Please take a look at three upcoming workshops from the Teaching and Learning Center scheduled for the week of November 6th.

Register for all workshops at http://cuny.is/tlc-f23.

Toward Generative Assessment: Challenging Punitive Systems of Grading

Monday, November 6, 2023, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Online

Grading often emphasizes critique in ways that inspire fear and disengagement. Through generative assessment we aim to build relationships with our students, fostering intellectual development and enthusiasm for learning. 

In this workshop, we explore opportunities to provide feedback to students that generate curiosity and establish a culture of dialogue and trust. We also reflect on the tensions between the ideals of a collaborative learning environment and the reality of adjunct labor. We’re proposing generative grading strategies as a means to challenge surveillance, punishment, and competition in the classroom.

Together we will explore how assessment can affirm students’ interests, development, and academic skills, while helping instructors tackle one of the most unpleasant and labor intensive aspects of teaching (grades!). This workshop will introduce the concept of generative feedback, provide participants with a set of guidelines to make feedback a dialogue rather than one-directional conversation, and spend time annotating syllabi to identify opportunities to build-in generative practices.

Register at http://cuny.is/tlc-f23.  A Zoom link will be emailed prior to the workshop. 

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Using Primary Literature in the Science Classroom: The CREATE Method

Tuesday, November 7, 2023, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Online

Research shows that critical analysis of scientific literature in undergraduate classrooms can demystify science and help students better understand the research process, and scientists as people. Teaching students in science courses how to read primary literature can provide opportunities to incorporate our own research into lectures. Through detailed analysis of published work, students can gain a deeper understanding of disciplinary ideas and scientific techniques required to carry out investigations. They also could develop data interpretation skills, construct explanations, engage in evidence-based argumentation, and eventually communicate information in effective ways. 

In this workshop, we will deconstruct, analyze, and reassemble a peer-reviewed scientific journal article and discuss the possibilities for integrating our own research into our classes. We will examine the CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment) approach, which is widely used to foster student independent thinking and critical thinking skills in the sciences. Lastly, we will explore how to use the CREATE method as a pedagogical tool to promote problem-solving and argumentation skills. 

Register at http://cuny.is/tlc-f23.  A Zoom link will be emailed prior to the workshop. 

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Using Generative AI for “Uncreative Writing“

Thursday, November 9, 2023, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
In-person, Room 3317

The proliferation of generative AI such as ChatGPT has incited a season of pedagogical storms across college campuses, all too often leaving little dry land between panic and panacea. This workshop aims to harness these turbulent winds in attending to how generative AI might be used to teach writing in the college classroom. Understandably many instructors are concerned with their students using generative AI as a way to not write, not read, and even plagiarize. By practicing techniques of “uncreative writing” like cut-ups and patchwriting, attendees will gain new understandings of how to reframe questions of plagiarism and generative AI in their classes.

Some guiding questions attendees will work through together include: What provocations available to “uncreative writing” can help us challenge the specter of plagiarism in our classes? How can the practice of remixing, appropriating, and borrowing language allow us to rethink the role of plagiarism and academic integrity in college classes? What if the process of moving information and remixing language were our starting points instead of intellectual property and original authorship? How can flipping the switch on plagiarism provide teachers with a means to redress concerns around ChatGPT and its ilk?

Register at http://cuny.is/tlc-f23.