger interdisciplinary connections in diverse settings while developing critical thinking within their home branch of learning.

Renee Sandell is Professor/Director of Graduate Art Education Programs. Her research and teaching interests include visual literacy, gender issues, studio pedagogy, art and healing, museum education, and the professional development of teachers. Co-author of two books plus chapters and articles, her professional record includes numerous presentations and national honors.

Mary Del Popolo is currently Assistant Professor of Art Education and MAT Advisor in the College of Visual & Performing Arts (CVPA). She earned her MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University and has taught in area public schools and universities as well as Tuscany, Italy. Del Popolo’s research focuses on the Artist/Teacher and she curated Mason’s Artist/Teacher exhibition in 2006.

Janet Micari is Adjunct Professor for the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in the Art Education Program in the CVPA. She teaches at Orange Hunt Elementary School, is Elementary Art Lead Mentor for the Fairfax County Public Schools Fine Arts Office, and worked as coach for six years in the FCPS Great Beginnings Program.

Sean Murphy is a graduate student in the Art Education Concentration of the Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning (ASTL), studying in both CVPA and CEHD.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Presentation 1] [PDF Presentation 2] [FTC Link]

The 4/4 Load and Beyond: Challenges & Solutions for Term Teaching Faculty and others with Heavy Teaching Loads
Catherine Saunders (English); Joani Bedore & Catherine Wright (Communication)

What particular challenges do Mason's Term Teaching Faculty (and others juggling 4/4 and greater loads) face? How do we cope with those challenges? What might our departments and/or the university do to help us? This discussion, preceded by brief presentations by the facilitators, will draw on the collective wisdom of participants to identify the challenges particular to heavy teaching loads, share coping strategies we can implement by ourselves, and brainstorm both short-term/inexpensive and long-term/more costly institutional changes that would help us to do our jobs more effectively. While the session will primarily address the situation of term teaching and adjunct faculty, anyone is welcome to participate.

Catherine Saunders has been a member of Mason's term faculty since 2000, teaching mostly introductory and advanced composition and writing-intensive introductory literature. Before coming to Mason, she taught as an adjunct at a number of DC-area and colleges and universities and as a TA at Princeton University.

Joani Bedore has been with Mason since 2003, teaching Communication 101 to undergraduate students in the General Education Program. A career instructor, she has taught at several colleges in Alaska, Oklahoma, and Virginia. She teaches about 15-18 courses a year.

Catherine Karl Wright has taught a variety of communication courses over the last 15 years, the last seven spent at George Mason University.  She estimates she has listened to and graded over 13,000 student speeches during this time.  She led Mason students in study abroad in Milan, Italy in July 2008 and 2009.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout 1] [PDF Handout 2]

They Use It (and So Do You): Helping Students Critique Wikipedia and Other Online Sources
Ryan Swanson (History)

Through hands-on research assignments, students can learn more about how online information is created and how to evaluate it skeptically.

Contemplative Inquiry as a Teaching Tool
Mark Thurston (New Century College)

Integrating reflection, mindfulness, and contemplative inquiry into teaching practices can enhance the experiences of both faculty and students.

Going Global: Integrating by Theme in Upper Level Classes
Phil Burnham (English)

Faculty can use a course theme such as globalization to create common ground, foster integrative thinking, and support diverse student interests.

Student Perceptions of Effective Teachers
Avinash V. Mainkar (Management)

Data gathered over several years reveals several key strategies faculty can use to better support student learning.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

Library Instruction to Go: Online Resources @ Mason Libraries
Jackie Sipes (University Libraries)

Faculty can use Mason Libraries' new online tools — guides, videos, and one-on-one contact — to provide or supplement research instruction in their classes.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

SafeAssign: An Education and Plagiarism Prevention Service
Susan Campbell (Learning Support Services)

Faculty and students at Mason can use SafeAssign with a range of pedagogical approaches to increase awareness of how and where citations are needed in student writing.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

Crafting Virtual Pedagogy: A Model for Online Courses
David Beach (English)

Make the most of online learning opportunities by using a five-part curriculum design model and choosing tools and assignments that support student interaction.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

Teaching Visual Communication: A 20-Year Journey from Traditional Classroom Instruction to Integrated Partial Distance Classes
Cindy Lont (Film and Video Studies)

Combining face-to-face instruction with online learning components (videos, asynchronous discussion, student projects) can enhance students' learning experiences.

Can You Hear Me Now? Using MP3 Technology to Respond to Students' Coursework
Joyce Johnston (English)

To support student learning and build community in online courses, faculty can learn steps for providing useful feedback through MP3 sound recordings.

Engaging Students in Large Classes
Patricia Boudinot (Geography and Geoinformation Science) & Giuseppina Kysar-Mattietti (Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences)

What strategies help faculty engage their large-class students—even the ones in the back rows—during class meetings? How can faculty increase students' interaction, information recall, and critical thinking without drowning in grading? Can new technologies help? Presenters will share their approaches to designing lectures and presentations, structuring class time, and creating assignments that support student learning in both general-education and upper-division courses. Participants will have time to imagine and receive feedback on their own current and future strategies for working with their students.

Patricia Boudinot conducts research in human geography, from analysis of the French Riviera to understanding the effects of global warming on the cherry trees in DC. She frequently teaches the large introductory geography classes at Mason.

Giuseppina Kysar-Mattietti is a geologist with expertise in igneous petrology and geochemistry of oceanic magmas. Currently she is working at an interdisciplinary project on the geologic evolution of the northern Caribbean region with colleagues from other universities in the US and Canada. Her recent activities with the Center for Teaching Excellence include assisting with the undergraduate research program, fostering faculty development initiatives like the consortium of women scientists and actively contributing to the Critical Thinking and Scientific Reasoning assessment projects at Mason.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]

Managing the Paper Load and Responding Effectively to Writing *repeat session*
Terry Zawacki (Writing Across the Curriculum) & Shelley Reid (English)

This workshop includes advice on giving feedback appropriate to stages of the writing process, dealing with the errors that bog down reading, developing evaluation criteria based on learning goals, and constructing rubrics to allow for more effective and efficient grading. Advice and strategies are framed by an explanation of the rhetorical demands students face when they write in new and/or unfamiliar contexts.

Terry Myers Zawacki is an associate professor of English and Director of the Writing Across the Curriculum program; she has also directed the Writing Center. Her research investigates how university faculty assign and evaluate writing, how non-native English speakers adapt to US academic discourse, and how students learn to write within their majors.

Shelley Reid directs the undergraduate Composition program and teaches classes in writing and editing. Her research focuses on curriculum design and teacher preparation.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout 1] [PDF Handout 2] [PDF Handout 3]

Navigating Group Assignments: Prepping Students for Success
Kimberly Eby (Center for Teaching Excellence)

This session will present strategies that faculty can implement to increase the likelihood of student success in group assignments. We will discuss how to help students better understand their roles and responsibilities in collaborative work and methods for monitoring and assessing group processes and products.

Kimberly Eby is Associate Provost for Faculty Development and directs Mason's Center for Teaching Excellence. A community psychologist, she has broad interests in domestic violence; violence and gender; and collaboration and community building in a variety of contexts, especially in interdisciplinary teaching and learning. Her courses frequently include student group work as she believes facilitating students' ability to collaborate effectively in groups is a critical competency for success in today's workplaces.

Download Presentation Materials: [PDF Handout]