Education
Intro by Jeff Cox
- Intro on teaching and research visioning
- Laying out of fall work
- Role of Committee and Report
Comment: Pedagogy does not yet appear on the theme list. We need to discuss how we teach.
Comment: We need to discuss classroom space - it needs to include lecture space, collaborative space and flexible teaching space.
Comment: We need to have a broad discussion on education research and assessment. AVʪ exists that can help inform several of the topic areas – decisions made via this AF process needs to be based on research. It needs to be central to the process.
A. If you know of research that can support and inform the conversations, please send it in to the committee.
Comment: We need discuss the topic of incentives and support for faculty. For example, we need to recognize and reward public engagement.
Comment: We need to identify and build capacities of various “centers” across the campus, such as communication and outreach. There is some support in central administration, but we can also better utilize those who are in departments across the campus. This could include building professional organizations across the campus community that build bridges across departments.
Comment: We need to discuss CU as a public space – how to offer and utilize this capability, how to manage the challenges associated with that – including decision-making on who gets to use the public space on campus.
Q. Is Inclusive Excellence part of the AF process?
A. Yes, both as a principle of the process and as a topic. There are sessions about inclusive excellence listed on the website.
Q. The AF process seems to be internally-focused. How do we integrate ideas about the broader higher education sector at the state and national level? Should we have a themed discussion about the broader level?
A. The focus so far has been to connect faculty, staff, and students and we have not yet focused on the external constituents and organizations. We are beginning to have these conversations. There is a lot of discussion about this. The Provost is willing to listen to any ideas.
Comment: We need to create structural support for collaborative teaching.
Comment: We need to talk about the future shape of graduate education. Is the doctorate dissertation the best model going forward? How do we envision masters and professional masters degrees going forward?
Comment: We need a deep, clear, campus-wide focus on diversity and social justice. It’s hard, but doable.
Q. How is the AF process addressing the students that are now coming into the university? Are there student-focused sessions? Can we utilize students involved in leadership courses or other student activities?
A. How to address the needs of current and future students is a topic in many conversations. We do have student representatives on the committee, but we are open to finding additional and better mechanisms to engage students.
Comment: We are using teaching methods of the past for jobs of the future. We need to look at this broadly and increase the creativity level of the discussion. For example, bring people from different disciplines together who have stepped outside of the box in research, pedagogy, etc., and who have had great successes and/or breakthroughs to help generate ideas.
Comment: We need to be a caring organization where we get together and support each other (faculty, staff and students), especially given the challenges of the current times. We need to provide a sense of belonging. There is research on “belonging” in higher education and the associated impacts.
Q. How do we utilize distance and online learning while at the same time create value around human relations and increase the level of human interaction?
A. We need to have these discussions. Different parts of the university have different visions of the future and where technology fits in. We currently operate in a fairly decentralized way, but we may need to reach consensus on common values around this.
Comment: As a university, we need to determine how we mobilize better to protect DACA.