We found 347 results that contain "connect"
Posted on: GenAI & Education
AI for MSU Educators
This playlist, developed by the Instructional Technology and Development Team at IT, includes some general and MSU-specific resources about using ChatGPT and similar AI tools in teaching and learning. Currently, it consists of a list of FAQs about ChatGPT and an interactive Padlet site for you to share your experiences with AI and get connected with other MSU educators.
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Student Success Contacts and Resources
This Student Success playlist was created by Jeana-Dee Allen and Joyce Meier, members of the Educators Empowering Student Success Group (facilitated by Mary Beth Heeder and Jeno Rivera), which is working on the Faculty Improving Student Success Strategic Initiative. Each article in this playlist contains a list of resources that promote student success. All links provided are direct links (ONE CLICK) connecting you to contact information or an educator who can respond to your questions and/or help your students. Thank you for helping our students achieve their goals.
If you can not quickly find what you are looking for, please email Mary Beth Heeder, senior consultant and project manager for Student Learning and Success, (heeder@msu.edu) and we will respond within 24 business hours.
If you can not quickly find what you are looking for, please email Mary Beth Heeder, senior consultant and project manager for Student Learning and Success, (heeder@msu.edu) and we will respond within 24 business hours.
NAVIGATING CONTEXT
Posted on: #iteachmsu
2025 Fall Educator Seminars
Join MSU IT Educational Technology, MSU Libraries, the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI), the Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative (EDLI), and MSU IT Training at the virtual 2025 Fall Educator Seminars, August 21 - 22. Various trainings and webinars are offered each day at no cost to help prepare MSU educators for the new academic year. Sessions will dive into topics such as how to design effective, interactive courses for students or how to connect with library resources, and more.
Any questions or concerns contact us at ITS.FallEducatorSeminar@msu.edu
Any questions or concerns contact us at ITS.FallEducatorSeminar@msu.edu
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Teaching Multilingual Learners: An Introduction to Translingual Pedagogy
A playlist of experiences and resources connected to "Teaching Multilingual Learners: An Introduction to Translingual Pedagogy" workshop developed and facilitated by Drs. Joyce Meier and Cheryl Caesar- educators in the College of Arts and Letters' First Year Writing program.
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Posted on: #iteachmsu
A "Complete" Guide to Writing Syllabi: A Constant Cycle
The syllabus in a college class serves as the first impression between a course and its students. It often wears many hats acting as: a schedule, list of rules, summary of course policies, semi-grading rubric, and various other roles depending on its author. Due to the heavy lifting it provides to a course and its structure a plethora of research has been conducted on its value, and Universities often hold seminars each year on the process of creating and drafting syllabi for their staff. To understand how students and instructors view the role of syllabi in the classroom authors Gauthier, Banner, And Winer attempt introduce a framework in their piece: “What is the syllabus for? Revealing tensions through a scoping review of syllabus uses”
In it, they identify nine interconnected uses which are then categorized into three primary purposes or tools: an Administrative Tool, a Learning Tool, and a Teaching Tool. The goal of this project is to take their writing and configure the information into a writing guide to help instructors write/develop/improve their own syllabi for their own courses. While this may appear as though this is designed as a developmental tool (because in part, it is), it is my goal that this project truly captures the necessity of treating the creation of syllabus as a fluid, recursive and reflective process. As we develop as instructors, and the student bodies we teach change through the times, so must our syllabi change with it.
In it, they identify nine interconnected uses which are then categorized into three primary purposes or tools: an Administrative Tool, a Learning Tool, and a Teaching Tool. The goal of this project is to take their writing and configure the information into a writing guide to help instructors write/develop/improve their own syllabi for their own courses. While this may appear as though this is designed as a developmental tool (because in part, it is), it is my goal that this project truly captures the necessity of treating the creation of syllabus as a fluid, recursive and reflective process. As we develop as instructors, and the student bodies we teach change through the times, so must our syllabi change with it.
PEDAGOGICAL DESIGN
Posted on: PREP Matrix
Cementing The Connection
This article offers a four-step process for building a brief conference connection into a durable relationship.
Posted by: Admin
Navigating Context
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Building Community & Connection in Your Context from SOIREE
No-Tech Ideas:
Provide personalized, timely feedback that takes learners' contexts into account.
When communicating with your learners, prioritize and focus on their wellbeing and emotions. If this is a new way of thinking for you, that's okay, we still encourage you to try it. Your learners will be appreciative!
Low-Tech Variations:
Provide opportunities for learners to engage in non-threatening, low-stakes discussions as they learn to communicate in online spaces. Use prompts and protocols to scaffold and provide equitable participation.
Send a weekly recap video just recorded from your phone. Maybe even walking around outside. Do not edit it! They will appreciate it raw.
Provide a means for students to provide feedback to you (e.g., email, polls, Google Forms, or Microsoft Forms), and be willing to adjust your approaches if they aren't meeting learners' needs. Consider a mid-term survey or focus group and share out what you learn and how you will respond.
High-Tech Variations:
Give learners the opportunity to see and hear each other through videos (for example, set up a video discussion forum or daily check-in with Flipgrid).
Set up shared, editable Google Slides or PowerPoint through Office Online and allow learners to add an animated GIF to describe how they're feeling.
Using tools like ezgif, you can add some personal flare to email and content or have your students create their own GIFs to personalize communication.
SOIREE Team:
Design Lead: Sarah Wellman
Content Leads: Kate Sonka, Stephen Thomas, and Jeremy Van Hof
Content Authors: Jason Archer, Kevin Henley, David Howe, Summer Issawi, Leslie Johnson, Rashad Muhammad, Nick Noel, Candace Robertson, Scott Schopieray, Jessica Sender, Daniel Trego, Valeta Wensloff, and Sue Halick
Provide personalized, timely feedback that takes learners' contexts into account.
When communicating with your learners, prioritize and focus on their wellbeing and emotions. If this is a new way of thinking for you, that's okay, we still encourage you to try it. Your learners will be appreciative!
Low-Tech Variations:
Provide opportunities for learners to engage in non-threatening, low-stakes discussions as they learn to communicate in online spaces. Use prompts and protocols to scaffold and provide equitable participation.
Send a weekly recap video just recorded from your phone. Maybe even walking around outside. Do not edit it! They will appreciate it raw.
Provide a means for students to provide feedback to you (e.g., email, polls, Google Forms, or Microsoft Forms), and be willing to adjust your approaches if they aren't meeting learners' needs. Consider a mid-term survey or focus group and share out what you learn and how you will respond.
High-Tech Variations:
Give learners the opportunity to see and hear each other through videos (for example, set up a video discussion forum or daily check-in with Flipgrid).
Set up shared, editable Google Slides or PowerPoint through Office Online and allow learners to add an animated GIF to describe how they're feeling.
Using tools like ezgif, you can add some personal flare to email and content or have your students create their own GIFs to personalize communication.
SOIREE Team:
Design Lead: Sarah Wellman
Content Leads: Kate Sonka, Stephen Thomas, and Jeremy Van Hof
Content Authors: Jason Archer, Kevin Henley, David Howe, Summer Issawi, Leslie Johnson, Rashad Muhammad, Nick Noel, Candace Robertson, Scott Schopieray, Jessica Sender, Daniel Trego, Valeta Wensloff, and Sue Halick
Authored by: SOIREE Team
Pedagogical Design
Posted on: PREP Matrix
How To Stay Connected After Attending A Conference
A brief article from LinkedIn on how to maintain a connection with someone you met at a conference.
Posted by: Admin
Navigating Context
Posted on: The MSU Graduate Le...
Connecting Engineering Grad Students with Career Resources
Hamid worked closely with Dr. Katy Colbry in envisioning professional development within the College to discuss options for the job market. After engaging with stakeholders from across the College, this was revealed as a specific need (in that many Graduate Students felt under-supported in their knowledge of and development for the job market, particularly in knowing what possible options might be).
Authored by: Hamid Karimi
Navigating Context
Posted on: PREP Matrix
How to Receive More Funding for Your Research? Get Connected to the Right People!
This research article published in PLOS One explores different factors in successfully securing research funding and concludes that building a large and effective collaboration network is the most important thing.
Posted by: Admin
Navigating Context
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Building Community Engagement Into Your Course: Ethics and Reflections
Community engagement can be a powerful tool for both connecting classroom learning to real life experiences and supporting community change efforts. In this our last post on community engagement in teaching, we want to address two questions: : 1) How can teachers attend to ethical concerns that may arise throughout community engagement projects?; and 2) How can teachers integrate routine reflection as a strategy to assess student learning throughout community engagement projects? Reflective activities create a critical space for us to capture the ethical issues arising with students and to reflect on our own ethical practice as instructors for community engaged courses. And we could not discuss ethical concerns without students being able to reflect about specific issues. For this last post in our community engagement series, we will focus on the ways we made sure to support student learning by exploring potential ethical issues and creating regular reflective opportunities.
Ethical Considerations When Engaging Communities
The ethical issues you must attend to are both community- and student-focused. Returning to the community engagement spectrum from our previous two posts (Preparation and Implementation), the ethical considerations broaden as students become more immersed in communities. For example, we both had concerns about communities being exploited for the sake of students’ learning. To address this concern, Jenny (service learning) spent time with community partners prior to her course to gain an understanding about what would make the project meaningful to them and built mechanisms into the course to attend to those needs. Katie (photovoice) built guidelines for students’ photos into her photovoice rubric, spent time in class talking to students about ethical photography, and encouraged students to ask questions they may have about their photos.
We both felt it would be unethical for students to engage with communities without first considering the impact their own identities and expectations on their work. We made sure students thought about privileged and oppressed identities, assumptions they hold about communities that they might engage with, and how they might manage or interpret challenging experiences. Overall, we focused students on reflecting as an ethical imperative to ensure the experience worked well for community members and for students, but also as an assessment process to enhance student learning.
Reflection for Learning in Community Engagement
Reflection can be a useful tool for both students and instructors to more fully understand learning during community engagement activities. We both used multiple tools for reflection based in course objectives, both formal and informal, and creatively responding to the unexpected elements of this work. Below, we highlight how you can prepare to incorporate reflection into your community engagement efforts, along with some helpful tips for doing so that we derived from our own work
A) Reflect Flexibly Toward Course Objectives
If you’ve already elected to use community engagement as part of your course, you should consider how it will match up with course objectives. This can be very direct if you’re reading an article or bringing in a speaker about a particular topic, but may require more scaffolding if you’re integrating an experience like photovoice, service learning, or study abroad. Here, it’s essential to anticipate multiple student experiences of community engagement work. Make sure that reflection prompts are broad enough so that all students can participate, but still focused enough they are reflecting back toward the overall project and course objectives. For example, in Katie’s course, she had a full class dedicated to reflection incorporating definitions, examples and an assignment using a reflection tool called the “Ladder of Inference.” These activities taught students how to identify their own learning and thinking changed about particular issues, preparing to do deeper reflection in their photovoice project, and further connecting back to the overall course objectives of examining how concepts of power and oppression relate to social issues.
B) Reflect Informally and Formally
It’s essential to provide a spectrum of ways students can reflect on their learning. This spectrum builds a comprehensive culture of reflection in your course and provides multiple windows into student learning during community engagement and beyond. Providing informal reflection spaces help students build up to more formal, graded reflections on their work. These informal reflections could include short discussions, posing quick questions to students after explaining something, and/or having students keep a journal of their thoughts during community engagement work. And eventually building formal reflection into the course provides a culminating space for student to think about their learning across community engagement experiences. Final papers or projects can provide a powerful picture of what students experienced and continue to validate both the community engagement work and the importance of regular reflection in connection to it. Whatever mixture of formal and informal reflection you decide on, make sure to integrate the results of the student reflection into your instruction moving forward. Through lectures and learning activities, demonstrate you’ve heard and are thinking about what students said.
C) Reflect Creatively
Reflective activities and assignments don’t have to fit within the bounds of traditional assessment strategies. There is plenty of room for creativity in setting up these activities.For example, Katie hosted a photovoice gallery in her classroom where students could explore their peers’ interpretations of the activity. Then, students had the opportunity to engage in discussion to reflect on what they’ve learned as a group from participating in the process. Doing this in both a big group and individually can speak to multiple learning styles. It also provides a space for students to generate new understandings of their experiences.
D) Reflect on the Unexpected
Realize that reflections may go beyond the scope of your course objectives and be prepared to facilitate learning that departs from expected directions. Community engagement can be both messy and beautiful. Leave space for unpacking the complexities.
We hope this series of blog posts helped remove some of the mystique regarding community engagement in the classroom. Getting students to connect course topics to what is going on around them can be rewarding and exciting! As you continue to consider incorporating community engagement into your own work, what ethical concerns do you need to consider? How important is reflection in your course? What reflective activities could you do to prepare your students for engagement and to assess their learning? We are always looking for new ideas so please share with us in the comments below!
Originally posted at “Inside Teaching MSU” (site no longer live): Gregory K. and Lawlor, J. Building Community Engagement into Your Course: Ethics and Reflections. inside teaching.grad.msu.edu
Ethical Considerations When Engaging Communities
The ethical issues you must attend to are both community- and student-focused. Returning to the community engagement spectrum from our previous two posts (Preparation and Implementation), the ethical considerations broaden as students become more immersed in communities. For example, we both had concerns about communities being exploited for the sake of students’ learning. To address this concern, Jenny (service learning) spent time with community partners prior to her course to gain an understanding about what would make the project meaningful to them and built mechanisms into the course to attend to those needs. Katie (photovoice) built guidelines for students’ photos into her photovoice rubric, spent time in class talking to students about ethical photography, and encouraged students to ask questions they may have about their photos.
We both felt it would be unethical for students to engage with communities without first considering the impact their own identities and expectations on their work. We made sure students thought about privileged and oppressed identities, assumptions they hold about communities that they might engage with, and how they might manage or interpret challenging experiences. Overall, we focused students on reflecting as an ethical imperative to ensure the experience worked well for community members and for students, but also as an assessment process to enhance student learning.
Reflection for Learning in Community Engagement
Reflection can be a useful tool for both students and instructors to more fully understand learning during community engagement activities. We both used multiple tools for reflection based in course objectives, both formal and informal, and creatively responding to the unexpected elements of this work. Below, we highlight how you can prepare to incorporate reflection into your community engagement efforts, along with some helpful tips for doing so that we derived from our own work
A) Reflect Flexibly Toward Course Objectives
If you’ve already elected to use community engagement as part of your course, you should consider how it will match up with course objectives. This can be very direct if you’re reading an article or bringing in a speaker about a particular topic, but may require more scaffolding if you’re integrating an experience like photovoice, service learning, or study abroad. Here, it’s essential to anticipate multiple student experiences of community engagement work. Make sure that reflection prompts are broad enough so that all students can participate, but still focused enough they are reflecting back toward the overall project and course objectives. For example, in Katie’s course, she had a full class dedicated to reflection incorporating definitions, examples and an assignment using a reflection tool called the “Ladder of Inference.” These activities taught students how to identify their own learning and thinking changed about particular issues, preparing to do deeper reflection in their photovoice project, and further connecting back to the overall course objectives of examining how concepts of power and oppression relate to social issues.
B) Reflect Informally and Formally
It’s essential to provide a spectrum of ways students can reflect on their learning. This spectrum builds a comprehensive culture of reflection in your course and provides multiple windows into student learning during community engagement and beyond. Providing informal reflection spaces help students build up to more formal, graded reflections on their work. These informal reflections could include short discussions, posing quick questions to students after explaining something, and/or having students keep a journal of their thoughts during community engagement work. And eventually building formal reflection into the course provides a culminating space for student to think about their learning across community engagement experiences. Final papers or projects can provide a powerful picture of what students experienced and continue to validate both the community engagement work and the importance of regular reflection in connection to it. Whatever mixture of formal and informal reflection you decide on, make sure to integrate the results of the student reflection into your instruction moving forward. Through lectures and learning activities, demonstrate you’ve heard and are thinking about what students said.
C) Reflect Creatively
Reflective activities and assignments don’t have to fit within the bounds of traditional assessment strategies. There is plenty of room for creativity in setting up these activities.For example, Katie hosted a photovoice gallery in her classroom where students could explore their peers’ interpretations of the activity. Then, students had the opportunity to engage in discussion to reflect on what they’ve learned as a group from participating in the process. Doing this in both a big group and individually can speak to multiple learning styles. It also provides a space for students to generate new understandings of their experiences.
D) Reflect on the Unexpected
Realize that reflections may go beyond the scope of your course objectives and be prepared to facilitate learning that departs from expected directions. Community engagement can be both messy and beautiful. Leave space for unpacking the complexities.
We hope this series of blog posts helped remove some of the mystique regarding community engagement in the classroom. Getting students to connect course topics to what is going on around them can be rewarding and exciting! As you continue to consider incorporating community engagement into your own work, what ethical concerns do you need to consider? How important is reflection in your course? What reflective activities could you do to prepare your students for engagement and to assess their learning? We are always looking for new ideas so please share with us in the comments below!
Originally posted at “Inside Teaching MSU” (site no longer live): Gregory K. and Lawlor, J. Building Community Engagement into Your Course: Ethics and Reflections. inside teaching.grad.msu.edu
Authored by: K. Gregory and J. Lawlor
Disciplinary Content
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Building Community Engagement into Your Course: Preparation
Increasingly, students are looking for and benefiting from learning experiences connecting them with the community beyond textbooks and tests. Engaging students with communities outside the classroom can provide students with opportunities to learn more about what is immediately around them, help them understand why particular problems exist, and teach them how they can be active participants in communities. Depending on intent of the course, the community of focus can range in scale and scope from students’ own communities on campus to local and international communities that they may have never been engaged with before. Added benefits to students who participate in community-engaged courses include better performance on assessments, increased student retention, and increased political awareness and civic engagement (Reed, Rosenberg, Statham, & Rosing, 2015; Simons & Cleary, 2006; Strage, 2000). Representatives of community partner organizations have also indicated that under ideal conditions, engagement between students and communities can support client outcomes, organizational and community enrichment, and foster the growth of social justice (Sandy & Holland, 2006).
The Spectrum of Engagement
We visualize the types of community engagement on a spectrum, ranging from the least resource-intensive to the most resource-intensive activities (see image below). These resources include instructor, student, and community partner contribution. Course topic and learning objectives help determine the level of engagement and community settings appropriate for your class. As an instructor, you can even immerse students in community issues without leaving the classroom through articles and videos, or by bringing in a guest speaker who is a part of the topic being presented. More resource-intensive activities include asking students to do observations in their communities, interviewing community members, participating in aphotovoice project, or working with a community partner on a service learning project. Full immersion of students in a new community might include participating in a study abroad program.
Four Ways to Determine How Community Engagement Fits Into Your Course
The prospect of engaging students outside of traditional textbooks and classroom instruction can be exciting. But incorporating community engagement into a course can feel daunting and like a lot of extra work. But it doesn’t have to be.The following can help you through the process:
Ask yourself why you want to engage students with the community. Reflecting on your own reasons for the importance of community engagement can help you prioritize and decide the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into incorporating community engagement.
Decide on the amount of added time and resources you want to put into community engagement. Using the spectrum of community engagement, you may decide that for your first course you have minimal time and resources to commit to engaging students with the community, but can find meaningful articles and videos, enhanced by a knowledgeable speaker to engage students on a specific topic covered in the class.
Assess the community’s ability & interest to be engaged. Connect with community members about the activities you would like to do and determine their willingness and ability to engage with students. Be prepared to modify your original plan in order to meet your community partners’ needs.
Incorporate student and community feedback into the engagement activity. Consider doing a brief evaluation with students after the activity to find out the extent to which it was helpful to them. If your students are engaging directly with community members or organizations, seek feedback from individuals in those settings as well. You can close the feedback loop by reporting out to students and community members about what you learn and the aspects of the experience you plan to approach differently in the future.
Now that community engagement has your attention… stay tuned for the next two blog posts where we will describe the activities we’ve used in our own classrooms and how you can implement them too! In the meantime, tell us what you think: What factors do you take into account when incorporating community engagement into your course? For those of you considering community engagement, what are the challenges you foresee? Seasoned community engagers, what are your rock star success stories? Post in the comments below!
Originally posted at “Inside Teaching MSU” (site no longer live): Lawlor, J. and Gregory K. Building Community Engagement into Your Course: Preparation. inside teaching.grad.msu.edu
The Spectrum of Engagement
We visualize the types of community engagement on a spectrum, ranging from the least resource-intensive to the most resource-intensive activities (see image below). These resources include instructor, student, and community partner contribution. Course topic and learning objectives help determine the level of engagement and community settings appropriate for your class. As an instructor, you can even immerse students in community issues without leaving the classroom through articles and videos, or by bringing in a guest speaker who is a part of the topic being presented. More resource-intensive activities include asking students to do observations in their communities, interviewing community members, participating in aphotovoice project, or working with a community partner on a service learning project. Full immersion of students in a new community might include participating in a study abroad program.
Four Ways to Determine How Community Engagement Fits Into Your Course
The prospect of engaging students outside of traditional textbooks and classroom instruction can be exciting. But incorporating community engagement into a course can feel daunting and like a lot of extra work. But it doesn’t have to be.The following can help you through the process:
Ask yourself why you want to engage students with the community. Reflecting on your own reasons for the importance of community engagement can help you prioritize and decide the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into incorporating community engagement.
Decide on the amount of added time and resources you want to put into community engagement. Using the spectrum of community engagement, you may decide that for your first course you have minimal time and resources to commit to engaging students with the community, but can find meaningful articles and videos, enhanced by a knowledgeable speaker to engage students on a specific topic covered in the class.
Assess the community’s ability & interest to be engaged. Connect with community members about the activities you would like to do and determine their willingness and ability to engage with students. Be prepared to modify your original plan in order to meet your community partners’ needs.
Incorporate student and community feedback into the engagement activity. Consider doing a brief evaluation with students after the activity to find out the extent to which it was helpful to them. If your students are engaging directly with community members or organizations, seek feedback from individuals in those settings as well. You can close the feedback loop by reporting out to students and community members about what you learn and the aspects of the experience you plan to approach differently in the future.
Now that community engagement has your attention… stay tuned for the next two blog posts where we will describe the activities we’ve used in our own classrooms and how you can implement them too! In the meantime, tell us what you think: What factors do you take into account when incorporating community engagement into your course? For those of you considering community engagement, what are the challenges you foresee? Seasoned community engagers, what are your rock star success stories? Post in the comments below!
Originally posted at “Inside Teaching MSU” (site no longer live): Lawlor, J. and Gregory K. Building Community Engagement into Your Course: Preparation. inside teaching.grad.msu.edu
Authored by: K. Gregory and J. Lawlor
Disciplinary Content
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Fostering Positive Culture in an Online Academic Community
Topic Area: Pandemic Pivot
Presented by: Ryan Thompson, Andrew Dennis, Valeta Wensloff
Abstract:
When MSU’s campus activity closed due to COVID-19, units and departments across campus sought solutions to transition to remote learning and maintain student engagement. The game development program in the Department of Media and Information turned to a familiar source; a video game communication platform called Discord. While we were already using Discord for casual links and outside of class communication, the quarantine put our server into overdrive. Now, our community Discord is a thriving community spanning 30 classes, 10 faculty, and over 800 members. It is helping game developers of all stripes learn, share, and communicate in a screen dominated era, and keeping faculty, students, and alumni connected and collaborating.
Join three Media & Information faculty as they discuss their experience building, fostering, growing, and maintaining this online community consisting of hundreds of game and interaction design students on Discord. By involving alumni and forthright peers, they found a natural balance between professionalism and creative expression.
Presented by: Ryan Thompson, Andrew Dennis, Valeta Wensloff
Abstract:
When MSU’s campus activity closed due to COVID-19, units and departments across campus sought solutions to transition to remote learning and maintain student engagement. The game development program in the Department of Media and Information turned to a familiar source; a video game communication platform called Discord. While we were already using Discord for casual links and outside of class communication, the quarantine put our server into overdrive. Now, our community Discord is a thriving community spanning 30 classes, 10 faculty, and over 800 members. It is helping game developers of all stripes learn, share, and communicate in a screen dominated era, and keeping faculty, students, and alumni connected and collaborating.
Join three Media & Information faculty as they discuss their experience building, fostering, growing, and maintaining this online community consisting of hundreds of game and interaction design students on Discord. By involving alumni and forthright peers, they found a natural balance between professionalism and creative expression.
Authored by: Ryan Thompson, Andrew Dennis, Valeta Wensloff
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Did you know? Connection is critical - find people and information.
Whether you are a new educator or a seasoned contributor there is always something to discover at MSU. Chat with us about resources, groups, ways to connect, and things to explore. Share your own helpful information or ask for ideas.
Whether you are a new educator or a seasoned contributor there is always something to discover at MSU. Chat with us about resources, groups, ways to connect, and things to explore. Share your own helpful information or ask for ideas.
Posted by: Summer Issawi
Navigating Context
Posted on: #iteachmsu
Summer Issawi - Howdy folks! Summer Issawi here and today, Erica Venton and I will be hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Campus Resources & Getting Connected. I am a learning experience designer with the Hub and know how challenging it can be when navigating this large university. Please ask any questions you might have. We are here to help!
Posted by: Summer Issawi
Navigating Context
Posted on: #iteachmsu
"Reflect & Connect: Navigating Life and Work Effectively in Challenging Times" by MSU's Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers self-care strategies (such as a 3-breath reset) as well as components of emotional wellness at work. Check out the 2-page PDF attached to learn more!
Posted by: Makena Neal
Navigating Context
Posted on: #iteachmsu
How do you connect with other colleagues using iteach?
Posted by: Komeil Kolahi Ahari
Posted on: #iteachmsu
#iteachmsu is better with you, so be sure to log in so you can save your faves, add comments to posts and articles, and make connections! Share, connect, grow!
Posted by: David V. Howe
Navigating Context
Posted on: CISAH
Hope this is the right place to share this:
10 Individual Reflections @ two points each (essentially “Gimmes”).
Starting in Week Two, students are asked to develop (guided) reflections on their independent and (starting in Week Three) collaborative coursework for a given week. Not only do they articulate their new learning, they connect that to prior knowledge as well as examine their work habits and related choices. Students have the following options for these reflections:
• Traditional 2-3 page essay
• 5-6 minute Voice Recording or Video
• Sketchnotes (a hybrid of note-taking and creative doodles that presents students’ grasp of new information, gleaned from scholarly reading, and connection of those ideas to specific novels, plays, or films in the course)
Collaborative Project #1 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week Five)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two recent journal articles (less than ten years old) on material presented during the first third of the course. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• TV Newscast (WeVideo)
• TV Talkshow (WeVideo)
• Podcast -- starting in Fall 2022 – (anchor.fm)
Collaborative Project #2 @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 10)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two books, two journal articles, and two digital sources to have to do in some way with intersections between course material on one hand, and systems of power, oppression, equity, and justice on the other AND create a readers’ guide based on that work. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Readers’ Guide Flipbook (Flipsnack)
• Reader’s Guide Infographic (Canva)
Collaborative Project #3 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week 14)
Student learning teams 1) revisit five to six novels, plays, or films presented in the course, 2) examine them in terms of power, oppressions, equity, and justice, AND 3) brainstorm practical solutions to how we might better address similar longstanding ills in 21st century society. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Interactive Academic Poster (Power Point or Prezi)
• Interactive Digital Scrapbook (Canva)
Capstone Project – Individual Semester Reflection @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 15)
Students develop a guided reflection in which they revisit and evaluate their learning for the course. Students have the following options:
• Traditional Five to Six-page Self-Assessment Essay
• Five to Six-minute Self-Assessment Video
Questions for “Guided” Individual or Team Reflection
• For you introduction, describe your work and related activities for the week/semester in general.
• Briefly describe the projects, processes, and skills you will discuss.
• Discuss three points/projects you found most enjoyable and explain why.
• Explain three processes for the projects described above. Describe how the processes were challenging and rewarding.
• Explain three skills you gained or improved upon during the week/semester. These do not have to relate to what you have discussed already, but they can.
• Describe why you find these new or improved skills interesting, useful, enjoyable, and/or challenging.
• How might you improve your independent and/or collaborative work habits and related choices in the course?
• Describe your biggest “A-ha Moment” this week/semester.
• How does that same “A-ha Moment” connect to something you have learned in other courses?
• In your conclusion, do not simply summarize what you have already said. Answer the implied “So, what?” question.
• Leave yourself (and your reader) with something to think about.
• Remember, this is not a forum to complain about team members, assignments, the course, instructor, or previous grades.
10 Individual Reflections @ two points each (essentially “Gimmes”).
Starting in Week Two, students are asked to develop (guided) reflections on their independent and (starting in Week Three) collaborative coursework for a given week. Not only do they articulate their new learning, they connect that to prior knowledge as well as examine their work habits and related choices. Students have the following options for these reflections:
• Traditional 2-3 page essay
• 5-6 minute Voice Recording or Video
• Sketchnotes (a hybrid of note-taking and creative doodles that presents students’ grasp of new information, gleaned from scholarly reading, and connection of those ideas to specific novels, plays, or films in the course)
Collaborative Project #1 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week Five)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two recent journal articles (less than ten years old) on material presented during the first third of the course. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• TV Newscast (WeVideo)
• TV Talkshow (WeVideo)
• Podcast -- starting in Fall 2022 – (anchor.fm)
Collaborative Project #2 @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 10)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two books, two journal articles, and two digital sources to have to do in some way with intersections between course material on one hand, and systems of power, oppression, equity, and justice on the other AND create a readers’ guide based on that work. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Readers’ Guide Flipbook (Flipsnack)
• Reader’s Guide Infographic (Canva)
Collaborative Project #3 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week 14)
Student learning teams 1) revisit five to six novels, plays, or films presented in the course, 2) examine them in terms of power, oppressions, equity, and justice, AND 3) brainstorm practical solutions to how we might better address similar longstanding ills in 21st century society. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Interactive Academic Poster (Power Point or Prezi)
• Interactive Digital Scrapbook (Canva)
Capstone Project – Individual Semester Reflection @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 15)
Students develop a guided reflection in which they revisit and evaluate their learning for the course. Students have the following options:
• Traditional Five to Six-page Self-Assessment Essay
• Five to Six-minute Self-Assessment Video
Questions for “Guided” Individual or Team Reflection
• For you introduction, describe your work and related activities for the week/semester in general.
• Briefly describe the projects, processes, and skills you will discuss.
• Discuss three points/projects you found most enjoyable and explain why.
• Explain three processes for the projects described above. Describe how the processes were challenging and rewarding.
• Explain three skills you gained or improved upon during the week/semester. These do not have to relate to what you have discussed already, but they can.
• Describe why you find these new or improved skills interesting, useful, enjoyable, and/or challenging.
• How might you improve your independent and/or collaborative work habits and related choices in the course?
• Describe your biggest “A-ha Moment” this week/semester.
• How does that same “A-ha Moment” connect to something you have learned in other courses?
• In your conclusion, do not simply summarize what you have already said. Answer the implied “So, what?” question.
• Leave yourself (and your reader) with something to think about.
• Remember, this is not a forum to complain about team members, assignments, the course, instructor, or previous grades.
Posted by: Stokes Schwartz
Pedagogical Design
Posted on: Reading Group for S...
Chapter 5: Notes and questions
1. Erasure: “We must engage in critical self-reflection about the conscious and unconscious ways higher education continues to participate in Native people’s erasure and develop decolonial engagement practices that foreground Native movements for cultural/political sovereignty and self-determination.”
2. Assimilation: “…the problematic goal of assimilation…”
3. Social Justice: “…scholars must work toward social change.”
4. Storying: “Stories are not separate from theory.”
5. Strategies offered:
a. Develop and Maintain Relationships with Indigenous Communities
i. Can a faculty member do this within their pedagogy? How?
ii. Can we encourage our students to do this in our classes/programs? How?
b. Honor Connections to Place
c. Build Community with Indigenous Students
d. Support and Protect Indigenous Student Cultural Practices
e. Foster Student Connections to Home Communities
f. Reframe Concepts of Student Engagement (WE, meaning the university community writ large, are the uninvited guests)
Chapter 6: Notes and Questions
1. “Whiteness is not a culture but a social concept”
2. “Critical White Studies”: ideas for how to use/introduce this to students? Will you? Why or why not? (“critically analyzing Whiteness and racial oppression from the habits and structures of the privileged group”)
3. In your current class design/structure, what ways could your own whiteness influence your students in invisible ways? Does it?
4. In your current class design/structure, what ways could your white students’ whiteness influence your POC, international students, etc… in invisible ways? Does it?
5. What aspects of “humanizing pedagogy” happen in your classes?
6. Have you ever shared your course design with a POC peer?
7. Thoughts of where “Nontraditional” white students (older students, part-time students, transfer students, commuter students, student-parents, veteran students (and I would argue other cross-sectional/intersectional identities of queerness, transgender students, religious minorities, disability, etc…)) and traditional white students INTERSECT or DIVERGE in terms of student success initiatives?
1. Erasure: “We must engage in critical self-reflection about the conscious and unconscious ways higher education continues to participate in Native people’s erasure and develop decolonial engagement practices that foreground Native movements for cultural/political sovereignty and self-determination.”
2. Assimilation: “…the problematic goal of assimilation…”
3. Social Justice: “…scholars must work toward social change.”
4. Storying: “Stories are not separate from theory.”
5. Strategies offered:
a. Develop and Maintain Relationships with Indigenous Communities
i. Can a faculty member do this within their pedagogy? How?
ii. Can we encourage our students to do this in our classes/programs? How?
b. Honor Connections to Place
c. Build Community with Indigenous Students
d. Support and Protect Indigenous Student Cultural Practices
e. Foster Student Connections to Home Communities
f. Reframe Concepts of Student Engagement (WE, meaning the university community writ large, are the uninvited guests)
Chapter 6: Notes and Questions
1. “Whiteness is not a culture but a social concept”
2. “Critical White Studies”: ideas for how to use/introduce this to students? Will you? Why or why not? (“critically analyzing Whiteness and racial oppression from the habits and structures of the privileged group”)
3. In your current class design/structure, what ways could your own whiteness influence your students in invisible ways? Does it?
4. In your current class design/structure, what ways could your white students’ whiteness influence your POC, international students, etc… in invisible ways? Does it?
5. What aspects of “humanizing pedagogy” happen in your classes?
6. Have you ever shared your course design with a POC peer?
7. Thoughts of where “Nontraditional” white students (older students, part-time students, transfer students, commuter students, student-parents, veteran students (and I would argue other cross-sectional/intersectional identities of queerness, transgender students, religious minorities, disability, etc…)) and traditional white students INTERSECT or DIVERGE in terms of student success initiatives?
Posted by: Stacia Moroski-Rigney
Pedagogical Design
Posted on: Innovators and ODBaLLs
Virtual Community and Collaboration | 2-minute poll: https://forms.office.com/r/ZgQwUg3gSH
How are you using technology to build and sustain virtual communities, at MSU and beyond MSU?
I'm asking because I have really struggled to answer this for my own grad students and colleagues, I'm frustrated with insufficient answers from MSU IT, and I don't have time to experiment with every tool out there! This question is about connecting and collaborating beyond the level of an individual class. Do you just rely on email and maybe a shared folder somewhere? Do you use Teams with colleagues? Do you have a Team or other online group for all the students in your program? How do you connect with alumni? Do you have social media channels, groups, etc.? Do you use a platform to collaborate with colleagues at other institutions?
The poll has 3 brief questions. Results will appear as word clouds for now but may be re-built into a poll with multi-select items or upvoting-downvoting functions.
Response summary link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/AnalysisPage.aspx?AnalyzerToken=D35cYgPKBhFIQ8WM71D7vaLjW5lmmRrg&id=MHEXIi9k2UGSEXQjetVofdg3qWdeLPRJhhXmv5kR_yJUN0hFQkNWQVRWWk5DSTBRRVZHSzZFTzVRRC4u
How are you using technology to build and sustain virtual communities, at MSU and beyond MSU?
I'm asking because I have really struggled to answer this for my own grad students and colleagues, I'm frustrated with insufficient answers from MSU IT, and I don't have time to experiment with every tool out there! This question is about connecting and collaborating beyond the level of an individual class. Do you just rely on email and maybe a shared folder somewhere? Do you use Teams with colleagues? Do you have a Team or other online group for all the students in your program? How do you connect with alumni? Do you have social media channels, groups, etc.? Do you use a platform to collaborate with colleagues at other institutions?
The poll has 3 brief questions. Results will appear as word clouds for now but may be re-built into a poll with multi-select items or upvoting-downvoting functions.
Response summary link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/AnalysisPage.aspx?AnalyzerToken=D35cYgPKBhFIQ8WM71D7vaLjW5lmmRrg&id=MHEXIi9k2UGSEXQjetVofdg3qWdeLPRJhhXmv5kR_yJUN0hFQkNWQVRWWk5DSTBRRVZHSzZFTzVRRC4u
Posted by: Amanda Lanier
Host: MSU Libraries
Third Thursday Crafting at the Makerspace
Join us for our Third Thursday Crafting Meet-Ups, a fun free event series where creativity and community come together! Every third Thursday of the month we gather and make together, share ideas, meet new people, and enjoy a relaxing evening to unwind, and create something. Feel free to bring along your current project or try out some new crafts — it’s all about having fun and connecting!
Navigating Context
Host: MSU Libraries
MSU Libraries and The Poetry Room present Olivia Gatwood
Join the MSU Libraries and Lansing’s The Poetry Room for an afternoon of poetry, connection and conversation celebrating student, alumni and community voices. The event opens with performances from the MSU Poetry Club alongside recent alumni, spotlighting emerging talent and the power of being heard. The showcase will be followed by acclaimed poet, author and viral sensation Olivia Gatwood, whose work blends humor, intimacy and sharp social insight. Gatwood will share poems as well as excerpts from her 2024 novel “Whoever You Are, Honey,” offering an unfiltered look into her craft and creative journey. The afternoon will conclude with a Q&A — a mix of moderated conversation and audience participation — creating a rare opportunity to connect with one of today’s most dynamic literary voices.
Olivia Gatwood is the author of two poetry collections, “New American Best Friend” and “Life of the Party,” and co-writer of Adele’s music video “I Drink Wine.” She has received international recognition for her poetry, writing workshops and work as a Title IX-compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. Her performances have been featured on HBO, MTV, VH1, the BBC and more, with poems appearing in “The Poetry Foundation,” “Lambda Literary” and “The Missouri Review.” Originally from Albuquerque, she now lives in Los Angeles.
Event is free and open to all.
Navigating Context
Host: MSU Libraries
A Decade of Making: Celebrating 10 Years of the Hollander Makerspace
Join us in celebrating 10 years of creativity, collaboration, and innovation at the Hollander Makerspace Open House! Explore the evolution of the space through hands-on demos, tool showcases, and conversations with past and present makers over coffee and cookies. Whether you're a curious newcomer or longtime supporter, this milestone event offers a chance to connect, create, and envision the future of making at MSU.
Navigating Context
Host: MSU Libraries
Zotero Workshop (Online)
An introduction to the free open source citation management program Zotero. In this workshop, participants will learn how to:
Download references from MSU's article databases and websites
Format citations and bibliographies in a Word document
Create groups and share references with other users
Registration for this event is required.
You will receive a link to join a Zoom meeting before the workshop. Please install the Zotero software and Zotero browser connector on your computer before the session begins. More information is available from https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/zotero/setup.
Questions or need more information? Contact the MSU Libraries Zotero training team at lib.dl.zotero@msu.edu.
To schedule a separate session for your class or research group, please contact the Zotero team at lib.dl.zotero@msu.edu.
Navigating Context
Host: MSU Libraries
Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives
Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives - Fall 2025 Brownbag Series
Micah Ling, MSU Traditional Arts Program - “Clad in the Working Class: Blue-Collar Style and American Folk Music”
American folk music is often the soundtrack of labor movements—the rallying cries and songs that tell the story of workers’ struggles. This talk explores the way that blue-collar attire is used by folk and roots musicians in the United States regardless of their own labor backgrounds to show solidarity, express identity, and connect with the histories of the music.
Join online here. The password is odwodl.
Navigating Context
EXPIRED
Host: CTLI
The Educator Exchange Learning Community
The Educator Exchange is intentionally designed to provide protected time and space for meaningful connections about our work and paths as educators. We believe that the best [lifelong] learning occurs when we connect in spaces that affirm our experiences and celebrate our unique perspectives! Our aim is to be a community of practice where you can openly share when things don’t go as expected and brainstorm solutions to challenges, explore teaching practices in different ways, talk through the challenges of educator roles in myriad situations, and cultivate joy in the celebration of each other’s successes. Join The Educator Exchange and rediscover the joy of being part of a caring community dedicated to uplifting one another and making a positive impact in our classrooms, labs, and beyond. This offering is facilitated in collaboration with the Office for Faculty and Academic Staff Development. Check out their website more about MSU's formal Learning Communities [hyperlink: https://ofasd.msu.edu/teaching-learning/learning-communities/]
Upon completion of this learning experience, participants will be able to:
Build connections and foster a supportive community among MSU educators by sharing experiences, challenges, and successes
Exchange innovative teaching strategies and best practices to improve instructional effectiveness
Encourage peer-to-peer learning and reflection to promote professional growth, student engagement, and educator well-being.
Navigating Context
EXPIRED
Host: CTLI
Supporting Student Success Through Early Warning: Strategies for Graduate Teaching Assistants
On behalf of the GREAT office at The Graduate School, check out Supporting Student Success Through Early Warning: Strategies for Graduate Teaching Assistants
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2025 - 11:00am to 12:00pm
Location: Zoom
Audience: Current Graduate Students & Postdocs
This interactive session is designed to support Graduate Teaching Assistants in recognizing and responding to early signs that students may be in need of support. Participants will explore their role in MSU’s early warning efforts and develop practical strategies to promote academic engagement, connection, and timely support. The session will include discussion of common indicators that students may be facing challenges affecting their educational success, strategies for effective communication, and how to use campus resources and reporting tools like EASE to provide timely support.
Facilitator(s):
Kanchan Pavangadkar, Director of Student Success for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR)
Dwight Handspike, Director of Academic Advising & Student Success Initiatives, Undergraduate Academic Services, Broad College of Business
Samantha Zill, Human Biology & Pre-Health Advisor, Michigan State University, College of Natural Science
Maria O'Connell, University Innovation Alliance Fellow, Undergraduate Student Success Strategic Initiatives Manager, Office of Undergraduate Education
Register Here
**Zoom link will be sent closer to the workshop date.
Navigating Context
EXPIRED
Host: CTLI
Educator Drop-in Coffee Talk
Join educators from around MSU's network for an informal hour of comradery, community, and coffee (or whatever at home beverage you're so inclined to sip). Hosted virtually on the first Wednesday of each month, this is a moment for you to protect time and engage with others sharing your role/passions.
Upon completion of this learning experience, participants will be able to:
Build connections and foster community among MSU educators
Create a supportive space for sharing experiences, challenges, and successes
Encourage informal exchange of ideas to inspire professional growth and well-being.
Navigating Context
EXPIRED