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Author: Bart Everson

Creative Generalist in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development at Xavier University of Louisiana

About Bart Everson

Creative Generalist in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development at Xavier University of Louisiana

Published on Leave a comment on Laudato Si study group

All Xavier faculty are encouraged to participate — and to invite your students!

Laudato Si study group

"Concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace."

These are the themes of Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si': On care for our common home, published this summer. World leaders and prominent scientists have praised it as a work of "enormous significance" and an "amazing gift" in the ongoing political struggle over climate change.

Please join our campus-wide study group in which we'll read and discuss this important work. Participants will receive a copy of the encyclical in book form. This is an interfaith effort, open to people of all faiths or no faith. Open to staff, faculty, and students.

First meeting will take place in UC 201, 4-5:30 PM, Monday, 26 October. We anticipate three meetings over the academic year as interest dictates.

Contact cat@xula.edu or call 520-5164 to register or for more information.

Sponsored by Campus Ministry, Department of Theology, Department of Political Science, and the Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Published on Leave a comment on Conversation #33: A Presidential Perspective on Higher Education

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Reynold Verret

A conversation with Reynold Verret on teaching, learning, and a presidential perspective on higher education.

Our teaching is nourished by our scholarship and our service is an application of our scholarship.

Prior to assuming the office of president this summer, Dr. Verret served as provost and chief academic officer for Savannah State University since 2012. Dr. Verret has also served also as provost at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and as Dean of the Misher College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. Dr. Verret also served on faculty at Tulane University and at Clark Atlanta University, where he was chair of the department of chemistry for many years.

As a scientist, Dr. Verret’s research interests have included the cytotoxicity of immune cells, biosensors and biomarkers. He has published in the fields of biological chemistry and immunology. He has served on many professional organizations and advisory bodies, including those of the National Institutes of Health, the Board of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and the Georgia Coastal Indicators Coalition.

Dr. Verret received his undergraduate degree cum laude in biochemistry from Columbia University and the Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Links for this episode:

Published on Leave a comment on Conversation #32: Time Management

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Roben Torosyan

A conversation with Roben Torosyan on teaching, learning, and time management.

Are we allowed to swear on this podcast?

Roben Torosyan has held full-time appointments at Columbia University, Pace University, New School University, Fairfield University, and since 2012 as director of teaching and learning at Bridgewater State University (Mass.). There Roben leads a team of 11 faculty receiving course releases to help improve learning by improving teaching institution-wide. He helped introduce a validated student rating system and core curriculum learning outcomes at Fairfield University. He worked to make writing a signature across seven different schools of New School University. He has facilitated 83 workshops or presentations, 42 of them invited, at conferences and institutions ranging from Harvard and Columbia to Suffolk University and Howard Community College. He brings expertise in reciprocal reflection on teaching, trust, conflict, facilitation, and time management. He has taught courses in philosophy, education, psychology and leadership — twelve as new course designs entirely. His work includes chapters on The Daily Show and philosophy and articles in New Directions in Teaching & Learning, To Improve the Academy, and The Teaching Professor. (CV and selected works)

Links for this episode:

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Published on 1 Comment on Conversation #31: Inverted Learning

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Aaron Sams

A conversation with Aaron Sams on inverted teaching and learning.

Most of what we're seeing in terms of the spread of this concept is really kind of a grassroots teacher-to-teacher thing.

Aaron Sams has been an educator since 2000 and is currently the Managing Director of FlippedClass.com, co-founder of The Flipped Learning Network, and is an Adjunct Professor at Saint Vincent College. He was awarded the 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching and was a Chemistry teacher in Woodland Park, CO and in Hacienda Heights, CA.

Links for this episode:

Published on Leave a comment on Who Assesses the Assessment?
More Questions Than Answers

Are we using assessment to find minor shortcomings in our teaching and curriculum, changing what we do in the hopes of remedying those shortcomings, and in the long run having no real positive effect on the quality of our graduates and institutions? Are we, in effect, finding and treating harmless academic microcarcinomas rather than real problems? And, if so, what might be the consequences of all this?

Has anyone looked into whether assessing student-learning outcomes over many years has made American colleges, or students, better in some way? Has anyone tried to compare institutions with different approaches to assessment? ... As best I can tell from a literature search and from asking people in the field the answer is "no."

Read: Does Assessment Make Colleges Better? Who Knows? by Erik Gilbert

Photo credit: More Questions Than Answers by Tom Waterhouse | CC BY-NC 2.0

Published on Leave a comment on NEWCITY: Data Projects

We are passing along this opportunity, which presents interesting possibilities for Xavier faculty who may be interested in working with these data sets for research and/or student learning projects.

data.path Ryoji.Ikeda - 3

Since 2008, NEWCITY has worked to collect extensive Community Impact Measurement (CIM) parcel and resident survey data in historic Treme/Lafitte, Tulane/Gravier and 7th Ward neighborhoods. Currently, NEWCITY is working to collect the 2015 data, and previously has collected 2008, 2011, and 2013 parcel survey data and 2013 resident survey data.

This data is available to NEWCITY members and working groups in raw or analyzed form. We would like to encourage members to submit data projects that will assist them in grant writing and informed decision making. Examples of how the data has previously been used to create maps can be found at newcitynola.org/data/.  Inputs that can be analyzed include occupancy, building use, property condition, residential satisfaction and opinions on the area, and more.  Additional analysis will also be offered for data points that address quality of life, public safety, transportation and public health.

If you have a data project that you would like to submit to NEWCITY please contact the NEWCITY Neighborhood Partnership Coordinator Ciara Stein at cstein@providencech.org or (504) 821 7236.

Image credit: data.path Ryoji.Ikeda - 3 by r2hox | CC BY-SA 2.0

Published on Leave a comment on Civil Rights leader DeRay McKesson to keynote Rising Tide X conference

For Immediate Release August 4, 2015:

The organizers of Rising Tide, the premier annual new media conference in the GulfSouth, are proud to announce that civil rights activist DeRay McKesson (@deray) will deliver the keynote speech at Rising Tide X (#RTX), Aug. 29 at Xavier University.

Since the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, McKesson has used social media to amplify protest and advocacy against oppressive systems. In the past year he has become one of the most widely-recognized civil rights leaders of his generation. His keynote, scheduled for 2pm, will highlight a full day of multi-track content at Rising Tide X.

Rising Tide organizer Mark Moseley said, "Part of Rising Tide's mission is to use technology to transform advocacy into action. No one has done that better over the past year than DeRay McKesson. He is at the forefront of an innovative digital movement to expose and resist systems of racial oppression. We thank him for accepting our invitation and look forward to his speech and presence in New Orleans on August 29."

Fortune magazine rated McKesson #11 on its list of “World’s Greatest Leaders.” The Los Angeles Times hailed McKesson as one of the “new civil rights leaders,” and New York Magazine profiled him in May and said he helped build the "nation’s first 21st-century civil rights movement."

For more on @DeRay, see his bio page.

Rising Tide X will be free admission. Organizers aim to have free lunch for attendees, as well, but this will be contingent on the amount of donations received on the RTX Go Fund Me page.

The 10th annual Rising Tide New Media Conference will be held from 9am-5pm at the University Center at Xavier University of Louisiana, 1 Drexel Drive, New Orleans, Louisiana 70125 on August 29, 2015.

Contact:

Mark Moseley
RTX organizer
oystersliq@gmail.com
504-481-5407

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Published on Leave a comment on Expanding Our Scope

by Bart Everson

Spirostar I

Xavier faculty certainly do a lot to advance the University's mission.

That's why here at CAT we are excited to be expanding the scope of our support for Xavier's faculty. Our newly revised mission is focused on "the development of faculty across all career stages and areas of professional responsibility."

Read our complete statement of Mission, Vision & Values.

Photo credit: "Spirostar I" by Heartlover1717

Published on Leave a comment on Digital Storytelling for Teaching and Learning

by Bart Everson

Many teachers know about the power of storytelling in the college classroom. You might start class with a personal story, which helps you connect with your students, or helps your students connect with the course content. You might even get your students telling stories to one another.

Less well known, perhaps, is the power of digital storytelling — of using digital technology to tell stories. This takes a little more doing, but with today's tools it's not as hard as it might seem. Write a script, record your voice, throw in some photos and background music — voilà!

As an an example, I'd like to point you to The Joy of Summer by Lisa Garza.

For teachers, this can be a new avenue for delivering your own stories to your students. It can also be an exciting assignment for your students; properly integrated into the course as a whole and combined with reflection, it can lead to a truly transformative experience.

Of course, there are some great resources to help you get started. The Center for Digital Storytelling is the premier organization that has championed this new form. You'll also want to check out Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling from the University of Houston.

If you’d like CAT to offer a workshop on this topic, leave a comment.