CTL Workshop on “Strategies to Support Student Mental Health in the Classroom”
Are you concerned about the rising mental health challenges among your college-age students? Have you noticed an increase in depression and anxiety in your classroom? The GLCA’s Consortium for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is sponsoring a presentation on “Strategies to Support Student Mental Health in the Classroom” on Wednesday, August 14 at Noon EDT by Angie Roles (Associate Professor of Biology) and Jan Miyake (Professor of Music Theory) at Oberlin College. If you have been thinking of ways to structure your classroom spaces in ways that can help students to manage these challenges and thus improve their learning capacity while also building resilience for future challenges, then this workshop is for you! Sign up here for this online event (a Zoom link will be sent the day before).
Teaching and Learning
Three Big Shifts in the Past Decade of College Teaching (Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 8, 2024): Supiano shares the reflections of Bonni Stachowiak, who produces the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
How Students Cope with Anxiety from Active Learning Practices (Megan Sumeracki, Learning Scientists, August 8, 2024): Reports on a 2020 paper asking for self-reports of anxiety and coping associated with 4 active learning strategies.
How to Talk About Race in the Classroom (Leah Newsom, Higher Ed Dive, August 5, 2024): A college classroom should be a place where students and teachers try out new ideas.
6 Ideas to Perk Up Your First Day of Class (Kristi Rudenga, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 5, 2024): How to start the semester in ways that will pay off for the rest of the course.
Deadlines and the ‘Oops Token’ (Tony Sindelar, Tony’s Teaching Tips, July 31, 2024): How to balance flexibility and scale in managing student deadlines.
Resources on teaching neurodivergent students: suggestions from Small College POD:
From Kevin Gannon: The University of Mississippi CETL blog has some resources from programming they’ve done around neurodivergent students; you can find the first post here and the second one at this link. Liz Norrell, who’s at that center, is a tremendous resource in this area, and I know she’s done presentations and workshops with faculty groups at other institutions. Katie Rose Guest Pryal is also an important voice on neurodiversity and higher ed; in particular, my faculty have found her work in the Chronicle of Higher Education (here and here) to be quite helpful.
From Amy Chan-Hilton: I recommend the work of Sarah E. Silverman, which includes blogs, workshops, and newsletters at https://sarahemilysilverman.com/
From Kari Weaver: I found the recent article, Managing the meltdown: Supporting autistic youth through episodes (Lachance, 2024), to be helpful in explaining what a meltdown can look like in stages and how to support individuals at these different stages. I vetted this information with a few of our autistic students who stated their approval of the information and framing before I shared it with our faculty.
All Things AI
Students Worry Overemphasis on AI Could Devalue Education (Juliette Rowsell, Inside Higher Ed/Times Higher Education, August 9, 2024): Report stresses that AI is “new standard,” and universities need to better communicate policies to learners.
There’s a Tool to Catch Students Cheating with ChatGPT. OpenAI Hasn’t Released It (Deepa Seetharaman and Matt Barnum, Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2024): Technology that can detect text written by artificial intelligence with 99.9% certainty has been debated internally for two years.
DEI on Campus
How College Leaders Can Engage with Conservative Lawmakers on DEI (Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive, August 6, 2024): Experts at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association’s policy conference shared their strategies for getting a seat at the table.
Extra Credit Reading
Tim Walz is Kamala Harris’ VP Pick. Here’s What He’s Done for Education (Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat, August 6, 2024): Among other things, Walz taught high school history from 1996-2006.
An Expert Shares Advice on How to Hire for Innovation (Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 5, 2024): A former executive for 3M on the importance of asking questions instead of making statements, and how to build teams that have a little friction.
The Long-Run Impacts of Banning Affirmative Action in US Higher Education (Francisca M. Antman, Brian Duncan and Michael F. Lovenheim, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2024): Research paper find that degree completion, earnings, and employment all fell for underrepresented minority women after affirmative-action bans.
Future Imperfect
Florida’s Public Universities Are Told to Review Courses for “Antisemitism or Anti-Israeli Bias” (Emma Pettit, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 6, 2024): The request, by the State University System, raises questions about how much latitude professors will have in teaching about the Middle East and how terms like “anti-Israeli bias” will be defined. [See, as well, Lawmaker Claims Credit for Antisemitism Review at Florida Universities (Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed, August 9, 2024): State Representative Randy Fine says that after he repeatedly called the state university chancellor about a “Muslim terror textbook,” the system launched an evaluation of courses at all public universities.]
Utah Bans 13 Books From All Public Schools (Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, August 6, 2024): This is the first time titles have been prohibited statewide. The list includes books by Judy Blume and Margaret Atwood.
On the Bookshelf
Joshua R. Eyler, Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do About It (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024). Review by Johanna Alonso (Is There Harm in Grading?) in Inside Higher Ed, August 6: A new book delves deep into the always rich – but sometimes fraught – debate over grades, arguing that there are other models that are better for students’ learning.
Workshops and Presentations
Eastern Kentucky University is offering 5 workshops for non-EKU faculty on AI for higher education on Monday, August 12, beginning at 9:00 AM. You can sign up for each individual workshop here (link is at the end of the description of each workshop).
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- Getting Started with Generative Artificial Intelligence (9:00-10:15)
- Crafting Assessments that Matter in an AI World (10:30-12:00)
- Preparing Students for an AI-Enhanced Workplace (1:00-2:15)
- Developing Course Policies (2:30-3:15)
- Leveraging Specialized AI Tools to Enhance Research (3:30-4:15)
The AAC&U is offering a series of four workshops on Tuesdays from September 3-24 featuring current-to-the-moment information regarding teaching with generative AI and its possibilities for higher education. Among the topics covered: Working with AI for Teaching and Learning; Cheating, Detection, and Policy; Assignments and Writing; and AI to Improve Classes and Courses. More information and to register available here.
Have a short article or some news related to teaching and learning at your institution that you’d like to share with colleagues? Send your contribution along to us. Also, please email Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org) if you have colleagues who would like to receive this weekly report.
Steven Volk (steven.volk@oberlin.edu), Editor
GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning
Co-Directors:
Lew Ludwig (ludwigl@denison.edu)
Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org)