Classroom Connections: CiTE Conversations on Teaching and Learning

In this month's podcast, Art and Design professors Fo Wilson and Taylor Hokanson discuss some of the creative class projects that can get students engaged in fun and interesting ways. They focus on interactive and immersive activities that can be done during Weeks 1 and 2 of the school year—so that the trajectory of students’ experiences can be meaningfully impacted going forward.

In this month's podcast, Audio Arts and Acoustics instructor Scott Lee talks about his experience in flipping his classroom. In last month’s podcast, Scott let us know what it actually took to flip his class. And this month, we’ll take a look at how it went, what he’s learned, and why he’s “never looking back.”

In this month's podcast, Audio Arts and Acoustics instructor Scott Lee talks about his experience in flipping his classroom. He lets us know exactly what flipping your class is all about (which has been ‘all the rage’ in the world of pedagogical theory lately) as well as the nitty gritty details about how he actually went about doing it.

In this month's podcast, Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Professor Dr. Kelly Page talks about how she uses Twitter to engage students in and out of the classroom on a variety of topics. She tells us how creative hash-tagging can contribute to dynamic class discussions, as well as how she brings in guest "tweeters" to interact with her students from across the globe!

In this month's podcast, Fiction Writing Instructor Bobby Biedrzycki (2013 ETA winner) talks about how he focuses on building a tight-knit classroom community, where everyone has a distinct role and brings specific strengths to the table—as well as how they can use these strengths and skills outside of the classroom. He also shares his ideas of encouraging different types of risk-taking within the classroom, as well as what it takes to work with challenging students who don't always adhere to the "community" dynamics.

In this month's podcast, Journalism Professor Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin (2013 ETA winner) discusses the importance of letting students assume positions of leadership within a project-oriented classroom. She talks about the distinctive act of training and mentoring students through a given task at the beginning of the semester, and then slowly stepping back to let the students take the lead as the semester progresses. She also examines the essentials of "trust" within this dynamic, as well as the invaluable coaching skills she's learned from her role as a kayaking coach.

In this month's podcast, Interactive Arts and Media Professor Niki Nolin gives us her philosophy about what it takes to be a successful collaborator in the classroom environment. Specifically, she discusses an exciting cross-curricular effort between her students in IAM and Onye Ozuzu's students in the Dance department. Together, they explore the questions—"How can the human body be leveraged as a technology, and how can the tactile become the visual?"—as they intricately combine live performance with video projections and sounds.

In this month's podcast, Television Professor, Beau Beaudoin, takes us through the process of creating the Culture, Race and Media curriculum, which grew over the years from a single course to an 18-multi-section course. She talks about how she designed the class to give students proper exposure to analyze and discuss the ethics and implications of media in a variety of different subject areas (culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social class, age, and ability).

In this month's podcast, Director of Evaluation and Assessment, Jonathan Keiser, talks about how faculty use student course evaluations to improve their teaching and their students' experience in the classroom. He discusses exactly how the college came up with the questions, as well as how the data is used. He also dispels several myths and inaccuracies about the student course evaluation process.

In this month's podcast, Director of Evaluation and Assessment, Jonathan Keiser, discusses Columbia College's philosophy and practice of student assessment in order to form an effective "improvement loop" to improve student learning. He tells us about how the Columbia uses assessment data, and also gives specific examples on how curriculum and teaching have changed as a result of assessment.

In this month's podcast, Adjunct Theater Professor, Kimberly Senior, discusses how she caters to her students' various learning styles through assigning heavily immersive classroom activities that combine discussion, performance, reading, research, writing, group work, and mentoring. She also talks about how she's seen learning styles evolve over her time teaching.

In this month's podcast, Professor of Fiction Writing, Lisa Schlesinger (Columbia College Excellence in Teaching Award winner, 2012) discusses how she emphasizes process over product in her fiction writing and screenwriting courses. Her students explore how to explore problems and find solutions in multiple styles and genres—at different phases of the writing process.

In this follow-up podcast, Steven talks about how he encourages collaboration and cooperation among his students in the classroom and beyond.

In this month's podcast, Adjunct Professor of English, Steven Teref (Columbia College Excellence in Teaching Award winner, 2012) discusses how he engages with students through forging connections from the classroom to the real world. He talks about several classroom exercises he uses to draw these connections and begin thinking more deeply and effectively.

In this month's podcast, Professor of Film Sue Mroz (Columbia College Excellence in Teaching Award winner, 2011) discusses how she establishes an environment in which students can feel safe to express their vulnerabilities, emotions and fears in order to take charge of their own ideas and creative process.

In this month's podcast, Professor of History Dominic Pacyga (Columbia College Excellence in Teaching Award winner, 2011) discusses his approach to teaching such a diverse student body as that at Columbia College Chicago. He also discusses how he uses history to empower his students to embrace the art of critical thinking.

In this month's podcast, Michele Hoffman-Trotter (Columbia College Excellence in Teaching Award winner, 2011) talks about being a science teacher at an art school. She challenges her artistic students to think about how they use the scientific method of inquiry every day to solve problems. She also discusses how she gets her students to trust observation and the deductive power of reasoning.

In this month's podcast, Dr. Sharon Silverman talks about metacognition—specifically, when students go through the process of truly controlling and regulating their own learning, without trying to perform rote memorization. Join us as we discuss how students can best set goals and self-assess their progress.

In this month's podcast, Dr. Sharon Silverman talks about what makes some students more successful and motivated than others. Join us as we talk about how student success can be tied to the adoption of a "growth mindset," as well as working closely with a MKO (more knowledgeable other).