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January updates from the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning

Center for Leadership, Teaching and Learning (CLTL)

The Center for Leadership in Teaching and Learning has been humming and thrumming in the weeks leading up to the spring semester. Earlier this month, we welcomed coach and communication specialist to the annual Athletics Retreat to discuss ways of effectively coaching Gen Z athletes.

This week, the CLTL hosted “Critical Making as Imaginative Thinking,†including a presentation and tour of the IdeaLab by Director Chris Emdin, and the Winter AI Academy helped train over 80 faculty and staff at varying levels to harness AI in the service of professional responsibilities.

A group of people gather in the IdeaLab, watching as Director Chris Emdin presents

This spring features a buffet of programming and initiatives focused on best practices for inclusive teaching, meeting the needs of neurodiverse students, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), strategies for faculty retention, and AI in higher education. All faculty and staff are invited to participate in an AI Learning Cluster, Scholarly/Creative Endeavors Work Groups (SCE), Teaching ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Networks, Racial Justice Learning Communities, Allies in Learning and Teaching (ALT), book clubs, and research salons. Finally, mark your calendars for: “AI can do that? What’s left for student learning? Well, a lot, actually!†with on Friday, Jan. 31.

National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) 

‌Skidmore is an institutional member of the NCFDD, allowing free access to many excellent professional development tools such as these upcoming webinars: on Monday, Feb. 3; and on Thursday, Feb. 13. 

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‌The Weller Room and Lending Library (LIB 212) 

‌This space devoted to CLTL events is also available as a (quiet) workspace on weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. Participants in the SCE work groups are encouraged to use this space, which is stocked with coffee, tea, condiments, cleaning supplies, and paper products, before meetings. All faculty have swipe access; those without access who are participating in SCE work groups should contact Erin Hogan to activate their IDs. Submit a request online to reserve the space for events that advance the CLTL mission. The room also has a Lending Library with texts on critical pedagogical studies, navigating higher education, DEIJAB in the classroom, and UDL. Books may be signed out for up to one semester. 

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‌Funding for New Black Studies Courses   

‌Due to a four-year grant from the Mellon Foundation, CLTL can offer stipends of $1,000 to faculty who successfully considerably revise or create a new course cross-listed with the Black Studies Program (BST).  

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‌LGBTQIA+ Web Resources 

‌Check out instructional materials for students, staff, and faculty on how to be an ally to LGBTQIA+ folks (e.g., questionnaires for the classroom, a list of appropriate terminology, best practices for making LGBTQIA+ folks feel a sense of belonging on campus, web resources, and a fun video featuring our students).

Scholarly and Creative Endeavors (SCE) work groups resume Jan. 27 through May 2 (except the week of spring break): 

  • ‌Tuesdays, 12:45-1:45 p.m.: Co-facilitated by Hope Casto and Rebecca Gleit. Meet in the atrium for lunch in Murray-Aikins Dining Hall. 
  • ‌Wednesdays, 12:15-1:15 p.m.: Co-facilitated by Brooke Paradise and Becca Johnson. Meet in the atrium for lunch in Murray-Aikins Dining Hall with an option for a write-on-site in the Weller Room from 9 a.m. to noon. 
  • ‌Fridays, 12:15-1:15 p.m.: Facilitated by Charmaine Willis over Zoom (link circulated via email). 

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‌Mellon-Funded Racial Justice Learning Communities 

‌Three learning communities (LCs) will run this spring in conjunction with the “Africana Studies and the Humanities at Skidmore: Transnational Explorations in Social Justice†grant from the Mellon Foundation: Blackness in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latina/o/e/x Communities; From the Inside Out: Embodied Ways of Knowing and Unknowing Blackness; and Beyond the Ballroom: Exploring Systemic Inequities, Representation, and Resilience through Ballroom Culture. Contact the respective facilitators (available on the CLTL Learning Communities page) by Friday, Jan. 24, if interested. LCs begin the week of Feb. 3 and will have commitments of approximately two hours weekly during the semester. Faculty/staff who participate in a learning community will be compensated $750.  

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‌AI Learning Clusters 

‌This mentoring program will unite interested faculty with fellow colleagues proficient in harnessing AI in the service of student learning. These clusters will consist of two AI-proficient faculty and three or four faculty seeking to build AI fluencies. Mentors will provide guidance on designing AI-related course content, developing assignments, and evaluating student learning outcomes. With generous support from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, participants will be compensated $250 for the semester. Sign up online.

Allies in Learning and Teaching (ALT)

ALT is a pilot teacher-learner liaison program. Designed with both students and faculty in mind, student liaisons collaborate with professors to create more equitable and accessible classrooms. To request that a trained student work with you this semester, complete this brief form. 

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‌Teaching ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Network 

‌The Teaching ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ Network pairs faculty for one semester to engage in activities focused on pedagogical development (such as peer observations, exchanging course syllabi, reading and discussing pedagogical scholarship, sharing strategies for handling challenges in the classroom, assisting with course development, and more). Sign up by Monday, Feb. 3.

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‌‘AI can do that? What’s left for student learning? Well, a lot, actually!’ with Chris Hakala

  • ‌When and where: 2:30-3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, in LEDS Classroom (Lib 222)
  • ‌Description: This workshop will discuss ways faculty can leverage AI in their teaching by considering how students learn and how AI can support learning by removing cognitive load on some areas to focus on the course’s learning objectives.
Chris Hakala, smiling and wearing a brown jacket and blue button up

‘Get Your Book Published’ 

‌The Central New York Humanities Corridor is hosting a roundtable: “†on Friday, Feb. 7. Those unable to attend in person may still register in order to receive the recording following the event.

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‌‘Understanding Neurodiversity and Working with Students Who Are on the Autism Spectrum’ with Rachel Mann-Rosan

  • ‌When and where: Noon-1:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, in Murray-Aikins Dining Hall, second floor
  • ‌Description: Clinical psychologist Mann-Rosan will offer a solution-oriented approach to specific concerns and challenges submitted by attendees wanting to learn how to better understand neurodiversity and serve autistic students. , to attend.
Rachel Mann-Rosan, smiling and wearing a blue cardigan

Faculty Panel: ‘Perceptions of AI … Biases, Ethics, and Approaches’ 

  • ‌When and where: 2:30-3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, in the Wyckoff Center 
  • ‌Description: Faculty will share their perspectives on how they integrate AI into their teaching, their experiences of (re)designing assignments to further student learning, and the challenges and ethical concerns of this new technology. 

‌Student Panel: ‘Perceptions of AI … Biases, Ethics, and Approaches’

  • When and where: 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, in the Wyckoff Center and on Zoom 
  • ‌Description: Students will share their experiences with AI in the classroom and how it contributes to their learning, the opportunities it provides, as well as the challenges and ethical concerns of this new technology.

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