Summer Teaching Symposium: Back to the Future

Thursday, Aug. 12 | 10 a.m. – Noon
Join the Zoom

The fall 2021 semester promises a return to normal — but what will "normal" really look like? We are facing an incoming class that has been out of the classroom during the pandemic, returning students who have struggled with changing modalities and expectations, and a community that has faced many anxieties and losses during COVID-19.

Our summer teaching symposium is a time for College of Engineering and Applied Science faculty to come together to discuss how we continue to build a system of respect, trust, community, engagement and resilience in a place that looks familiar but is radically different in many ways. We will work to produce a takeaway artifact for attendees that highlights the lessons we've learned together that we can take into our new future. 

Symposium Goals

  • Think through the challenges facing teachers in the unknown and potentially hybrid environment
  • Discuss engagement and project-based assessment techniques as teaching principles focused on inquiry and synthesis rather than content mastery
  • Create a vision statement or theses for our post-pandemic educational reality, to be memorialized in an artifact for attendees

Symposium Agenda  

10–10:10 a.m.: Introduction

  • Welcome from Acting Dean Keith Molenaar
  • Welcome from Associate Dean for Digital Education William Kuskin 

10:10–10:30 a.m.: Plenary

  • Student engagement, featuring Scot Douglass, founding director of the Engineering Honors Program 

10:30–11:25 a.m.: Breakout Rooms

20 minutes each, with each session repeated twice

  • Technology: Discussion of classroom technology and needs
    Presenter: Aisha Jackson (AVC/AVP for Academic and Learning Technologies) and Julian Kinsman (OIT) | Moderator: Jem Corcoran
  • Creating Proactive Community: Panelists from CAPS, OVA and Health Promotion will discuss how the social and political higher education context of the past 18 months has impacted student wellbeing and strategies for supporting students as they transition back to a new normal.
    Presenters: Monica Ng; Parker Schneider (Embedded Liaison for Engineering, Office of Victims Assistance); Judy Taub (Associate Director, CAPS); Ynigo Velayo (CAPS Embedded Engineering Therapist); and Kathryn Dailey (Embedded Liaison for Engineering, Health Promotion) | Moderator: William Kuskin 
  • Assessment: Discussion of what worked last year and on assessment post-pandemic, with focus on project-based training and engagement.
    Presenter: Wendy Young (Senior Instructor, ChBE) | Moderator: Diane Sieber

11:25–11:45 a.m.: Engineering Student Perspectives on the Pandemic Classroom

  • Roundtable featuring engineering students discussing their experiences and actionable items toward improvement. Presenters will include Collin Hudson, Ella Sarder, Elizabeth Eyeson and Marina D’Souza

11:45–Noon: Conclusion

  • William and Scot will draw input from the group for an artifact 

Past Symposia