INFORMATION REGARDING THE 2006 PROVOST SEMINAR ON TEACHING & LEARNING:

VIEW: AGENDA | DISCUSSIONS | POSTER SHOWCASE

On Monday, January 9, 2006, CNDLS joined with Provost James J. O'Donnell in hosting the first Provost's Seminar on Teaching and Learning at Georgetown, with the theme: "The Georgetown Learning Environment: What do we know? Where are we headed?"

This day began with a panel on "Understanding Georgetown's Students and the Academic Learning Experience," including reports on the latest Georgetown Senior Survey and the current state of study abroad. The morning plenary was followed by four concurrent discussions about particular approaches or innovations in teaching; the event concluded with a luncheon where Provost O'Donnell will speak and lead a discussion on future directions for learning at Georgetown.

The Provost's Seminar on Teaching and Learning also included announcements and discussion of new grant and funding opportunities for faculty offered through the Undergraduate Learning Initiative (ULI).

Throughout the week of January 9, 2006 CNDLS showcased new and creative methods of teaching and learning through poster displays in the ICC Galleria.

AGENDA

"The Georgetown Learning Environment: What do we know? Where are we headed?"

9:00 - 9:30 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
McNeir Auditorium, New North G001

9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
McNeir Auditorium, New North G001

Welcome, Provost Jim O'Donnell
Panel and Discussion: "Understanding Georgetown Students and the Academic Learning Experience"
Michael McGuire, Director, Office of Planning and Institutional Research, "The 2005 Senior Survey: How Georgetown Students Perceive their Learning Experience"
Kathy Bellows, Director, Office of International Programs, "The Current State of Study Abroad as a Component of the Georgetown Learning Environment."
Dennis Quinn, Assistant Provost, International Initiatives, "Georgetown as a Global University: Students and Image"
Robert Cumby, Professor of Economics; President, Main Campus Executive Faculty, "The Intellectual Life Report: Ten Years After."

11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
New North, Healy Hall, and ICC
Discussions (view more details on each session)

These concurrent sessions will explore different directions for innovation in the undergraduate curriculum through discussion of expectations about student achievement, examples from Georgetown and other institutions, and new directions for teaching and learningsupported by current resources and new ULI grant opportunities.

1. "Rethinking the Lower Division Learning Experience in Large and Medium Enrollment Courses"
2. "Innovations in Connecting Experiential to Curricular Learning: Study Abroad, Internships, and Community-based Learning"
3. "Integrating Research into Courses: New Approaches and Opportunities"
4. "Learning Technologies Expanding the Classroom: Blogs and Beyond"

12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Copley Formal Lounge
Luncheon
Provost O'Donnell speaking and leading discussion on future directions for the Georgetown Learning environment.

Announcements and discussion of new grant and funding opportunities connected to the Undergraduate Learning Initiative (ULI).

DISCUSSIONS

"Rethinking the Lower Division Learning Experience in Large and Medium Enrollment Courses"

This session will look at a wide range of ways to enhance and revise the student learning experience in non-seminar courses in the lower division across the Main Campus. How do first year courses help communicate to students high expectations for college work? How might they introduce students to faculty as researchers and the value of scholarship? What are the possibilities for helping students engage in active learning and to become more independent learners, even in larger course experiences? How might we connect first year courses to other courses or non-classroom-based intellectual experiences, as a way of enriching the lower division experience? This session will look at examples from Georgetown and elsewhere for revising lower division courses, ranging from pedagogical practices to more radical redesigns.

"Innovations in Connecting Experiential to Curricular Learning: Study Abroad, Internships, and Community-based Learning"

This session will focus on how pedagogies within a course or program can link out-of-class learning experiences back to the classroom. How can we strengthen and enrich the 'circle of impact' linking meaningful out-of-class learning experiences (on and off campus) back to the academic curriculum? What structures can we put in place before, during, or after out-of-class experiences and study abroad to help shape students' experiences and consolidate their learning? What opportunities might we imagine for making the experiences of students meaningful to other students (widen the circle of impact)? Nate Hultman (SFS) and Serafina Hager (Italian) will contribute Georgetown examples to this discussion.

"Integrating Research into Courses: New Approaches and Opportunities"

Discussion in this session will focus on the challenge of cultivating students' research skills, and helping them to see the value and learn the practice of a researching scholar. How might a faculty member model good research practices as they plan and teach their courses? How does one introduce students to authentic research practices and skills in the discipline, even while teaching disciplinary content? What sorts of research assignments help students learn to take ownership of a meaningful research question, grasping its complexities and its depth? In this session we will explore these and other questions while looking at approaches used here at Georgetown and at other universities.

"Learning Technologies Expanding the Classroom: Blogs and Beyond"

This hands-on session will explore how recent technologies can be used by students and faculty alike to create, collaborate, and communicate in new ways. How might such tools as blogs and wikis, now being widely used outside the academy, be used to enhance teaching and learning? How might the use of these and other tools—known collectively as "social software"—reframe the boundaries of the classroom, boundaries between the different classes a student is taking one semester and the boundaries separating one semester from the next? This session will give you a chance to see what's coming down the road in new technologies (including commercial software, applications currently available at Georgetown, and tools still under development) and a chance to help define Georgetown's vision for next generation technology for teaching and learning.

POSTER SHOWCASE

Posters showcasing innovative student, faculty, and committee work will be displayed in the ICC Galleria Monday, January 9th—Friday, January 13th. Many of these posters touch upon themes central to the Undergraduate Learning Initiative, including new this year: