Faculty Cohorts On Teaching
The CTE’s Faculty Cohorts on Teaching program seeks to bring faculty together to explore innovative approaches to significant teaching and learning questions. Participating faculty spend a year investigating a new pedagogical or course design approach to be implemented in at least one of the courses they teach. A late spring kick-off meeting sets the stage for the conversation, and then monthly seminar meetings during the academic year are organized around relevant readings in the pedagogical literature and case studies developed by cohort participants.
All Boston College faculty are eligible to participate.
Any questions about Faculty Cohorts in general—or about the specific cohorts being offered next year—can be directed to centerforteaching@bc.edu.
Participating faculty receive a $2,500 stipend and the opportunity to interact with an engaged group of colleagues. Please note that individuals who have administrative roles and teach are eligible to participate in a cohort but ineligible to receive the stipend, as per Boston College policy. Faculty who choose to participate can expect to:
- attend a kick-off meeting the spring before the cohort launches;
- participate in monthly cohort meetings during the academic year;
- develop a short teaching case to be shared with other members of the cohort;
- experiment with at least one significant revision to their teaching during the cohort year; and
- submit a brief final report within one month of concluding the cohort, as well as participate in other assessments the CTE conducts of the cohort program.
Applications for the 2021-22 Faculty Cohorts on Teaching are due on March 1st, 2021. Interested faculty are asked to submit a brief online application for either the Teaching for Inclusion and Social Justice cohort or Traditions of Formation and Our Teaching cohort that includes a project proposal explaining what they hope to gain from their cohort participation.
Applicants are asked to have their department chair send a very brief email to centerforteaching@bc.edu indicating their support of the applicant’s participation in the cohort. Part-time faculty are asked to have their chair speak specifically to the ways the department will benefit from their participation.
Teaching For Inclusion And Social Justice
As institutions of higher education welcome increasingly diverse student bodies and seek to cultivate more inclusive and just learning environments, faculty can sometimes struggle to carve out classroom spaces that support all students in their learning. The question of inclusion and social justice in the classroom has implications for all parts of our practice: pedagogical approach, classroom interaction, and curriculum development.
The “Teaching for Inclusion and Social Justice” cohort invites faculty to participate in a year-long inquiry into this complex pedagogical puzzle. All participants are asked to identify at least one new pedagogical strategy they want to implement in one of their courses meant to improve either the inclusiveness of their course content or their classroom climate. We seek faculty from a range of disciplines to participate, particularly those whose subject matter doesn’t necessarily lend itself to discussions of “diversity.” Although we welcome a broad definition of inclusion and justice in this conversation, we focus most of our emphasis around questions of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and ability.
Traditions Of Formation And Our Teaching
At its best, education is holistic, not just imparting skills and knowledge but inviting the growth of our students into individuals who see themselves within a greater purpose and who see a meaning to what they learn that transcends and integrates subject matter. This shared ideal of formation can take shape differently in our respective settings, which vary by level of study as well as by field, and can reflect our different positionalities and perspectives.
This cohort invites faculty to join in a year-long inquiry where they will reflect on what formation means in their teaching, beginning with an investigation of resources from developmental psychology, anti-oppressive pedagogies, and Jesuit pedagogy and spirituality. We will consider how our own formation affects our work with students, and what is distinctive about formation at BC. All participants will be asked to propose and implement a change in their teaching to further student formation as a goal in itself. We seek faculty from a range of disciplines to participate, especially those whose subject matter doesn’t necessarily lend itself to discussions of formation.
Traditions of Formation and Our Teaching
At its best, education is holistic, not just imparting skills and knowledge but inviting the growth of our students into individuals who see themselves within a greater purpose and who see a meaning to what they learn that transcends and integrates subject matter. This shared ideal of formation can take shape differently in our respective settings, which vary by level of study as well as by field, and can reflect our different positionalities and perspectives.
This cohort invites faculty to join in a year-long inquiry where they will reflect on what formation means in their teaching, beginning with an investigation of resources from developmental psychology, anti-oppressive pedagogies, and Jesuit pedagogy and spirituality. We will consider how our own formation affects our work with students, and what is distinctive about formation at BC. All participants will be asked to propose and implement a change in their teaching to further student formation as a goal in itself. We seek faculty from a range of disciplines to participate, especially those whose subject matter doesn’t necessarily lend itself to discussions of formation.
The 2020-21 participants include:
- Karen Arnold (LSEHD)
- Jessica Black (SSW)
- Melissa Brown (SSW)
- Nicole Eaton (History)
- Martha Hincks (English)
- Anna Karpovsky (CSOM)
- Matthew Petillo (Theology)
- Christopher Polt (Classical Studies)
- Katie Rapier (Philosophy)
- Meghan Sweeney (Theology)
Teaching For Inclusion And Social Justice
As institutions of higher education welcome increasingly diverse student bodies and seek to expand the diversity of perspectives reflected in their curricula, faculty can sometimes struggle to carve out classroom spaces that support all students as they strive to meet their learning goals. The question of inclusion and social justice in the classroom has implications for all parts of our practice: pedagogical approach, classroom interaction, and curriculum development.
The “Teaching for Inclusion and Social Justice” cohort invites faculty to participate in a year-long inquiry into this complex pedagogical puzzle. All participants are asked to identify at least one new pedagogical strategy they want to implement in one of their courses meant to improve either the inclusiveness of their course content or their classroom climate. We seek faculty from a range of disciplines to participate, particularly those whose subject matter doesn’t necessarily lend itself to discussions of “diversity.” Although we welcome a broad definition of inclusion and justice in this conversation, we focus most of our emphasis around questions of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and ability.
The 2020-21 participants include:
- Donna Cullinan (CSON)
- Rebecca Franckle (Biology)
- Hanne Eisenfeld (Classical Studies)
- Nancy Kimelman (Economics)
- Alejandro Olayo-Méndez (SSW)
- Hilary Palevsky (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
- Akua Sarr (Office of the Provost)
- Sylvia Sellers-García (History)
- Rachel Spooner (CSOM)
- Nam Wook Kim (Computer Scicence)
Called To Serve: Preparing Students For Careers Working With And For Others
This cohort explores the particular pedagogical demands associated with preparing students to enter careers centered around service to others: careers where the (physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual) health and well-being of others are at stake and where civic and ethical responsibility is paramount. Among the questions participants explored:
- How do we professionalize our students while also inviting them into critiques of the profession?
- How do we balance the teaching of technical skills with the formation of students’ professional identities and dispositions (towards collaboration, personal commitment, leadership, etc.)?
- Should student “self-care” be on the syllabus? How can we prepare students to care for themselves as they enter fields focused on caring for others?
- How do we appropriately judge and grade someone's ability to be an effective practitioner?
- What are the different challenges and opportunities of teaching undergraduates vs. graduate students in this liberal arts context?
Although the “Called to Serve” cohort is most obviously geared towards faculty teaching in BC’s professional schools, the cohort is open to all interested faculty at BC. The 2018-19 participants included:
- Susan Coleman (SSW)
- Andrew Davis (STM)
- Angela Harkins (STM)
- Laura Anne Lowery (Biology)
- Colleen Simonelli (CSON)
- Samantha Teixeira (SSW)
- Jon Wargo (LSOE)
- James Weiss (Theology)
- Celeste Wells (Communication)
Teaching For Inclusion And Social Justice
As institutions of higher education welcome increasingly diverse student bodies and seek to expand the diversity of perspectives reflected in their curricula, faculty can sometimes struggle to carve out classroom spaces that support all students as they strive to meet their learning goals. The question of inclusion and social justice in the classroom has implications for all parts of our practice: pedagogical approach, classroom interaction, and curriculum development.
The “Teaching for Inclusion and Social Justice” cohort invites faculty to participate in a year-long inquiry into this complex pedagogical puzzle. All participants are asked to identify at least one new pedagogical strategy they want to implement in one of their courses meant to improve either the inclusiveness of their course content or their classroom climate. We seek faculty from a range of disciplines to participate, particularly those whose subject matter doesn’t necessarily lend itself to discussions of “diversity.” Although we welcome a broad definition of inclusion and justice in this conversation, we focus most of our emphasis around questions of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and ability. The 2018-19 participants included:
- Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones (Theology & African and African Diaspora Studies)
- Melissa Brown (SSW)
- Andrés Castro Samayoa (LSOE)
- Fugan Dineen (Music)
- Cherie McGill (Philosophy)
- Babak Momeni (Biology)
- Heather Olins (Biology)
- Tracy Regan (Economics)
- Bill Roozeboom (STM)
- Heather Rowan-Kenyon (LSOE)
- Anjali Vats (Communication & African and African Diaspora Studies)
- Catherine Warner (History)
Teaching For Inclusion And Social Justice
As institutions of higher education welcome increasingly diverse student bodies and seek to expand the diversity of perspectives reflected in their curricula, faculty can sometimes struggle to carve out classroom spaces that support all students as they strive to meet their learning goals. The question of inclusion and social justice in the classroom has implications for all parts of our practice: curriculum development, pedagogical approach, and classroom interaction.
The “Teaching for Inclusion and Social Justice” cohort invites faculty to participate in a year-long inquiry into this complex pedagogical puzzle. All participants were asked to identify at least one new strategy they want to implement in one of their courses meant to improve either the inclusiveness of their course content or their classroom climate. We seek faculty from a range of disciplines to participate, particularly those whose subject matter doesn’t necessarily lend itself to discussions of “diversity.” Although we welcome a broad definition of inclusion and justice in this conversation, we focused most of our emphasis around questions of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and ability.
- Audrey Friedman (Teacher Education, Special Education, and Curriculum and Instruction)
- Lori Harrison-Kahan (English)
- Melissa Kelley (STM)
- Margaret Lombe (Social Work)
- Timothy Mangin (Music)
- Nelson Portillo (Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology)
- Jennie Purnell (Political Science)
- Colleen Simonelli (Nursing)
- Christopher Stroup (STM)
- Laura Tanner (English)
- Brian Zimmerman (English)
Simulations In The Classroom
Simulations are being used by Boston College instructors across a range of academic disciplines to provide an engaged and interactive learning experience for their students. The purpose of the ‘Simulations in the Classroom Cohort’ was to connect these instructors and bring them together to share their knowledge and experiences with participants looking for guidance and support in refining their existing simulations with new and innovative practices, as well as those interested in exploring the use of simulations in their teaching for the first time.
The CTE defines simulations broadly as interactive experiences designed to teach students particular content or competencies by having them engage directly with the information or the skills being learned. This can take many forms, such as: a medical procedure taking place in an emergency room; member states of the European Union in a simulated summit; role playing key philosophers critiquing a specific text; or teams of students simulating chemical reactions to solve a problem.
Participants were asked to either incorporate a simulation into their teaching for the first time or identify one new strategy they want to implement into their existing simulations.
- Kathleen Bailey (Political Science)
- Sharon Beckman (Law)
- Sarah Ehrich (English)
- Jennifer Erickson (Political Science)
- Elida Laski (Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology)
- Scott McDermott (Business Law and Society)
- Theresa O’Keefe (STM)
- Lindsey O’Rourke (Political Science)
- Erik Owens (Theology)
- Delvon Parker (Operations Management)
- Tracy Regan (Economics)
- Carolyn Romano (Social Work)
- Margaret Thomas (Slavic & Eastern Languages and Literatures)
- Susan Tohn (Social Work)
Creating Inclusive Classrooms
As institutions of higher education welcome increasingly diverse student bodies and seek to expand the diversity of perspectives reflected in their curricula, faculty can sometimes struggle to carve out classroom spaces that support all students as they strive to meet their learning goals. The question of inclusion in the classroom has implications for all parts of our practice: curriculum development, pedagogical approach, and classroom interaction.
The “Creating Inclusive Classrooms” cohort invited faculty to participate in a year-long inquiry into this complex pedagogical puzzle. All participants were asked to identify at least one new strategy they wanted to implement in one of their courses meant to improve either the inclusiveness of their course content or their classroom climate. We sought faculty from a range of disciplines to participate, particularly those whose subject matter didn't necessarily lend itself to discussions of “diversity.” Although we welcomed a broad definition of inclusion in this conversation, we focused most of our emphasis around questions of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and ability.
- Yonder Gillihan (Theology)
- Annie Homza (Teacher Education)
- David Scanlon (Teacher Education)
- Eve Spangler (Sociology)
- Sherri St. Pierre (Nursing)
- Meghan Sweeney (Theology)
- Susan Tohn (Social Work)
- Celeste Wells (Communication)
Contemplative Pedagogies
Instructors at Boston College and other schools have begun to introduce contemplative pedagogies into their classroom practice. These pedagogies can take a wide variety of forms, ranging from beginning each class period with a moment of silence to classroom activities that encourage students to reflect more deeply on implications of the disciplinary material they are learning for their lives outside the classroom. The Center for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education offers both examples and resources. Instructors incorporating these practices teach in a wide range of disciplinary and professional fields, and we encouraged applications from faculty across the university. Participating faculty explored the use of such practices in their own teaching. The cohort was open not only to faculty who had already begun to integrate contemplative pedagogies into their classes but also to faculty who were only beginning to consider their use. All participants were asked to identify at least one contemplative practice to integrate into their teaching and commit to exploring with their faculty colleagues the effectiveness of these practices.
- Karen Arnold (Education Leadership and Higher Education)
- Can Erbil (Economics)
- Angela Harkins (STM)
- Oh Myo Kim (Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology)
- Paul Kline (Social Work)
- Julie MacEvoy (Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology)
- Paula Mathieu (English)
- Shawn McGuffey (Sociology)
- Franco Mormando (Romance Languages and Literatures)
- Matthew Petillo (Theology)
- Alan Richardson (English)
- Patricia Riggin (Theater)
- David Storey (Philosophy)
- Laura Tanner (English)
- Laura White (Nursing)
- Brian Zimmerman (English)
Hybrid Course Design
The Academic Technology Advisory Board (ATAB), a committee of the Office of the Provost that supports the innovative use of technology in teaching, generously funded the Hybrid Course Design cohort for 2016-2017 as part of their Special Projects funding. ATAB sought applications from faculty who were interested in transforming a face-to-face course into a hybrid course. Faculty were expected to redesign one of their 2016-2017 courses so that at least 25% of it took place online. Faculty were asked to plan for incorporating innovative uses of technology that went beyond the use of native tools already in Canvas (e.g. Panopto, discussion boards). Specific examples included animation, creative embedding of video materials, simulations, and interactive material for assessment. Whether a hybrid course was the end goal -- or this was a stepping stone on the way to developing a fully-online course -- we welcomed instructors' interest in the cohort.
- Jessica Black (Social Work)
- Vincent Cho (Educational Leadership and Higher Education)
- Mary Cronin (Information Systems)
- Ikram Easton (Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures)
- Nicole Eaton (History)
- Larry Ludlow (Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation)
- Sam Richardson (Economics)
- Laura Rumbley (Educational Leadership and Higher Education)
- Martin Scanlan (Educational Leadership and Higher Education)
MediaKron
The Academic Technology Advisory Board (ATAB), a committee of the Office of the Provost that supports the innovative use of technology in teaching, generously funded the MediaKron cohort for 2016-2017 as part of their Special Projects funding. ATAB sought applications from faculty who were interested in developing a MediaKron project for one of their 2016-2017 courses. MediaKron is a web-based toolkit for digital thinking and storytelling developed at Boston College for Boston College faculty. Faculty have found MediaKron a useful tool both for organizing and communicating content to their students and as a platform for students to engage in multimedia projects as part of the course. Inviting students to go beyond the traditional essay can open up new possibilities for creative and critical engagement with the course. Visit the MediaKron website to see examples of past MediaKron projects.
- Daniel Bowles (German Studies)
- James Bretzke (STM)
- Belle Liang (Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology)
- Ernesto Livon-Grosman (Romance Languages and Literatures)
- Karen Miller (History)
- Catherine Mooney (STM)
- Christopher Polt (Classical Studies)
- Nelson Portillo (Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology)
- Rita Rosenthal (Communication)
- Sarah Ross (History)
- Samantha Teixeira (Social Work)
- Cinthya Torres (Romance Languages and Literatures)
- Robin Wood (Nursing)
Flipped Classroom
As more faculty 'flip' their classrooms at Boston College, the Center for Teaching Excellence convened this cohort for instructors to think together about how to approach this pedagogical shift with their students. In this cohort participants considered key factors such as: the level of the course, the subject matter of the course, the size of the course, the instructor’s own familiarity with the flipped classroom, the ways in which the course is being flipped, and the way the rest of that instructor’s department and school are integrating flipped pedagogy.
- Mike Barnett (Teacher Education)
- Maureen Connolly (Nursing)
- Nanci Haze (Nursing)
- Annie Homza (Teacher Education)
- Sean MacEvoy (Psychology)
- Colleen Simonelli (Nursing)
- Carolyn Wilson (Accounting)
- Pete Wilson (Accounting)
- Ellen Winner (Psychology)
- George Wyner (Information Systems)
MediaKron
The Academic Technology Advisory Board (ATAB), a committee of the Office of the Provost that supports the innovative use of technology in teaching, generously funded the MediaKron cohort for 2015-2016 as part of their Special Projects funding. ATAB sought applications from faculty who were interested in developing a MediaKron project for one of their 2015-2016 courses. MediaKron is a web-based toolkit for digital thinking and storytelling developed at Boston College for Boston College faculty. Faculty have found MediaKron a useful tool both for organizing and communicating content to their students and as a platform for students to engage in multimedia projects as part of the course. Inviting students to go beyond the traditional essay can open up new possibilities for creative and critical engagement with the course. Visit the MediaKron website to see examples of past MediaKron projects.
- Scott Cummings (Theater)
- Stephanie Leone (Art History)
- Nancy Netzer (Art History)
- Joe Nugent (English)
- Bonnie Rudner (English)
- Johann Sadock (Romance Languages and Literatures)
- Martin Scanlan (Educational Leadership and Higher Education)
- David Scanlon (Teacher Education)
- Laurie Shepard (Romance Languages and Literatures)
- Amy Smith (Nursing)
- Eric Weiskott (English)
- Laura White (Nursing)
- Christopher Wilson (English)
- Lichuan Ye (Nursing)