Category: Partners

Schools in the Liberal Arts Consortium for Online Learning

Sharing Courses in Self-Instructional Language Programs through Online Conversation

LACOL

Renewed for 2022/2023!

vassarwilliams

In an increasingly globalized world, students are seeking ways to learn languages that are not commonly taught at schools in the United States. While self-instructional language programs (SILP) afford many opportunities to explore lesser-taught languages like Hindi, Korean, or Swahili, the scope of each program is limited. A new online collaboration will allow each program to tap into resources that other colleges in the consortium have, e.g. native speakers in the community that can serve as tutors, or advanced level instruction in certain languages. Students will have additional opportunities to explore new paths within their liberal arts education.

Many of the colleges within the consortium offer some form of guided self-instruction of lesser-taught languages already. The new LACOL project will launch a collaboration between the Self-Instructional Language Programs at Vassar, and Williams College, using online synchronous classroom-to-classroom interaction. As Lioba Gerhardi, Vassar’s Coordinator of the Self-Instructional Language Program and Adjunct Assistant Professor of German Studies says:

By sharing resources, the partners will be able to increase the number of self-instructional languages available to students in an innovative and cost-effective manner.

The self-instructional component of each language course will remain unchanged. Each student will enroll for the course at their home institution. For speaking and listening practice, students will join conversational tutorial sessions at a partnering college via video conferencing software, such as Zoom.

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Anti-Racist Pedagogies and Facing the Pandemics of Racism and Covid in the Classroom

LACOL

LACOL 2020 Virtual Workshop

Session Description: The 2020 pandemic of Covid has revealed anew the perpetual pandemic of racism. What does anti-racist pedagogy look like during this moment? How is the intersection of Covid and movements for racial and social justice prompting you to rethink your goals and purpose in the classroom? Join us for a facilitated conversation and workshop that aims to open up space for self-reflection, imagination, and application in anticipation of the start of Fall classes.

Date: Aug 27, 2020
Time: 12:00 pm – 2:00pm Eastern
Location: Zoom

Readings: 

Facilitators:
  • Alison Cook-Sather, Professor of Education, Director of Teaching and Learning Institute, Bryn Mawr College
  • Chanelle Wilson, Assistant Professor of Education, Director of Africana Studies, Bryn Mawr College
  • Jonathon Kahn, Professor of Religion, in-coming Director of the Engaged Pluralism Initiative, Vassar College
  • Candice Lowe-Swift, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Director of the Engaged Pluralism Initiative, Vassar College

March 2020: Liberal Arts Remote Teaching (hands-on webinar)

LACOL

WEBINAR EVENT

Dates/Time for Live Sessions:

  • Tuesday, March 17, 2020 – 1:00pm-2:00pm Eastern [FULL]
  • Thursday, March 19, 2020 – 11:00am-12:00pm Eastern  [FULL]

Sign Up: CLOSED
Handouts and Demo Gallery: http://bit.ly/lac-teach-webinar-report
Remote Teaching Tips: http://bit.ly/lacol-teach-online

This LACOL webinar shares hands-on practice with five experienced liberal arts teachers from Swarthmore College, Vassar College, Williams College, and Washington and Lee University.  This team regularly collaborates to deliver online/hybrid classes for the liberal arts.

Description: Many liberal arts colleges are asking faculty to consider how they move their teaching online as part of emergency preparedness in the face of COVID-19 or other disruptions to regular classroom teaching.  Tips and guides are circulating, and faculty get lots of support from their local IT and teaching and learning centers. Read More

Video Creation and the Science of Learning – tips from D. Hurlbert

LACOL

Dann Hurlbert, Carleton College’s Media & Design Specialist and long-time friend of LACOL, shares three new video guides, drawing on the popular textbook e-Learning and the Science of Instruction by by Ruth Covlin Clark & Richard E. Mayer.  Visit Carleton Academic Technology blog for more tips from Dann and the Carleton ATS team: https://blogs.carleton.edu/academictechnology.

Video 1:  Making Video Work Well

In this short video, one of three in a series on the textbook, ELearning and the Science of Instruction by Ruth Covlin Clark & Richard E. Mayer, Dann Hurlbert digs into how these important concepts should impact instructional video production. The book is an in-depth, research-based look into best practices surrounding using audio and visuals in e-learning. In this first video, Dann relays how best to use the dual channels (audio and visuals) to make his or her instructional videos more engaging and more effective. (See full post.)

 

Video 2:  Talk is Cheap

In this short video, Dann Hurlbert digs into the textbook, ELearning and the Science of Instruction by Ruth Covlin Clark & Richard E. Mayer. This time, Dann relays why audio alone is often less effective online–and what simple steps an instructor can do to make his or her instructional content more engaging and more effective. (See full post.)

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Digital Agility and Liberal Arts – collab highlights on the EDUCAUSE Transforming Higher Ed

LACOL

Digital Agility: Embracing a Holistic Approach to Digital Literacy in the Liberal Arts

by Sundi Richard (Davidson College) and Beth Bohstedt (Hamilton College) 

A group of institutions is collaborating to identify what digital agility means in the liberal arts and to encourage the use of that definition to guide institutional initiatives that involve digital agility …

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Bryn Mawr’s Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts – CFP is Open!

LACOL

cropped-blendlac_logo_resized-2CALL FOR PROPOSALS – submit by Feb 16!

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference at Bryn Mawr College, May 20-21, 2020.

Submissions are now open for the Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference, to be held on May 20-21, 2020 at Bryn Mawr College. We are open to all topics related to blended learning in the liberal arts. Possible themes include:

  • Digital competencies, digital citizenship, and digital wellness
  • Experiential and service learning
  • Blended learning spaces, libraries and resource centers
  • Critical making
  • Emerging technologies
  • Task-based tech-mediated learning
  • Assistive technology and accessibility
  • Blended learning beyond the single course
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion in blended experiences

Submit by Feb. 16, 2019 at brynmawr.edu/blendedlearning/conference. Contact Jennifer Spohrer at blendedlearning@brynmawr.edu with questions.

Follow @BlendLAC

 

Introducing CHIANTI – language resources from LACOL

LACOL

visit chiantiWhat are some of the biggest rewards of learning a second language? As a student, what do you know now that you wish you had known as you began learning your language at college? As faculty, what one piece of advice would you give to students as they are about to start their language learning at college? What are models or maps that integrate all aspects of language learning?

These are just some of the questions to be explored through CHIANTI (https://chianti.lacol.net) a new shared resource for students and teachers of language at the college level.

Over the past year, faculty and language learning experts from across LACOL have been collaborating to develop the CHIANTI concept and prototype.  For students, an initial set of videos are posted that feature LACOL language instructors and students reflecting on the college-level language-learning experience. For language teachers, a self-curated online digital library of shareable tips and teaching resources is developing.

As an ongoing initiatve of the LACOL Language Instruction Working Group, the Chianti site  and team invites contributions from LACOL language instructors in the areas of: General tips for college-level language learning, including research on adult second-language (L2) acquisition. 2) English grammar for L2 learners including models or maps that integrate all aspects of language, 3) Phonology, and 4) An interactive glossary of grammatical and linguistic terms from which instructors can draw for their own pedagogical purposes and to which they can contribute their own definitions and examples. 

Go to CHIANTI

About Bowdoin College

LACOL

Bowdoin is a college and also an idea — that if you give smart, kind, young people access to one of the best educations on earth, they will use it to create good in the world.

Bowdoin College is historic. And selective. And rigorous.

But most importantly, we were founded and endowed with the belief that there is something bigger than ourselves.

What does it mean for a college to do the right thing?

It means building a curriculum that stretches what’s expected of the liberal arts.

For us, it means working for equality, diversity, and inclusion—in our coursework, our staffing, our student body, and our financial priorities.

It means researching and protecting our environment—from the coastal ecosystems that surround and sustain us, to the humid jungles and Arctic poles that inspired some of our earliest students.

A Bowdoin education brings context, history, integrity, and empathy to the world around us.

Who chooses Bowdoin?

Our alumni are scholars, writers, judges, entrepreneurs, business leaders, scientists, activists, tech giants, farmers, diplomats, artists, and conservationists.

Bowdoin graduates of all years are connected by a curious, restless thread that asks: what else can I do? Where can I find answers? Who brings a different perspective?

Who does Bowdoin choose?

We admit students of uncommon promise, and uncommon character. We look for bright minds who want to work together—and live together, eat together, and talk it out.

Gerrymandering in American Politics – blended learning at W&L

LACOL

by Mark Rush and Dick Kuettner

The gerrymandering controversy in American politics offers an ideal subject for a blended learning class that draws upon racial justice, electoral behavior, electoral reform, law, political science, data analysis, and the use of geographic information systems technology. We combined each of these themes into a class that entailed the practical application of GIS and data analysis skills to a contemporary public policy issue that animated the news as the U.S. Supreme Court prepared to issue its second gerrymandering decision in as many terms.

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Operations Research – Shared Course Opportunity, Spring 2020

LACOL

Shared LACOL Course: Operations Research
Instructor: Professor Steven J. Miller, Williams College
Enrollment Info for Students: http://bit.ly/ops-research (Fall 2019, Spring 2020)
Syllabus & Course Website: https://web.williams.edu/Mathematics/sjmiller/public_html/317Fa19
Course Flyer: Operations Research PDF
Topics and Objectives:

  1. The real world is complicated, requiring mathematicians to approximate solutions and even the statement of real world problems!
  2. While the chess scenario pictured above might appear to be a make-work problem, the efficient solution illustrates one of the most powerful ideas in mathematics, and allows us to tell in many cases how close we are to the optimal solution (even if we cannot find the optimal solution.)
  3. In this class, you will learn powerful methods from classical algorithms to advanced linear algebra and their applications to the real world, specifically linear programming and random matrix theory.
Video - S. Miller, Williams College
Click to Watch Video – S. Miller, Williams College

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Online Modules for Quantitative Skills: Exploring Adaption and Adoption Across LACOL

LACOL

Year 1 LACOL IUSE revisedLACOL has been awarded an IUSE grant from National Science Foundation for a project titled, “Online modules for quantitative skill building: Exploring adaption and adoption across a consortium”. This three-year project will research the adaption and adoption of face-to-face and online pedagogies for teaching quantitative skills (QS) with the aim of improving understanding of best practices for the development of online modules to support students’ QS development.

The project proposal was developed by Melissa Eblen-Zayas and Janet Russell of Carleton College and Laura Muller and Jonathan Leamon of Williams College based lessons learned from the QLAB pilot project.

Additional information about the project, including details about the project advisory board, a needs assessment survey for faculty, and opportunities for faculty and staff to get involved, will be be shared later this summer and into the fall through the QS Working Group Forum.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE for ongoing news!

Data Science in the Liberal Arts Workshop (June 2019)

LACOL

Event: Data Science in the Liberal Arts
Date & Location: June 6-7, 2019 at Washington and Lee University
Workshop Goals:

  • Agenda & Program (Background and Purpose)
  • Establishing a Think Tank on Data Science in the Liberal Arts
  • Taking hands on approaches to curating, developing, and sharing liberal arts pedagogies and teaching materials for data science that broadly engage and support our students across the disciplines.

Attendees: members and friends of the LACOL DS+ working group

Scroll down for workshop resources, slides, and video gallery

Keynote Talk:

Data Journalism as a Liberal Art
Prof. Amelia McNamara
Department of Computer & Information Sciences
University of St. Thomas

One of the main ways the general public encounters products of data analysis is through journalism. Data journalists strive to explain complex stories using visualization, statistics, and heavy use of contextualization. As we incorporate data science into the liberal arts, data journalism provides a case study as a field in which the sciences and the humanities are consciously linked. In this talk, I’ll discuss the history of data journalism, how I see it fitting into a liberal arts framework, and experiences from a class I taught on data journalism.

A. McNamara SLIDES

More Workshop Talks and Resources:

1. R. DeVeaux – Data Science for All? 

2. L. Heyer – Starting a Data Science Minor

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Introduction to Data Science (shared course)

LACOL

In Summer 2019 …

Introduction to Data Science (co-taught course, shared digitally)

Syllabus and FAQ: See course gateway

Learning Objectives:

  1. Familiarity and expertise in basic coding (R/RStudio).
  2. Understanding of theory and application of basic concepts in statistics.
  3. Ability to write and present technical material to diverse audiences.

Course Sequence:

  • Intensive 8-week course with data lab component (fully digital)
  • Student centered learning design including pre-recorded lectures, real-time lectures, and laboratory/supported work time
  • Course co-taught by instructors from LACOL schools 
  • Delivery is fully online with some scheduled and some asynchronous events.

Course Team: see course gateway

Lightning Talk – Learn about this project in just 6.5 minutes!


Presented May 22, 2019 at the Bryn Mawr Blended Learning Conference

Course Topics Include: Read More

Cultivating Student Leadership in a More Inclusive Liberal Arts Classroom

LACOL

Mini-Conference: Cultivating Student Leadership to Foster a More Inclusive Liberal Arts Classroom
Location: Amherst College Center for Teaching and Learning (Frost Library)
Date: April 5, 2019
Agenda: Student Leadership – April 5 Agenda
Invited Speaker: Bryan Dewsbury, University of Rhode Island
amherst CTLHost: Amherst College Center for Teaching and Learning in partnership with Being Human in STEM and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Read More

Sensemaker Team Data Review – April 4 at Amherst College

LACOL

Event: Exploring Complexity through Student Micro-Narratives with Sensemaker
Host: Sensemaker Team Leads (Kristen Eshleman, Brent Maher, Annie Sadler, Paul Youngman)
Date: April 4
Time: 1:00pm-5:00pm (optional group lunch at 12:00pm; details tba)
Location: The Powerhouse, Amherst College
Attendees: Sensemaker Teams (Davidson, Hamilton, Haverford, Washington & Lee)
Sensemaker: http://lacol.net/category/collaborations/projects/inclusive-pedagogies
Project Website: http://emergentedu.org

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Language Instruction Jam 2019

LACOL

BMC JamEvent: Language Instruction Jam
Location: Bryn Mawr College, Canaday Library
Date: March 23-24
Agenda: Language Jam Agenda
Attendees: Language Instruction working group and project teams

Full agenda & highlights:

  • CHIANTI: Ample time devoted to collaborative workshopping on CHIANTI, the shared teaching resource for college-level language instruction; participants will explore the resources that have been gathered so far (including student and faculty reflection videos on liberal arts language learning), brainstorm on ideas for the emerging platform, and work on building additional content.
  • SKILLS DASHBOARD: Demonstration and brainstorming on the language skills question bank and dashboard prototype – initially developed for French last year, with future possibilities for other languages.
  • DIGITAL TOOLS for LANGUAGE LEARNING: Colleagues across LACOL shared experiences with digital pedagogies and tools for language instruction. 

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