On one of the note cards at your table, please tell us...

• Your name• Your institution and role (professor, administrator, etc.)• Your discipline• What are your expectations for this workshop?• What are you doing in your university/organization to promote

civic education?

Creating faculty networks -one innovative course at a time

Gregg Kaufman and Julia Metzker

Goal

To advance your efforts in developing courses and professional development programs that cultivate engaged

citizenship in students and faculty.

Plan• Brief description of the Innovative Course-building Group• Philosophy & Timeline• Two “case-studies”• Abbreviated think-pair-share

Engaging Courses

Scientifically Literate Citizens

Supporting Innovative course

development

STEM mini-grants

ResearchStudentFaculty

AssessmentInstitutionsProgramsCore/General Ed.Students

Recognition

Faculty Teaching Network

Connecting toK-12

Community Science

Service Learning

SENCER / Social Issues

Interdisciplinary Innovative Course Building Group

Mathematical Modeling through Financial Calculations

Educational Strategies for Non-Traditional Instructional Settings

Animal, Vegetable Human: The Science and Sociology of YOUR food

Critical Thinking: Climate and Chemistry

Critical Thinking: Public Deliberation

Civic Engagement in the Curriculum

Inquiry and Reflection in Science

Environmental Health

…and many innovative activities and units in “traditional” courses

Social Justice:Indigenous and African movements in Latin America

Mathematics on the Fringe

SENCER robustly connects science and civic engagement by teaching “through” complex, contested, capacious, current, and unresolved public issues “to” basic science.

SENCER helps reveal the limits of science by identifying the elements of public issues where science doesn’t help us decide what to do.

SENCER shows the power of science by identifying the dimensions of a public issue that can be better understood with certain mathematical and scientific ways of knowing.

SENCER, by focusing on contested issues, encourages student engagement with “multidisciplinary trouble” and with civic questions that require attention now.

SENCER includes faculty (tenure AND non-tenure track) and administrators from ….

•Liberal arts institutions

•Community Colleges

•Research Universities

•High Schools

SENCER at GCSU – a timeline (not to scale)

You are

here

20112009

Cohort became the Innovative Course Building Group (ICBG)

2nd faculty development workshop

Planning for next cohort of ICBGers

GCSU’s 1st faculty development workshop (funded by SENCER post institute award)

Every year new participants join the leadership team AND become mentors to the next cohort of ICBGers.

2003

The Science Education Center hosts David Burns to present SENCER ideals

2004 2005

Julia Metzker nominated and appointed a SENCER Fellow

2008

= Attended SSI

First SSI attended

2010

3rd workshop & focus on dissemination

http://icbg.wordpress.com

Who we are …The Innovative Course-Building Group (IC-BG) is a grass-roots social network for learning that supports teaching faculty and staff across disciplines. We use civic issues as a catalyst for designing engaging courses that will result in important student learning.

Our guiding principles …• Time is valuable: gatherings are deliberately designed to be productive,

meaningful, and enjoyable uses of this limited resource.• Good ideas recycled, refined, and adapted become great ideas.• Teaching and learning rarely happen in isolation: collaboration supports

innovation.Our participants…• Will design a course (and activities) ready to teach!

Start of fall semester: Recruit new faculty, review applications, setup schedule.3 meetings in the fall semester and 3 meetings in the spring.

Our Innovative Course Building Group Workshop Logistics

Topic Homework*

1 Introduction. Identify course and complex issues addressed in course.

Decide on course. Develop interdisciplinary connections.

2 Course Goals. Write course goals.

3 Active learning strategies & course activities.

Examine 2 SENCER model courses.

4 Assessment techniques/ strategies (including SALG)

Map course activities and assessment to course goals.

5 Critique first draft of course. Work on final course presentation.

6 Socialize & present final course (poster presentations)

*Homework typically posted to blog where other members can comment.ICbG blog: http://icbg.wordpress.com/

Development of a typical IC-bGer (not to scale)

Where are

you?

Tried an in-class assessment

Mapped activities and assessments to course goals

Facilitating workshops and

mentoring

Introduced a new activity (or several)

Thinking about changing her

course

Wrote new course goals

Noticed a lack of student

engagement

Innovative course

redesign

Building & sustaining a professional

network

Portrait of an IC-bGerGregg Kaufman – Government Instructor

• Gregg had been teaching part-time when he joined the ICbG last year. Currently, he is teaching ¾ time and coordinates the ADP program.

• As an instructor (non-tenure track) many development activities were unavailable to him.

• Through ICbG workshops, Gregg designed Public Deliberation, a core curriculum course for first-year students that addresses critical thinking. His course design began with specific course learning outcomes and ended with a course-map that links the assessment and activities to course goals.

• As a new member of the ICbG mentor group, Gregg will participate in future workshop development, mentoring and SOTL activities.

Portrait of an IC-bGerJulia Metzker – Chemistry Professor

• After her first year at Georgia College, Julia noticed students in her chemistry course were not engaged with or excited about the course content. She began converting laboratory courses from “canned-labs” to inquiry projects with social relevance and “retooled” a science course for non-science majors.

• After attending a SENCER summer institute, she co-wrote a small grant to create a professional development community for university teachers (IcBG). This community went on to design a series of course-design workshops.

• Julia has “re-designed” several courses around active learning, including a successful course that investigates the causes and consequences of our high-mileage food system.

• She continues to be an active member of the Innovative Course-building Group and enjoys belonging to a “social network for learning”.

Deliberation

Choice

LearningCitizen

GroupCommunity

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Knowledge

Purpose

Question at issue

Information

Point of View

Implications & Consequences

Assumptions

Concepts

Interpretations & Inferences

PUBLIC WORK

KEYDeliberation CycleLearning TaxonomyCritical Thinking Elements

Activity: Your goalsThink-Pair Share

• Think– Identify where you are on the timeline and write down a

goal you intend to accomplish.– Quickly map the tasks and resources needed to

accomplish your goal.

• Pair– Find someone from another school that you do not know

• Share– Your goal and map– Refine your partner’s plan

• Share with everyone

On the other side of your notecard, please tell us...

• Were your expectations met? Why or why not?

• Write one action item you intend to accomplish when you return to your own campus.

Connect with us blog: icbg.wordpress.com

email: julia.metzker@gcsu.edu, gregg.kaufman@gcsu.edu