Communities of Practice: Archive

Explore effective practices in AI-enhanced teaching. This CoP serves as an AI “sandbox” where we will play and learn about AI’s applications in education. Our focus will be on encouraging faculty and student success, considering new AI strategies, and rethinking what we expect our students to be able to do. We will use the book Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson as a resource. Convener: Colleen Kirk 

Join our book club as we read Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom. Together, we’ll explore practical strategies to create equitable learning environments, discuss key insights, and share experiences to enhance inclusivity. Convener: Fikayo Odugbemi

When students are engaged, their motivation increases, their learning deepens, and their academic success improves. In this community of practice, faculty will explore strategies for creating inclusive classrooms where students meaningfully engage with course material and each other. Join us to discover and implement innovative approaches that foster active participation, collaboration, and a sense of belonging for all students. Convener: Fikayo Odugbemi 

We will explore the Critical Teaching Behaviors framework, a research-based tool that categorizes effective teaching strategies into six domains: (1) Align, (2) Include, (3) Engage, (4) Assess, (5) Integrate Technology, and (6) Reflect. The framework provides a shared vocabulary for sharing teaching experiences and strategies with colleagues from different disciplines. Convener: Mena Youssef 

Hurricanes. Rising waters. Forest fires. Adverse climate events are becoming more frequent and severe in our changing world. Social injustices and environmental inequities make communities especially vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters. How can educational institutions work with government agencies, NGOs, and professionals to better prevent, anticipate, and respond to the negative impacts of climate change? Participants may choose to collaborate on grant proposals, incorporate UN Sustainable Development Goals into their teaching, and/or develop strategies for collaboration and a framework for analyzing case studies and best practices across and between disciplines. Conveners: Farzana Gandhi and Jim Martinez

Taking time to reflect—as a person and as a professional—is beneficial to your practice and your overall wellbeing. Reflection is crucial to growth: taking time to assess where we are and how our actions align with our values helps us chart new pathways and regain some of the joy and fulfillment that brought us to this work in the first place. That said, it can be challenging to find time to build a regular reflective practice and stick with it long enough to see the benefits. Reflective Teaching Circles provide structured time for reflection within a trusted community of colleagues. Groups meet monthly, for 90 minutes, and provide you with the time, accountability, and community to support your own reflective practice and gain insights from others.
Convener: Fran Glazer

Are you looking for a dedicated time each week to focus on your scholarly writing? This CoP meets twice monthly on the Long Island campus for 60–90-minute sessions. Meetings include dedicated writing time and opportunities for networking, offering feedback on each other’s work, and shared accountability. Open to faculty of all disciplines.  

Convener: Beth Elenko

Achieving tenure is a significant milestone. It also presents an opportunity to consider different career paths: a role in institutional leadership, expanding one’s research, pedagogical innovation, public engagement, and/or consulting, community service, interdisciplinary collaborations, and more. Participants will examine different options, reconnect with the work that energizes them, and develop a plan for moving forward. Convener: Melissa Huey

Alexander Astin’s Student Involvement Theory posits that the more ways in which a student can connect with the campus, the more likely they are to persist towards graduation at the institution. Faculty members, of course, play a crucial role. Faculty-student interactions foster a sense of belonging, academic engagement, mentorship, and improve student critical thinking (Astin, 1999).  Faculty advising is important to facilitating a deeper connection to campus and the student’s discipline. Enhancing advising practices enhances student success. Like many academic disciplines, academic advising is full of constantly evolving research and student support strategies. Participants will learn from experienced professional advisors, guest speakers, and other faculty advisors. They will learn together, collaborate on advising initiatives, and provide quality support for New York Tech students. 

The Long Island “Ready, Set, Publish!” group is a supportive, interdisciplinary community focused on advancing all aspects of scholarship production, from pre-publication research to the drafting and revising of articles, blogs, chapters, creative writing, op-eds, and public scholarship, and manuscripts.  The group gives faculty opportunities to advance and finish their work, connect with colleagues, and exchange ideas; working alongside “Writing Buddies” in a structured environment facilitates academic scholarship. Our group provides a welcoming and professional space where we hold each other accountable for writing goals, read each other’s work, provide feedback, and work through obstacles to write productively. The group is open to faculty in any discipline; we function not as experts, but rather as interested readers who provide support in the form of comments, suggestions, and ideas; we meet in person at the Balding House Conference Room (a quiet and beautiful space with nature views) on a weekly basis for 90-minute sessions to provide dedicated writing time. Delicious and healthy snack options and refreshments are provided! 

Are you tired of your manuscripts collecting dust on your hard drive/Cloud storage? Are you ready to take the first step towards publication, but not sure where to begin? Join our community and collaborate with fellow writers to achieve your writing goals. In this structured group, participants will share their unique objectives and strategies to energize their scholarly productivity. At each meeting, members will set specific goals to accomplish before the next session, providing mutual support to ensure everyone stays on track. Whether you are working on a research paper, a grant proposal, or a book chapter, our meetings will help you stay focused and provide the support needed for success. Not only will you connect with fellow scholars from across the university, but you will also establish a network of encouragement to help you overcome any obstacles in your writing journey. Let’s come together and make this academic year the one where we finally submit our manuscripts! 

Taking time to reflect—as a person and as a teaching professional—is beneficial to your practice and also your overall wellbeing. Reflection is crucial to growth: taking time to assess where we are and how our actions align with our values helps us chart new pathways and regain some of the joy and fulfillment that brought us to this work in the first place. That said, it can be challenging to find time to build a regular reflective practice and stick with it long enough to see the benefits. Reflective Teaching Circles provide structured time for reflection within a trusted community of colleagues. Groups meet monthly, for 90 minutes, and provide you with the time, accountability, and community to support your own reflective practice and gain insights from others. 

Students learn and engage in various ways. Faculty will share their lived experiences, including their successes and challenges in the classroom. The collective group will support each member to rethink their current practice and experiment with new teaching methods. Each member will develop personal goals that will serve to drive the needs and interests of the group. Topics will include ‘take-away’ items that can be applied in the classroom. Ideas such as the flipped classroom, utilizing podcasts, reflection, one-minute papers, and gaming will be shared. 

Taking time to reflect—as a person and as a teaching professional—is beneficial to your practice and also your overall wellbeing. Reflection is crucial to growth: taking time to assess where we are and how our actions align with our values helps us chart new pathways and regain some of the joy and fulfillment that brought us to this work in the first place. That said, it can be challenging to find time to build a regular reflective practice and stick with it long enough to see the benefits. Reflective Teaching Circles provide structured time for reflection within a trusted community of colleagues. Groups meet monthly, for 90 minutes, and provide you with the time, accountability, and community to support your own reflective practice and gain insights from others. 

For many decades, New York Tech has been known as having a very diverse student body. This holds true for the New York campuses as well as the Canadian campus. But so far, we have failed to establish and embrace connectivity and exchange between students from different campuses. The intention of this initiative is to determine reasons for this failure but even more so, finding new ways to improve this situation. 

If you are looking for a place to discuss pedagogical practices, inspire others, and be inspired by them, join the Community of Practice “Best Classroom Ideas and Worst Teaching Challenges: Share and Improve.” Instructors from various disciplines will exchange ideas and raise concerns about what works and doesn’t work in the classroom. You will be asked to share at least one innovative activity that you and your students enjoy, preferably an activity that can be modified for different disciplinary contents. You will deliver a mini presentation on this activity, share resources, explain why the activity is engaging, and what learning objectives it targets. Particularly welcoming are stories with challenging content, which you have managed to overcome. Additionally, you will be asked to share at least one pedagogical hurdle or challenge you are currently facing in the classroom. The group will explore the pedagogical challenges that you raise and provide suggestions, which will help you come up with revised ideas on the topic you are seeking feedback on.