ACERT and the Center for Online Learning are offering a series of just-in-time workshops to help you get ready for the Fall semester. Join us during the week of August 19 between 12-2pm for sessions on generative AI, Blackboard essentials, inclusive and innovative syllabus design, and tools and techniques for setting a positive classroom tone from day one. We’ll offer plenty of concrete ideas and examples for your Fall syllabi and courses, and opportunities to explore tools such as Padlet and Hypothesis. All workshops will be offered online via Zoom.

Workshop schedule at a quick glance

Workshop descriptions and registration

Mon 8/19, 12-1pm (online)
AI and My Fall 2024 Syllabi and Assignments

Presenters: Sissel McCarthy (Film and Media), Christopher Hartley (Silberman Writing Program), Shiao-Chuan Kung (Center for Online Learning), Julie Van Peteghem (Romance Languages)

Join us to learn more about generative AI in our Fall 2024 classrooms. During this session, we will review the revised CUNY Academic Integrity policy, which now addresses the use of AI. As it’ll remain important to have a conversation with your students on how you expect them to use or not use AI tools in your courses, we’ll go over different approaches to creating appropriate policy for your syllabi and assignments, and how assignments can discourage or incorporate the use of AI. We’ll also hear instructor and student perspectives on the role of generative AI in the classroom.

Register for AI and My Fall 2024 Syllabi and Assignments

Mon 8/19, 1-2pm (online)
Hypothesis and ChatGPT: Leveraging Social Annotation in the Age of AI

Presenter: Sonja Visser (Hypothesis)

The emergence of cutting-edge technologies, like ChatGPT, has sparked a critical conversation throughout the education industry. In this workshop, Sonja from Hypothesis will show you how to leverage social annotation to encourage authentic, process-oriented engagement with your course materials. She’ll also share best practices for using social annotation with AI writing tools and demonstrate how to set up Hypothesis-enabled readings in Blackboard. Participants can expect to leave the webinar armed with concrete assignments to implement in your courses right away.

Register for Hypothesis and ChatGPT: Leveraging Social Annotation in the Age of AI

Tue 8/20, 12-1pm (online)
Blackboard Essentials for the Beginning of the Semester

Presenter: Logan Spevak (Center for Online Learning)

There is so much to do to get a Blackboard course site ready for a new semester! We will show you how to do all the following tasks in one (1!) hour:

• • make the site course visible to students
  • send an email
  • post an announcement
  • add the syllabus
  • fill in the instructor information
  • organize course materials in folders
  • link to a webpage
  • create a discussion forum

For professors who prefer a slower pace, we will show you where to find step-by-step instructions and video tutorials.

Register for Blackboard essentials for the beginning of the semester

Tue 8/20, 1-2pm (online)
EdTech office hours

Hosted by: Shiao-Chuan Kung and Logan Spevak (Center for Online Learning)

Virtual Office Hours are open for faculty questions regarding course design. Educational technologists are available to help with tech tools such as Blackboard, VoiceThread, and Zoom. Professors are invited to come in from the waiting-room on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration is not necessary.

Join EdTech office hours

Wed 8/21, 12-1pm (online)
Starting out on the right foot: Strategies for setting a positive classroom tone on day one

Presenter: Vicki Lens (Social Work)

Whether a seasoned teacher or a new one, the first day of class brings both challenges and opportunities, and where first impressions can last well beyond the moment. This session will offer tools and techniques for creating a positive and inclusive environment for learning. Common “first day” questions and challenges, such as how to introduce yourself, how to talk about the syllabus in ways that engage students, and how to set the stage for lively and inclusive conversations through-out the semester will be among the topics discussed. We also ask that you bring your own first-day questions and strategies.

Register for Strategies for setting a positive classroom tone on day one

Wed 8/21, 1-2pm (online)
Padlet for ice-breakers, discussions and group work

Presenter: Logan Spevak (Center for Online Learning)

What can Padlet NOT do? It is a versatile tool for collaborating and posting notes that include text, images, links, and videos. At Hunter, Padlet is widely used for ice-breaker activities, for sharing resources, and for collecting student work. In this workshop, we will review samples of successful and innovative activities designed by Hunter professors, and discuss appropriate formats and settings for different kinds of assignments.

Register for Padlet for ice-breakers, discussions and group work

Thu 8/22, 12-1pm (online)
Innovative and inclusive syllabus design

Presenters: Deepsikha Chatterjee (Theatre), Jack Kenigsberg (English / RWC), Ingrid Lundeen (Anthropology)

The syllabus represents our opportunity to make a first impression on our students. So many of us make our syllabi available before our first class, which means that students who so much as glance at the syllabus will have formed an impression of us before they even meet us. Unfortunately, many syllabi are legalistic in form and in tone, which means that we risk coming across, however inadvertently, as judges and as judgmental. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can present the exact same information as we always do, and as we’re required to do, while framing ourselves as helpful guides who are here to answer our students’ questions, simply by structuring the syllabus as a FAQ.

In this workshop, we will also explore strategies for enhancing student engagement and learning by fostering a participatory classroom environment, starting from the syllabus, including: (1) student-centered syllabus development, which empowers students to contribute to course design, (2) incorporating student choice and autonomy through student-selected readings, group projects, AI brainstorming, and (3) implementing alternative assessment methods, such as ungrading and feedback-focused evaluation.

**This workshop will offer some time for syllabus writing, so please bring your syllabi!**

Register for Innovative and inclusive syllabus design

Thu 8/22, 1-1:30pm (online)
Annotating your syllabus with Hypothesis

Presenter: Lisa Gillis (Hypothesis)

Annotating a syllabus could be an early-in-the-semester activity that leads students to read the syllabus more carefully. It could also be an initial activity that acquaints students with a tech tool that they will use later in the semester. In this workshop, Hypothesis’ instructional designer Lisa Gillis will lead participants in a discussion on how to set up a syllabus as a Hypothesis assignment and what instructions and resources to give students.

Register for Annotating your syllabus with Hypothesis