Pedagogy Circle

The Center for Faculty Excellence and the Department of History, Philosophy, Politics & Economics co-sponsor a Pedagogy Circle meeting each semester.

Spring 2023 Pedagogy Circle Meeting

Meeting students where they are & Maintaining Academic Standards: Can they co-exist?

Wednesday, March 8, 3:30-5:00pm
Virtual via Zoom (register to receive Zoom link)

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Our theme this semester is “Meeting students where they are and maintaining Academic Standards: Can they co-exist?”. These two paradigms operate in the same system (higher education) and are often framed as being in opposition to each other.  Can we maintain the ideal (i.e., Academic Standards and rigor) while taking a pragmatic approach that serves the needs of today’s students (i.e., meeting students where they are)? We may want to frame our conversation around the following questions:

  • What does it mean to “meet students where they are”?
  • In what ways is meeting students where they are interrelated with Academic Standards and rigor?
  • Can we accomplish both (meet students where they are AND maintain Academic Standards and rigor)? Do we have strategies for both?

For more information on this topic, please see:

What is a Pedagogy Circle?

The purpose of this faculty-driven forum is to encourage discussion about the more humanistic issues at stake in the contemporary classroom: why facts matter, how to balance democracy with decorum, fair grading in the humanities, enforcing attendance, etc.

It is neither a faculty club, nor a teaching clinic. Nevertheless, the hope is that the Pedagogy Circle will foster faculty collegiality. This forum is intended to encourage faculty discussions on what they love most—issues and problems relevant to their teaching practices.

Participants bring valuable insights and input to these meetings, but also benefit through shared teaching tips, etc. This forum is open to all faculty (including LTLs and CLs)—especially in-coming faculty who are new to teaching.

Past Pedagogy Circle Meetings

Fall 2022Towards Inclusive Curricula: Succeeding despite Challenges (featuring Dr. Gokarna Aryal)

  • For a broad definition of inclusivity and to consider how aspects of identity can impact academic environments, view the Academic Wheel of Privilege*. *Source: Elsherif, M. M., Middleton, S. L., Phan, J. M., Azevedo, F., Iley, B. J., Grose-Hodge, M., … Dokovova, M. (2022, June 20). Bridging Neurodiversity and Open Scholarship: How Shared Values Can Guide Best Practices for Research Integrity, Social Justice, and Principled Education. https://doi.org/10.31222/osf.io/k7a9p.

Spring 2022 – Critical Thinking and Inclusive Curricula (featuring Dr. David Detmer)

Fall 2021Toward Inclusive Curricula: Using Humor in the Inclusive Classroom (featuring Dr. Wendy St. Jean)

Spring 2021 – Toward Inclusive Curricula

  • For more information about creating inclusive curricula, please see:
  1. Decolonizing the curriculum
  2. Decolonizing the Curriculum: The BLM Approach to History
  3. Revolutionizing my Syllabus: The Process
  4. What would it mean to decolonize the curriculum? 
  5. ‘Students want to confront it’: academics on how to decolonise the university

Fall 2020  – “Teaching in a Time of Twin Crises: Pandemic + Racism”

  • For more information about pandemic plus anti-racist pedagogies, please see:
  1.  Pandemic Pedagogy: Will Remote Teaching Improve Education?
  2. Lessons Learned from Teaching Online: Pedagogy in a Pandemic
  3. Pandemic Pedagogy
  4. Pandemic Pedagogy and the Limits of Compassion (available exclusively to Chronicle subscribers)
  5. Barriers and Strategies by White Faculty Who Incorporate Anti-Racist Pedagogy
  6. Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at Stonehill College
  7. Anti-Racist Pedagogy Resources