We found 29 results that contain "safe spaces"

Posted on: #iteachmsu Ambassadors
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Posted by almost 6 years ago
Goals of the overarching Commons efforts:
- To ignite a social movement at MSU that recognizes, values, and celebrates all members of the MSU community who help educate our campus- in and out of the formal classroom.
- Shift the campus culture of teaching and learning to celebrate and promote the innovative practices happening at MSU.
- Exists as a shared resource for educators, built by educators throughout the university.
- Promote collaboration and growth in competency-grounded teaching practice through various spaces, both physical and digital.
iteachmsu-AmbassadorToolkit-LetterPosterREV__1___1_.pdf

Posted on: #iteachmsu
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Posted by about 4 years ago
Research shows that diversity makes us smarter. Designing an inclusive classroom that allows students to share differing opinions in a brave space where people are treated with dignity can result in good learning outcomes for all. Conflict is a natural part of learning, and differences of opinion expressed in appropriate ways allow everyone to grow. An inclusive classroom allows the instructor to manage conflict in a way that harnesses differences so that they serve as learning opportunities for all.

Click the attachment below for some key elements to consider when designing an inclusive classroom.

SOURCE: MSU Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives
InclusiveClassroom.pdf

Posted on: #iteachmsu
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Posted by almost 4 years ago
Greetings! I'm Dustin De Felice and tomorrow (10/22) I will be hosting an AMA on ideas for Hyflex classrooms. With the addition of cameras and microphones in classroom spaces across campus, the ability to link students online and in person has never been greater. While there are still challenges with this type of classroom, I have been exploring various formats, scheduling strategies, and modality choices with an eye toward future semesters. Please share your questions, add a thought, or even a description of how your classroom looks now by commenting on this post and I'll share what I know. Looking forward to having a conversation about Hyflex classrooms!

Posted on: Ungrading (a CoP)
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Posted by over 2 years ago
Multiple stories and sentiments were generously shared by 4/4 Beyond Buzzwords: Ungrading workshop participants (thank you for your vulnerability and candor) about the varied ways in which students react to, and make assumption / inferences about their instructors, after the employment of ungrading and ungrading-inspired practices.

This article (linked below) "Academe Has a Lot to Learn About How Inclusive Teaching Affects Instructors" By Chavella Pittman and Thomas J. Tobin in The Chronicle of Higher Education on FEBRUARY 7, 2022 will likely be of interest to you. Starting out by recognizing / acknowledging the power held by some identities (core, chosen, and given) but not by others, complicates the idea that all educators have the same "power and authority" to give up/share to increase learners' sense of ownership and agency in the classroom. ""What if you have neither the institutional authority (a full-time or tenure-track job) nor the dominant-culture identity (by virtue of your race, gender, and/or ability) that usually go hand in hand with being treated as a respected, powerful presence in the college classroom?... In urging faculty members to adopt inclusive teaching practices, we need to start asking if they actually can — and at what cost, " say Pittman and Tobin.

Take-aways shared in this piece include:
1. Understand that your classroom choices may unintentionally affect or undercut a colleague
2. Discuss in your department the issue of bias in students' rating of teaching
3. Respect the variability among your colleagues, as well as among your students
4. Find trained help

"Share your stories, experiences, and thought processes as you negotiate your instructor role in the classroom..." iteach.msu.edu is one space where we can continue to help "normalize the conversation about instructor identity and status as a necessary element in the adoption of inclusive design and teaching practices".

https://www.chronicle.com/article/academe-has-a-lot-to-learn-about-how-inclusive-teaching-affects-instructors
Posted on: Reading Group for Student Engagement and Success
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Posted by almost 4 years ago
Stokes and I are finalizing our agenda for our meeting this Friday, and in order to prevent this from being a 3-hour meeting, we're winnowing down my attempts to ask the wordiest questions possible. I couldn't bear to cut the question below entirely though, so I'm posting it here to see if it sparks any asynchronous discussion!
- GJS


Towards the end of Ch. 2, Museus, Griffin, and Quaye note that “calls for the elimination of cultural centers and organizations in order to create more opportunities for engagement across difference and fewer options for self-segregation do not acknowledge the important positive role that these organizations play in the lives of Students of Color. In fact, given the positive outcomes stemming from student participation and leadership in culturally-based organizations, institutions must begin or continue to support their goals and efforts” (28).

MSU has recently been in the news for plans to construct a freestanding multicultural center to expand the footprint of spaces currently provided in the MSU Union. (We may also recall that MSU made national headlines for closing its 90-year-old women’s lounge in 2016, under various external pressures.) [Links to both stories below]

How do you see events like these contributing to the climate/culture on MSU's campus?

What would it look like to advocate for or act on these topics responsibly from our positions?

https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods/msu-campus/michigan-state-university-looks-at-building-freestanding-multicultural-center

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/08/michigan-state-sets-debate-eliminating-womens-lounge-student-union

Posted on: #iteachmsu
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Posted by about 1 year ago
Hello and welcome all!

The 2024 Educator Developers Network (EDN) is shaking and baking, moving and quaking!

This is a collaborative space for anyone passionate about improving teaching through effective design, pedagogy, and technology, and anyone who provides training, consultation, instructional/learning experience design, or other learning and development support to instructors on campus. Here, anybody with an interest in enhancing education can come together, share their experiences, and mutually learn from one another. Our synchronous meetings are the 1st Tuesday of every month, were people share their department’s work, ask for advice, or celebrate success. We also communicate asynchronously in our Educator Developers Network channel.

The goals of the network are to provide a dedicated location for people to share ideas and ask questions around instructor support, learning and development, promoting useful practices and ideas to campus at large, foster community through regular meetings that highlight accomplishments and central services, and archiving and externalizing conversations. Our asynchronous discussions occur in Microsoft Teams, where we have an initial structure of channels for members to explore MSU’s Learning Management System (D2L - Brightspace), discuss course design, or seek out technology recommendations and tips. Ultimately, EDN is a place to source answers to your questions or ask for help, participate in the community, and share what you know with others!

Come share your work and ideas! Be part of a learning community with other professional in learning development, training, design, pedagogy, technology, and anyone who provides consultations and instructional/learning experience design. Come join the network!

Join the Educator Developers Network

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3ae51cb2ed28a14bee8346fa507cff42ad%40thread.skype/conversations?groupId=13506591-8eca-4a14-a674-69a08dfd6020&tenantId=22177130-642f-41d9-9211-74237ad5687d

Posted on: Reading Group for Student Engagement and Success
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Posted by almost 4 years ago
Hello again everyone! Here are some talking points to think about in the run up our 10am meeting tomorrow (Friday, November 05, 2021).

Recurring Zoom Link: 951 4830 7886
Passcode 432210


Student Engagement in Higher Education, ch. 2-3

Chapter 2: “Engaging Students of Color”Samuel D. Museus, Kimberly A. Griffin, Stephen John Quaye [MGQ - “Magic”]

1) How would you describe the campus racial climate and/or culture of the schools where you got your degrees and/or have previously taught? Do any institutions in your background for having been successful in instilling a positive racial culture? Do any notable failures or struggles stand out in your memory? It may be helpful to recall: climate is shaped by five internal dimensions: (1) an institution’s history and legacy of inclusion or exclusion, (2) compositional diversity, (3) psychological climate, (4) behavioral climate, and (5) organizational/structural diversity (Milem, Chang, & Antonio, 2005). [p. 19]

2) Museus, Griffin, and Quaye note that “two concepts provide a useful backdrop for the current discussion: campus racial climate and campus racial culture” (18). What knowledge or familiarity do you have of/with the racial climate or culture at MSU? How would you describe the local manifestation of the framing concepts Museus, Griffin, and Quaye provide?

3) What concrete steps could you take to alleviate cultural incongruence (21) and cultural dissonance (ibid) while boosting cultural engagement (22) for Students of Color in your courses?

4) The “proactive philosophies” indicator of the CECE model describes “Educators who use proactive philosophies [to] go above and beyond to actively reach out, encourage, and sometimes pressure students to take advantage of available information, opportunities, and support” (23). What does being such a faculty member/administrator look like? How does one responsibly and equitably pressure students to pursue opportunities?

5) Practical question: In several places, MGQ advocate for community-based opportunities, but also caution against the tendency towards siloing. Practically, what does/should it look like to provide opportunities for this type of contact among students that is supportive and culturally responsive, without siloing them, or making students of color serve as “ambassadors of their community”?


Chapter 3: “Engaging Multiracial Students”
C. Casey Ozaki, Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, Kristen A. Renn [OJGR - “Jogger”]

1) It seems like today’s college students often have to enter the classroom already knowing who they are and who they will be. We can likely point to any number of institutional practices/requirements that reinforce that pressure. How can we create spaces for hybridity, ambiguity, uncertainty in our students’ perceptions of self?

2) OJGR note that “median age of the mixed race individuals is 19, compared to single-race individuals with a median age of 38” (39), which means that our students represent the age cohort closest to the “center,” so to speak, of multiracial identity discourse. What pressures might this present to college-aged students? What opportunities?

3) Studies show that “biracial students at HBCUs and non-HBCUs had poorer quality of interactions with faculty, staff, and students than Black and White students at both institutions” (40). What incentive/impetus/motivation does/should a finding like this make for us as educators? How could we productively address situations in which multi-racial students might approach us with complaints about feeling isolated and alienated from classmates in our courses?

4) The most provocative element of OJGR’s chapter comes in their final suggestion, which is to “Create a Campus Culture of Boundary Crossing.” What does this mean for you, and what would it look like at Michigan State?





Posted on: Digital Collaborative Learning for the 21st Century 2.0 (Learning Community for AY2023-2024)
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Posted by over 2 years ago
As an advance reminder, Marohang and I have planned our next and final Learning Community meeting for AY2022-2023 for Friday, April 07, 2023 at 11am. Please watch this space for a related Zoom link as we get closer to the date. We hope to see you there!

Kind Regards,

Stokes and Marohang