Brooklyn Waterfront – L4: Living Lab Learning Library

May 5, 2023

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

Patricia Hickey

CityTech CUNY

English 1101 and English 1112

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

The class as a groups walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. The class did some preliminary research about the Brooklyn Bridge’s history. The students paired up. One partner made voice comments while the other took photos. The pairs chose either people, scenery or bridge structure.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The goals are:
1. Everyone should experience walking over the iconic Brooklyn Bridge!
2. Students learn how to hone their power of observation.
3. Students put their experience into a solid coherent paragraph.
4. Students share their experiences with their classmates.
5. Everyone sees each other in a different light. This will help establish comradery.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

In the Spring semester I did this mid semester for two reasons. Firstly, the warmer weather makes the walk easier. Secondly, a change of pace is good for the mid semester slump.
The entire lesson takes about a full class and a half time. We walked during the class time .I

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

There was no preparation for this activity, although I was concerned if someone felt they were not capable of walking the distance. All felt fine. Before walking we did some preliminary research about the Bridge.
This was a low stakes writing lesson.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

The only assessment was participation

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This experience was wonderful and I most certainly will repeat this. Everyone loved the activity and I had virtually no complaints. The students loved walking and chatting with their classmates and with me. They loved the views and the feeling that it was “their Bridge” and they were not tourists.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

June 9, 2020

French for food etiquette assignment

Khalid Lachheb

Humanities Department

French for food and culture

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Eating and drinking is a crucial part of French culture and social life. There are rules and codes to be aware of.

Students will work in groups and will participate in role play exercises. They will write read and order from menu to order food and drinks, bread, cheese and wine by using the appropriate French vocabulary.

In order to fulfill cultural interaction learning outcomes students will be exposed to a wide range of authentic material. They will watch and analyze two/three videos shown in class or as assigned homework.

This activity will try to benefit from the Placed-Based Learning approach as applied to many other disciplines.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

After studying the culture dimension of French food, students will be aware regarding the fundamental relationship between language and culture.
Students learn:
a. to "construct" their knowledge from experience they bring to the
learning situation inside the classroom.

b. to derive meaning from experience, as well as gather information
from observation.
c. to use awareness of cultural differences to bridge cultural and linguistic
barriers.

Students will use the appropriate French terminology in this context.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This assignment is an introduction to the course program. Students should know general French food etiquette before engaging in serious learning contexts.
This work will be assigned during the 3-4 first weeks of the program.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

This is a low stake activity.
Will coordinate with hospitality department to identify the appropriate French restaurant as place-based learning for this activity.
Will plan to achieve the “field trip” during the class time.

I will be using AACU’s rubric called “Intercultural Knowledge and Competence”.

This activity will help students:
To communicate across cultural and linguistic barriers, and to
demonstrate expanded cultural and global awareness and sensitivity.

And will includes High-Impact Educational Practices:
1. Collaborative Assignments and Projects.
2. Diversity/Global Learning
3. place–Based Learning

This is new activity will be assigned during the Spring 2021.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

May 31, 2019

Designing the banks along the Newtown Creek

Marius Constantin

CET

Electromechanical Systems Lab

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Each group of students will design and test their concepts of river banks along the Newtown Creek in Brooklyn.
This activity, which will be concluded as a final project at the end of the semester, is a partnership with Newtown Creek Alliance (NCA), a community-based organization dedicated to restoring, revealing and revitalizing this area in Brooklyn.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

To increase the student engagement and learning I shall use the high-impact educational practice called “Collaborative Assignments and Projects” to facilitate learning and solving problems in the company of others and to encourage students with different cultural backgrounds and life experiences find a common outcome.
Students will become aware of the high potential this area can offer to the community and in the same time accomplishing the implementation of their engineering skills into a real and meaningful application.
The activity application is finding an engineering solution to prevent further erosion of the creek’s banks.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The activity will start on the third week, when a field trip to Newtown Creek is planned to take place. Starting the fourth week, students have to come up with a concept that will culminate with a real and tested design of the river banks in the last week of the semester.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

This field trip is considered a low-stakes activity, where students will be introduced to the culture, vision and challenges NCA is facing.
During the first class meeting, among the usual routine, I will introduce to students the activity rollout:
– third week – field trip
– fourth week – defining the river banks structural form and determining the structural materials to be used
– in the following weeks the groups work on analyzing and testing their chosen design concept by computer simulating the forces at work, such as: gravity, river inertial load, torsional and shear stress, elasticity, strength and strain
– last week – final presentation

To assess students’ learning outcome I am going to use AACU’s rubric called “Intercultural Knowledge and Competence” to determine how effective they were in a variety of cultural contexts.
Students will be exposed to diverse cultural rules, differences and biases with the hope that they can exploit and utilize past experiences to make a better sense of the world around them. use
I will assess the students’ work posted on OpenLab throughout the semester to determine the extent they achieved the learning outcomes set for this course.
The types of assessment are:
– reflections; ask students to write reflections for each phase of the development posted on OpenLab
– formative; assess groups’ performances and against each other
– discussions; the groups will ask each other questions related to their design

This activity is planned to be implemented next semester.

http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

April 25, 2018

Native American Brooklyn

Ryan McMillen

Department of Social Sciences

History 1110

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Walking Tour of Possible Native American Sites in Brooklyn (3-part assignment)

For our first field trip of the semester, we will take an imaginative tour of downtown Brooklyn, proceeding from City Tech, through Brooklyn Heights, to the Brooklyn Promenade. Along the way we will attempt to imagine the urban landscape as it would have seemed centuries ago, before the arrival of the first European settlers.

To prepare for this, students will complete a map-based in-class exercise using the 1946 John A. Kelly map, “Indian Villages, Paths, Ponds and Places in Kings County.” Kelly was the Brooklyn Borough Historian from 1944 to 1971. Students will be divided into teams and given a copy of Kelly’s map, and a modern day map of Brooklyn. Each team will be tasked with identifying the rough modern-day location of each of the Native American sites depicted on the map, making note of key contemporary landmarks, businesses, etc. Students can be aided in this exercise by using a map app on their phones. Each team will present to the class their theory and findings concerning the modern-day location of these villages and landmarks, and this information will be collated so that finding the locations on Kelly’s map is easier in the future, and the information will be posted publicly on Openlab.

Prior to the field trip, students will be asked to visit the National Museum of the American Indian website brochure about “Manahatta,” which extensively details the way of life of the Lenape who originally inhabited Lower Manhattan. Students will have to reflect, in a short post of 200-300 words, on what the site tells them about the difference between European and Native American land-use practices. How did Native Americans imagine Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn? What did they call it? Looking at the area in the photos and illustrations provided, what would they have seen as attractive about the particular area? How would they have been able to support a flourishing community continually for thousands of years in that place, without any complex machines or metal tools?

Alternatively, how would Europeans, upon their arrival in the 1600s, have seen the region? What would they have found attractive and why?

Most importantly, how specifically would these visions have clashed?

On the field trip, the class will be led on a short walking tour to the confluence of the East River and the Bay, under the Brooklyn Bridge, with a view of Governor’s Island. Each of the appropriate locations on the map will be examined and described in-depth (Ihretonga, Marechkawieck, Pagganck, Sassians.) The students will also be asked on the walk to pay close attention to the terrain, and what can and cannot be determined about the area in the 1600s from the walk. Elevation, vegetation, and proximity to water may be some of the only aspects that can be imagined, but student discussion and close examination, using details from the previous in-class session, may turn up more insights. The aim of the walk is to pay close attention to the Earth beneath Brooklyn, as the land would have been imagined by a people who depended on it for their sustenance.

After arriving at the Promenade, the class will be split into four different groups, each representing a different “stakeholder” in the 1600s: the financiers of the Dutch East India Company, Lenape leaders/chiefs, European colonists, and Lenape villagers. Each group will be asked to fill out a sheet which asks questions about motive, reasons for habitation, plans for the future, and also, how they saw, or understood, the motives, reasons, and plans of the other stakeholders. The results of this exercise will be collected, transcribed and posted on Openlab.

For the following class session, students will be required to post a reflection about what they learned on the walk, and what, if anything, they learned about the area where they attend school as it may have been four centuries ago. They will also be asked to imagine what the area will look like four centuries hence.

https://www.heyridge.com/2015/08/the-rarely-told-story-of-the-real-bay-ridge-natives/
https://viewing.nyc/map-of-the-native-american-trails-that-evolved-into-brooklyns-major-arteries/
https://nmai.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/Manahatta_to_manhattan.pdf
http://www.thelmagazine.com/2011/11/historical-map-reveals-location-of-brooklyns-native-american-burial-ground/

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

1. Building camaraderie in the class via the group map assignment and the walking tour. At the outset of the class, this bonding can be important in building class cohesion.

2. Teach basic map skills and make students aware of how maps change over time.

3. Help students fulfill the Student Learning Outcome of Ethical Reasoning by making them aware of the different stakeholders involved in the Native American-European interactions in 17th century North America.

4. Incorporate place-based learning on a local level to help students broaden their understanding of the process of colonization of the Western Hemisphere.

5. Help students understand how the area surrounding the school has changed over time, and how such a period of time since European colonization is so brief compared to the amount of time Native Americans had inhabited the region.

6. Help students understand how the urban landscape obscures the natural geography of the area, but that this original geography can be seen if one knows where to look. This can also satisfy the Ethical Reasoning SLO by helping students understand the tolls different systems of land use have on the natural flora and fauna of the area.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This lesson is given early in the semester, likely in the second week. The assignment is designed for 1-1/2 class sessions for a three-hour class, with one entire three-hour session devoted to the walking tour.

Students will be expected to spend at least an hour on the out-of-class time assignment due prior to the map-based assignment.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The activity is designed to be given in three stages: 1) preliminary readings, 2) in-class team activity, 3) field trip attendance.

The assignment is low-stakes and designed for team-building and class cohesion, as it is given early in the semester.

Below are the actual assignments as distributed to the students:

Assignment #1 – Creating A 400-Year old Map of Brooklyn (1 hour)

Supplies: Kelly map, and cellular phones with map app (Google Maps, etc.)

For this assignment, you will complete a map-based in-class exercise using the 1946 John A. Kelly map, “Indian Villages, Paths, Ponds and Places in Kings County.” Kelly was the Brooklyn Borough Historian from 1944 to 1971. Supplementary materials on the history of some of the sites pictured will also be distributed to aid in your short presentations.

Each of you will be assigned to be in one of twelve three-person teams. One member of each team will be the recorder and the other two will be the researchers. The recorder will write down the findings of the researchers, but of course can contribute ideas during the course of the assignment.

Each team will be tasked with identifying the rough modern-day location of one of six areas of Brooklyn — Gravesend, New Utrecht, Flatlands, Bushwick, Gowanus, and Brooklyn Heights. Using a map app on your phones, the researchers will make note of key contemporary landmarks, businesses, etc., based on where they have determined the Native American village or settlement appears on the map.

After 30 minutes of research, each team will present to the class their theory and findings concerning the modern-day location of these villages and landmarks, using a projected map of Brooklyn.

Assignment #2: From Manhatta to Manhattan

Before we go on our field trip, please visit the National Museum of the American Indian website brochure about “Manahatta,” which extensively details the way of life of the Lenape who originally inhabited Lower Manhattan. Also read this well-researched post on the earliest inhabitants of what is today Bay Ridge: https://www.heyridge.com/2015/08/the-rarely-told-story-of-the-real-bay-ridge-natives/

On the OpenLab forum designed for this, post a 200-300 word reflection on what insights the reading gives into the difference between European and Native American land-use practices. How did Native Americans imagine Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn? What did they call it? Looking at the area in the photos and illustrations provided, what would they have seen as attractive about the particular area? How would they have been able to support a flourishing community continually for thousands of years in that place, without any complex machines or metal tools?

Alternatively, how would Europeans, upon their arrival in the 1600s, have seen the region? What would they have found attractive and why?

Most importantly, how specifically would these visions have clashed?

Post your response on Openlab, and please respond to at least one other student’s post as well.

Assignment #3: The Field Trip
On the field trip, we will go on a short walking tour to the confluence of the East River and the Bay, under the Brooklyn Bridge, with a view of Governor’s Island, where we will examine some of the potential locations of the Brooklyn Heights sites on the map. (Ihretonga, Marechkawieck, Pagganck, Sassians.) Pay close attention to the terrain, and what can and cannot be determined about the area in the 1600s from the walk.

After arriving at the Promenade, you will be split into four different groups, each representing a different “stakeholder” in the 1600s: the financiers of the Dutch East India Company, Lenape leaders/chiefs, European colonists, and Lenape villagers. Each group will be asked to fill out a sheet which asks questions about motive, reasons for habitation, plans for the future, and also, how they saw, or understood, the motives, reasons, and plans of the other stakeholders. The results of this exercise will be collected, transcribed and posted on Openlab.

The response to the readings is assessed based on depth of insight, although unless a student completely blows off the assignment, they should get close to full credit for the assignment.

Attendance and participation are key markers for the assignment, since it is given so early in the semester.

I have not yet employed this activity in the classroom.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

May 13, 2017January 5, 2018

Suspension Workshop

Alexander Aptekar

Architectural Technology & Library /

LEARNING PLACES: UNDERSTANDING THE CITY

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In this workshop, you will work in teams and groups of teams to create a model suspension bridge. Your model suspension bridge will be tested until structural failure. In reflections, you will individually analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your modeled suspension bridge.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

• Developing your understanding of suspension structures
• Increasing your analysis and problem-solving abilities
• Sharpening your observation and reflection skills
• Deepening your collaborative team techniques

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This workshop should occur towards the beginning of the semester as part of the introduction to observation skills and techniques.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Low-stakes

Each team will utilize the following kit of materials:
• Wood blocks (4” x ¾” × ¾”), 18 min
• String, 8’ lengths
• Straws, 14
• Sheets of paper, 3 @ 4” x 17”
• Scissors
• Masking tape, 3’ length
• Tape measure (only one for the workshop required)

Team goals
Construct a model of a suspension bridge utilizing only the materials provided. The bridge must be strong enough to support at least one cell phone at its center. [Recommendation; offer extra points for every additional cell phone the bridge can support]

Team makeup
Each bridge group will consist of two 3 to 4 member teams. Each team is responsible for one half of the bridge spanning from one of the supporting tables to the center of the bridge.

Bridging the gap
Each bridge group will need to span between two tables set 36” apart.

Bridge assembly
The bridge constructed should include the following parts:
• Anchorage (blocks)
• Deck (paper)
• Main cable (string)
• Suspender cables (straws)
• Tower (blocks)

Timing
Your bridge group will have 20 minutes to develop your solution before testing will commence.

Testing
The structural integrity and quality of your bridge will be tested by checking to see how many cell phones the bridge will be able to support. The class will observe as each bridge is tested. Be ready to document where and what are the causes of structural failure. At 20 second intervals, additional cell phones will be added to the Main span of the bridge until the bridge collapses. [It’s recommended that students be ready to catch their cell phones and have their hands under the bridge at least 3 inches away from the bridge deck]

Reflections /Documentation
Each team member will need to post on the Open Lab their reflections on this workshop. Be sure to include the following issues in your reflections:
• What strategy did your team used to solve the problem?
• Did you use the iteration process effectively?
• What were the hardest team organization challenges?
• What are the hardest technical challenges?
• What part of the bridge did you think would collapse first?
• What part did collapse first and why?
• Include at least two photographs, sketches or diagrams in your reflection.

Assessment
This assignment will be evaluated by reviewing your reflections on the Open Lab. The focus of this evaluation will be the lessons learned in this workshop. Additional points will be given for each cell phone your groups bridge could support.

Following are some quotes from student reflections on this project. Additional reflections can be seen at this site:

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/aptekar-berger2205sp2017/assignments/216-reflection-on-suspension-bridgeobservation-sketch/

“Today’s class project was very challenging and hands on. It is something I enjoyed doing because my team worked well together to create a steady bridge. Although, it took some time to figure out how to actually build a proper bridge was kind of difficult considering I know nothing about architecture or building. My team mates worked together from putting straws together to taking down blocks to the table. Overall, we learned that the anchorage is the most important part which is something our bridge lacked. Now we know for next time what to spend more money on.”
Alexandra Linik

“…

3. I learnt that the cabling is as important as the others structures as well. Since it is suspension bridge, both the weight of the deck and the live loads will be hung by the suspenders. So the connection between the horizontal cable and vertical cables should be strong enough to hold all the weights. And the angle of the cable from the anchorage should be calculated in order to reduce the extra forces.

4. Lastly, I think we can design our towers of the bridge more pretty, because I learnt that putting weights on the towers do not help in order to stabilize the bridge.”
Alice Myint

“In today’s class the most interesting and challenging part was to make a suspension bridge using small wood blocks, ribbon, tape, paper and our creative mind of course. I got to know some of my classmates whom I have worked with throughout the project. I think architectural stuffs sounds like easy, but it’s really not and the worst experience was when we made the bridge and it’s collapsed twice. But we did not lose hopes and we made a well -organized and furnished bridge with beautiful two anchorages and deck. The “deck” should be strong because the weight on the bridge is related on the base and it’s connected to the deck of both sides of the bridge. We put 4 phones on the bridge and it was still in the same position, but however it collapsed when 5th phone added on the bridge. But in the class we had much fun when working with as a group. We were very excited to see how others work done and that was the coolest part because we can learn something how they made their own. Overall, it was very cool, making a bridge with elementary stuffs and a great experience to work with my classmates.”
Mdzafar Sadak

“The class project that we have was pretty intresting because we get to work together as we form two group. One group was to build one half of the bridge and the other group would do the other half of it. The challageing part was trying to combine the bridge and form a deck that could support the weight. We through that it would help but as it turn out after we finish building it and testing it that it wasn’t the deck that we create can support the weight it was the anchor was the most important part of it that would have support the weight of it. The thing that i learn most was no matter what type of bridge that people make if the anchor is not strong enough then the whole bridge would fall.”
Alan Qiu

I welcome comments and suggestions. I am be happy to provide you with more documentation including diagrams and photographs for this workshop. Don’t hesitate to reach out by email.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

November 5, 2016January 5, 2018

Observing and Describing: Brooklyn Bridge Park

Laura Westengard

English/School of Arts and Sciences

English 1101, Freshman Composition

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In this single-class meeting activity, students literally study “Brooklyn Bridges” by observing and describing the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and their surroundings in Brooklyn Bridge Park. This activity is part of a unit in which students learn to perform field research in order to vividly describe and characterize a location as part of an assigned “Profile” essay. Students meet at Jane’s Carousel with a notebook and a pen. They are instructed to choose a specific and unique location in the park within a 5-minute walk from the carousel, spend 20 minutes observing the location with attention to all five senses, and take detailed observation notes, using a double-entry journal format. After the observations are complete, students return to meet the class at the Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn (right next to Jane’s Carousel) and spend the next 20 minutes turning their observation notes into a paragraph that vividly describes the location and provides a dominant impression. Finally, the students read their descriptive paragraphs aloud to their classmates and engage in a discussion.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The students should practice effective observational skills, learn to take detailed field research notes, and practice turning field research into a descriptive, narrative paragraph. Students also will learn how to apply strategies for vivid description, including naming, detailing, using the five senses, and crafting comparisons using metaphors and similes.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This exercise takes place near the beginning of the semester as part of a "personal narrative" essay assignment. It takes a single class period and requires no out of class time.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students should already be familiar with taking field notes using a double-entry journal format, and they should also be familiar with strategies for vivid description. It is low-stakes, receiving only a grade for effort and completion (on a check, check plus, check minus scale) as one of many invention exercises completed in preparation for the essay assignment. I provide students with a handout for them to refer to while away from the class for their 20-minute observation period.

Because this is a field trip, the necessary field trip forms and Title IX training must be completed in advance.

This assignment is assessed only for effort and completion (on a check, check plus, check minus scale) as one of many invention exercises completed in preparation for the essay assignment. Additionally, students receive verbal feedback on their completed paragraphs from myself and their classmates. There is no rubric and the course is not part of the gen ed assessment initiative.

This activity generally worked well; however, students must be mature enough to follow the directions independently and return to the meeting place in the designated amount of time. Some students used the assignment as an opportunity to go get pizza and ice cream rather than focusing on dedicated observation and note-taking practices. Additionally, the outdoor setting made the final portion of the activity (reading the paragraphs aloud) a bit difficult to hear at times. It was a fun way to get students to think about applying observation and description practices in a new and stimulating environment.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

May 9, 2016January 4, 2018

#TheGuide: An Academic Service Learning Project

Laura Westengard

English/School of Arts and Sciences

English 1101, Freshman Composition

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This academic service learning project asked students to create a public OpenLab site to be used as a guide for the City Tech campus and the surrounding community, including the Brooklyn Waterfront. The client/audience for the OpenLab site was the City Tech community, including new and existing students at City Tech, faculty and staff, and friends and relatives of City Tech students. The students were asked to create the webpage itself, design the layout and visuals, and contribute three major essays from English 1101: College Skills, City Tech Places, and Local Grub.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Write clearly and coherently in varied, academic formats (such as formal essays, research papers, and reports) using standard English and appropriate technology to critique and improve one’s own and others’ texts (Writing and Reading Processes, Knowledge of Conventions)

Demonstrate research skills using appropriate technology, including gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing primary and secondary sources (Critical Thinking, Reading, Writing, and Researching)

Support a thesis with well-reasoned arguments, and communicate persuasively across a variety of contexts, purposes, audiences, and media (Rhetorical Knowledge, Composing in Digital Environments, Critical Thinking, Reading, Writing, and Researching)

Formulate original ideas and relate them to the ideas of others by employing the conventions of ethical attribution and citation (Critical Thinking, Reading, Writing, and Researching, Knowledge of Conventions)

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This was a cumulative project that spanned the entire semester. The students created and launched the final site as an end of semester event, but the smaller assignments throughout the semester were all designed to contribute to the site. It is difficult to quantify the in-class and out-of-class time devoted to the activity because the scaffolded structure.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

This project was part of a First-Year Learning community partnership (Profs. Goodlad and Akana, Hospitality Management). Profs. Goodlad, Akana, and I introduced students to the assignment at the beginning of the semester with a handout. In my English 1101 course, each smaller assignment was designed to contribute to the site, and I reminded students of this throughout the drafting and revising process. After invention, drafting, and peer review, I gave students feedback and a grade on their essay. Then they were required to meet with me to discuss their strategy for revision, with the audience of #The Guide in mind. We spent about two class meetings designing, naming, and structuring the site itself. Students suggested ideas and voted on them, and they appointed certain class members to contribute graphics and images for the site. After revising their essays, students posted the essays on the website using the categorization that we had determined as a group. At the end of the semester, students wrote a brief reflective essay that discussed their experience working with a client, working with peers, the process of writing and publication, lessons learned, and a self-assessment. Their participation and reflection held moderate weight in the course but were not extremely high-stakes, but the cumulative weight of the essays themselves was significant.

Students’ individual essays were assessed using the English Department’s 1101 rubric along with the basic features of the specific genre (listed in the textbook St. Martin’s Guide to Writing). I did not use a VALUE rubric.

Rubric Assessment Categories: Content, Structure, Sophistication of Language, Mechanics

Basic Features for Explaining a Concept: A Focused Explanation, A Readable Plan, Appropriate Explanatory Strategies, Smooth Integration of Sources

Basic Features for Profiling a Place: Detailed Information about the Subject, A Clear Organizational Plan, A Role for the Writer, A Perspective on the Subject

Basic Features for Justifying an Evaluation: A Well-Presented Subject, A Well-Supported Judgment, An Effective Counterargument, A Readable Plan

Peer-review workshops

Informal oral and written responses to invention materials and drafts

While the students did not see the relevance of their work at the beginning of the semester, they grew increasingly invested in the project as they realized the great service they were offering to their community. By the end of the semester, the students exhibited pride in the work that they accomplished and many articulated the desire to continue to contribute to the project in future semesters.

The activity was a large-scale endeavor, but because I scaffolded the assignment from the beginning of the semester it was not overwhelming. I plan to repeat it again in some form. In future semesters, students will not have the opportunity to create the site from scratch, but they can work together on revision and supplementation.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/theguide/

February 18, 2016March 9, 2016

A Gothic Guide to Brooklyn: Gothic Spaces Presentation

Laura Westengard

English/School of Arts and Sciences

Eng 3407 (Gothic Lit. and Visual Culture) https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/groups/gothic-nyc/

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students created a travel guide for visitors interested in finding the “Gothic” spaces in Downtown Brooklyn (and the surrounding neighborhoods). Each group found a space in Brooklyn that they thought exhibited some of the Gothic elements we discussed in class. Then they created a profile of that place that describes the Gothic elements, analyzes the space in terms of one of the theoretical concepts discussed in class, and connects the space to one of the assigned literary texts.

These profiles will be posted on OpenLab along with images and videos. It will become a “Gothic Guide to Brooklyn!”

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

This place-based activity was designed to get students to view local architecture as a kind of text that they could analyze in relation to course concepts. They learned to synthesize course materials, apply course concepts to subjects outside of class, perform written and verbal analysis, work collaboratively, and use the online platform to deliver this information with appropriate style.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

I introduced the assignment early in the semester and scaffolded some in class activities each week leading up to the presentation (approx. 10-15 minutes a week). As we discussed the assigned readings and course concepts, we kept a running list of Gothic terms and concepts on the course OpenLab site so students had a glossary with which to interpret their chosen location.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students need time to schedule out of class explorations of the neighborhood surrounding City Tech. I provide them with a handout that explains the requirements, and they also need some way to create images and/or videos of their site. It is fairly high-stakes (10% of the final grade).

High-Impact Educational Practices: Which of these practices based on George Kuh’s High Impact Educational Practices (and other innovative approaches) does this activity incorporate? Choose all that apply.

Collaborative assignments and projects, Open Digital Pedagogy (the OpenLab), Wrriting-intensive projects/assignments, Place-Based Learning, Brooklyn Waterfront

I use a worksheet on which each required item and its point value is listed. Next to that item, I included notes assessing the students’ work along with a score. This was not a VALUE rubric.

The first time I assigned this activity, my class was too small to complete it in groups, so it had to become an individual activity. This was not ideal because one of the learning goals was to provide an opportunity for collaboration. The creation of the list of Gothic terms and concepts was collaborative, however, and we also collaborated as a whole class to create and design the OpenLab project. We had a conference-style presentation day in class in which students gave feedback on their classmates’ work. I am currently repeating the activity in a larger class as a group project, and I plan to have the current class add to the existing project site.

Students enjoyed the place-based aspect of the assignment, and they seemed enthusiastic about the creation of online travel-blog style profiles with images and videos. They were very creative!

Link to Spring 2016 Activity Handout: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/westengardeng3407sp2016/files/2015/01/Gothic-Spaces-Group-Presentation-Prompt-Eng-3407-S-16.pdf

Link to Completed Project Site from Spring 2015: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/groups/gothic-nyc/

February 12, 2016

Field Visit, SIMS Municipal Recycling Facility

Sean MacDonald,https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/groups/econ2505-env-econ-fa2015/

Department of Social Science, School of Arts and Sciences

ECON 2505 Environmental Economics, https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/macdonald-mincyteecon2505fall2015/welcome-to-environmental-economics/

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students visited the facility, located on the Brooklyn waterfront in Sunset Park, to get a sense of how to make connections between conducting a research project and observing a site related to research in practice. They were encouraged to think of questions before the visit about the workings of the recycling process, as well as the site’s renewable energy system and artificial reef projects.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

1. Have students document their impressions, thoughts and photographs and to post and share these on Open Lab.
2. Facilitate development of a framework for how to relate place-based research to the semester research project.
3. Make connections between local sustainable environmental practices and their relationship to the economic choices of individuals and businesses.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This activity is usually conducted during the 5th or 6th week of classes after students have obtained a grounding in the concept of place-based research, its purposes and its relevance to the overall research project. The visit is scheduled during class time (typically 1 and ½ hours for the tour and time for students to travel to the site and then back to campus.

Once students have experienced the tour, they are expected to 1) post their informal reflections of new information learned and photographs on the course Open Lab site.
Students are also required to submit a short summary in which they reflect on how the experience could inform their own place-based research

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The site visit is scheduled two to three weeks prior to the start of the semester.

Students are prepared for the visit through a brief session on informal interviewing techniques. They are also asked to do some prior research on recycling in New York and other cities, and to familiarize themselves with the SIMS website in particular to get an idea of the scope of their operations. This preparation is designed to get students thinking about questions they may have before they even arrive, while providing a context for how they will conduct place-based research on their own projects.

The activity is high-stakes, as it offers a valuable perspective on what it means to conduct place-based research and how that activity fits with the goal of grounding research in the real world. At the same time, it encourages the process of making a valuable connection to the interdisciplinary focus of the class.

Collaborative assignments and projects, Open Digital Pedagogy (the OpenLab), Inter/Multidisciplinary Projects, Undergraduate research, Place-Based Learning, Brooklyn Waterfront

A formal rubric is not used for this activity; however, the preliminary process of familiarizing students with the concept of place-based research prior to the trip provides a meaningful framework for students to think critically about their own projects.

The course requirements, research and written assignments stress critical thinking, integration of knowledge across disciplines, and the importance of applying diverse perspectives to the understanding of sustainability as it relates to environmental economics.

The first time I conducted this activity, I was impressed by how much students said they both enjoyed the experience and the extent to which they described something they learned about the recycling process itself. …“As people are becoming aware of their environment recycling programs are becoming popular. Earth cannot sustain current human population at the rate we are extracting resources from it… It’s pretty amazing and fascinating exactly how a bottle on a store shelf can be … recycled into another product… I have always seen recycle[d] garbage placed in various places near supermarkets but I never knew what happens after that.”

Students even make new discoveries about their own communities. One remarked that “Growing up living in Brooklyn along the neighborhoods of Sunset Park and Bay Ridge I never knew the 30th Street Pier in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal even existed.”

Each semester, the site chosen for the class place-based field visit is changed. The assignment prior to the visit – requiring students to research the site and to think about questions they have – is similar. This process has been valuable in helping students gain some familiarity with the site and in challenging students to think about what more they want to explore and learn.

Overall, the place-based activity has proven to be a valuable means of actively engaging students in the learning process. They are curious, ask thoughtful questions and often come away from the experience with a clearer idea of the value of place-based research for their own projects.

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/macdonald-mincyteecon2505fall2015/2015/11/18/sims-municipal-recycling-centeron/
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/macdonald-mincyteecon2505fall2015/2015/11/17/sims-municipal-recycling-trip-2/
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/macdonald-mincyteecon2505fall2015/policies/#comment-138

October 16, 2015

Site Visit, Brooklyn Bridge Park

Karen Goodlad, https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/members/karengoodlad/

Department of Hospitality Management, School of Professional Studies

HMGT 1101, Perspectives of Hospitality Management, https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/groups/goodlad-hmgt1101-f14/

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Engage in a site visit of the Brooklyn Bridge Park as well as the surrounding community and lead discussions about tourism on the Brooklyn Waterfront as it pertains to a particular area of tourism.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

A number of goals can be achieved through this place-based activity. Student Learning Outcomes
• Discuss scope of the hospitality and tourism industry
• Gather information from observation in regard to the hospitality industry from a local, national and global perspective
• Evaluate and apply information discerningly from a variety of sources

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This activity is positioned early in the semester in order to provide an example of critical observation. But it can be conducted at any point in the semester. Weather is consideration.

An entire class session (2 ½ hours) is devoted to the place-based activity. Students meet at the designated location which is in walking distance to campus, consideration is given to ensure students coming from or going to other classes can do so without concern of being late. In addition to the actual day of visit, 10 minutes is dedicated during the prior class session and 5 minutes in the subsequent class session.

Outside of class it is expected that a student would spend 30-45 minutes in preparation and 15 minutes to reflect. The information gathered can be used to support future assignments.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Faculty should communicate with any industry partners that may be involved in the activity. I secure the date 4-6 weeks in advance and confirm 2 weeks and 1 week prior.

Students receive instruction about the subject specific prep they must do, and are asked to bring facts about tourism as well as the Brooklyn Waterfront in particular. They are also asked to learn about the industry partners that might be involved. In this case The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and Brooklyn Roasting Company. In addition, they are told how to find the meeting location and are asked to exchange phone numbers with at least two other classmates.

The activity is low stakes but is used as a support parts for two other written research projects.

First-year seminars and experiences, Collaborative assignments and projects, Open Digital Pedagogy (the OpenLab), Place-Based Learning, Brooklyn Waterfront

A rubric is not used for this particular activity. Assessment is conducted through reflection.

This course is part of the Gen Ed Assessment initiative but other assignments are used (Information Literacy and Oral Communication).

The first time I used this activity was 2011 and it has been an important part of the course ever since. I feel that when teaching, especially first time freshman, it is valuable to model what you expect and use scaffolding techniques.

There are challenges in all assignments and activities, for this one in particular I have found that working with industry partners needs to be done in a diligent manner.

I usually change all my assignments and activities in a small way each time I teach them. In 2014, and then repeated in 2015, I shifted to having the students come prepared with historical facts about the Brooklyn Waterfront instead of having a representative from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy lead that activity. They seem to find similar facts to the professional representative and are more engaged in the process. The activity is structured in a way that can easily include the shifting development of the waterfront and changes in our student population from year to year and class to class.

Over and over again I find that this is the first time students are at the Brooklyn Bridge Park and are seriously considering what happens on the Brooklyn waterfront. They have expressed excitement about the actual location and meeting with industry professionals. Though the immediate learning opportunity is valuable I find that when students come to me 6 months or a year plus later and say “Remember when we went to the park? That was so cool. I brought my family there to show them all the things that happen there” that the time invested in preparing for and participating in the activity will have positive lasting effects. It is a great way to support critical observation.

Site visit advice for students: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/goodlad-hmgt1101-fall15/site-visits/

Day of assignment: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/goodlad-hmgt1101-fall15/site-visits/brooklyn-bridge-park/

Student reflection: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/goodlad-hmgt1101-fall15/category/brooklyn-bridge-park-submissions/

Category: Brooklyn Waterfront

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Site Visit, Brooklyn Bridge Park

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The OpenLab at City Tech:A place to learn, work, and share

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