Teaching & Learning Buzz - Georgia Tech

In this episode, Carol speaks with Drs. Rebecca Watts Hull and Evan Mallen about the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals and how they can be used effectively in the classroom across disciplines and school.

In this episode of the Buzz, Carol and Rebecca have a wide ranging conversations about faculty and student well-being, especially burnout and self-care, with Dr. Brandy Simula, Professional  Development Specialist, and Joi Alexander, Director of Health Initiatives.

In this episode, Carol and Rebecca speak with Dr. Tiffiny Hughes-Troutman, Director of the Center for Assessment, Referral, and Education (CARE), about how faculty can understand trauma and work with students experiencing trauma, especially during the COVID-19 era. 

One way we can better understand the pedagogical differences between remote, online, and face-to-face courses is by hearing from peers who have done all three. Dr. Mary Hudachek-Buswell teaches undergraduate courses in the College of Computing, and in the Spring was the only faculty member teaching teaching the College's Data Structures and Algorithm course, one that typically enrolls 700+ students in both face-to-face and online versions. Mary talks to Rebecca and Carol about how she developed the online version of her course and how that preparation translated to fully remote teaching in the Spring.

As part of the Georgia Tech Remote Teaching Academy in Spring 2020, CTL led faculty in a session using the backwards design framework for course development to help faculty move face-to-face courses online for the summer. This episode shares the audio of that live session. While we are looking ahead to fall, this session offers effective and usable tips for designing any syllabus with a focus on student learning objectives.

For all resources related to this workshop, visit the CTL blog. You will also find the video of the full session on the GTRTA Canvas page.

In this bonus episode, we share a panel of colleagues discussing the challenges of teaching amid stressors like the election and continued stress surrounding this election year. Our panelists include

• Gordon Moore, Executive Director, Student Diversity and Inclusion
• Zachary Taylor, Associate Professor, Public Policy
• Kim Cobb, Georgia Power Chair and ADVANCE Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
• Carol Subiño Sullivan, Assistant Director, Faculty Teaching and Learning Initiatives, Center for Teaching and Learning
• Kathleen Gosdsen, Assistant Chief Counsel, Employment and Litigation, Legal Affairs

The panel was moderated by Dr. Joyce Weinsheimer, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning.

As part of the Georgia Tech Remote Teaching Academy in Spring 2020, CTL’s Dr. Carol Subiño Sullivan and Dr. Troy Courville, Director of Assessment & Educational Insights and Director of Learning Design, Professional Education, led faculty in a workshop using a design approach to help instructors identify changes to their assessment plan appropriate for the remote teaching environment.

For all resources related to this workshop, visit the CTL blog. You will also find the video of the full session on the GTRTA Canvas page.

Listen to a recording of the Remote Teaching Academy webinar on engaging students in remote courses, especially asynchronous courses. CTL's Dr. Chaohua Ou covers three main aspects of student engagement - communication, connection, and interaction - and shares strategies for each aspect. (Please excuse any brief gaps in the media as we edited the file for brevity.) 

As remote instruction becomes the main learning platform for our courses for the rest of spring and into summer 2020, one big question on everyone's minds is what to do about lab classes when students don't have access to the lab, to the materials, or to the equipment needed for that hands on learning portion of the courses? In this episode Carol and Rebecca with three faculty members who run lab programs at Georgia Tech. All at different stages of thinking about and/or moving their labs online, our guests shared with us what they've learned so far. We were joined by Dr. Mike Evans from the Department of Chemistry and Mike is the first-year chemistry lab coordinator.  Dr. Ben Galfond runs the labs in the School of Chemical and of Biomolecular Engineering. And Dr. Himani Sharma runs the junior and senior lab programs in the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

In this bonus episode of the Teaching and Learning Buzz podcast, we share the conversation from the Center for Teaching and Learning's April 7th, 2020, webinar, Keep Teaching: Advice from Thank a(n) Online Teacher Recipients. Rebecca and Carol were joined by our CTL colleague Dr. Vincent Spezzo, Program Manager for Teaching and Learning Online, to talk about some of the behind-the-scenes logistical aspects of teaching remotely, including managing your time in the "always on" remote environment, integrating your TAs into remote teaching, providing effective student feedback, and taking care of your own well-being at this time. Our panelists were Dr. Polo Chau, Associate Professor, Computational Science and Engineering; Dr. Michael Schatz, Professor, Physics; and Dr. Joel Sokol, Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering.