Published: Aug. 21, 2018
Participants work in small groups during a workshop on Universal Design for Learning

Campus was quiet, but the ASSETT team was hard at work! We offered a series of special summer events, prepared new offerings for the coming academic year, and polished聽up our ongoing programs and services.

Here are some virtual postcards from our staff about we did this summer:

Amanda McAndrew, Faculty Services Portfolio Manager

What, summer鈥檚 over? Say it ain鈥檛 so, Joe! But, it was a productive one. I pondered questions like how are we connecting students to one another, to authentic audiences for the work they produce, and to experts in the field? How are we encouraging students to be critical consumers and producers of knowledge in the internet information age? For answers, I read, attended conferences, and interviewed teaching and learning center professionals at other institutions. So, I鈥檓 teaming up with Caroline Sinkinson in University Libraries for a pilot project, Domain of One鈥檚 Own (DoOO), that will investigate how we can help our students develop digital identities and digital literacy. Also, newly on board in ASSETT is our Teaching, Learning, and Technology Initiatives Graduate Assistant, Blair Young. Blair is a grad student in ATLAS鈥檚聽Information Communication Technology for Development program. She will be assisting us with the DoOO pilot and our Faculty Fellows program. Welcome, Blair! And if you鈥檙e interested to learn more about DoOO, check out our upcoming workshops for an information session in November.

Jacie Moriyama, Student Services Portfolio Manager

Summer was busy with planning, delivering, and聽attending professional development workshops and conferences. The summer has also been bittersweet. We bid farewell to our colleague Clara Smith, who has been instrumental in mentoring and managing our undergraduate student employees.聽 While we are sad to see her leave, we are pleased to welcome聽Sam Kindick as our聽new Lead Student Fellow. Sam is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Classics Department. If you鈥檙e around the TLC building, please give Sam a warm welcome.聽To get ready for fall, I asked the Student Fellows聽how聽they鈥檇 like to expand their service offering in the area of聽teaching and learning. Their answer: Helping faculty and graduate students conduct mid-semester evaluations.聽To learn more or to聽request working with a Student Fellow,聽please email us at assett@colorado.edu! 聽聽

Joy Adams, Teaching & Learning Consultant

I taught my summer course, 鈥淚ntroduction to Human Geography,鈥 for The University of Maryland.聽It was my third time to teach it fully online, so I had a chance to try a few new things. I incorporated weekly metacognitive activities based on what I learned during the ASSETT Summer Book Club. To save students some money, I ditched my print textbook and utilized open educational resources (OER) instead. And, of course, I made time for my passionate, ongoing love affair with grading rubrics. I learned a LOT from these experiments and look forward to sharing tips and tricks with the A&S faculty at our upcoming workshops this fall!