August Workshops

The CCNY Teaching and Learning Center is offering a series of workshops on Technology, Pedagogy, and Digital Humanities during the week of August 15-18. There are many workshops, so keep scrolling! If you’d rather see this in a calendar view, use this link to explore and to register.

Have an idea about a workshop that you’d like to see or offer? Please complete this survey! We’ll be creating our series of fall 2022 workshops in the next few weeks, and we’d love to hear from you!

Workshops and Information Sessions: August 15-18, 2022 


Monday, August 15


Blackboard Site Design (10:00-11:30) Jonathan McVey, TLC

https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUlfuqvrDktE9WnGNxoayCAaGYTfzSnyh2R 
Learn how to customize the look and feel of your class Blackboard site: optimize the Course Menu; add a graphic banner to your site; set a preferred homepage; and enter student preview. If time permits, we will also cover font styling, adding images, and creating grids for presenting information. Be sure that you have Blackboard access to the courses you will be teaching in the Fall!

Open Educational Resources (11:30-12:30) Julia Brown, TLC
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpcO2gpzouE93GkfxZBwuFS_tfKahEorWC  
Learn more about how to save your students’ money and increase retention, while still using quality educational materials. This informational session will introduce the college’s initiative to convert courses to zero textbook cost through the use of open educational resources.

Digital Humanities in the Classroom: From Idea to Implementation (1:00-2:00) Stefano Morello (Digital Humanities Fellow) and Isabel Estrada (CMLL) 
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0rduyvrj4iE9aEFAEe_2eiYHQFXKBRnaoU  
In this workshop, Isabel Estrada and Stefano Morello will discuss their experience teaching “Activism and the College Experience,” a project-based digital humanities course that ran in Spring of 2022. Our conversation will focus on course conception and design, project management, assessment, deliverables, challenges and student engagement.  We will conclude by collectively brainstorming your ideas for including digital project-based pedagogy in your courses. 

Academic Commons: Building a Site (2:00-3:30) Julia Brown, TLC
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtf-2pqTsuGNSdbQAqjF4fSyhA0TsWhmgx
Academic Commons is a CUNY-hosted WordPress-based website builder. It can be used to create course websites, build portfolios, write blogs, and more. In this workshop, you will learn the basics of building a site on the Academic Commons. Before the workshop begins, please register an account with the Commons using your CUNY email.

Tuesday, August 16 


BlackBoard Testing (10:00-11:30) Kevuaghn Hunter, TLC

https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkde2qqjMtH9UtVNGempjCGiTvnSSI93O-
This workshop offers a comprehensive overview of the Blackboard testing application as well as a discussion of the issues around testing. We will walk you through the process of creating and deploying tests or quizzes on the platform. 

Syllabus Design (11:30-1:00) Julia Brown, TLC
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqduitpz0qGtUr0W_KwZtg3V6XA4jB1Z5o 

This workshop will discuss strategies for student-centered syllabus design. Please bring a syllabus to this workshop (for the upcoming semester, or a previous semester). There will be design activities toward the end of the workshop, to practice these strategies on your own syllabi. 

Platforms for Digital Archives (12:30-2:00) Stefano Morello, Digital Humanities Fellow
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtdemrqjIvGtxZUW5zkXApbO-s-LygM944 

Digital archive assignments invite students to participate in public-facing projects, help students learn course content through active learning, and provide opportunities for the development of technological know-how. We’ll discuss some of the affordances of using digital archives as a pedagogical tool then review several platforms, including WordPress, Omeka, Tropy, Drupal, and Collective Access. Please bring your ideas about digital archives projects for your classes!

Academic Commons: Forums (2:00-3:30) Julia Brown, TLC
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqdOmgrTIoHNAI_Ty9wtc7S3iR7v4G_zlh
Tired of the outdated look of Blackboard discussion boards? Beyond hosting webpages, the Academic Commons has a built-in forum feature that can be used for asynchronous discussions. Learn the basics of using forums on the Commons! Please register an account with the Commons using your CUNY email before the workshop begins. 

Digital Archives with Omeka (4:00-5:30) Stefano Morello, Digital Humanities Fellow
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkcuGoqz4oGNMijSOc1VRzhF_0mhKlhJLM
Thinking of building a professional archive or have an archive classroom project? Omeka is a widely-used open source Content Management System (CMS) and web publishing system built by and for scholars. If you have a set of digital primary sources that you want to publish online in a scholarly way—as a public-facing component of your research project, or as a class assignment—consider Omeka. This introductory workshop covers some of the conceptual challenges faced when developing digital archives and will get you started on creating a digital archive using Omeka.net.

Wednesday, August 17


BlackBoard Assignments and Discussion Boards (10:00-11:30) TLC Staff

https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrcO-uqTwjEtHALKWnOOlcMlSzUpRpb-xS
The Assignment and Discussion Board tools provide you an easy way to collect student work. You can also attach these tools to the Gradebook so you can quickly and safely let students know their grades–even if those grades simply indicate complete/incomplete. Discussion Board conversations can also help you determine students’ strengths and weaknesses before class time; you can use them to help guide your in-class discussion. 

Open-Access Publishing on Manifold (11:00-12:30) Robin Miller, Librarian and Open Educational Technologist at the Graduate Center
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcequqjotEtY1Jb9lrg1gISPWABi1sx49 
With Manifold, you can publish dynamic digital texts with rich media support, powerful annotation tools, and robust community dialogue. 
During the workshop, we will 

•    create and customize a project on Manifold
•    add texts and multimedia resources to that project    
•    create a reading group
•    learn how to use Manifold’s built-in annotation feature

To learn more about Manifold, browse a collection of vibrant texts that have already been uploaded to the CUNY Manifold platform: https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/. Texts include original scholarship, teaching handbooks, and collaborative student projects.

Blackboard’s Powerful GradeBook (12:30-2:00) TLC Staff
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAudOmupjgjHdP68X2Om6UwKZ0FoNx_k3K7
Use Blackboard’s Weighted Total column to calculate the total weight of no-stakes, low-stakes, and high-stakes assignments and keep students current with their grade as a running total of the work that has been submitted. Display grades numerically or alphabetically, and change the grade cut-offs the the Grading Schema tool.

Thursday, August 18 


Blackboard Adaptive Release (10:00-11:30) Julia Brown, TLC

https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsf-6uqDoqGtOdkJsp-hIqD4nIPnx1yUlM
Want students to have to pass a quiz before moving on to more advanced materials? Have them complete a reading before seeing an assignment? Adaptive release is a powerful tool that allows students to access course content at a pace designated by you. 

Digital Mapping for the Humanities (12:30-2:00) Stefano Morello, Digital Humanities Fellow
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qfu2urzovHdX056Jglozunjv3XPdSnF_s 
Are you interested in creating digital maps? Are you curious to learn how digital maps (and the cartographic reasoning they produce) can enrich critical inquiries into works of art? This workshop offers an introduction on fundamental mapping concepts (such as how spatial data is organized and displayed) and the application of geospatial technologies to the interpretation of cultural texts. We will reflect on foundational questions such as: Why Map? How to Map? What to Map? We will then look at existing projects and tinker with mapping software to think through their pedagogical affordances in the context of humanities courses.

Blackboard Student Retention Center (3:00-4:00) Sarah Perez, TLC 
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElce2orjooHNLmIsFP34izEVAxNYZyvwqz
The Retention Center is an instructor-only tool that enables you to check the overall academic health of your class, see at a glance who is struggling, and helps you give focused attention to those students who need it. Learn the benefits of using the retention center, how to customize it to your own metrics, and how it can be used to improve your teaching practices.   

Video Editing with Camtasia (4:30-6:00) Kevaughn Hunter
https://ccny.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrcuGprjkiE9VIlchAt5ADgxsrliU9Q_PP 
This workshop will introduce Camtasia as a tool for promoting flipped as well as active learning. Diversifying our teaching methods has become an important aspect of good pedagogy. The use of multimedia tools can help students learn in new ways but also help reaffirm learning from the classroom.