Open Pedagogy Event (9/27): Open Digital Pedagogy in Gateway Courses

Thursday September 27th, 2018, 4:30-6:00pm (Faculty Commons, N227)

*Refreshments will be served. (Thanks to the Faculty Commons for its generous support of this event!)

*Part-time faculty are eligible to receive a stipend for participation.

*Please RSVP by commenting on this post. Please share this invitation with your colleagues!

Join the OpenLab Team, City Tech faculty and staff, and CUNY colleagues at our next Open Pedagogy event, where we’ll be discussing gateway courses and open digital pedagogy. Together we’ll explore how to help students be successful in introductory courses in the curriculum, looking to the successful model of City Tech and BMCC’s Title V grant-funded project, “Opening Gateways to Completion: Open Digital Pedagogies for Student Success in STEM.” While this grant focuses on math courses, we will extend the conversation to include gateway courses across the disciplines. In addition, we’ll consider the challenges posed by the reality that the majority of gateway courses at City Tech are taught by contingent faculty. What kinds of support or opportunities does the OpenLab present for teaching and learning in these contexts? Attendees will share, discuss, and learn strategies for helping faculty and students succeed in these courses, and leave with a better understanding of how open digital pedagogy can scaffold students’ learning experiences in these courses and throughout the rest of their academic careers.

This Open Pedagogy event was already scheduled when PSC-CUNY announced the contract rally taking place at the same time. In keeping with the spirit of that event, we will incorporate discussion of labor issues related to gateway courses, including the reality that the majority of these courses (and all courses) in CUNY are taught by adjunct faculty.

We’ll consider the following questions:

• What are gateway courses, and what are some of the challenges students face in them?
• The majority of gateway courses at City Tech (and CUNY) are taught by contingent labor. How does adjunctification affect teaching and learning in these courses? What kind of resources can be provided to adjuncts to support their instruction in these courses?
• What strategies can we share across disciplines to support students in these classes?
• How can open digital pedagogy help students succeed in these gateways? How can the OpenLab enrich students’ college experience both academically and through community building?

Suggested Readings:

• Opening Gateways to Completion: Open Digital Pedagogies for Student Success in STEM, A Cooperative Arrangement between City Tech and BMCC.
• When a C isn’t High Enough, Kasia Kovacs, Inside Higher Ed, September 23, 2016
• How to Help Students of Differing Abilities, The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 08, 2018.
• Prioritizing Active Learning: An Exploration of Gateway Courses in Political Science, Candace C. Archer and Melissa K. Miller, The Teacher, April 2011.
• How to Fix the Adjunct Crisis, The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2018.