General Education SLOs – Page 5 – L4: Living Lab Learning Library

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.

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?

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

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 is new activity will be assigned during the Spring 2021.

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 3, 2020

Impact of Culture, Geographic Location, and Oral Health Literacy on Dental Hygiene Practices

Isis Marsh

Dental Hygiene

Dental Hygiene Seminar III or IV

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Dental hygiene students have applied previous learning from DH seminar and clinical instruction to integrate Medical/Dental histories and clinical findings to assess and determine the appropriate course of patient management and communication. This activity will require students to advance their patient management and communication skills by having them consider the impact of their patient’s culture, geography, and oral health literacy into their total assessments. As dental professionals, students must be prepared to communicate effectively in real-world scenarios and care for patients with differing levels of health knowledge and diverse backgrounds. Students will participate in a combined independent/collaborative project by gathering and researching patient information, and then working with peers to evaluate and discuss case reports.

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

This activity aims to encourage critical thinking that produces effective written and verbal communication with patients of various cultural/demographic backgrounds that have different levels of dental knowledge. The learning goals of each student is to correlate global and multicultural impacts into patient assessment, care, and communication, and to work collaboratively with others from diverse backgrounds. This project will progress students’ conceptual knowledge, reasoning and problem solving, cultural self-awareness, understanding of cultural worldview, and how to relate such experience into clinical application.

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 student activity lesson is best suited for senior dental hygiene students. Thirty minutes of classroom time will be devoted to oral health literacy tools and interpreting findings. Students will then use thirty minutes of clinic time to conduct an interview. Two to four hours of out-of-class time is expected for this project; 1-2 hours of research/writing and 1-2 hours of collaboration with the group.

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 will read an assigned article and view a video on oral health literacy and cultural sensitivity for supplemental learning before a 30-minute in-class lecture. Students will also be provided with an interview questionnaire and assignment instructions to follow accordingly. The activity will be a low-stakes assignment. To begin, students will work independently by interviewing one patient (with consent) on cultural background, demographic location, and oral health literacy. Individually students will explore patients’ cultures (beliefs, attitudes, customs, and diet), demographic location (access to transportation, care, and fluoridated drinking water), and oral health literacy findings (better or poorer than expected). Students will then write a research/case report (2 pages) with a reflection portion discussing if any of the information they acquired changed their perspective of the patient, and how communication and patient management may have been modified due to the additional information. The collaborative portion of the assignment will require students to present their case report on Open Lab and collaborate with peers (groups of four) to discuss and answer questions on similarities and differences between their patients and themselves.

This activity was developed using the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric as a guide. Students will be evaluated using a rubric to assess writing quality, analysis & application, problem-solving & decision making, connection to course material, contribution to learning, and timeliness.

The activity has not yet been implemented.

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

June 3, 2020

Restorative Dentistry Students Externship Program Summer 2020Place-Based-Learning Methodology

Laura Andreescu

Restorative Dentistry Department

RESD 1215 Introduction to Restorative Ceramics

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

For more than 14 years, the Restorative Dentistry Department established and conducted a Summer Externship Program for 2nd semester students, where students were assigned to an external facility for 24 hours as a place-based learning pedagogy.
Due to COVID 19 pandemic, the Externship Program – Spring/Summer 2020 semester needed to be modified in accordance with the distance learning methodologies, and follow the recommendations given by the Commission of Dental Accreditation. Therefore, the students are grouped in teams and assigned to an Externship Site, such as: dental office, dental laboratory, dental manufacturer, etc.; students must conduct online interviews and write individual reports answering the question: How was the Externship site affected by COVID-19 crisis?
The Externship Program, by engaging the Open Digital Pedagogy strategies, will give students the opportunity to have an experience outside of the classroom, even tough is virtual. Also, the students will learn about the hardship that many dental practices are facing in these times and how they are planning to return to providing dental services for their patients and retaining their employees. The scope of the program is to have the students be accustomed with dental practices and their role as future dental technicians in the dental filed. Also, it is important that students develop important abilities, such as empathy and verbal and non-verbal skills, which are vital in any medical/dental practice.

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

Student Learning Outcomes as stated in the syllabus:
Skill: (Laboratory) develop tools needed for communication, inquiry, analysis, and productive work.
Inquiry/Analysis: derive the meaning from experience, as well as gather information from observation; describe and solve problems.
To develop/improve their verbal and non-verbal skills, the students must be concise in their questioning, being aware that the participants are more preoccupied with the daily operation process, thankful and polite that the Externship Sites participated in this program and dressed properly for the virtual interview, showing respect.
Similarly, to develop/improve their empathy skills, the students might ask:
How the patients’ will be treated in compliance with the social distance protocols?
What are the new regulations about the personal protective equipment, which will protect the patients and employees?
What measures can be developed for employees’ retention?
How many dental technicians lost their jobs?
What are the plans for the immediate future?
The Program will implement High-Impact Educational Practices by having students working in teams to prepare and conduct virtual interviews. Students will learn more about each other and hopefully they will develop strong relationships that can beneficial for many years to come, in their careers.
For this project, the intercultural awareness can be evaluated in two ways:
(1) how the students interact with each other to complete the Externship
By collaborating in their teams, the students will better their communication and organizational skills, because they will have to listen and respect their teammates opinions and express their ideas in polite manner.
and
(2) how students interact during the interviews, with the Externship Sites participants
The students must show compassion and understanding for the hardship that many dental practices experience in this time, prepare clear questions for the participants, and show interest in what the other person is conversing.

The students’ reports should reflect their empathy and verbal and non-verbal skills

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 Externship Program Spring/Summer 2020 is in progress and as mentioned before in online only activity.
The estimated completion is before the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, based on the availability of the Externship Sites participants and of the students.

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

Please see the above Program description.

RD Externship Program and Intercultural Knowledge And CompetenceValue Rubric
(1) EMPATHY:
– EXCELLENT (10 to 8 points) (1) Student interprets intercultural experience from the perspectives of own and more than one worldview and demonstrates ability to act in a supportive manner that recognizes the feelings of another cultural group
– GOOD (7 to 5 points) (1) Student recognizes intellectual and emotional dimensions of more than one worldview and sometimes uses more than one worldview in interactions
– SATISFACTORY (5 to 3 points) (1) Student identifies components of other cultural perspectives but responds in all situations with own worldview
– UNSATISFACTORY (3 to 1 points) (1) Student views the experience of others but does so through own cultural worldview

(2) VERBAL AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
– EXCELLENT (10 to 8 points)(2) Student articulates a complex understanding of cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication
– GOOD (7 to 5 points)(2) Student recognizes and participates in cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication and begins to negotiate a shared understanding based on those differences
– SATISFACTORY (5 to 3 points)(2) Student identifies some cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication and is aware that misunderstandings can occur based on those differences but is still unable to negotiate a shared understanding
– UNSATISFACTORY (3 to 1 points)(2) Student has a minimal level of understanding of cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication; is unable to negotiate a shared understanding

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

May 29, 2020

Design Your Own Culture

George Larkins

Communication Design

Motion Design

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

It is for students to become aware of people of diverse cultures who are doing design work that students hope to do themselves. And to invite them to question why the creative work of people of color is not recognized for their contributions to the design world.

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

This will also give students insight into the possibility of a place to start when looking for a career.
Current research shows very few people of color are represented in the design field at all levels. And too often, their work has been obscured or taken credit for or they were asked to remove the attribution.
This assignment addresses cultural self-awareness
And knowledge of cultural worldview frameworks on the rubric.

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 will be an introduction to the class in the first two weeks. A minimum of two weeks will be devoted to this project. Students should be prepared to spend two to three hours of research out of the classroom.

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

In order for students to be successful. They must be prepared to spend at least two hours of research time before any production can be they will be able to move forward.

Discover at least five people from an underrepresented cultural group in the design world and be prepared to share their work with the class. Students will be asked to choose one of the five and analyze influences on that person’s design. Students will create a design campaign in the style of that designer celebrating an aspect of their culture. The campaign will include a combination of print, web, and video spots.

n/a

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

May 27, 2020

Structure for Architects – Student Video Lessons

Ramsey Dabby

Architectural Technology Dept / City Tech

Structures 1

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Activity Description
The overriding mission of the college experience is to help City Tech students succeed in the classroom and beyond, by imparting an enthusiasm for lifelong learning. This enthusiasm can be dampened for City Tech’s multicultural population by the cultural obstacles many students face. The concept for this proposal is to enhance the student experience for a course titled “Structures” in the Architectural Technology Department, by stimulating an enthusiasm for this particular area of their studies. The idea encompasses a visual and intuitive approach within the classroom, combined with place-based learning outside the classroom. Aside from conveying technical knowledge, the intent is to create student awareness of cultural barriers that will help them navigate the complexities of today’s world.

Barriers
In a multicultural setting such as NYC in general and City Tech in particular, cultural divides abound. They can be obvious like nationality and religion, or more subtle like age and personality. They can also occur within the profession between its white collar “architectural” and blue color “construction” sides. Caught up in day-to-day problems, we (both students and instructors) tend to overlook these divides that create tensions and stresses in relationships.

Background
Structures is a branch of architectural study dealing with the engineering side of how buildings stand up. Architectural students, as conceptual thinkers, tend to be intimidated by the technical aspects of engineering and tend to “turn off” to their engineering courses. Added to this inherent aversion are the cultural barriers many City Tech students face such as language, family responsibilities, and deficient social support systems. For many, this also includes having to learn a new system of engineering units used in the US – the imperial system in place of their more familiar metric system. In short, the challenge is to address and overcome these cultural obstacles and create an enthusiasm for a course that holds the potential for dread in many architectural students.

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

Goals
The goal is to engage students and create enthusiasm for a course in Structures that will serve to further their undergraduate technical knowledge and professional lives upon graduation. This will be done through strategies for both classroom and place-based learning.

Classroom Learning
Conventional structural textbooks tend to be wordy and lacking an intuitive approach to the subject matter. These textbooks present a challenge to City Tech’s multicultural architectural students. Course material will be communicated across cultural and linguistic barriers by conveying structural principles in a visual, intuitive manner through discussion, dialog, and physical “props”, rather than formal “lectures”.

A key component of classroom sessions will be a series of short, five-minute student videos highlighting the essentials of structural principles. Students will be teamed to prepare these videos in discussion format, among themselves and their instructor, supported by physical props. The precedence for these videos is an experimental one I had prepared, without rehearsal and just for fun, to which students enthusiastically responded, overwhelmingly endorsing the concept and asking for more like it.

Place-Based Learning
The classroom experience will be complemented by visits to architectural offices and construction sites, where students will not only will see the professions in action, but also observe the general cultural distinctions and personalities of the two sides of the profession. A goal of these visits to create an awareness that technical knowledge does not work in a vacuum, and that an understanding the interrelationships of personalities, influenced by culture, is an essential part of a successful professional experience.

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 strategy is intended to be used throughout the semester. Classroom time will be approximately 10 minutes per session. Two place-based learning field trips will be conducted for a total of approximately 8 hours per 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?

See above.

Assessment will be conducted by student essays reflecting on questions such as “why do I like this?” and “what is it that helps me learn?”

Lead discussion on ways to learn without cultural coding; record outcomes of discussions.

The experimental video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4d3eDq_7pw

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

June 13, 2019

Image Critique

Zoya Vinokur

Radiologic Technology and Medical Imaging

RAD 1225 Radiologic Procedures

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This is an in-class activity which involves student interaction and critical skills. Students will look and analyze two films a week every other week. Then they will discuss their finding and share with class. Radiologic Technologists take and review a lot of films daily as part of our routine job performance. Acquiring an acceptable radiograph or digital image requires knowledge of the anatomy, positioning criteria, radiographic exposure, and other skills. In addition, the radiographer must know and meet specific diagnostic imaging criteria to provide the radiologists images suitable for interpretation. A knowledgeable RT assesses acquired images as a point of quality control to make sure it meets the diagnostic criteria. Students need to make critical thinking decisions and be able to evaluate images. Combining imaging skills with patient skills is truly an artful use of scientific principles and people skills. Occasionally we must be creative to present anatomy in a way that meets the diagnostic criteria. After each activity students will discuss findings and give feedback. In addition, they will be required to write reflection on their findings and post on Open Lab.

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

• Students will learn effective methods of analyzing images and communicate with other students.
• Students will be able to identify qualities of image as radiologic technologist and be able to critique it
• Students will be able to interact with patients of diverse cultural backgrounds, disabilities, sexual orientations, age groups or illness with the utmost respect and care and provide best possible images.

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 in-class portion of this activity will be in done during semester lectures every other week, where is the place-based learning must be done. Homework will be given and reflected on Open Lab.

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 activity is low stakes .

This activity includes General Education Learning Goals:
1. Skills:
• Communication- communicate in diverse settings and groups, using written (both reading and writing), oral (both speaking and written)
• Inquiry/Analysis – Derive meaning from experience, as well as gather information from observation. Use creativity to solve problems.
2. Integration:
• Integrate Learning – Resolve difficult issues creatively by employing multiple systems and tools.
3. Values, Ethics, And Relationships:
• Global/Multicultural Orientation – Discern multiple perspectives. Use awareness of cultural differences to bridge cultural and linguistic barriers. Demonstrate proficiency and capacities in dealing with a diverse society.
This activity also includes High-Impact Educational Practices:
1. Collaborative Assignments and Projects.
2. Diversity/Global Learning
3. Service Learning/Community–Based Learning

This activity was successful in the Lectures. It will be implemented in my different courses with the addition of place-based learning. As we view images contained in this activity we will also address two important issues: what anatomy should be presented in a specific view, and how should that anatomy be presented. For example, a radiograph that is positioned correctly and demonstrates the proper anatomy must also have optimal exposure technique to yield maximum diagnostic value. My students enjoyed this activity since it is reflecting in their daily activity in Hospitals, but in more formal way.

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

June 10, 2019

Project of Gearbox

Zhou Zhang

Mechanical Engineering Tech.

Machine Design

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students in the class are required to work on their projects of gearboxes which are supposed to use in different applications in practice. The project includes four parts: (1) proposal. Students will find out their favorite topic and discuss their project plan with respect to the problems existed in current products, the advantages of their design, the implementation of the plan and future applications. (2) modeling and simulation. The gearbox should be simulated firstly in order to get rid of the possible bugs related to manufacturing. (3) Mid-term report. The students are required to submit a midterm report in order to guarantee that they are working in the correct direction. (4) The project presentation and the final project report.

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

Through this design, the students will have the knowledge of the concept of product design and manufacturing, familiarize themselves with the design procedures, learn how to respect the multicultural traditions, learn how to work in a team, learn how to prepare for their professional career, and study how to integrate the fundamental theories into practice.

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 semester based. So, the students will be required to submit their proposal at the 3rd week. Then, the need to finish their modeling and simulation task at the 8th week. At the 9th week, the first project report is required. At the 12th week, they should prepare all the parts used in the project and be ready to assemble. At the 15th week, the presentation and gala are hosted.
This project is supposed to work in class, and the students are not necessary to take extra out-of-class time. The students will be given 1 hour per week to work on their projects.

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

For the project, there are some things to prepare. During the proceeding of the project, fundamental knowledge is given. Following that, the students need to do a survey and find out their favorite project. The project report template is distributed in order to facilitate them to work on the report. In addition, the students are provided tooling machines and 3D printers to manufacturing all the necessary parts.

The project is, in fact, an in-class project. So, it is a low-stakes activity.

I used a rubric to evaluate the project. This work is also one part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative regarding teamwork this year.

This is a semester-based activity. As a critical course in my department, this course will be repeated.

The project in machine design is very important. The students will have the knowledge of the concept of product design and manufacturing, familiarize themselves with the design procedures, learn how to respect the multicultural traditions, learn how to work in a team, learn how to prepare for their professional career, and study how to integrate the fundamental theories into practice.
As a critic course, the project, in fact, enriches the contents of the course, makes the students prepared and improves the students' skills with respect to CAD, manufacturing, mechanics, structure, industrial design and simulation.

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

June 10, 2019

The Spanish Flu

Stephanie Boyle

Social Science/ Arts and Sciences

History 1103

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Three part assignment that includes the HIEPs: Writing Intensive, Place Based learning and Collaborative work. This will be used for History 1103 online which is a zero cost textbook course with an OER.
1- read and complete a written assignment and provide feedback
2-go the Brooklyn Historical Museum and explore the exhibit
3-write response to the experience at the museum on Flipgrid (explore flipgrid at www.flipgrid.com)

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

The General Education Outcomes that the assignment will address are: Intercultural Knowledge and Competence

Demonstrate expanded cultural and global awareness and sensitivity. (part one)
Discern multiple perspectives. (part two)
Use awareness of cultural differences to bridge cultural and linguistic barriers. (part three)

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 will be due at midterm. They will go on a visit to the Brooklyn Historical Society after watching a video on the Spanish flu and then participate in a discuss on flipgrid about the project.

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 instructions for part one are found below:
The Spanish Flu
A world-wide epidemic caused by influenza viruses led to between 50 and 100 million deaths in 1918 and 1919 (as much as 1 of every 18 people). Because neutral Spain was not censoring news it became associated with Spain but its origins are more likely to be the USA or France. It came in three waves (Spring 1918, Autumn 1918, and Winter 1919) and the second wave was unusually deadly. And unlike typical flu pandemics it disproportionately killed young healthy adults. Many researchers have suggested that the conditions of the war significantly aided the spread of the disease. And others have argued that the course of the war (and subsequent peace treaty) was influenced by the pandemic. To help understand questions about the worst disaster in history we have built a computer model of the pandemic.

Brief documentary about the Spanish flu pandemic :

We have also prepared videos of the execution of the Spanish Flu model. There is a lively debate about where the flu started. Below you will find simulators for two of the supposed epicenters of the flu. The first video for both Camp Funston and Etaples are the historic video and are based on the available historical sources that tracked the disease. The second simulator tracks the disease as if there was no war and the last tracks the disease had the war ended in 1920. Since the No War and War ends in 1920 are not historical- what can we learn by comparing them to the Historic videos? What can we learn about disease, war and its movement.

First case Historic No war War ends 1920
Camp Funston 2:01 video 2:02 video 2:20 video
Etaples 2:19 video 2:20 video 2:21 video
Please answer each of the following cluster of questions and use the information that you gathered from the simulators to answer the following questions:

The differences between war and no war are dramatic. What might account for this? Conditions in army camps? Celebrations and troop movements due to the armistice? How could we attempt to answer this?

Army camps during the war were both very crowded and had a heavy flow of troops in and out. How might this affect the epidemic's dynamics?

The no war scenario outcomes are very different depending upon whether the first cases were in Camp Funston, Kansas or Etaples, France. Why would that be?

The computer simulation generates dynamics for counter-factual scenarios based on many factors and assumptions. How good is this? Are there alternative ways of answering such questions?

This is the rubric that students will follow to complete all three parts of the assignment.
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/hist1103oer/policies/rubric-for-long-writing-assignments/

This is used for an online class. It will give students a chance to go on a site visit and engage with their fellow colleagues on Flipgrid for a group discussion.

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

June 7, 2019

Walking Tour in Paris

Thalia Pericles

Hospitality Management, SPS

Thomas Ahrens Int’l Work/Study Program

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Students are placed in groups and given a specific site in Paris, which will become the focal point for their walking tour while in Paris. They will be the tour guides for the rest of the cohort and Professors during the study abroad experience. The focus is the history, tourism, food and culture.

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

After conducting research on the history, food, culture and tourism components of their site, they will be able to conduct an informative walking tour of the area in Paris.

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 given about 1.5-2 months before the program begins so that students have ample time to prepare.

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 high stakes project. Students conduct their research and then are asked to create a visual aid to share with the group during the tour. This can be in the form of a post card, map, brochure etc.

The grading criteria is as follows:
GRADING CRITERIA

Content (History, Culture, Food, Tourism) 30%
Depth of research 20%
Cohesiveness, Flow and Organization 20%
Equal Participation of Group Members 20%
Visual Aid 10%

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

June 4, 2019June 6, 2019

The Peopling of New York City: Neighborhood Explorations

Monica Berger

Library

LIB/ ARCH2205: Learning Places

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

How do we understand a neighborhood in terms of who lives there? Specifically, we will look at the different immigrant and ethnic groups that people a neighborhood. This four-class unit is designed for LIB/ARCH2205, Learning Places, but could be used as a module for other courses. The timing of this module in LIB/ARCH2205 would depend on whether the course focuses entirely on the intercultural theme or if the module infuses or adds intercultural learning as a secondary or tertiary aspect of neighborhood exploration. For the full intercultural focus, I envision this module in weeks 4 and 5 after students have learned about New York City and United States immigrant and ethnic history and as well as ethnic studies as it relates to identity and intersectionality. I hope to bring in faculty with expertise in sociology, anthropology and/or history to either co-teach or guest lecture.

We will focus on the Sunset Park, Brooklyn neighborhood: it has a varied and rich ethnic and immigrant history and sociology and is easy to travel to from campus. Class one is an information literacy-oriented workshop that foregrounds student understanding of the neighborhood preparing them for intercultural and place-based learning and meaningful analysis and reflection. Next, in class two, students observe the neighborhood through the intercultural lens. They will be guided in their observations with a series of prompts. Chiefly using photography and audio recordings, they will record their observations. In class three, the students will work together in teams to create a short (5 minute) presentation. They will be supplied with a PowerPoint template that guides how their incorporate their documentation. In the final class of unit, class four, the teams will share out their presentations. The unit will culminate with an in-class reflection and a related homework reflection. For homework, students will also select a signature artifact from a cultural group in their home neighborhood. In the following class, the class will play a game to deduce the artifact and, in the process, may become more aware of individual presumptions. For courses with a semester-long focus on place-based learning, this unit prepares students to continue the iterative work of synthesizing close observation and research. Students would return to the neighborhood to develop and deepen the observation and research connection, moving towards and into a substantial research question.

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

Class 1: In the Wikipedia exercise, the students will be introduced to domain knowledge about the neighborhood. The structure of the article will help students begin to see how a topic is structured and give them a frame for future research. The exercise will also incorporate many facets of information literacy including documentation, attribution and bibliographic references to published/library resources. Students will learn how to find books and other materials including newspaper articles. There will be a brief activity where they find the call number of location of the books in our library. Time will also be given to reading the Encyclopedia of New York City article on Sunset Park. The class will end with a group think-pair-share activity where students compare and contrast Wikipedia to library resources. Homework will require students to find an article in a local newspaper or magazine related to Sunset Park and write a 75-word blog post on OpenLab summarizing the article. Every article must be unique.

Class 2: The exploration: students will learn how to observe visually and aurally and record key facets of a neighborhood and its people through a series of prompts related to the intercultural knowledge and place-based learning. Students will practice utilizing non-text documentation to capture their observations.

Class 3: Preparing the presentation: Students will practice group work and learn how to incorporate their findings into a template that makes the observation coherent. Students reflect on what they observed about ethnic and immigrant culture(s) in a specific neighborhood. Did they see relationships between the culture of a specific group and the culture of their neighborhood-as-place? They will be guided by the affective aspects of the experience.

Class 4: Sharing the presentation. Students will practice oral presentation skills and reflect in class on the unit’s overall learning goal. They will journal to this prompt: How did this activity help you see relationships between a specific cultural group and place (how ethnic groups situate themselves in a neighborhood)? The homework will generate an explicit learning experience where students relate the unit back to their own neighborhood (and self). The homework incorporates metacognition since the students will be “teaching” (explaining to another person) what they learned in a new context. Homework will also involve selection of an artifact for a game for the next class. This little game will also help students to become more self-aware of their own intercultural knowledge.

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?

Between weeks 4 and 8. Provided this unit will be used in LIB/ARCH2205 which has longer class sessions, the entire class time will be used for all four sessions although the first class could be compressed into a shorter session of about 60-75 minutes. The other three classes will require the full two hours normally scheduled for this class. Time for assignments: Out of class time for class one: about 30 minutes; class four: about 30-60 minutes.

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

Class one: no preparation. Tablets are needed for student work. For the two activities the instructions will be given on the worksheet and orally (see activity as attachment). For the homework, the instructions will be on OpenLab. Low stakes.

Class two: Observation prompt instructions will be given onsite to the students as a handout that will also have instructions for the production in class three. All instructions will also be added to the course site on OpenLab. Students need to shoot at least three photos but sketches are also permissible as a substitute. Students should record an audio note about why they shot the photograph and how it addresses the supplied prompts. They will also record at least two signature sounds of the neighborhood. We probably will lead the students all together initially for the first 30-60 minutes and then break them up into teams of three to explore on their own. Whether or not we’ll subdivide the neighborhood into discrete physical units for exploration will be determined.

Students should use their phones to record their observations as much as possible since written note taking is difficult in the field. Students are also reminded to be sensitive to anyone they are photographing or recording and to avoid any situation that might be construed as invasive. The activity is the high-stakes activity for the unit. Homework incorporates parts of the Learning Places site visit template and will be emailed to the instructor to avoid plagiarism. See Class Two details for instructions.

Class three: Instructions will be given in class on the white board. Students will break into teams of three where one student each is responsible for photos, audio, and artifacts. Students will copy their images and recordings to their laptops or tablets to integrate them into the PowerPoint template supplied by the instructors. Homework requires the students to work together to finalize their presentations.

Class four: Student teams will each have five minutes to present. After the presentation, each table of students not presenting will be prompted to ask the team who presented a good question. This will take at least 1 hour. [whether or not to have students use a rubric to grade each other is a big question]. The instructor will then discuss the student homework from the fieldtrip for 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes to discuss the upcoming homework. Next, students will spend 10 minutes on a journal reflection (see class description for details). Remaining class time can be spent in lecture preparing students for the next unit of the course.

Parts of the INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCE VALUE rubric will be used for student work in classes 2-4, particularly the student presentations. Additionally, for the student presentations, elements of the VALUE rubric for INQUIRY AND ANALYSIS and ORAL COMMUNICATION will be selected, modified and simplified. Class one’s homework is too simple to apply the VALUE rubric for information literacy. It will relate to other assignments and products in LIB/ARCH2205.

No, this course is not part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative.

I can only speak to the Wikipedia module I teach to English 1101 and 1121. Students enjoy it but I haven’t yet turned it into an active-learning experience since 50 minutes is very brief. I will move this forward over the summer as I flesh out the teaching material for class one of this unit. The site observation, using a very different theme and template, was challenging for logistical reasons because students often were late and got lost. Students generally enjoy any place-based learning but ideally it needs foregrounding, repetition, and scaffolding to be truly robust.

Teaching outlines and materials for classes one and two are attached.

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

Class One: Wikipedia for Learning Places (70-90 minutes)
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mberger-portfolio/files/2019/06/wikipedia-for-learning-places-for-L4-deposit.pdf

CLASS 2 INTERCULTURAL PLACE-BASED LEARNING investigation / observation https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mberger-portfolio/files/2019/06/CLASS-2-INTERCULTURAL-PLACE.pdf

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