2016 Program Descriptions
As of 4/4/16 (updates will be posted as received)
Keynote (9-10:10)
Writing, Reflection, and Personation
Our Keynote Speaker will be Alfred E. Guy Jr., R.W.B. Lewis Director of Writing and an Assistant Dean of
Academic Affairs at Yale University. He previously worked as a director of writing programs at Johns Hopkins,
Princeton, and New York Universities. Alfi is an Associate of the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking.
He has written about intellectual development, academic freedom, neurobiology, and zombies. At Yale he
teaches introductory courses in academic writing and creative non-fiction, as well as courses on science fiction
and psychology.
WTL Identifies Write to Learn session
Concurrent Session 1 (10:20-11:20 am)
1A: Keynote Follow Up with Alfi Guy: Maximizing: A Workshop on Teaching with Process Writing
(limited to 15 participants)
WTL
WTL
1B: Metacognition in Practice: Using Writing as a Tool for Learning
Nani Nehring Bliss, Project Manager and Writing Fellow, All Write: Writing-Enriched Curriculum & Pedagogy
Project, Finger Lakes Community College
Learning theory research demonstrates that metacognition plays a powerful role in the successful learning,
transfer, and adaptation of knowledge across contexts. It’s natural when learning to do something new, or
differently, or better to take regular steps back to consider our progress and adjust course as necessary. Writing
is a technology that makes this process of stepping back active and explicit, giving us a way to formalize and
make visible what and how we’re learning. In this experiential workshop, we will practice using simple,
adaptable, reflective writing prompts to help students usefully deepen their understanding of course materials
and activities, better monitor their strengths and weaknesses as learners, and, above all, reinforce the habit of
reflection to foster greater ownership over their learning process.
1C: New Media Education: Teaching with Emerging Technology
Keith Millman, Professor, New Media, Tompkins Cortland Community College; Mark Grimm, Adjunct Professor,
Syracuse University and TC3.
With each passing year a new, critical technology emerges. As educators it continues to become increasingly
difficult to teach these new technologies under a traditional teacher/student hierarchical classroom structure.
Additionally, students often come to the classroom with technological knowledge that often surpasses the
instructor’s practical knowledge and abilities to effectively instruct.
By creating an active learning classroom environment, students are empowered to become technological
researchers, are encouraged to explore unknown territory and have space for experimentation as individuals or
in collaborative groups. Acquired knowledge is then reported back to the classroom for all, including the
instructors, to learn from. By actively creating new knowledge directly in the classroom, students learn to teach
themselves new skills and problem solving strategies building self-esteem and peer recognition in the process.
This presentation demonstrates some of the techniques, trials and errors, and outcomes we in New Media
(Tompkins Cortland Community College) have been practicing in the classroom to address new and emerging
technologies that are quickly entering our lives including: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Computer Animation, Drone
Photography, Interactive Audio/Video, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, etc.
We will encourage dialog with session participants by guiding them through a short demo with a Makey Makey
(makeymakey.com) physical computing board allowing session participants to discover and report back new and
interesting things that they have learned through active engagement with the technology and collaborating with
others.
1D: Activating Assignments beyond the Classroom
Meredith L. Cantor-Feller, Photography Program Coordinator, Onondaga Community College
The presenter will discuss a project she conducted during the Fall 2015 semester where she received funding through
the Arts Across Campus committee. The project consisted of developing a photographic series with upper division
students and creating a final exhibit which has displayed in the Atrium at OCC. Students assisted in finding subjects,
arranging and shooting portraits, printing and displaying the pieces and the execution of an opening reception.
The presenter will discuss applying for Arts Across Campus funding, brainstorming how to connect individual
disciplines to the arts, and working with students both inside and outside of the classroom to engage learning
(without making more work!). “Fun” assessment as a follow up to active learning activities will also be discussed.
1E: : A Multidisciplinary All-Square Round-Up!
Jayne Peaslee, Director of The Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence and Professor of Computer Science
and Colleen Kaminski, Visiting Lecturer of Business, Corning Community College
The Faculty Four Squares Program offered at Corning CC is a great opportunity for faculty to spend time with
colleagues in different disciplines discussing the art of teaching. Through a non-evaluative process, full- and
part-time instructors engage in reciprocal classroom observation and self-reflection as they participate as
students in their colleague's class. In each teaching square, faculty visit each other’s classes then meet and
discuss what they have learned from their multidisciplinary observations.
Attendees will learn about The Faculty Four Squares Program objectives then they will participate, as students,
in a "classroom activity" that will enable them to appreciate how this program inspires faculty to connect across
disciplines, collaborate with teaching initiatives, and celebrate the art of teaching.
1F: EXPEDITION: EVERGLADES - An Applied Learning Endeavor
Ed Evans, Adjunct Instructor, Video Production, Communications and Jason Detrani, Chairman, Department of
Communications and Media Arts, SUNY Broome Community College
In January 2016 we embedded a team of filmmaking Communications students in the SUNY Broome Biology
Department’s annual “Ecology of the Everglades” course, which is a two-week on-location course of lectures and
field laboratory experiments in the Florida Everglades. Our two students were engaged in an ultimate Applied
Learning experience in Documentary Filmmaking. We equipped our two students with cameras and other field
equipment to capture the experiences and the adventures of the Biology students. Our filmmakers captured
compelling scenes of students engaged in Science study, night ventures in the Everglades and observing the
wide variety of wildlife in a famous National Park. There is plenty of Show and Tell for us to share about how we
selected, prepared and equipped our students for a rugged two week long video field production project. We
will also discuss our collaboration with staff at WSKG Public Television, who are interested in airing a version of
our students’ documentary to air as a locally produced program. We will use video trailers, documentary
excerpts and production photos of our students on location.
1G: Leading by Building Collaborative Empowered Groups
David Katz, Professor and Executive Director of Organizational Development, Mohawk Valley Community College
The ability to create and lead high functioning harmonious work groups and teams that operate at their full
potential is critical to the success of any human organization. The key to unlocking the powerful potential and
synergy that lies embedded in the deep human need to belong is the essence of this workshop. The goal is a
meaningful interactive experience that gives you real tools for both your personal and professional life. We will
have lots of fun while we use experiential learning activities to bring to life the principles of motivational
leadership which helps to develop highly engaged self-directed teams in the class room, board room or locker
room!
1H: The Amazing Power of Rubrics CANCELLED
Brandon Davis-Shannon, Director of Distance Learning, Cayuga Community College
Rubrics can benefit both students and faculty by making expectations and standards transparent. Effective use
of rubrics improves the quality of student work and shortens grading time, allowing for more robust
feedback. In this workshop, you will learn the essential components of a rubric and different ways to use them
to best help students. Intended for new and experienced faculty.
Concurrent Session 2 (11:30 am – 12:30 pm)
2A: Why You Should Flip Your Classroom and How to Get Started
Leonard Ortenzi, Assistant Professor, Physical Sciences, and Trevor Johnson-Steigelman, Assistant Professor,
Physical Sciences, Finger Lakes Community College
A flipped class supports instructors playing their most important role: guiding students to deeper thinking and
higher levels of application. A flipped class keeps student learning at the center of teaching. In a flipped
classroom, the student role shifts from passive recipient to active constructor of knowledge, giving them
opportunities to practice using the intellectual tools of the discipline. In this presentation, we’ll discuss the
reasons to flip and show some of the tools used to produce mini-lectures to help students understand important
concepts. We’ll show you how to create a presentation, convert it to a video, edit it, and post it online to be
included in your traditional, hybrid, or online class. We will discuss the benefits of this format and how it can
help students with various learning styles. We will also talk about ways to make these mini-lectures interactive,
so that students are actively involved with the material being presented.
2B: The Story of the Eagle: Students Lead a Writing to Learn Workshop Using an Oral Text
WTL
(Limit 16 participants)
Emma Beck, Social Sciences Student, TC3; Shae Jewell, Social Sciences Student, TC3; Lindsay
Bohemier, Student, SUNY Oswego.
Participants are invited to listen to an oral reading of a Lakota rendering of The Story of the Eagle. At various
points, workshop leaders will pause the story and ask participants to write to prompts, with time set aside for
sharing. This workshop will highlight the importance of listening, writing to learn, and sharing within the context
of creating a community within the classroom.
2C: The Resistant Reader: Engaging to Learn and Succeed
Yvonne Fish-Kalland, English, Reading, and Communications, Onondaga Community College
The use of Literature Reading Groups is not a new idea, especially in K-12 education. The teaching methodology
has been geared toward the younger student, but when tailored for higher education it has been found to be
very effective in engaging resistant readers/learners. Students are given an opportunity to select the
books/articles they want to read within an assigned genre or topic, and because they are held accountable to
group members, the work is completed with higher comprehension. The session will start with an overview of
this method (20 minutes). The participants will be asked to read a very short story, and then break into small
groups and experience how this method is used with students (30 minutes). The presenter has been using this
method for about three years and has found students to be more prepared for class, more highly engaged in the
classroom with less attrition and a greater success rate. Student comments from class surveys will be shared.
The session will finish with questions and discussion (10 minutes).
2D: Guiding Innovation in Higher Education: Barriers and Assets
Dr. James R. Jacob, Professor of Biology and Biotechnology, TC3.
This session will outline what the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI) has found to be
barriers toward establishing an undergraduate research (UR) environment in science at community colleges.
Participants will be asked to reflect on their attitudes and behaviors toward UR in both the liberal arts and
sciences though clicker responses to find where they stand in relation to their peers. The session will end with
group discussions to vet new ideas, hear solutions to overcome institutional obstacles and develop plans and
partnerships both within and between institutions.
2E: “Going Global, But Staying Local”: Internationalizing the Curriculum at SUNY Broome Through
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Courses
Lynda Carroll, Adjunct Instructor; Jan McCauley, Adjunct Instructor, History, Philosophy and Social Sciences;
Myriam Stanton, Adjunct Instructor, History, Philosophy and Social Sciences; and Kathleen McKenna, Professor,
Business Department, SUNY Broome Community College
When college students are exposed to students and faculty from another culture, their learning is enriched.
“Going Global,” internationalizing the curriculum, and study abroad programs help students develop soft skills
such as international experience, cross cultural awareness, and cultural competency. But although the benefits
of going global are widely accepted, that opportunity is not always available to all students. This is especially
important for Community College students; nationally, only 1 in 1,000 of them study abroad. Collaborative
Online International Learning (COIL) Courses are increasingly giving students the opportunity to gain
international experiences, and expose them to other cultures. Faculty work with international partners to
develop course material, and the students from both cultures work together – completely online. These projects
are embedded within courses, and are designed to complement existing subject material. Students work with
students from another country while remaining local. These partnerships provide both students and faculty with
some experience in international cooperation, while highlighting the benefits – and challenges! - of international
collaborative efforts. This presentation will highlight SUNY Broome Community College’s efforts to introduce
COIL into its curriculum, while illustrating how COIL partnerships enriched both students and faculty.
2F: Critical Media Literacy in the Classroom
Brandon Shaw, Assistant Professor of Developmental Studies, Mohawk Valley Community College
This session will discuss the role of media in the classroom and how "literacy" can extend to include visual texts.
We will begin with the premise that in the 21st century, instructors should provide the tools needed for students
to critically engage with visual texts, as well as written texts. This session serves as an opportunity to discuss
how television, advertising, and the internet provide interpretive sites where hierarchies of race, gender, and
class can be interrogated.
2G: Diagnosing Student Persistence at the Community College
John Pfannkuchen, Adjunct Faculty, Karyn Moyer Zapach , Adjunct Faculty, and Joshua Lewis, Adjunct Faculty,
SUNY Broome Community College
Recent research has indicated that a community college student’s persistence, or “clear goals,” “strong
motivation,” “the ability to manage external demands,” and “self-empowerment” (Kimberly et al., 2014), is a
major contributing factor to the academic failure or success on the community college. Persistence is distinct
from skill or knowledge level—and cannot be currently determined by automated placement exams (Kimberly et
al., 2014). It then becomes advantageous to determine whether a “diagnostic,” can be useful in predicting atrisk students within the classroom itself. The researchers have coordinated “diagnostic essay” assignments
across 3 sections of ENG111—a second level composition course, and 2 sections of ENG220 Communicating
about Ideas and Values—the capstone course in the composition sequence. Total initial sample size is 100
students. The scheduling of first week assignments, including a written essay and quiz, are coordinated among
the sections for comparison. Researchers have designed a specialized attendance scheme for use in monitoring
other dimensions of early student performance, and tracking patterns of student excuses, rationalizations, and
complaints. If students can be diagnosed with low persistence early in the semester certain strategies may still
be employed to intervene, such as development and reflection on study strategies and goals, or referral to
additional resources for help.
Concurrent Session 3 (1:40 – 2:40 pm)
3A: Connecting the Classroom to Student Activities and Global Initiatives: The Impact of World Travel Stories
and Teamwork on Learning about Cultures
Jason Boring, Director of Student Activities, Broome Community College; Christine Iacobucci, Adjunct Instructor,
Cultural Anthropology; TC3, Melinda Slawson, Director of Global Operations, TC3.
Nothing captures a student’s attention more than exciting real-life stories of travel adventures. Imagine the
potential of integrating those stories as well as the personal resource of the storyteller into a curriculum
designed to provide students with a framework to appreciate world peoples and their cultures.
This interactive 60 minute presentation is both a description of a learning context from the recent past as well as
a possible model for how academics and student life can collaborate. As Assistant Director of Student Activities
at TC3, a few years ago, Jason Boring delighted student audiences with tales of his travels in Ghana featuring
some compelling life lessons. Students in Christine Iacobucci’s Cultural Anthropology class benefited from this as
students usually enjoy guest speakers. The new opportunity here, though, came through students’ continued
contact with Jason’s office via the Intercultural Student Club as well as other student engagement events.
Another college department, Global Initiatives, has become allied with the club, and indirectly with
anthropology students. International students connect with domestic students, in part, through the Intercultural
Club, and through an interview assignment required of anthropology students, in addition to typical Global
activities.
Connecting classroom learning with student life and global affairs creates an environment of mutually supported
learning opportunities for students. This kind of intra-campus collaboration enhances academic learning with
hands-on experiences for students. We believe the partnership of faculty with student involvement
professionals is a fruitful approach both to student centered learning and to building collaborative relationships
among staff and faculty.
This session will help faculty discover college resources that support students with class projects. We will also
show how these resources can be built into course syllabi to be an integral component of student learning.
WTL
3B: Using Writing to Learn to Explore Interdisciplinary Ideas
Dr. Taylor Reid, Sustainable Farming and Food Systems, TC3; Dr. Kelly Wessell, Professor of Bilogy, TC3.
Writing to Learn is a dynamic teaching tool that can be used to facilitate discussion, and to build and assess
understanding in the classroom. This session will explore the use of Writing to Learn techniques as a way to
actively engage students in learning at the intersection of the social and natural sciences. Participants in this
session will engage in the process of developing prompts, and in executing short, informal writing activities
aimed at improving student focus and engagement.
3C: Habits of Mind and the Creative Process
Maria Miller, Assistant Professor, Architecture and Interior Design, Onondaga Community College
This presentation will explore the 16 Habits of Mind as they apply to the Creative Process and Curriculum Development.
Participants will actively engage in discussion.
3D: They Really Can Write: Our Experience with Student Centered Accelerated Learning in Academic English
Kerry Curran, Instructor of English, TC3; Bruce Need, Professor of English, TC3; Eric Jenes, Writing & Research
Center Coordinator, TC3; John Troyer, Adjunct Instructor of English, TC3; Susan Cerretani, Associate Professor of
English, TC3; Student Volunteers, TC3.
Accelerated Writing Skills for ENGL100 (ENGL098) is designed as a writing class supporting students who have
placed into ENGL099 but are also concurrently enrolled in ENGL100. Students develop the writing skills essential
for ENGL100. The presentation will show how having a hub of institutional support is essential for student
achievement. Come discuss how we can establish an accelerated learning program and how developing
institution-wide support can ensure student success.
3E: Mindfulness and Academic Writing
Alexis Katchuk, Adjunct Faculty, SUNY Broome Community College
“Mindfulness,” a term once only associated with self-improvement publications and Eastern philosophy, has
now spread to the corporate world, health and fitness magazines, and pedagogical theory. Although I first began
studying mindfulness for self-improvement reasons, I now reap the benefits of my practice in the composition
classroom by introducing simple mindfulness exercises to my students. In this workshop, we will briefly cover
the basic history of mindfulness and, more importantly, how mindfulness exercises can help students
throughout the writing process, from brainstorming ideas, outlining and drafting, to final editing. We will have
the chance to participate in mindfulness practices beneficial to writing in an academic setting. These same skills
can also prove valuable for professors in all disciplines during intense student-teacher interactions and stressful
periods of the semester.
3F: Mindful Classroom-Mindful Students CANCELLED, sorry
3G: The Pleasures of Revision
Dr. Christopher Origer, Chair, Department of English, SUNY Broome Community College
Beginning writers often dread revision, especially when it becomes a top-down prescriptive approach, and their
role is to respond to only the notes and questions of a teacher. Revision sometimes fails to establish a place in a
student’s long-range, essential writing repertoire because the student has not discovered (or perhaps forgotten
is more likely) the intellectual pleasures it can bring. Writing becomes much richer and more sophisticated when
the student-writer engages in the interplay of creation and criticism in this easy-to-understand heuristic
exercise. Join us for an interactive approach to revision that centers on tinkering with language and which can
propel students toward the autonomy of self-discovery.