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Dear Evergreen Colleagues,
This newsletter marks the end of 2020, which has been a remarkable feat of endurance and resilience for all of us. Now, we turn our attention towards 2021 - a new year that brings with it a promise of returning to classrooms, potlucks, and trips across red square.
This week's newsletter offers a reflection on student motivation, a very exciting staffing announcement from the Washington Center, and several opportunities to engage in conversations with colleagues in the new year.
On behalf of the staff of the Washington Center, I wish you all a safe, restful and rejuvinating break.
The Learning and Teaching Commons newsletter is delivered to your inbox on the Friday of odd weeks of the quarter. Click here to read past newsletters.
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A warm welcome to Ashley WilliamsThe Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education is thrilled to welcome Ashley Williams to our team. Ashley will be leaving her role as Instructional Media Coordinator. While she isn't going too far, her colleagues in Media Services are going to miss working with her every day. We've dedicated this space of our newsletter to a beautiful tribute of appreciation. Congratulations, Ashley Corbett Williams!
The imprint you continue to make is deep, the impact you’re having is profound and its ripple effect endless. Not only on Media Services team but on countless members of the faculty and hundreds of students. Anyone who has had the honor of working with you knows you thrive to embody fairness and equity, kindness and directness, honesty and care, flexibility and confidence, collaboration and leadership. You have helped reshape our work in meaningful and thoughtful ways, relentlessly bringing us back to our common goal: the success of all students.
There is so much to be said about the quality, quantity and of course intentionality of your work. Can you believe you taught 435 workshops, coordinated and produced 1,065, and you’ve been a crew member on 676 work orders? Every single time, your work was impeccable, joyful, kind, focused, and diligent.
You’ve modeled for all of us how to be a better colleagues, peers and humans. Your mentorship skills brought insights that pushed our team forward many times. Your kind and big heart has guided us through tough decisions. Your expertise, knowledge and experience has given a voice to many to tell their stories using media and technology. Your technical, organizational and pedagogical skills are invaluable to the college and I am delighted that you will be joining the incredible team at the Washington Center/Learning and Teaching Commons. You are forever part of Media Services and we are excited to continue our work with you in this new capacity.
I was lucky to be your mentor and for you to be mine. I hope you continue to work with our production crew on graduation day(s) as the most grounding technical director.
My love and gratitude is unmeasurable. We love you very much. Please join me and our team in congratulating Ashley in her new role!
ps: In a non-covid world, you’d get an in-person standing ovation from our team, all the black balloons we could fit in your office, a perpetual LaCroix fountain, and a dog parade in fancy outfits on Red Square.
Vito Valera
Associate Director of Media Services.
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Inclusive Teaching Tip
Motivation Matters
Consider a time when you have been so engaged in a project that you lost track of time. What were the forces motivating you to complete this project? Perhaps the goal of completing something of value to others motivated you? Or perhaps it was that you were inspired to figure out how something works?
Learning isn’t a state that you can turn on like a light switch. Durable learning is the consequence of a complex alignment of physiological, social, and emotional factors. In her book Student Engagement Techniques, Elizabeth Barkley (2009) defines student engagement as “a process and a product that is experienced on a continuum and results from the synergistic interaction between motivation and active learning” (p8). Engagement alone is not enough. You have probably noted that when people are motivated, almost nothing can stop them. When someone is unmotivated (think of yourself with a dreaded chore), it can be very difficult to even get started.
There are two basic sources of motivation—intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is behavior driven by internal states of satisfaction. So, for example, if you use your free time learning a second language, then you are likely intrinsically motivated to do so. With intrinsic motivation, no one is incentivizing the behavior by agreeing to pay you or holding out a threatened punishment should you fail. Extrinsic motivation is the opposite: if you are so fearful of the prospect of an audit by the internal revenue service that you file your income taxes every year, then you are externally motivated to do this. Extrinsic motivation can also take the form of external rewards. You complete your timesheet at work because you seek the reward of being paid.
Julia's Story
Early in my teaching career, I adopted the approach that I saw modelled by others in my department - the misunderstanding that extrinsic factors effectively motivate student learning. Thus, I produced lengthy syllabi with pages of policies, utilizing a mix of bold, italics, and underlining, carefully communicating a detailed external reward structure based on earning or losing points. What I observed, however, was that the time and effort I had placed into creating a detailed reward structure didn’t yield students better equipped with the chemistry knowledge and skills they needed to pursue more advanced learning. This approach did yield endless conversations about why points were taken away and requests for extra credit.
This is a classic example of how over-relying on extrinsic motivation structures can motivate behavior disassociated from the desired goal -- in this case knowledge acquisition or skill development. Transformative learning requires intrinsic motivation, which can be obstructed by a focus on extrinsic motivation. The kind of learning that is internalized occurs when students are intrinsically motivated and actively work to integrate new material with their previous knowledge, resulting in greater student engagement and achievement.
Return to that time you lost track of time working on a project. What were the conditions that made that moment possible? You were most likely deeply engaged with the task because it held some intrinsic interest to you. But what else was true about that moment? Were you well-rested and free of distraction? What made it possible for you to focus solely on that project? Consider how you can help students create this type of environment for themselves, so they can become deeply engaged.
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Academic Advising Panel
January 25, 2021 | 12 PM
This session offers faculty and advisors an opportunity to exchange what they know about student experiences and needs in fall quarter 2020. Advisors will briefly share out generalized comments about their perceptions of student success and struggles, followed by a conversation that invites faculty to reciprocally share their understandings of student experiences. The session will provide an opportunity for faculty and advisors to meet each other, and to collectively learn more about our students.
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Commons Conversation Series: Winter 2021
Commons Conversations provide space and time for Evergreen faculty and staff to discuss issues of teaching and learning, share resources, and build community.
Building Successful Online Learning Communities
January 13, 2021 | 1-1:50 PM
Join us for a conversation to share how you are building your virtual learning communities. Share practices and tools with colleagues and learn how colleagues are creating community.
Our Emotional Labor
January 27, 2021 | 1-1:50 PM
Join us for a follow-up to last quarter's conversation about the emotional labor that comes from building caring relationships with students. We will share our stories, swap strategies, and think collectively about how we can better support this important aspect of our work.
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Washington Center Collaborative Series: Winter 2021
Each month, the Washington Center Collaborative host monthly conversations that provide a space for you to engage with fellow higher education scholars, practitioners and administrators on topics relevant to our collective work supporting student success.
Opportunities that Trauma Affords: Trauma-Impacted People as Assets in Communities
Tara Hardy, Writing and Trauma faculty
DATE: Tuesday, January 26
TIME: 11:00 pm PST | 12:00 pm MST | 1:00 pm CST | 2:00 pm EST (1.5 hour session)
LOCATION: RSVP for Zoom link
Explore the uses and benefits of trauma-impact showing up in our work with students. We will collectively investigate opportunities that arise from the impact of trauma being expected and accounted for in our learning communities.
Post Covid19: What to do when the plan keeps changing?
Dr. Jeannette Smith, Interim Associate Dean of Student Affairs & Engagement
Julia Metzker, Director of the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education
DATE: Friday, February 26
TIME: 11:00 pm PST | 12:00 pm MST | 1:00 pm CST | 2:00 pm EST (1.5 hour session)
LOCATION: RSVP for Zoom link
Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, what have we learned? How do we take this opportunity to do our work differently as we plan for fall 2021? How do we sustain ourselves while also providing better experiences for students?
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TEACHING RESOURCES
Teaching Resources available on canvas
Available now! Hypothesis for Collaborative Web Annotation
"Writing in the margins has always been an essential activity for students. Annotation helps in reading comprehension and in developing critical thinking about course materials. Adding Hypothesis for collaborative web annotation in Canvas supports student success by placing active discussion right on top of program readings, enabling students and faculty to add comments and start conversations in the margins of texts."
~ Feedback from a Member of the Faculty
Writing in the margins has always been an essential activity for students. Annotation helps in reading comprehension and in developing critical thinking about course materials. Adding Hypothesis for collaborative web annotation in Canvas supports student success by placing active discussion right on top of program readings, enabling students and faculty to add comments and start conversations in the margins of texts. Learn more about how to integrate this fantastic tool into your teaching.
Request a teaching consultation
Do you have a teaching puzzle? Is there an activity you are struggling to translate to remote teaching? Do you need some help designing asynchronous activities?
The Learning and Teaching Commons offers individual and small group remote teaching consultations. Consultations provide an opportunity to get direct feedback on your teaching puzzles. Click here for details.
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STUDENT RESOURCES
These individuals and offices are eager to support students remotely. Keep this list handy when advising students or reach out to schedule a visit to your program or course.
Winter Break Mental Health Services
Student Wellness Services is closed over Winter Break. Therapy Assistance Online provides access to mental health tools and resources (e.g The Mindfulness Library and Learning Modules) even when clinicians are not available. Anyone with an Evergreen email address can access these resources after creating an account. For advice using these tools with students, conact Jamyang Tsultrim.
Other Resources:
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DATES & DEADLINES |
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Fall Quarter Evaluations Due
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First day of Winter Quarter 2021
Agenda Committee Meeting | 3:00 pm
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Curriculum Planning | 1:00 pm
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E-Books: Library Mini Workshop Series | 3:00 pm
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Streaming Media: Library Mini Workshop Series | 3:00 pm
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Evergreen Art Lecture Series | 11:30 am
Commons Conversation | 1:00 pm
Commons Advisory Council Meeting | 2:00 pm
Faculty Meeting | 3:00 pm
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Databases & E-Journals: Library Mini Workshop Series | 3:00 pm
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CAT Meetings | 1:00 pm
Agenda Committee | 3:00 pm
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Academic Advising Panel | 12:00 pm
Path Conveners Meeting | 1:00 pm
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Washington Center Collaborative Series | 11:00 am
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Evergreen Art Lecture Series | 11:30 am
Commons Conversation | 1:00 pm
Commons Advisory Council Meeting | 2:00 pm
Faculty Meeting | 3:00 pm
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