May 22, 2020
By Tara Schmidt, Coordinator of Information Literacy & Assessment
My best teaching comes from conversations with my library colleagues. Seeds of ideas, activities that don’t translate to my classes, and new pedagogy are all much better when I can bring them to a group of teachers for discussion. A few years ago, we decided to use that same approach with an annual summer reading. We quickly found that working through a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) book as a group allows us to think more widely about application, as well as keeping each other accountable within our teaching even after the book ends.
Our book choice this summer is Small Teaching Online by Flower Darby, James Lang. The book covers a variety of small teaching practices, based in research, that can be applied to the online teaching environment. Each chapter contains theory, modeled practice, and basic principles with application. This is a companion to Small Teaching, by James Lang. We have it available as a library ebook here.
It seems appropriate that our group will be meeting virtually to cover this content! We are also opening the reading group to any faculty and staff instructors who want to talk about teaching in the online environment. The group will be an informal place to learn from both the book and from each other. As librarians, we concentrate on teaching big research concepts within hundreds of single class sessions, while faculty are teaching over the course of a semester. We all, however, are looking for ways to make this online environment a place that our students can find success and connection. Please join us as we bring all of our experiences – from long term to just the past few months, from one shot classes to four year programs, across the disciplines – to inspire our own teaching and that of our UTSA colleagues.
Virtual Summer Book Club – Small Teaching Online
Wednesdays, June 3-July 29
11 am – 12 pm
Register here.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. For more, review the schedule below and email tara.schmidt@utsa with questions. See you online soon!
Schedule:
June 3: Intro, Chapter 1
June 10: Chapter 2
June 17: Chapter 3
June 24: Chapter 4
July 1: Chapter 5
July 8: Chapter 6
July 15: Chapter 7
July 22: Chapter 8
July 29: Chapter 9