During the Summer Teaching Institute faculty are exposed to a large number of ideas regarding the theme. Many participants focus on one concept or technique. However, Dr. Sheryl Lutjens took a more ambitious approach and used several ideas to address student engagement in her Women's Studies courses.
"2006-07-16 Summit Lake Park Colorado" by Matt Wright - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Commons
"2006-07-16 Summit Lake Park Colorado" by Matt Wright - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Commons
Summer Teaching Institute, 2014
Report on new techniques and student learning/engagement
Sheryl Lutjens
I adopted three new practices in my Fall 2014 courses, drawing upon the rich learning environment created for us in the Summer Teaching Institute. They were all wonderfully successful, helping me to achieve specific objectives and overall, providing me with a sense of competency with regard to the application of new technologies within existing course structures/syllabi.
I was very keen to use the Grade Book for grade entry, record keeping, and notification/access of students to their grades. In addition to attending additional training in Cougar Courses facilities, I made an appointment to receive individual instruction.
Grade Book turned out to be very effective for reporting grades, though there were frequent glitches with grades that had been recorded not showing up for students. The problem may well have been my own errors in entering grades, so I am hopeful that this semester will work with fewer snafus.
Learning how to use Grade Book was not hard since instructions are fairly clear and where they were not as detailed or clear, I was able to experiment and find answers to the questions I had.
Overall, I was very happy. The students in both of my courses were also satisfied with the guaranteed access to course grades, even if there was little by way of rankings or computation of percentages in the course. (I have since learned more about the latter!)
One of the discussion in the Summer Teaching Institute included description and subsequent evaluation of a participatory “Ground Rules-Setting” group task/assignment used in one faculty member’s class. This beginning-of-the-semester assignment seemed to allow students voice and power in establishing basic rules for the classroom—from use of social media/technology to norms of courtesy in class discussions.
I introduced this assignment in both of my WMST 101 (Introduction to Women’s Studies) classes in the Fall. The student small-group discussions went well, and after report back to the full class, I took my notes home and prepared them as a Ground Rules Proposal to be analyzed and amended/approved at the next class session. In terms of time and effort, everything ran very smoothly. I did not perceive a strong sense of ownership of these rules during the semester, however. Because there were major differences in some of the rules between the two classes (say, use of communications technology in the classroom), I found myself a bit confused a couple of times during the semester when rules were apparently not followed!
I did not use this activity for my Spring 2015 course, however. The advantages did not seem to warrant the time dedicated to the assignment.
During my tutorial meeting with IITS staff, I was introduced to the Glossary function in Cougar Courses. Because I had left the Summer Institute intent upon including some on-line discussion activity in my two Fall courses, the suggestion to explore the Glossary was a welcomed one. I incorporated a Glossary assignment as part of participation points. It was very successful and I plan to use it again. In the Fall semester, I used it at the end of the course, but I will plan to use it throughout the course via modification in the requirements of the Glossary assignment. Next time, I will require students to read and comment on entries written by other students!
Here is what was included in the syllabus: “To encourage the application of theoretical concepts and feminist theories more broadly, students will be asked to post to our course Glossary twice during the semester. More detailed instructions are available in Cougar Courses.”
Here are the instructions included in the Glossary itself:
You are asked to apply theoretical concepts and feminist theories more broadly by “discovering” interesting/significant examples of women’s or gender issues related to what we are studying in WMST 101 this semester, drawing them from the media world in which we live. Each student will create two Glossary entries that will be posted to our course Glossary. These postings count for 20 of your participation points.
What is an entry? Once you find an example you would like to share with the class by posting it, identify the theoretical concept, term, or idea that “exemplifies” (demonstrates, explains, represents). This will be the title of your entry. Write a very brief description of your example and why you chose it. Then pose a question about it. As a final step, link your example to the entry so that others may access it if they wish.
This is my sample entry provided to offer guidance, followed by two (anonymous) student entries!
Surrogate Mother
By Sheryl Lutjens, Sunday, October 19, 2014, 6:49 pm
Surrogate mothers advertisement
The Free Dictionary offers this definition of “surrogate mother”:
A woman who bears a child for another person, often for pay, either through artificial insemination or by carrying until birth another woman's surgically implanted fertilized egg.
Surrogacy has been defined legally. What sort of legal questions, issues, or conflicts might arise in a situation where procreation is structured through surrogacy? I have attached an advertisement for women interested in serving as a surrogate (http://surrogate.surrogateparenting.com/surrogate-mother-parent-lg1/?gclid=CjwKEAjwwo2iBRCurdSQy9y8xWcSJABrrLiSomyxShZhiRB02n_tVeO4yru587Y098qkPZAD8aH6tBoCNj3w_wcB). What questions would a critical feminist reading of the advertisement suggest?
Cross Dressing
By xxxxx, Monday, October 20, 2014, 4:38 pm
The definition of cross dressing can be found in the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary.
Cross dressing: The wearing of clothes designed for the opposite sex.
Cross dressing has a legal definition. What reactions does cross dressing ultimately end up with in the views of the public? i have a funny YouTube video that is both entertaining and enlightening. It indirectly proves that those who cross dress are looked down upon and oppressed in today's society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlySZmiLgD0
Male Gaze
by xxxx - Sunday, December 7, 2014, 9:49 PM
Male Gaze: theory that describes the tendency of works to assume a straight male viewpoint
This is very relevant in films and television today because, for example, in a sex scene, a woman's body is shown more than a mans.
Will the growing presence of women involvement in film making change this?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MaleGaze
Report on new techniques and student learning/engagement
Sheryl Lutjens
I adopted three new practices in my Fall 2014 courses, drawing upon the rich learning environment created for us in the Summer Teaching Institute. They were all wonderfully successful, helping me to achieve specific objectives and overall, providing me with a sense of competency with regard to the application of new technologies within existing course structures/syllabi.
- The Grade Book.
I was very keen to use the Grade Book for grade entry, record keeping, and notification/access of students to their grades. In addition to attending additional training in Cougar Courses facilities, I made an appointment to receive individual instruction.
Grade Book turned out to be very effective for reporting grades, though there were frequent glitches with grades that had been recorded not showing up for students. The problem may well have been my own errors in entering grades, so I am hopeful that this semester will work with fewer snafus.
Learning how to use Grade Book was not hard since instructions are fairly clear and where they were not as detailed or clear, I was able to experiment and find answers to the questions I had.
Overall, I was very happy. The students in both of my courses were also satisfied with the guaranteed access to course grades, even if there was little by way of rankings or computation of percentages in the course. (I have since learned more about the latter!)
- Course Ground Rules task.
One of the discussion in the Summer Teaching Institute included description and subsequent evaluation of a participatory “Ground Rules-Setting” group task/assignment used in one faculty member’s class. This beginning-of-the-semester assignment seemed to allow students voice and power in establishing basic rules for the classroom—from use of social media/technology to norms of courtesy in class discussions.
I introduced this assignment in both of my WMST 101 (Introduction to Women’s Studies) classes in the Fall. The student small-group discussions went well, and after report back to the full class, I took my notes home and prepared them as a Ground Rules Proposal to be analyzed and amended/approved at the next class session. In terms of time and effort, everything ran very smoothly. I did not perceive a strong sense of ownership of these rules during the semester, however. Because there were major differences in some of the rules between the two classes (say, use of communications technology in the classroom), I found myself a bit confused a couple of times during the semester when rules were apparently not followed!
I did not use this activity for my Spring 2015 course, however. The advantages did not seem to warrant the time dedicated to the assignment.
- Feminist Concepts Glossary
During my tutorial meeting with IITS staff, I was introduced to the Glossary function in Cougar Courses. Because I had left the Summer Institute intent upon including some on-line discussion activity in my two Fall courses, the suggestion to explore the Glossary was a welcomed one. I incorporated a Glossary assignment as part of participation points. It was very successful and I plan to use it again. In the Fall semester, I used it at the end of the course, but I will plan to use it throughout the course via modification in the requirements of the Glossary assignment. Next time, I will require students to read and comment on entries written by other students!
Here is what was included in the syllabus: “To encourage the application of theoretical concepts and feminist theories more broadly, students will be asked to post to our course Glossary twice during the semester. More detailed instructions are available in Cougar Courses.”
Here are the instructions included in the Glossary itself:
You are asked to apply theoretical concepts and feminist theories more broadly by “discovering” interesting/significant examples of women’s or gender issues related to what we are studying in WMST 101 this semester, drawing them from the media world in which we live. Each student will create two Glossary entries that will be posted to our course Glossary. These postings count for 20 of your participation points.
What is an entry? Once you find an example you would like to share with the class by posting it, identify the theoretical concept, term, or idea that “exemplifies” (demonstrates, explains, represents). This will be the title of your entry. Write a very brief description of your example and why you chose it. Then pose a question about it. As a final step, link your example to the entry so that others may access it if they wish.
This is my sample entry provided to offer guidance, followed by two (anonymous) student entries!
Surrogate Mother
By Sheryl Lutjens, Sunday, October 19, 2014, 6:49 pm
Surrogate mothers advertisement
The Free Dictionary offers this definition of “surrogate mother”:
A woman who bears a child for another person, often for pay, either through artificial insemination or by carrying until birth another woman's surgically implanted fertilized egg.
Surrogacy has been defined legally. What sort of legal questions, issues, or conflicts might arise in a situation where procreation is structured through surrogacy? I have attached an advertisement for women interested in serving as a surrogate (http://surrogate.surrogateparenting.com/surrogate-mother-parent-lg1/?gclid=CjwKEAjwwo2iBRCurdSQy9y8xWcSJABrrLiSomyxShZhiRB02n_tVeO4yru587Y098qkPZAD8aH6tBoCNj3w_wcB). What questions would a critical feminist reading of the advertisement suggest?
Cross Dressing
By xxxxx, Monday, October 20, 2014, 4:38 pm
The definition of cross dressing can be found in the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary.
Cross dressing: The wearing of clothes designed for the opposite sex.
Cross dressing has a legal definition. What reactions does cross dressing ultimately end up with in the views of the public? i have a funny YouTube video that is both entertaining and enlightening. It indirectly proves that those who cross dress are looked down upon and oppressed in today's society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlySZmiLgD0
Male Gaze
by xxxx - Sunday, December 7, 2014, 9:49 PM
Male Gaze: theory that describes the tendency of works to assume a straight male viewpoint
This is very relevant in films and television today because, for example, in a sex scene, a woman's body is shown more than a mans.
Will the growing presence of women involvement in film making change this?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MaleGaze