No matter what kinds of progress you’ve made, you probably feel behind in some capacity. When there are people your age already starting businesses or writing best-selling books, it’s easy to lament your lack of specialization. 

���������հ�’s Student Technology Consultants are running an interactive book club on Range, by David Epstein. We’ll address the myth of the early head start and the benefits of a “sampling period,” where one tries new things and builds range. Learn how this mindset can be more successful (and less stressful) than early specialization! We hope to provide a community for undergraduates in the College of Arts & Sciences to discuss their career and future mindsets.

All four meetings will be held Monday nights, 7-8 p.m. MST, on Zoom. ASSETT will provide Kindle copies of Range to all participants, and the book club will meet for the following schedule:

March 15: This is our introductory virtual meeting. We will distribute the e-books, make brief introductions, and watch a relevant TED talk.
March 22: This will be our first content discussion, focusing on the first third of the book.
April 5: This will be our second content discussion, focusing on the second third of the book.
April 19: This will be our final meeting, where we’ll discuss the final section of the book and overall takeaways. 

Interested participants should fill out this form:  
E-book codes are limited to twelve participants, all of whom must be a student of or enrolled in a course in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Students who miss the first meeting are still encouraged to reach out, since there may still be space!

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Photo by Chris Montgomery, via Unsplash

Are you interested in learning how others are using games in their classroom? Have you read about how someone has ‘gamified’ their activities and want to learn more? Or are you just generally curious about gamification pedagogy?

In Fall 2021, the ASSETT Innovation Incubator Student Success team is launching a community of practice focused on the gamification of learning pedagogy, or GCoP. Each month, we’ll welcome a guest speaker who will discuss their approach to gamification. This is a great opportunity to gather with other campus community members. Together we’ll explore topics ranging from learning with Reacting to the Past, using games in a virtual classroom, and creating an alternative virtual reality. 

Virtual GCoP sessions will take place from 9:00-10:15am on the second Wednesday of the month from September through December 2021

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In a book club led by ASSETT Student Technology Consultants, undergraduate students looked toward their futures while at CU and beyond. The program, which was piloted in the spring semester of 2020, was based on  by Stanford professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. The authors guide readers through a number of exercises designed to craft what they want their future careers, life, love, and fun to look like. Their rounded approach and encouragement to consider your "many lives" (the many possible directions your life could go) promotes creative thinking about one’s future. 

“Even if I don't figure out what exactly I want to do, I would like to walk away with a mindset that I can use when approaching new opportunities. I want to know which questions to ask for job or internship positions and how to feel confident in my choices,” explained one participant about why he joined the book club. 

Undergraduate students participated in this book club for a variety of reasons. Many wanted a game plan for after graduation, or at least a better idea of what they would like to do. Some wanted the group setting of a book club, to hold them accountable and help them better develop their own ideas about their futures. Some went in without expectations and an open mind. 

Originally, the book club consisted of four in-person meetings, with independent reading and exercises. The first meeting was held in person, but after COVID-19 precautions taken by CU �鶹ӰԺ, the following three meetings were held over Zoom.

After the rapid shift to virtual sessions, not all of the original attendees could make the following meetings. For some, classes going virtual meant their commitments had changed and for others, uncertainty with COVID-19 made thinking about the future more taxing. For the remaining participants, however, the independent reading, the exercises to get them thinking about their future, and the group discussions were predominantly helpful. For students, the group setting, feedback from peers, and exercises to facilitate open-minded thinking for the future was helpful for better approaching their futures at CU and beyond. 

“It was a good environment to keep me accountable to keep reading and doing the activities, and a good resource to share my findings and reflect on the feedback.”

“Awesome book club! I really enjoyed it and learned a lot of valuable skills. I gave the book to my mom and she’s reading it now.”

ASSETT and the Student Technology Consultants plan to facilitate another student-focused book club in the fall of 2020. The book is still to be determined, but they want to bring back the peer setting, group conversation, and self-reflection for students. 

For more information on future book clubs, reach out to Jacie Moriyama, Student Services Portfolio Manager. 

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When we are called to innovate or pivot, it is often in response to a complex challenge that requires a resilient solution. Characteristics of resiliency are inherent to innovative practice.

This series of general conversations will get participants thinking about, talking about, sharing about and — importantly — recognizing their own capacity for resilience and enacting resilience practices as they innovate the way that they teach, learn, and live. The group will meet throughout the summer to discuss curated content focused on managing anxiety, navigating ambiguity, and enacting adaptability through innovation.  Build your innovation and resiliency toolbox in community with colleagues during these one-hour facilitated conversations led by ���������հ�’s Innovation Catalyst, Blair Young, and the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Inclusive Pedagogy Lead, Becca Ciancanelli.

Session dates

• Thursday, June 18
• Thursday, July 16
• Thursday, July 30 

All sessions will take place over the lunch hour from 12:00 to 1:00 pm Mountain time.

Registration

This co-sponsored ASSETT and CTL conversation group is open to up to 15 participants, including staff and faculty. For additional information, contact Blair Young.

NOTE: As of June 15, registration is closed as all spaces have been filled. Please click the button below to indicate your interest in future sessions. It will take you to a brief Google Form where you can provide some basic information.

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Incubator Presents at DBER

This April the ASSETT Innovation Incubator made its debut to the CU STEM community while presenting at a Discipline Based Education Research (DBER) seminar. At this online event, a representative from each of the four incubator teams presented on the focus and the work of their team, including Ruth Heisler (IPHY) representing the Student Success team; Nicole Jobin (Sewall RAP) representing the Collective to Advance Multimodal Participatory Publishing (CAMPP) team; Joy Adams (ASSETT) & June Gruber (PSYC) representing the Metacognition & Well-being team; and Eric Vance (APPM/LISA) representing the Inclusive Data Science team.

To hear more about the innovation incubator straight from the mouths of participants, watch this 1-hour recording of the presentation. [link forthcoming!]

Incubator Responds to Emergency Charge

Over the coming months, each Innovation Incubator team will explore and enact how they might leverage their innovations to positively impact the undergraduate learning experience during and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In response to the charge, this question recently emerged from the incubator community: How might we collectively create an OER (Open Educational Resource) that features adaptive teaching and learning strategies or tools from each of the four innovation incubator teams?

By nature of innovative initiatives, incubator teams take a nimble approach to their projects and their prototypes. Through a response to the COVID-19 emergency charge we hope to share approaches that work across any scenario now matter how or where we are teaching and learning.

Summer 2020 Resilience Conversations: Anxiety, Ambiguity, Adaptability

This series of general conversations will get participants thinking about, talking about, sharing about and — importantly — recognizing their own capacity for resilience and resilience practices.The group will meet once monthly throughout the summer in June, July, and August to discuss curated content focused on managing anxiety, navigating ambiguity, and enacting adaptability.  Build your resilience toolbox in community with colleagues during these one-hour facilitated conversations led by ���������հ�’s Innovation Catalyst, Blair Young.

The conversation group is open to up to 15 staff and faculty.

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Strategic Course Design for Flexible Teaching Modes

���������հ�’s Summer Course Design Workshops provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to developing a range of technology-enhanced learning experiences. In response to COVID-19 mitigation, this summer’s training (2020) will be offered in a hybrid format that combines virtual meetings with hands-on application. We will emphasize transitioning from face-to-face teaching to remote delivery, providing a foundation of pedagogy, technical skills, and research-informed practices that can be used flexibly to support fully online courses, hybrid offerings, and/or emergency remote teaching.

Each live workshop includes five synchronous sessions (hosted in Zoom), held daily over the course of one week, with additional online activities, for a total of approximately 10 to 12 hours of guided instruction. The July workshop is delivered in a fully online, self-paced format. It covers the same curriculum, with recorded sessions taking the place of Zoom meetings to offer more flexibility for participants.

UPDATE: As of May 15, all sessions of the workshop are full, including all spaces on the waitlists.

Advance registration is required, and each workshop is limited to 20 participants. These workshops are very popular and usually fill quickly, so we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible to reserve your space. In accordance with ���������հ�’s mission, priority will be given to instructors within the College of Arts & Sciences; however, any CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty members (including graduate students with instructional duties) may register to participate on a space-available basis. 

For additional information, contact the workshop facilitators, Joy Adams (joy.adams@colorado.edu) or Amanda McAndrew (amanda.mcandrew@colorado.edu).

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Unprecedented circumstances call for unexpected pivots

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the live EMERGE 2020: IDEATE event scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2020 is canceled. We are currently brainstorming how we might still creatively pursue the intent of the event: To gather like-minded colleagues and community members to showcase your incubator projects while wrestling with the question How might we get students out of their seats and into active learning? Currently, we're considering an online series of community conversations, which would include opportunities for our scheduled conference presenters to deliver their sessions virtually. Stay tuned!

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CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty, including graduate students with instructional duties, are encouraged to take advantage of the support offered by the Office of Information Technology, which includes ASSETT. 

• ������’s web page describes methods and tools that can allow you to continue your class activities at a distance.

• ASSETT can provide web-based training sessions for departments, offices, or groups within the College of Arts & Sciences. To submit a request, complete the on the On-Demand Training page of the ASSETT website.

• In collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning, OIT is offering several upcoming training sessions on Remote Teaching Using Zoom and Canvas. The sessions will be recorded for later viewing and include an option to participate remotely via Zoom, if you are unable to come to campus.

• For technical support or general information regarding Canvas and other campus-supported technologies, email oithelp@colorado.edu or call 303-735-4357. ASSETT staff will be helping to monitor these channels to provide specialized support.

• On-demand video recordings of training sessions on teaching with Canvas are available on the page of the OIT website.

• As always, ASSETT staff are also available for consultations or general inquiries about teaching with technology. Email assett@colorado.edu for assistance.

Please continue to review CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Coronavirus Updates and Resources web page for the latest campus news and information.

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In collaboration with OIT's Learning Technology Consultants, ASSETT is offering online workshops to support faculty in transitioning to remote teaching. These workshops are open to any CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty members, including graduate students with instructional responsibilities. Pre-registration is highly recommended. 

The first training, Planning for Remote Instruction: 8 Easy Steps, is a 90-minute comprehensive workshop based on the guidance provided in the recent ASSETT article of the same name. During Spring Break, this material will be offered as a series of four 30-minute mini-workshops. Participants are welcome to attend the full series or to choose specific sessions, based on their needs and interest. 

Training schedule

• Wednesday, March 18: Planning for Remote Instruction, 8 Easy Steps, 10:00 - 11:30 am via Zoom
• Monday, March 23: Planning for Remote Instruction, Part 1: Course Communication, 2:00 - 2:30 pm via Zoom
• Tuesday, March 24: Planning for Remote Instruction, Part 2: Course Mapping, 2:00 - 2:30 pm via Zoom
• Wednesday, March 25: Planning for Remote Instruction, Part 3: Student Support, 2:00 - 2:30 pm via Zoom
• Thursday, March 26: Planning for Remote Instruction, Part 4: Maintaining Community, 2:00 - 2:30 pm via Zoom

The above workshops will be facilitated by Joy K. Adams, Ph.D., Teaching & Learning Consultant, . Sessions will be recorded and posted as videos on the ASSETT and OIT websites in the coming days.

For session descriptions and a complete list of upcoming training opportunities, visit the of the OIT website.

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UPDATE: The 2020 Innovation Incubator conference has been canceled due to COVID-19 mitigation. Stay tuned for information about other upcoming events!

SAVE THE DATE! This spring, the ASSETT Innovation Incubator is hosting a daylong event focused on innovations in active learning and education technology. This free event is open to the entire campus as well as higher education organizations across the Front Range. Write the date down in ink on your calendar: Thursday, May 14, 2020 from 9:00-4:00pm. Keep an eye out for event details and registration opportunities over the coming months.

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