Tea & Teaching is an informal monthly conversation around all things teaching hosted by Jenevieve DeLosSantos, Director of Special Pedagogic Projects in the Office of Undergraduate Education. This is a casual space for discussion and Q&A with different weekly guests.
Want to receive e-mail updates with weekly guests and the meeting link? Contact us at teachinglearning@sas.rutgers.edu to be added to our mailing list!
Upcoming Tea & Teachings
September 29th: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guest Christine Altinis-Kiraz
Join us to learn about strategies that she employs to help her students develop metacognitive skills. Register here.
Past Tea & Teachings AY22-23
September 22nd: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guests Sam Carpenter and David Goldman
Ways to frame and leverage AI in the classroom. Some of the key takeaways from this discussion included:
- David and Sam both shared their findings from student focus groups on AI. Some key takeaways were: not to assume that all students were using it and that many students were skeptical, if not totally dismissive of AI. We discussed the importance of talking to your students about AI. Share your feelings but ask them about their experiences and communicate clear expectations about how students should or should not use AI in your classroom.
- Some learners like to use AI technologies as a “tutor.” Students reported feeling embarrassed to ask multiple questions to their instructor and that asking questions to a machine made them feel more comfortable. If you’d like to give your learners the opportunity to ask you multiple questions, you might consider letting them ask questions anonymously. Piazza is a tool you can enable in Canvas to do this.
- In discussing the use of detection tools for AI technologies, David reminded us that there are many concerns with their effectiveness and bias. Preliminary research suggests that there are many false positives for English language learners and neurodivergent learners, among other concerns. An audience member shared an article that details this for non-native English writers.
- We also considered how AI technologies may be a part of our students lives when they enter the workforce, and therefore we discussed how using AI technologies in class might be an equity enhancing opportunity. An audience member chimed in sharing an article about how AI technologies are heavily used in writing-oriented professions now. AI companies are now focusing on improving the creative capacity of generative AI, as well as its language capacity.
September 8th: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guests Eliza Blau and Pauline Carpenter
A conversation with Eliza Blau and Pauline Carpenter, Instructional Design and Technology Specialists on fostering a sense of belonging in your classroom.
In case you missed it, here are a few resources that were shared during the conversation:
- The Norton Guide to Equity Minded Teaching (which is free for educators) and Geoff Cohen, a social psychologist, discusses The Crisis of Belonging on the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s podcast.
- To learn more about connecting with your online students check out Rebecca Glazier’s book, Connecting in the Online Classroom.
- A practical way to get to know your learners and begin to foster a sense of belonging is to ask them to complete a Pre-Course Survey. The Who’s in Class Form is one example that can be adopted to your needs.
February 24th: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guest Christopher Manente
A conversation about neurodiversity with Christopher Manente, Executive Director for the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services (RCAAS) and Clinical Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP)
December 16th: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guests Lynda Dexheimer & Nicole Houseri
An interactive conversation with Lynda Dexheimer, Executive Director, Rutgers Writing Program and Nicole Houser, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of English about grading and providing student feedback
October 21st: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guests Carlie Andrews & Asa Rennermalm
A conversation with Carlie Andrews, Senior Director of the Office of Disability Services, and Asa Rennermalm, Associate Professor & Undergraduate Program Director of Geography, about ways to make your classroom more accessible and inclusive.
September 23rd: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guests Sylvia Chan-Malik & Tia Kolbaba
A conversation with Sylvia Chan-Malik, Associate Professor, Departments of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Tia Kolbaba, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, about how they approach discussing difficult subjects in their courses.
While many of us teach topics that may be challenging for students to encounter, even those who do not might find themselves needing to confront the reality of current events that affect our students' lives. Sylvia and Tia will share the ways in which they address topics that might be activating or upsetting to students and discuss how they help support students in learning through these difficult moments.
August 26th: Tea & Teaching with Jenevieve and special guest Pauline Carpenter
A conversation with Pauline Carpenter, Instructional Design and Technology Specialist, SAS Office of Undergraduate Education, about how we can implement some inclusive teaching strategies in the first few weeks of the semester for both in-person and online courses. Register for Tea & Teaching here.
Fostering a sense of belonging supports student learning and can be implemented even before the semester starts. Pauline will share strategies to develop an inclusive classroom community, including personalizing the Canvas space, engaging students with the syllabus in meaningful ways, and facilitating welcoming course introductions.
Resources:
For more information about syllabus language and statements see:
SAS sample syllabus link is on this page
Erica Lucci shared this book, which has a sample welcome message in the appendix
Syllabus rhetoric
Growth mindset and belonging syllabus language
Equity-minded syllabus review guide
For more information on Pre-Course Surveys:
Sample pre-course survey
Sample non-anonymous pre-course survey from Michelle Pacansky-Brock (Links to an external site.)
Sample anonymous Who's in Class form from Lafayette's Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship
Additional Resources:
The MOOC research Pauline cited
Transparency in Learning and Teaching in higher education: TiLT in higher ed
Student Experience Project First Day Toolkit shared by Susan Lawrence
Courtney Sobers shared these introductory activities
Sharon Stoerger shared these icebreaker ideas from Michigan
For more Information on the Inclusivity Series:
OTEAR’s webpage on the Inclusivity Series