How Do We Begin?

[Daniel Quigley]

Hi Everyone!

As we get ready for the start of another academic year, I am reminded of a classic line from a Bette Davis movie...

"Fasten your seat belts...It's going to be a bumpy ride"

So, to help smooth our journey this semester, what should the TLC (Teaching and Learning Consortium) do to get things going?

Let's brains storm some ideas for an opening event (face to face) to starting things off...

Quig

[Sarah McPherson]

Dan,
I'm not sure that I understand the purpose of your invitation, hence others may not either. "what should TLC do to get things going?" What things? Are you thinking of teaching, collegial exchange, energizing professional activities, ways to get students more engaged, experiences to enrich instruction and learning, partnerships for apprenticeships/internships, new books and other multimedia resources, e-press, trips, global teaching, etc. or all of the above. An opening event.... for whom, when, where, format, etc. Opening what? Unfortunately, I'm afraid we need a committee to shape whatever it is.

[Daniel Quigley]

Sarah,

My apologies for the confusion. I guess I saw this as more of an open "brainstorm" comment. I am hoping, initially, for far more simple suggestions...as in:

Lets get together for Pizza and a "meet and greet" for new faculty."

Lets get together for a Brown bag to discuss what the TLC should do this coming year.

All of the items that you list above are certainly things we might work on together, but right now I'm just looking to see what kind of get together we want to have so we can start talking about these sorts of things.

[Sarah McPherson]

I like the pizza idea. Meet and greet 'new' faculty or faculty new to TLC. A goal is to increase participation, right? Maybe we should actually focus on less academic apps and more collegial networking among faculty. ... which may ultimately lead to more academic exchange. There are few ways for many faculty to get acquainted with colleagues in other schools, so maybe we have a virtual faculty 'club' ... not social necessarily but more collegial than other structures at NYIT. I don't mean club as exclusive but rather more conducive to meeting others and a place for 'hanging out'.

[Hui-Yin Hsu]

Hi Dan,

I also like the pizza idea! Maybe we can start collegial consortium for faculty to share their porjects involving technology integration, F-2-F or vitually? I hope I am on the right track. Looking forward to the ride!

[Jim Turley]

One thing that would interest me most is to find out if we are all teaching "on the same page".

What I mean by this, perhaps a member of our faculty is doing something unique in his/her classroom.

Although I have been teaching at NYIT for almost 25 years, I could certainly use some new ideas.

Are we all using the same format in syllabus creation? What are some different grading techniques used? How many of us use more than one textbook to teach a course? How many of us give library assignments? How do we communicate to our students outside of the classroom?

I think a get together just to discuss this would benefit all of us in one way or another.

I think what prompted me to write this down is I could use some new ideas teaching my Casino Gaming class. I teach it in the class as well as online to about 50 to 75 students and could use some new ideas since the class reaches all disciplines.

Any suggestions?