Live Workshop Reflection

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  Posted by CUNY Mindset Initiative on July 13, 2024 at 9:35 pm

  Reflecting on our group experience, what was most useful in your breakout discussion? What was something that resonated with you? Was there a new idea that stood out for you? Feel free to give a shout out to community members from your session who influenced your thinking.

  This is not meant to be a lengthy reflection. 2-3 sentences, or what you can manage in 5 minutes.

• Shawna M. Brandle (she/her)

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:54 am

  This live session really encouraged me to make a fresh welcome video (and make it separate from my “course tour” video, which I should also make!).  I also want to find a way to use the “intro slideshow” I have students make (maybe in a gamefied way, as Cassandra discussed).  I was also very impressed by James, who shared (what I would have felt was a traumatic!) experience about trying to connect with other students that did not go well.  I think it’s amazing that after that, James, nonetheless persisted in college and is now working in the university, attending a workshop on how to help students feel the sense of belonging he didn’t have.
  Steven L. Baumann

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:54 am

  Thanks, for terrific breakout, sorry I had to leave to answer my phone. I do not share much from my own student experience, but see how it could be helpful.
  I am having trouble feeling connected in online classes, video and picture discussion helpful.
  Laura Tamman (she/her)

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:55 am

  The idea of identifying critical thinking skills and exposure to a subject as learning objectives makes a lot of sense to me.
  Julia Sneeringer

  Participant

  July 15, 2024 at 11:55 am

  I teach fascism and Nazism, so the “relevance” question isn’t such a hard sell for me. But I often talk to students generally who say that *they* love history but their parents would never let them be history majors because they can’t get a job with it. So talking about relevance goes beyond students to our culture at large, I think.
  Cynthia Olvina (she/her/hers)

  Participant

  July 15, 2024 at 11:55 am

  I appreciated the multiple forms of ways to help out students gain a sense of belonging. This includes Padlet, Loom, Voice Thread, Snag It and ScreenPal. Though I may have to get my feet wet in those. As I teach an asynchronous course, it was a challenge to get that sense through our students. Using one or more of these tools and suggestions is definitely on my radar. Thank you.
  Joan Castro

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:55 am

  I am grateful to walk away from this sessions with a list of 7 ways to record and share introduction videos with students. It was reassuring to see that I am not the only one having honest, transparent conversations with students about our experiences, sure we made it through college but it wasn’t without some blood, sweat, and tears–in a lot of our cases. As a non-teaching faculty I don’t get as many opportunities to engage with students so I am brainstorming some ideas how I can let them know I am approachable besides having a smile on my face.
  Gordon Alley-Young (he/him/his/il/lui)

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:56 am

  The feelings of being on the outside looking in that folks expressed felt really relevant to what I experienced at different stages of my education. The jokes professors told just didn’t seem funny but everyone laughed. Unless I am in experiences like this I might not share those feelings so frequently. I realize as I reflect here now that I kept myself so busy during college an grade school and how that became a coping strategy for me to keep me from thinking about the overwhelming feelings. I think about the feelings now more in hindsight than I did at the time. Not sure if that is good or bad in the long run.

  I liked the idea that folks expressed about providing a lifeline for students who have trouble communicating. I want to think more about this as this has become more of an issue after covid.
  Thomas Michael Conroy

  Participant

  July 15, 2024 at 11:56 am

  Good to hear everyone’s comments and challenges. I am thinking that the idea of engaging students in thinking about relevance and purpose is something I am going to want to give more attention to and perhaps have this be a focus as I start the semester with my students. I can prepare a bit of anecdotal info on sociology and social science to make these connections.
  Elizabeth Mazzola

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:56 am

  Our repeated references to critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, curiosity, resilience, leadership, teamwork, and equity point to skills I can emphasize and try to promote in group work and assignments; I’d like to think about devising essay topics which draw on these skills, too
  Qin (She)

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:56 am

  From the discussion, I realized that it’s also our responsibility as instructors to explicitly promote the value and purpose of something (i.e., liberal arts education). It’s something that I take for granted as valuable and useful, but students may be unaware of this point and thus not their fault that they’re not motivated to engaged in liberal art courses. Students are living in an increasingly specialized and practical world, so if something isn’t “worth” their time, why bother. I have to at least present the case that it’s worth their time, connect some dots, and let them decide for themselves.
  Elizabeth Klein (she/her)

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:57 am

  I enjoyed the session. It was good to hear of the experiences of colleagues on this Zoom site.
  Nicolle Valerie Fernandes (She/her/hers)

  Participant

  July 15, 2024 at 11:57 am

  I like the idea of group office hours to minimize intimidation that may be felt by some students.

  I am thinking I will convert this to course-wise office hours.
  Elaine Thompson

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 11:58 am

  Teaching at QCC the majority of my students’ primary goal is to graduate and enter a secure career. It is less on electives and overall liberal arts education. Therefore my goal is to help them understand the importance of communication and its role in their anticipated careers.
  Padraig O’Donoghue (he/him)

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 12:00 pm

  Hearing from the group was helpful, all the experiences relayed in the chat as well inform the challenges/successes around belonging. Having human connection with others is key building block and there are many way to do this. Learning is messy was something that resonated, as we aspire to have things go really well but they don’t always work out that way. Things being messy is okay as it can be part of the path to connecting and learning.
  Sarah Wolf (she/her)

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 12:05 pm

  Hi. I was in the Belonging discussion group. I joined very late and I so much regret not coming on at the beginning. I’ll try for the later workshops. That said, I really appreciate the ideas that I garnered to increase belonging. This includes group office hours, setting up peer partners, and speed dating! I first learned about the Mindset modules at the new faculty conference in Fall 2023 and I have been excited to start the modules. The students are so isolated due to COVID and social media and we really need to make the students feel that they belong so that they can feel safe, which is the only way they can learn. I learned some important strategies for helping to create an atmosphere of support and belonging. Thank you!