Reading Circles

Reading Circles bring educators together for cross-disciplinary conversation to build knowledge, community and collaboration.

• Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science to Online Classes
   

  Purpose:

  To provide UofL faculty and staff the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of learning theory and cognitive psychology by reading a common book about learning theory.

  Audience:

  Faculty and staff interested in the topic, with special outreach to faculty new to teaching in online or hybrid formats during the pandemic. This reading circle is limited to eight participants.

  Facilitator:

  Jen Anderson, Teaching Innovation Learning Lab

  Lauren Fletcher, Department of Special Education, Early Childhood and Prevention Science

  Meeting Dates:

  Reading circles take place monthly on Tuesdays, noon - 1 p.m., synchronously via Blackboard Collaborate.

  • January 26
  • February 23
  • March 23
  • April 20

  Description:

  Join us as we read Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science to Online Classes by learning science scholars Flower Darby and James Lang. The concept of small teaching is simple: small and strategic changes have enormous power to improve student learning. Instructors face unique and specific challenges when teaching an online course. This book offers “small” teaching strategies that will positively impact the online classroom.

  As faculty, we are at a crossroads with the current conditions based on the COVID-19 pandemic. Reading this book together offers insights and practical approaches to address how to foster student learning as we agilely move in and out of hybrid teaching situations. Our group will meet four times over the course of the spring semester.

  Some of the questions we will examine include:

  • What are some research-based strategies related to facilitating knowledge and promoting understanding; and how do they translate into our own teaching practices?
  • What are good practices to motivate learners in the online context and how do they relate to student learning?
  • How can we harness ready resources for online course design and daily management when teaching in the online/hybrid environment?

  This Reading Circle has reached capacity and registration is now closed.

  For more information, please contact Jen Anderson at jen.anderson@louisville.edu or 502-852-8053.

• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations about Race
   

  Purpose:

  To provide UofL faculty and staff the opportunity to deepen conversations about race and inclusive pedagogy in support of the university’s strategic mission.

  Audience:

  Faculty and staff interested in the topic, with special outreach to faculty looking to engage in a safe community space with other faculty interested in diversity, inclusion, and inclusive teaching practices. This reading circle is limited to eight participants.

  Facilitators:

  Nisha Gupta, Ph.D., Specialist for Faculty Development, Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning

  Ishwanzya D. Rivers, Ph.D., Clinical Assistant Professor, Higher Education Administration Program, College of Education and Human Development

  Meeting Dates/Times:

  Reading circles take place monthly on Wednesdays, 6 – 7:15 p.m., synchronously via Microsoft Teams.

  • January 27
  • February 17
  • March 17
  • April 7

  Join us as we read Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations about Race, now in its 20th anniversary edition, by Beverly Daniel Tatum. Dr. Tatum is president emerita of Spelman College and a thought-leader in higher education. She was the 2013 recipient of the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award and the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. Dr. Tatum will be joining us as the keynote speaker for the 2021 Celebration of Teaching and Learning on Friday, February 5.

  Join us as we engage with the questions raised in this book title while also considering the implications for teaching and learning at UofL. Our group will meet four times over the course of the spring semester.

  Some of the questions we will examine include:

  • How might we begin to talk about race with our students?
  • What are good practices of inclusive teaching?
  • How can we support one another in addressing these questions in our teaching?

  This session is already full. Sign up for the wait list to be notified if an opening becomes available.

  
  

  Wait List Registration

  
  

  For more information, please contact Nisha Gupta, nisha.gupta@louisville.edu or 502-852-5104.