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Dear Evergreen Colleagues,
The last year and a half has been quite a whirlwind. Between the rapid switch to remote learning followed by an entire year teaching, learning, and working online, we’ve all experienced a lot of change. For us at the Washington Center that change included suspending much of our national and regional work - which, fortuitously, offered the opportunity to devote our time and expertise to support Evergreen in the midst of important transitions. As we shift into a new academic year, with the promise of in-person events on the horizon, we will be resuming that suspended work - notably planning to host the 23rd National Summer Institute for Improving Undergraduate Education in July, 2022.
Over the past 18 months, the Learning and Teaching Commons has been boosting important email communication from across campus by “re-casting” them on our website. Many of you expressed to us how valuable it was to have a place to look for communications during a stressful time. In the interim, Evergreen has established new communication outlets such as the COVID-19 Health and Safety website, weekly COVID updates, and community-ready forums. So, as we collectively shift towards more in-person work, we’ve decided to make some changes that will streamline our communications by returning to our mission-led focus on teaching and learning.
What will change?
Focused Content: The Commons website and newsletter will be refocusing on teaching and learning with a specific emphasis on equitable classroom practices. This means we will no longer recast messages that aren’t directly related to this focus. We encourage our campus partners to contribute content relevant to teaching faculty and staff educators - including event notifications.
Fewer Newsletters: The newsletter will transition from a bi-weekly publication to a monthly one. The newsletter will be issued on the first Friday of each month during the academic year.
We continue to encourage your submissions for stories, updates, events, and other teaching-related content. Send your ideas to learningandteaching@evergreen.edu!
Thank you for the important work you do for Evergreen students! We look forward to collaborating with you in the coming academic year. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions, comments, or ideas.
In community,
JuliA Metzker, Director
Rachel Homchick, Assistant Director
Ashley Williams, Program Coordinator
The Evergreen Learning and Teaching Commons at the Washington Center
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Building Our Shared Future: Opportunities to Engage with the Learning and Teaching Commons
Commons Advisory Council
The Learning and Teaching Commons is recruiting faculty members to join us on the Commons Advisory Council, as part of their governance commitments this year. The Commons Advisory Council is an opportunity to shape faculty development opportunities at Evergreen! Please visit the Learning and Teaching Commons blog for more details.
Nominations for the Learning and Teaching Commons Faculty Fellowship
Do you have a passion for teaching and learning? Are you interested in promoting inclusive and culturally-informed teaching practices at Evergreen?
The Learning and Teaching Commons is recruiting faculty scholars. This nine-month, half-time release position is open to all full-time faculty. Fellowships are available for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. For details and nomination instructions, visit this blog post.
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Summer Highlights
Summer Institutes
This summer the Learning and Teaching Commons launched a new annual sponsored summer institute, Designing Learning Experiences that Matter. This summer institute uses design principles to support program and course planning. This week-long institute included fantastic workshops on many topics including seminars, belonging and mindset, teaching with teams and canvas, assignment design, writing narrative evaluations, and more! Recordings and materials for many of these sessions are now available publicly in Canvas. To gain access, self-enroll at https://canvas.evergreen.edu/enroll/4CXFEE.
We had another bumper crop of engaging & thought-provoking summer institutes facilitated by our talented colleagues. Total attendance was strong in the virtual environment with 168 individuals attending at least one institute with an even split between faculty and staff attendance. Just over 50% of the attendees submitted feedback surveys and of those 97% indicated that they would be able use what they learned in the institute to improve their teaching/work at the college, indicating they found high value in their experiences. We look forward to convening in person institutes in summer 2022. Keep your eye on our website and newsletter for a call for summer institute proposals early in Winter Quarter.
Building Capacity for Online Learning & Teaching
Many colleagues (32 faculty and 6 staff) have been busily working away on a year-long Online Teaching Certificate course this summer. When they reach the finish line, they will have completed a 10-week foundation course, three elective workshops and designed a turn-key fully online course reviewed by an online teaching professional from the Online Learning Consortium. Future cohorts are under consideration - if you are interested in the certification, please contact us.
Teaching at Evergreen Canvas Course
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Preparing to TeachAn Update from the Library
Welcome back from the Library, Media, and Learning Centers! Moving into Fall quarter, we are bringing the best of the new practices we picked up this past year, but with our doors open to offer all the in-person services you’ve been missing. Some services may look or feel different: we will continue to offer resources for research, program books, tutoring, media labs, access to archives, and more; BUT we are less able to respond quickly to special requests and last-minute pleas for aid. With that in mind, we both appreciate your patience and request that you do your best to plan in advance. Sometimes we may not be able to solve the problem in the way that you are asking, but we will be happy to collaborate with you on finding alternate solutions. Questions? Contact us! You can find many of our services linked at evergreen.edu/library or you can always reach out via email to libraryhelp@evergreen.edu.
-Ahniwa D. Ferrari, Associate Dean of Library Operations
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ANNOUNCEMENTS Did you miss something? Visit the Commons website for communication about learning and teaching.
Save the Date - Conversations about Teaching at Evergreen
These twice a quarter sessions provide an opportunity to engage in seminar with colleagues about the unique nature of teaching at Evergreen. Open to all campus community members - faculty, staff, and students. More information, including registration, will be available in subsequent issues of the newsletter.
- Narrative Evaluations | Monday, Nov 15, 2021 | 3:30pm - 4:10pm
- Mid-Quarter Feedback | Monday, Jan 24, 2022 | 3:30pm - 4:10p
- Seminars | Monday, Feb 7, 2022 | 3:30pm - 4:10pm
- Inclusive Teaching | Monday, Apr 18, 2022 | 3:30pm - 4:10pm
- Syllabus | Monday, May 16, 2022 | 3:30pm - 4:10pm
Equity and Inclusion Professional Development
Recently Elizabeth Williamson sent a useful reminder that faculty equity and inclusion professional development reporting is due on October 15th. Don’t forget that several summer institutes qualify! To see which institutes qualify, visit the program. If you’ve participated in an equity-focused summer institute or workshop, please report your learning using the online reporting form.
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TEACHING RESOURCES Request a Consultation
Do you have a teaching puzzle? Is there an activity you are struggling to translate to online, hybrid, or blended 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.
Online Learning Consortium
Don't forget to explore the resources available to you through the Online Learning Consortium! Evergreen holds an institutional membership to the Online Learning Consortium. As a member institution, faculty have access to free webinars, and other online teaching and learning resources. Members also receive special discounts on workshops, teaching certificate programs, conferences, and events.
Hypothesis
Evergreen has renewed Hypothesis in Canvas through the end of June 2022. This social annotation tool is installed directly in your Canvas LMS. Adding Hypothesis to readings in Canvas supports student success by placing active discussion right on top of course readings, enabling students and teachers to add comments and start conversations in the margins of texts. For more on Hypothesis at Evergreen, review this blog post.
Course Materials
The Bookstore and Copy Center staff are on campus serving faculty and students. If you haven’t placed a book order, please make this a top priority. Send your questions about textbook orders to textbooks@evergreen.edu. For printing and scanning, contact copycenter@evergreen.edu.
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STUDENT RESOURCES
These individuals and offices are eager to support students. Keep this list handy when advising students or reach out to schedule a visit to your program or course.
- Evergreen has launched Greener Hub, a resource has been specifically designed to put students in touch with the people, offices, and services they need. Please share this resource with your students.
- Visit the Daniel J. Evans Library page to learn about student access to electronic and print materials.
- Visit the Writing Center and the Quantitative & Symbolic Reasoning Center for updates on fall tutoring.
- For information on student use of media equipment and labs, visit the Media Services page.
- The Title IX office is available to support us in our responsibilities as mandatory reporters. Review the Guide for Responsible Employees for more information.
- Connect your students with Advising and Career Services.
- Submit your student concerns to the Campus Assessment, Response & Evaluation (CARE) Team. This cross-divisional team directs students towards supportive campus resources.
- For basic need resources for your students, consult this page.
- If you have students who are looking for a confidential place to be heard, process recent events, or navigate grief, Melissa Bennett, Student Activities Assistant Director of Spirituality & Meaning Making, is available to provide spiritual care. Email Melissa to schedule an appointment.
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