Asynchronous d​iscussions are a key component of online courses. They help build community, encourage reflection, reinforce respectful communication, and develop critical thinking skills. In order to realize their potential, discussions must be intentionally and carefully designed, configured, and facilitated. We will talk about different ways online discussions can be used in online, hybrid, or face-to-face courses as well as elements of good design to ensure they are important social learning opportunities and not busy work. Please register.

If you have time before the workshop, review the Asynchronous Discussion Guide on the DLD website.

Learning Outcomes:
Draw from your course design repertoire a variety of ideas, scenarios, and strategies for employing online discussions in meaningful ways.
Design and facilitate engaging online discussions to leverage social learning in your course to help students achieve module/course learning objectives.

Are you looking for a personalized way to welcome students into your virtual classroom so that they feel connected to you and to each other? Do you want to level up the quality and professionalism of your self-produced video content? Join media specialists from Digital Learning & Design to discover best practices for producing effective media in your remote-accessible or online course. We will start with an overview of video presentation tips, including simple tricks to get the best visual and audio recording with your existing technology, and we’ll cover ways to keep learners engaged before, during, and after watching the video. Then we’ll share best practices for ensuring media is accessible to a multitude of learners. Please register.

Members of the Brown community are invited to honor the recipients of the University awards for Teaching on Wednesday, May 1st at the University Awards Ceremony. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of faculty and graduate students at this university-wide ceremony. The Reception will begin at 4:30pm, The Ceremony, with opening remarks by Provost Francis J. Doyle III will begin at 5:00pm. No pre-registration required. This event will be live-streamed.

In this presentation, we will discuss how to ensure the digital elements of your course are accessible and inclusive. We’ll review strategies for creating an inclusive learning environment, provide an overview of Brown’s accessibility tools, and show you how to get support from DLD throughout the summer. We’ll also explore examples of how to address common accessibility problems, from captioning to headers. This session is designed for faculty, postdocs, and graduate students and will be led by Kris Nolte, Assistant Director, Digital Learning Experience, and Christine Baumgarthuber, Senior Learning Designer. It will include plenty of time for Q&A. Please register.

Are you interested in discussing STEM education at Brown? STEM Ed Friday is a vibrant learning community where STEM instructors and staff members share ideas, experiences, and challenges related to STEM education. Please register.

Team-Based Inquiry Learning (TBIL) is a form of active learning that uses the structure of Team-Based Learning as a means of implementing Inquiry-Based Learning. While initially developed in the context of mathematics instruction, TBIL is applicable to all disciplines with a tradition of inquiry based instruction. In this workshop, we will describe the essential elements of TBIL, and participants will explore how TBIL can be adapted to their own discipline. Please register.

Do you have questions about using Canvas for teaching and facilitating your course, whether it’s online, hybrid or in person? This workshop primarily addresses what instructors do during the course, as opposed to what must be done before the course, which is design. Facilitation focuses on how you, the instructor, can facilitate conditions for student learning through actions like setting clear expectations, maintaining instructor presence, and supporting and motivating learning. Join a Learning Designer and Learning Technologist from the Sheridan Center’s Digital Learning and Design team for a discussion of these topics. The session leaders will provide an overview of topics related to facilitating learning in courses utilizing Canvas and provide opportunities for instructors to share their strategies and tips with each other. Please register.

Before the session, we recommend reviewing the Facilitation Guide (https://brown-dld.screenstepslive.com/a/1589811-facilitating-your-course) about how to useCanvas for teaching.

Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) at Brown will be hosting a gathering to bring together those who are currently participating in CIRTL as well as those interested in participating in CIRTL. This will be an informal opportunity to stop in and meet others, get to know staff who are supporting CIRTL, and get any of your questions answered about CIRTL at Brown. Lunch provided! Please register.

Do you have questions about using the Canvas template for your online Pre-College course? Join learning designers and technologists from Digital Learning and Design for an overview on how to use the Canvas template. They will also share tips for using Canvas as an organizing framework for your course. We will also devote part of the session to Q & A where you will be ask questions regarding your own course.  Please register.  

We teach in difficult times. Using Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, this series will engage Brown instructors in reflecting on why we teach, who we are as teachers, and how we can engage our students in sometimes challenging conversations in our classrooms. Participants are welcome to attend just one meeting of the series or all of them. Each meeting will be co-facilitated by Mary Wright (Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning and Professor [Research] in Sociology) and a guest facilitator. We will reflect on purpose-related themes raised in the book – why we teach and who we are as teachers – while “trying on” different discussion approaches. Discussion will take place Noon - 12:50 PM, with lunch served for takeaway or continued conversation.

On Friday, February 16, please join us for a discussion with Professor Andre Willis (Religious Studies). Please register.

On Tuesday, February 27, please join us for a discussion with Dean Rashid Zia (Engineering & Physics). Please register.

On Friday, April 5, please join us for a discussion with Professor James (Jim) Valles (Physics) and Ruth Colwill (Cognitive and Psychological Sciences) at STEM Ed Fridays. Please register.

On Tuesday, April 9, please join us for a discussion co-facilitated with Laura Snyder (Education) and Brad Gibbs (Economics). Please register.

We teach in difficult times. Using Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, this series will engage Brown instructors in reflecting on why we teach, who we are as teachers, and how we can engage our students in sometimes challenging conversations in our classrooms. Participants are welcome to attend just one meeting of the series or all of them. Each meeting will be co-facilitated by Mary Wright (Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning and Professor [Research] in Sociology) and a guest facilitator. We will reflect on purpose-related themes raised in the book – why we teach and who we are as teachers – while “trying on” different discussion approaches. Discussion will take place Noon - 12:50 PM, with lunch served for takeaway or continued conversation.

On Friday, February 16, please join us for a discussion with Professor Andre Willis (Religious Studies). Please register.

On Tuesday, February 27, please join us for a discussion with Dean Rashid Zia (Engineering & Physics). Please register.

On Friday, April 5, please join us for a discussion with Professor James (Jim) Valles (Physics) and Ruth Colwill (Cognitive and Psychological Sciences) at STEM Ed Fridays. Please register.

On Tuesday, April 9, please join us for a discussion co-facilitated with Laura Snyder (Education) and Brad Gibbs (Economics). Please register.

Are you interested in discussing STEM education at Brown? STEM Ed Friday is a vibrant learning community where STEM instructors and staff members share ideas, experiences, and challenges related to STEM education. Please register.

In this workshop we will review how to setup, administer, and grade paper-based exams with Gradescope. Gradescope is a digital platform that makes the work of grading more efficient, equitable, and expeditious. It is designed to provide the benefits of digital assessment while maintaining the security and fidelity of paper-based exams. The first portion of the workshop will introduce optimal Gradescope workflows. The remaining time will be devoted to answering questions from attendees. Please register.

Please join the Sheridan Center for our Canvas Gradebook workshop! In a live demo, DLD Learning Technologists will cover topics pertaining to general gradebook settings, grade posting policies, exporting final grades to Banner, as well as a designated time for any questions. The workshop will be available via Zoom on Wednesday, March 27th from 12pm-1pm. Please register. If you have any questions about registration, please contact [email protected]. 

Are you interested in discussing STEM education at Brown? STEM Ed Friday is a vibrant learning community where STEM instructors and staff members share ideas, experiences, and challenges related to STEM education. Please register.

Please join us for this 90-minute session exploring the current state of educational development in the U.S. and imagining its future. A panel moderated by Dr. Debie Lohe, Associate Provost & Chief Online Learning Officer (Saint Louis University), will respond to and build on Dr. Mary Wright’s new book, Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape in Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). Panelists will include: Dr. Tracie M. Addy, Associate Dean of Teaching & Learning (Lafayette College); Dr. Isis Artze-Vega, Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs (Valencia College); Dr. Jennifer Frederick, Executive Director of the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning & Associate Provost for Academic Initiatives (Yale University); and Dr. C. Edward Watson, Associate Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation & Executive Director of Open Educational Resources and Digital Innovation (AAC&U). Please register.

In this workshop, we will discuss how to prepare our students to engage in and succeed at difficult conversations in the classroom. By focusing on the skills of listening, contributing, self-awareness, and facilitating, we will break down how to help students develop their capacities for engaging in complex dialogues. Please register.

Are you interested in discussing STEM education at Brown? STEM Ed Friday is a vibrant learning community where STEM instructors and staff members share ideas, experiences, and challenges related to STEM education. Please register.