36th University-Wide Teaching Conference
Reconnecting, Reengaging, and Cultivating Relationships
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 9am-4pm
Relationships are at the heart of teaching and learning. Connection and engagement with our learning, our scholarship and each other are essential components of the Tufts community. Yet, in today’s world there are so many factors that inhibit or disrupt deep and meaningful connections, resulting in faculty and students feeling disconnected from each other and at times, less engaged with their work. In response, forging stronger and more buoyant connections presents a unique opportunity to cultivate relationships in and out of the classroom, clinic, or lab that energize us and fuel our sense of efficacy and worth, and recognize those same attributes in each other. At this year’s teaching conference, we will explore how to re-engage in our work, re-connect with each other in ways that value and nurture our relationships within a greater learning community. In doing so, we may recover the joy, meaning, and fulfillment that we derive as educators and lifelong learners, together.
Virtual Posters
Melanie Morris, Maria Dolce, Samantha Parad, & Cynthia Yered, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine
Emotional Literacy: Reconnecting with Ourselves and Others
Beatrix Roeller, SOE Dean's Office and current SELECT Fellow
Hello! Educational Technologies for Connecting and Engaging
Jake Dempsey, Freedom Baird, Justin Horvath, and Jamie Cannan, Tufts Educational Technology Services
Navigating a New Landscape: Connected Teaching in Times of Stress and Rapid Change, Keynote Address by Harriet L. Schwartz, PhD, Professor of Relational Practice and Higher Education, Antioch University
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Harriet L. Schwartz, PhD, is a Professor of Relational Practice and Higher Education in Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change program. Her scholarly interests include teaching as relational practice, emotion and teaching, and qualitative research methods, particularly critical incident technique and grounded theory. The author of Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education (Stylus, 2019), Harriet is a leader in applying Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) in education. She serves as Lead Scholar for Education as Relational Practice and on the leadership team for the International Center for Growth in Connection. Along with numerous journal articles, Harriet has published two New Directions for Teaching and Learning sourcebooks, co-editing Teaching and Emotion and editing Interpersonal Boundaries in Teaching and Learning. She is also a co-author of the forthcoming Essentials of Constructivist Critical Incident Technique (APA, in press). Harriet worked in student affairs for many years before transitioning to a faculty career. Along with teaching in leadership programs on the master’s and doctoral levels, she has taught in counseling, student affairs, and education graduate programs. |
Workshops
In Person Workshops
Rebecca Cohen (Occupational Therapy), Liz Canter (Tufts University Art Galleries); Mary Barnes (Occupational Therapy)
Arts-based education (ABE) is gaining recognition as a powerful, innovative, and relevant teaching tool for diverse students and settings. With ABE methods and exercises – many of which are designed to foster joy, curiosity, and feelings of inclusion in learners – educators guide students in honing a flexible, empathy-driven skillset to support success across many educational/professional endeavors (from sensitive interpersonal communication and cultural humility to data analysis and evidence gathering). Further, the universality of art positions ABE as a promising mechanism for interdisciplinary learning and partnership. Experience ABE through attentively facilitated close-looking and creative thinking exercises, and learn more about an example of interdisciplinary collaboration in this in-person workshop.
Teaching with Heart: Reconnecting, Reengaging, and Cultivating Relationships through Immersive Learning
Karin Arsenault, Donna Young & Zhanea Nicholson (Public Health and Community Service, Dental School), Thomas (TJ) Pinto ‘24 (Occupational Therapy PhD program)
Explore the transformative power of immersive learning. This session introduces an innovative teaching approach using an aging/disability simulation suit, enabling students to actively engage in scenarios replicating challenges faced by older adults and individuals with disabilities. Discover how this hands-on approach goes beyond traditional classroom teaching methods, reconnecting students with the human aspect of patient care. It reengages them in learning by making education more dynamic and impactful and cultivates interprofessional relationships centered around providing effective and empathetic care to vulnerable populations. It provides a unique and effective way for students to connect with their subjects, making the learning experience more relevant and applicable to real-world scenarios.
Promoting Learner Autonomy in the Interdisciplinary Clinical Learning Environment
Lisa DelSignore & Jenny Wayshville (Boston Children’s Hospital, TUSM)
Fostering learner autonomy in clinical settings is vital for shaping learners’ professional identities as healthcare providers. Independent practice entails acting of one’s own volition (e.g. autonomy) when making patient care decisions. To help develop learners’ clinical decision-making skills and transition from novice to independent practice, supervision, direct observation, and feedback are also essential. Balancing supervision and autonomy poses challenges, with limited guidance for supervisors on how to attain balance without compromising learners’ decision-making. This workshop offers insights into supervision/autonomy challenges, practical strategies to promote learner autonomy, how team members can support learners outside their own discipline, and utilizes case-based discussions derived from actual scenarios.
Roundtable - Building relationships with students through partnership and beyond
Alvalyn Dixon-Gardner (A24, Clinical Psychology); Nessren Ourdyl (A25, Cognitive Brain Science); Haili Dunbar (Public Health & Community Medicine); Andrew West (Chemistry, TUPIT); Kerri Modry-Mandell (Child Study & Human Development); Heather Dwyer (CELT)
There are many reasons to build authentic, trusting, honest, collaborative relationships with students. Such relationships have mutual benefits: students gain mentorship, a sense of belonging, skills in communication, and practical professional connections. Meanwhile, faculty discover insights into student experiences and perceptions, themselves, and their teaching. How do we foster these gratifying relationships, and how do they result in longer-term impact, beyond the relationship itself? In this roundtable discussion, we will share our experiences from the Pedagogical Partnership Program (P3), and invite participants to consider ways to build these relationships with students even outside a formal partnership program.
Virtual Workshops
Creating Community in Online Environments
Amy Schlessman (DPT Phoenix Program)
Instructors need to be intentional to help students have a sense of belonging and community, which impacts student learning. Striving to create this in online spaces takes intentionality. Creating an environment where students feel a sense of belonging to a course community helps students to be motivated to complete assignments, feel comfortable to participate in discussions, and open to feedback from classmates and instructors. A students’ sense of belonging and community is fostered by student-faculty interactions and student-student interactions. The Community of Inquiry (COI) framework describes online learning spaces as the intersection of three presences: social, teaching, and cognitive presence. The framework helps instructors to reflect on how they develop a community that supports learning through students interacting with course content, instructor, and classmates.
Integrating mindfulness practices into academic classes through a “purposeful pause”
Deborah Donahue-Keegan (A&S, Education/Civic Studies), Jazmyne Garrett '26 (CSHD / Education) & Marko Yang ‘25 (Clinical Psychology)
In this interactive session, led by one Tufts faculty member and two students, the process of integrating mindfulness practices into academic classes through a “purposeful pause” approach will be explored. The session will begin with a brief mindfulness exercise followed by an overview of why/how contemplative pedagogy can support and foster social emotional learning, wellbeing, belonging, and equitable classrooms. Student presenters will talk about their ”purposeful pause” experiences in the classroom. A vignette will be shared and then discussed in pair-share conversations and then within the whole group. We will close with an “actionable next steps” exercise.