Events

Search committees for faculty positions sometimes ask applicants to provide a statement describing their contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In this interactive workshop, participants will reflect on their own role and their contributions to advancing DEI, and we’ll explore useful frameworks for conceptualizing and writing DEI statements.

This is a closed event for the requesting college. If you would like a similar event for your department, college, course, or group, please email SITE@psu.edu. 

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact SITE at site@psu.edu or call 814-863-2599 at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

Decoding the Disciplines, developed by Joan Middendorf and David Pace of Indiana University, is a robust framework that helps instructors teach complex information to their students. In this Schreyer Institute short course for graduate students and postdocs, participants will work through the preliminary steps in the framework: 

--Identifying a concept/skill where many of their students struggle 

--Describing all of the unconscious or automatic steps they take as an expert when dealing with that concept/skill 

--Planning ways to model their expert knowledge for students and to create opportunities for students to practice the target concept/skill 

As participants in the cohort undertake this challenging and rewarding work, they will have guidance and support from Schreyer Institute facilitators Shannon McClellan Brooks and Chas Brua. 

The program will involve 1.5-hour group meetings on Zoom (9:00-10:30 a.m. on March 19, March 26, and April 9). Additionally, individual consultations/conversations with the facilitators will be available between meetings. Participants who participate in all three group meetings and write a Decoding action plan will receive a course completion certificate. 

Space is limited. Please apply at - https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8Bo8rcMWYvOVVcO by February 21, 2025.  

Applicants will be informed of their application status by February 28. 

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the access provided, please contact SITE at site@psu.edu or call 814-863-2599 at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship in General Education: A Conversation with the Incoming Editors of the Journal of General Education

Join us for a lively conversation with the incoming co-editors of the Journal of General Education, as well as the head of Penn State University Press (the journal's publisher) to learn more about what scholars are thinking about when it comes to general education practice; what editors are looking for when it comes to general education scholarship, and how your interests might align with those of the journal (and its publisher). You will get a glimpse behind the scenes of a well-established academic journal as well as the opportunity to ask open questions to a panel of experienced journal editors and publishers.

Register: https://forms.office.com/r/B8bMcRTSns

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact SITE at site@psu.edu or call 814-863-2599 at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

Focusing on the intersections of accessibility and belonging, participants of this interactive webinar will discover the foundational role of accessibility in fostering a sense of belonging as well as evidence-based pedagogical strategies for making their courses more accessible.

Registration will close 1 hour before the event starts. Registrants will receive a Zoom link at least 1 hour before the event.

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the access provided, please contact SITE at site@psu.edu or call 814-863-2599 at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

Commonwealth Campus faculty are invited to participate in the Inclusive Syllabus Workshop Series, a professional development opportunity designed to help faculty strengthen their syllabi to better support student engagement and success. Open to faculty of all ranks and lines, the series consists of three one-hour sessions this spring, where participants will explore strategies to promote a growth mindset and cultivate a sense of belonging through their syllabi. Based on research about learning mindsets and social belonging, the series incorporates The First Day Toolkit, an online suite of resources that supports faculty in refining the messages they convey through their syllabi and on the first day of class. This initiative is a collaboration between the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses, Penn State Harrisburg, and the Equity Pedagogy Network.

Registration closed Feb 20, 2025.

Penn State Harrisburg
February 27, 11.45am-1pm, in-person
March 26, 2-3pm (virtual)
April 4, 11.45am-1pm, in-person 

Participants are expected to attend the first and last session in-person. The March 26th session is virtual.

To register, please complete the following brief form: https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_effkpUgcNWpfZmm

The Inclusive and Ethical Pedagogy Series explores how instructors might implement inclusive and ethical pedagogy, as described in the Elements of Effective Teaching.

Panel Session: Exploring Alternative Approaches to Grading

Join us for a discussion in which a panel of experienced educators will share their alternative approaches to grading, including specifications grading, consultative/collaborative grading, and completion-based grading. This session is ideal for instructors seeking to explore practical ideas for alternative grading methods that promote student growth and align with effective course design. Participants are encouraged to share their own questions and experiences.   

Panelists:

Kati Porter (Biology, Fayette) uses mastery grading in biology courses required for nursing, physical therapy assistant, and pre-med/pre-vet majors. Weekly formative assessments are utilized, allowing students multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of each topic. Grades are still given on assignments, but they are not averaged together to determine the final grade. The key idea is that quizzes and assignments are part of the learning process, and they allow for opportunities to improve. The focus is on mastery of the subject, not penalizing students for mistakes they make while learning. If students aren’t doing well initially, they can still improve through continued study and participation in formative assessments.

Matthew Levy (Art History, Behrend) employs specifications grading in his general education art history courses. By using frequent, low-stakes, pass/fail assignments and offering opportunities for revision, Dr. Levy’s approach gives students greater agency in determining their final grades. 

Stacy Sekely (Physical Therapy, Fayette) employs an alternative grading system that is based on the principles of specifications grading, including mastery learning, repeated attempts, and student control over their grades. She tailors her grading approach to the course content and level. In her introductory courses, students must achieve satisfactory scores on all quizzes, exams, and practical skills assessments. Students can earn tokens by engaging in additional learning activities, such as peer tutoring and learning games. These tokens can be redeemed for opportunities to retake assessments. In her upper-level courses, case study assignments are graded as either "satisfactory" or "needs new attempt" based on a rubric, with no partial credit and a few opportunities for resubmissions.

In this session of the Talking about Teaching Series, Leah Hollis, Associate Dean, College of Education, will lead a discussion on how to manage microaggressions from students to faculty and between student peers in the classroom space.

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the access provided, please contact SITE at site@psu.edu or call 814-863-2599 at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

In this interactive webinar, you will gain access to a research toolkit (including an IRB) that has been developed especially for EDGE (virtual exchange) projects. Using this toolkit, you will be able to take the first steps towards designing and implementing a publishable/presentable teaching and learning scholarship project—starting as soon as this semester

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact SITE at site@psu.edu or call 814-863-2599 at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.