Photo by Adam Bush May 2023 College Unbound Commencement | |
|
Dear CU Faculty and Alumni Mentors,
On Saturday, May 13th, we celebrated the graduation of the largest class of CU students ever, with students coming together from Rhode Island, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Their dream of obtaining their bachelor’s degree was made manifest on Saturday because of their vision, perseverance, and hard work. It was also made possible because of each and everyone one of you and your deep commitment to CU students.
Teaching at CU is not the passing of knowledge from the “sage on the stage” into the empty brains of students. At CU, teaching is love in action and student learning is that love reflected back into the CU Community and into the world. As CU faculty, you provide mirrors and windows for students – mirrors that allow students to see themselves with fresh eyes and windows that reveal the bright possibilities in front of them.
Thank you for your creativity, your unwavering commitment to the art of teaching, and your dedication to learning as the practice of freedom.
With gratitude,
Sylvia
| |
|
IMPORTANT SUMMER INFORMATION - CONTRACTS AND COURSES
While we hope that everyone has a restful summer, we will be sending occasional information to you at your CU email addresses. We will be sending out 2023-24 contracts and accompanying information at the beginning of July. We will also be in touch about fall courses and faculty orientations and the upcoming Imagining America gathering. If it is easier to forward your CU emails to a different email account, here is a video with information on how to do that. Click here for a video on forwarding emails.
Summer Session Begins on Monday, May 22! Students can add courses until May 29.
| |
|
2023 Workshop Wednesday Summer Series
Lizz Colón, Director of Learning In Public
Wednesday 5:30 P.M. - 7 P.M. EST
Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8515619450
Meeting ID: 851 561 9450
Passcode: 6800569
| |
- May 24, 2023
- Family Caregiving
- Accountability/Advocacy Big 10’s
- May 31, 2023
- Civic Engagement
- Collaboration Big 10
- Jun 7, 2023
- Entrepreneurial Endeavors
- Critical Thinking Big 10
- Jun 14, 2023
- Creative Expression
- Creativity Big 10
- Jun 21, 2023
- Leadership
- Communication Big 10
| |
- Jun 28, 2023
- TA/BA Work Experience
- Problem Solving Big 10
- Jul 5, 2023
- Work Experience
- Reflection Big 10
- Jul 12, 2023
- Immigration Journey
- Intercultural Engagement Big 10
- Jul 19, 2023
- Q & A Help for LIP/Big 10s
| |
Interested in learning more about liberatory, authentic assessment strategies? We are looking for more assessment specialists for Fall 2023. Reach out to Lizz for more information. | |
|
Spring Semester Faculty
Thank you for all your work this semester! We’ve made it through the academic year navigating lots of different challenges and opportunities. I appreciate all the conversations, feedback, and questions from you over this semester and will hopefully be using some of the summer to upgrade some features in Moodle for more improved use for all of us. Also, if you are looking for new ideas, approaches, or strategies for teaching and learning, please don’t hesitate to reach out and have a conversation!
Summer Semester Faculty
Here we go! Classes start today and I’m grateful for all the work you’ve been doing to get your courses ready. As we start our Summer classes, keep this Week by Week Checklist handy to make use of as you go forward! And, as always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email, text, or grab some time with me on my Calendly.
| |
|
All faculty are to schedule 1-1 meetings with all their students in the first week or so. The goal is to connect and build a relationship with each student while also learning about who they are and making relevant adjustments to the course. But how might you go about your one-to-one? Hopefully, these tips will help you!
What do I ask in my one-on-ones? Whatever feels right for the course and getting to know the student. But some solid ones to get you started include:
- What excites you about being at CU?
- If you have a project topic, what is it? What inspired you to choose that?
- What is your superpower? What is something that you'll be able to help others with in this course?
- Which 1 of the big 10 do you know you have in ample amounts because you or your friends/family have said so?
- What might you need support with in this course at CU?
- What are you passionate about? What gets you excited/hopeful/energized about?
Ultimately, you want to do a few things in the 1-1s:
- Express interest and learn about who this person is and why they are at CU
- Allay concerns and worries (as best you can) they have about your course
- Help them to recognize they are part of a learning community and the community benefits from having them there
- Take notes so you keep track of the different elements mentions for future reference and inquiry.
| Student Engagement or What If a Student Doesn’t Show? | |
Attendance/Engagement Is Now Recorded in Moodle: We need all faculty to be using the Attendance: Engagement tool in their Moodle courses to document student engagement each week. Submission for engagement should be completed by Monday of the following week. Therefore, the item in your Moodle called “Summer Session.”
Attendance should be completed no later than 10am on Monday, May 29 for Week 1 and then by every following Monday thereafter. This video (9:20 minutes) explains how (and why) to use the Attendance: Engagement tool in Moodle. You can also learn more about the Attendance: Engagement tool here.
What to do if a student doesn’t show up this week?
-
Synchronous course: The day after (or close thereto), email the student and CC the Lab Faculty (how? See below). The email should come from a sense of concern and interest (“I missed you in class, I’m excited to meet you, I’m checking in to see if everything is ok”).
-
Asynchronous course: By Friday of this week, if the student hasn’t logged into your course in Moodle (you can see this under “Participants” under the Course title in your Moodle course), then email out to the student and CC the Lab faculty (how? See below). The email should come from a sense of concern and interest as well a reminder that it is an asynchronous course which means while there is no set time, there are often due dates each week and you just want to make sure they understand that.
-
One extra step we recommend is that you consider texting them. You can find their contact information in Campus Cafe and also, if you prefer, text them from Campus Cafe.
-
To find Lab Faculty, log into Campus Cafe with your CU credentials.
- Select "Choose one" in the middle of the screen
a. Select Spring 2023
b. Select Roster
i. Note: here is where you can text them by selecting the checkboxes next to the student's name and the option near the top to text.
c. Select the 3 dots to the left of the student's name
d. Select Contact Info
e. On this page you'll see student's personal contact info and lab faculty
| |
Open your Moodle course: Also, post your syllabus in Moodle, invite the students into Moodle. This should all be done by now but if it isn’t, make sure it happens today!
Post your Zoom link: If you are teaching a synchronous course, be sure to both post the Zoom link in your Moodle course and to send it out to students. This video shows you how to post the Zoom link as a link in your course. As for emailing it to students, if you Add a Discussion to your Announcement forum, it will also be emailed to students.
Spend Time in Moodle With Your Students During Class: If you are teaching a synchronous course, please take class time to walk students through how YOU are using Moodle and how you expect them to use it. Provide a sense of how it’s laid out and answer questions live about it. This will help you tremendously! Also, remind students that they can learn and practice in Moodle in Moodle and Online Learning 101, a self-paced course that all students are enrolled in within Moodle. If you teach an asynchronous course, consider doing a video recording (using Zoom and the Share Screen function) to give students a tour of the space.
Student Trouble Logging Onto Moodle: As you run into students who say they cannot log into Moodle, direct them to techsupport@collegeunbound.edu. It won’t help to send them to me as I don’t have the kind of access that is needed to help them.
Courses Not Viewable In Moodle: If a student mentions this, it can be two things.
1. The first is that not all courses will show up; some students are taking Session 2 courses–
those courses won’t be viewable until March.
2. The second is that sometimes the students aren’t looking at the current semester. When
talking with students that are voicing this issue, please walk them through the following
check with them:
a. Go to your Dashboard
b. Look at the Course Overview section
c. Change the drop-down from "All" to "In Progress"
d. The current semester courses should now show.
3. The attached images should also help with both Moodle on a computer and the app
Remind students of the Moodle app: The students (and you) can access Moodle through their mobile devices by downloading the app. There is an extra step or two and therefore, this video (4:41 minutes) is essential to get set up on the Moodle app.
| |
|
Dearest Lab Faculty,
We know the hard work you have put into this job is far more than 10 hours a week and the stipend that we are able to provide you each semester. We acknowledge how many 1 on 1s, zooms, meals and text messages you have shared with students over this past year alone and no meme, small gift in the mail (look out for something soon!) or appreciation post can do it justice as education is both heart and head work. We could see the love pour out to your cohorts in senior speeches, exhibitions and graduations. There is blood, sweat, tears and more in this work that is lifelong and often feels endless and also is so rewarding. Know that WE SEE (CU) YOU! We value you and appreciate you. Thank you for all of your hard work and brilliance.
Please fill out this end of the year lab faculty survey ASAP so it can help us improve. Many thanks to John, Sandra, both Chrises, Deborah, Larome, Melissa, Leyla, Rahsaan, Sharahan, Maryellen, Melissa, Josh, Mike, Ayana, Wanda, Jimi, and Ashton for filling it out and we hope to have 100% participation from the other 18 of you by the end of the week (5/26) so that we can have a comprehensive end of year report compiled by June. This will then improve our upcoming new lab faculty onboarding this summer as we hope to have 50 labs in the fall. We are growing and need your help to make us better!
Please check in with your cohorts at least 1-2 times during the summer. Some potential ideas are to host a cook-out, meet-up at a park, have a library study session, take over a local coffee shop, go to a free summer festival, etc. Make sure you have at least a phone call or text one-on-ones with each of your students before August.
The next All Lab Faculty training will be on August 17th from 6:00-8:00pm EST, with more information to come. Our training agenda and calendar for Summer/ Fall 2023 is almost finalize. Be on the lookout for an e-mail from Sage and Sylvia in June.
We look forward to seeing you tonight on Zoom here from 6:30-8:00pm EST for our final Lab Faculty Training of year as we reflect and move forward.
We are so glad you are part of the CU CommUnity. Thank you for all you do and are.
In peace, respect and appreciation,
Sage
| |
|
Congratulations on finishing the semester strong!! It really does take a village and I am so proud of the hard work of our faculty and staff in meeting the needs of each student in our program. Each of you has played a critical role in the lives and careers of our students!
A special shoutout to lab faculty who supported students through the graduation process this year. What a JOY it was to see so many CU graduates from the TA2BA program walk across the stage & receive their diploma. Our classrooms, schools and communities will all benefit from these passionate, dedicated and experienced educators. Here’s to changing the world one teacher at a time!! 🌎 📚 🌟 🎉 💖
- Aubrey
| |
|
Esteemed CU Lab Faculty,
Thank you so much for an amazing semester with your students this Spring 2023!
As a wrap up of the semester, can we please schedule an end of semester 1:1 Schedule time with me here.
Our agenda will cover:
- Debriefing the semester
- Exhibitions
- Student updates; class registration, degree audits, overall, #s in cohort, staying in touch with students
- Next semester planning; syllabi, important dates, summer
- Recruiting Lab Faculty and students
- LIPs and Big 10s; submissions, assessments
- Room for improvement
I look forward to speaking with you and hope you have a fantastic summer! Looking forward to many more semesters of success!
Best,
Melina & David
PS. Check out those amazing balloon columns!
| |
|
Sincerely,
All of Us at College Unbound, including:
| | | | |
