Greetings, Friends, 

Five years ago, faculty were headed into spring break in growing uncertainty about the state of the nation and the world. So while we haven’t been exactly here before, we have been here-ish.  

I don’t do rose-colored glasses, so I won't assure you that it will “all turn out ok.” Many of us are still suffering from the losses of 2020. But I do remember vividly how amazing George Mason faculty were then--how you rallied for your students, supported your colleagues, tried out new teaching roles beyond your comfort zone, and kept George Mason alive and alight as a source of community. When everything else shut down, teaching and learning continued. 

As it does now. Your colleagues at Stearns Center continue to act in hope and in support of this crucial work, and we invite you to join us, to connect with each other, to make plans to support learning in “the Mason way,” and to keep seeking ways to shine light into dark corners. 

E Shelley Reid, Ph.D. 

Executive Director of Engaged Teaching 

Listen to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching podcast and enter the raffle for a chance to win books or gift cards! We have monthly podcast listener raffles for great opportunities for US-based faculty, as well as a special raffle for Mason Korea. Please follow the link for details:

Proposals for the 2025 Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference can be on any topic or generative AI, the conference theme. Watch our Ask Me Anything video, where you will hear answers to common questions about the conference and gain a behind-the-scenes peek at how attendees help shape the conference.

Classroom Inquiry Grants

The SoTL-Classroom Inquiry Grants support faculty examining classroom practice in a scholarly way (data collection, analysis, & dissemination). Applications are due April 7.

Inclusive Excellence in Teaching Grants

To aid in scaling-up student support and inclusive excellence in teaching efforts across campus, we are offering IET grants. Applications are due April 7. 

STEM Education Grants

The Stearns Center is offering STEM Education Grants for Summer 2025. Grants support curriculum updates and capacity building. Applications are due April 7. 

Writing Across the Curriculum Grants

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) invites proposals from academic units seeking to enhance the intentionality and sustainability of writing instruction across disciplines. Applications are due April 7.

All members of the George Mason community are invited to join us for our awards ceremony and to stay for our reception afterwards! 

Course ReDesign Academy will be online/hybrid in June--with prepwork in May and Zoom/hybrid meetings June 4-5, 2025--to support your advance planning for summer or fall. Accepted participants receive a stipend to support course development. See more online, and use our link there to submit your application by April 21.

Join us March 25, 2025 for the third AI Test Kitchen: AI-Assisted Faculty (AI and Your Writing). Whether you're new to AI tools like ChatGPT or experienced, explore prompts and discuss the role of AI-assistance in your day to day writing tasks and teaching. Based on Teaching with AI by Bowen and Watson. *Participation in the first two AI Test Kitchens is not required. 

Learn more about our AI Programming here!

Last month, we published Ep. 13: Strategies for Supporting Military-Affiliated Students. Drs. Glynita Bell and Amy Preston Page join us to discuss an important part of the university community: military-affiliated learners. 

This week, we published Ep. 14: What's Happening in the Undergraduate Core Curriculum. Dr. Laura Poms, Director of the Mason Core, joins us again to provide updates on the Mason Core and expand on undergraduate student learning experiences from the Mason Core and beyond. 

Harmonize: Better Discussions & Easier Grading | March 19 2-3PM EST - Harmonize is a suite of discussion and collaboration tools that integrate seamlessly with learning management systems to increase student-to-student and student-to-instructor interactions online. Great for all modalities, institutions are finding it critical to create more engaging and collaborative learning environments to support student retention and success.  If you have any questions please contact, Instructional Designer, Debasmita Giri Jana, dgirijan@gmu.edu

Perusall: April 3 1PM EST - Perusall is a tool in which students engage with course content, and with each other, in your online course. Through Perusall, students engage in an active learning environment, by collectively commenting and collaborating with each other. If you have any questions please contact, Instructional Designer, Catesby Porfirenko, eporfire@gmu.edu

Gradescope Demonstration: April15 11AM-12PM EST - Gradescope is a tool designed to streamline and standardize the grading of paper-based, digital, and coding assignments. It allows for handwritten assignments to be graded digitally, and for multiple graders to collaboratively develop and implement their grading rubrics. It supports problem sets and projects, worksheets, quizzes, exams, and papers. Please reach out to Digital Learning Instructional Designer, John Schell, dschell@gmu.edu with any questions.

Join the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) on March 6 at 3 pm in 2400 Fenwick Library for the opening of the Spring 2025 exhibit Between the Lines: Life Within and Beyond the Bounds of World War I with featured speaker Dr. Thomas Faith. Contact us at speccoll@gmu.edu for more information on planning in-depth class tours of the exhibition.

OSCAR: The Undergraduate Student Travel Fund (USTF) supports research and scholarly related travel for undergraduates who are presenting their projects via poster, talk, screening, round table, performance, etc. USTF can support costs for presentations at virtual conferences. Students must apply 30 days before travel. See the USTF webpage for more information.

On Tuesday, February 11, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order 46, banning the use of DeepSeek AI and other applications owned by the Chinese company Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., Ltd. on all university-owned devices and university networks, effective immediately. The use of DeepSeek AI at George Mason University is now strictly prohibited due to data protection, privacy, and security concerns. All university employees must comply with university policies, standards, guidelines, and federal regulations.

Sign up for one of our virtual workshops to learn about the application process, benefits and resources involved in gaining a course designation. Questions? Contact Cara Snider at csnider3@gmu.edu. For more information, visit our webpage.

The AI Taskforce has collaborated and published initial guidelines for George Mason Faculty's use of AI. While not only targeted at teaching, it does discuss some safeguards that apply in a teaching context. Please review them and email Stearns@gmu.edu if you have specific questions about how this may impact your teaching.

OSCAR holds celebrations three times a year, inviting undergraduate students to share their projects with the George Mason University community and celebrate what other George Mason University undergraduate students have accomplished this year. Save the date for our Spring Celebration May 6! It is an in-person event with poster presentation sessions, musical performances, videos, food trucks, and more.

OSCAR provides opportunities for undergraduate students to learn research, creative, or scholarly methods in their field and gives faculty free support on their projects at the same time, through the Federal Work-study Program. Learn how to hire a research assistant by visiting the Federal Work-study Research Assistant webpage.

On Friday, May 16, 2025, ITS will implement a new security measure requiring all Zoom meetings to use a waiting room, passcode, or authentication for entry. If you currently have a Zoom meeting scheduled on or after the implementation date with no security measure in place, a waiting room will automatically be added to your meeting.

When using George Mason collaboration tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, it is important that all users adhere to university guidelines and retention policies. For more information, see the Collaboration Tools Retention Policy.