Team-Taught Courses

The Deadline to submit a team-taught course for the 2023-2024 Academic Year is March 1st

Equity, Diversity, and Student-Centered Pedagogy Across the Disciplines

One of the Futures Initiative’s key program areas are a unique set of interdisciplinary, inter-institutional team-taught courses. Following a competitive, CUNY-wide application process, five to seven courses are selected annually for support from the Futures Initiative, with faculty teaching these courses designated as Faculty Fellows. These courses are designed to exemplify equity and innovation, and promote the Futures Initiative’s goals of increasing faculty diversity and establishing robust peer mentoring among faculty members across the CUNY system. Spanning many content areas, the courses emphasize creative, student-centered pedagogy and interdisciplinarity in their methods.

The courses create collaborations across the CUNY campuses and work towards a larger goal of public engagement. In addition to connecting faculty members from multiple CUNY colleges, by focusing on graduate pedagogy as well as ways doctoral students can apply student-centered methods in their own classrooms, they create renewed possibilities for graduate students to consider their dual role as learners and as instructors and valued junior colleagues. To solidify this connection, undergraduates who are taking courses taught by graduate students in Futures Initiative courses are invited to apply to become Undergraduate Leadership Fellows in a competition each spring.

Futures Initiative courses are structured to support the connections between the three pillars of higher education: research, teaching, and service to society. The courses complement and contribute to our public programming through conferences, symposia, and the ongoing University Worth Fighting For series.

2022-2023 Courses

Fall 2022

Spring 2023

View our course archive for a complete list of past courses, or explore the websites and posts below:

UWFF Series recap. Why can’t we breathe? Fighting environmental racism in the Bronx. - On May 3rd, Futures Initiative had the pleasure to host an event organized by Ángeles Donoso Macaya and Ashley Dawson. The two

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Call for Proposals: Futures Initiative Team-Taught Course (Fall 2023 or Spring 2024) - DEADLINE: March 15, 2023 APPLY HERE The Futures Initiative advocates greater equity and innovation in higher education. Housed at and supported by

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Studies in Global Literature (Spring 2023) - Prof. Ashley Dawson (English / The Graduate Center)Prof. Ángeles Donoso Macaya (Spanish / Borough of Manhattan Community College) Spring 2023Course Number: ENGLISH

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Consent: Medieval Legacies from Europe and the Islamic Worlds in Comparative Perspective (Spring 2023) - Prof. Anna Ayse Akasoy (History, Liberal Studies / The Graduate Center)Prof. Sara McDougall (History / John Jay College) Spring 2023Course Number: MALS

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Global Feminisms (Fall 2022) - Prof. Saadia Toor (Women’s and Gender Studies, The Graduate Center | Sociology, College of Staten Island)Prof. Chaumtoli Huq (CUNY School of Law)

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Call for Team-Taught Courses (Fall 2022/Spring 2023) – DEADLINE EXTENDED -
Amber Musser and Michael Gillespie's books covers Beyond “Is this Good/Positive/Authentic?”: Black Visuality, Black Performativity, and the Art of Blackness -
American Social Institutions (Fall 2021) - Karen Miller (History, LaGuardia Community College | M.A. Program in Liberal Studies, The Graduate Center) Saadia Toor (Sociology and Anthropology, The College

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An Interview with Cathy Davidson: Trust, Community and Paired Expertise - Futures Initiative Interview Collection: Team-Taught Courses One of the Futures Initiative’s key programs is a set of interdisciplinary and inter-institutional team-taught courses.

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Equity, Elitism, and Public Higher Education (Spring 2021) - Matt Brim (Queer Studies and English, College of Staten Island) Katina Rogers (Futures Initiative, Digital Humanities, and M.A. Program in Liberal Studies,

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Black Visuality, Black Performance (Fall 2021) - Michael Gillespie (Media and Communications and African American Studies, City College | Art History, Film, and English, The Graduate Center) Amber Musser

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Cities and Disaster: Past, Present, and Future (Spring 2022) - Cary Karacas (Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center | Political Science and Global Affairs, College of Staten Island) Robin Kietlinski (History,

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Science & Diplomacy: What Scientists Can do on a Global Stage (Spring 2021) - Mandë Holford (Biology, Chemistry, and Biochemistry, Hunter College and the Graduate Center) Shirley Raps (Biology, Hunter College and The Graduate Center) Spring

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Black Diasporic Visions: (De)Constructing Modes of Power (Spring 2022) - Javiela Evangelista (African American Studies, New York City College of Technology) Carla Shedd (Urban Education, The Graduate Center) Spring 2022 Course Number:

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Constructing History: Architecture and Alternative Histories of New York (Spring 2021) - Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis (M.A. Program in Liberal Studies, The Graduate Center) Jason Montgomery (Architectural Technology, New York City College of Technology) Spring 2021,

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Announcing 2020-2021 Futures Initiative Team-Taught Courses! - We are delighted to announce the slate of team-taught courses to be offered by the Futures Initiative in 2020-2021. Each of these

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Call for Proposals: 2020-2021 Team-Taught Intro Courses, Faculty Fellowship - Apply by October 21, 2019 to teach a team-taught course at the Graduate Center and serve as a Futures Initiative Faculty Fellow!

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Psychological Dis-ease Swelling in Contentious Times: Contributors, sustainers, and resisters (Spring 2020) - Michelle Fine (The Graduate Center, Psychology and Urban Education, MALS, and Women’s and Gender Studies) Desiree Byrd (Queens College, Psychology) Spring 2020,

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Introduction to Engaged Teaching for Transformative Learning in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Spring 2020) - Cathy N. Davidson (The Graduate Center, English and the Futures Initiative) Eduardo Vianna (LaGuardia Community College, Social Sciences, and The Graduate Center,

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Transformations of Modernity, 1914-present (Fall 2019) - Karen Miller (The Graduate Center and LaGuardia Community College, MALS and History) Andrea Morrell (Guttman Community College) Fall 2019, Thursdays, 4:15-6:15pm Course

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Interdisciplinary Topics in Law: Mothers in Law (Fall 2019) - Julie Suk (The Graduate Center, Dean of Master’s Programs and Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and MALS) Sara McDougall (John Jay College,

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Climate Change and Discursive Frames: From Scientific Discourse to the Public Sphere (Fall 2019) - José del Valle (The Graduate Center, LAILAC) David Lindo Atichati (College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center; Engineering and Earth and

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Voices of the City: accessibility, reciprocity, and self-representation in place-based community research (Fall 2019) - Tarry Hum (Queens College and The Graduate Center, Environmental Psychology) Prithi Kanakamedala (Bronx Community College, History) Thursdays, 2-4pm Course Number: IDS 81620

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Reading and Speaking Race (Spring, 2019) - Juan Battle (The Graduate Center, Sociology, Urban Education, Public Health) Sigmund Shipp (Hunter College, Urban Policy and Planning) Mondays, 4:15-6:15pm Course Number: IDS 81660

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Photo of two birds flying in the sky Critical Race Scholarship: Theories and Pedagogies (Spring, 2019) - Michelle Billies (The Graduate Center and Kingsborough Community College, Psychology) Soniya Munshi (Borough of Manhattan Community College,Social Sciences, Human Services, and Criminal Justice)

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Afrofuturism—Race and Science Fiction (Spring, 2019) - Jonathan Gray (The Graduate Center and John Jay College, English) Joy Sanchez-Taylor (LaGuardia Community College, English) Wednesdays, 11:45am – 1:45pm Course Number: IDS 81640

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Mediating Race: Technology, Performance, Politics, and Aesthetics in Popular Culture (Spring, 2019) - Cathy N. Davidson (The Graduate Center, English and the Futures Initiative) Racquel Gates (College of Staten Island, Media Culture) Wednesdays, 2-4pm Course Number: IDS

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Professor Ann Kirschner and Tyson Scott Hymes present work from the Future of Work course Mind the Gap (Fall, 2018) - Ann Kirschner (The Graduate Center) Guest lecturers, TBA Tues, 6:30-8:30pm Course number: 63322 Listed in: Interdisciplinary Studies; MALS; Political Science COURSE WEBSITE

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detail from Matisse's swimming pool cut out, abstract blue figures against burlap Disability, Culture, and Society (Fall, 2018) - Joseph Straus (The Graduate Center, Music) Julia Miele Rodas (Bronx Community College, English) Wednesdays, 2-5pm Course Number: 63321 Listed in: Interdisciplinary Studies; Music; Women’s

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Flyer promoting Environmental Psychology of Care - outdoor scene with text The Environmental Psychology of Care (Fall, 2018) - David Chapin (The Graduate Center, Environmental Psychology) Tomoaki Imamichi (LaGuardia Community College, Social Science) Thursdays, 11:45am-1:45pm Course Number: 63320 Listed in: Interdisciplinary Studies;

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Screenshot from Citizen Child website Critical Perspectives on Childhood and Pedagogy (Spring, 2018) - Wendy Luttrell (The Graduate Center, Urban Education; Critical Psychology; Sociology) Amita Gupta (City College, Teaching, Learning & Culture and Early Childhood Education) Wednesdays, 4:15-6:15pm

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Screenshot of Blacklisted website Black Listed: African American Writers and the Cold War Politics of Integration, Surveillance, Censorship, and Publication (Spring, 2018) - Cathy N. Davidson (The Graduate Center, English) Shelly Eversley (Baruch College, English)  Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30pm COURSE WEBSITE This course examines the inter-relationship between

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Change and Crisis in Universities: Research, Education, and Equity in Uncertain Times (Spring, 2018) - Ruth Milkman (The Graduate Center, Sociology) Katherine Chen (City College and The Graduate Center, Sociology) Tuesdays, 4:15pm Course Number: IDS 81640 and SOC 74400; Cross-listed

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Futures Initiative Logo Change and Crisis in Universities: Research, Education, and Equity in Uncertain Times - This semester I have the pleasure of acting as an embedded Futures Initiative fellow in “Change and Crisis in Universities: Research, Education,

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Undocumented, Illegal, Citizen: The Politics and Psychology of Belonging in the United States (Fall, 2017) - Colette Daiute (The Graduate Center, Psychology) David Caicedo (Borough of Manhattan Community College, Psychology – Social Sciences, Human Services & Criminal Justice) Thursdays, 4:15-6:15pm

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Rethinking Higher Education for the Knowledge Economy (Fall, 2017) - Ann Kirschner (University Professor, The Graduate Center; Dean Emeritus, Macaulay Honors College) Gilda Barabino (City College, Dean, Grove School of Engineering) Wednesdays,

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Students from MS-50 Perform a multi-lingual song for the Futures Initiative Fall Symposium Participatory Action Research in the Borderlands: Research and Pedagogy for the Americas, (Fall, 2017) - Ofelia García (The Graduate Center, Urban Education and Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages) Rosario Torres-Guevara (Borough of Manhattan Community College, Academic Literacy and

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Screenshot of Public School-Art in the City website Public School: Art in the City (Fall, 2017) - Claire Bishop (The Graduate Center, Art History) Paul Ramirez-Jonas (Hunter College, Art) Tuesdays, 12-3pm at different locations around NYC Course Number: IDS 81630 COURSE

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Students from Social Construction of Childhood present a poster on global perspectives of childhood The Social Construction of Childhood: Perspectives on Self, Others, Society and Human Rights (Spring, 2017) - Martin Ruck (The Graduate Center, Psychology) Erika Niwa (The Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, Psychology) Tuesdays, 2-4pm COURSE WEBSITE (requires log-in) This course

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Screenshot of Teaching of Psychology website Seminar and Practicum on the Teaching of Psychology (Spring, 2017) - Patricia Brooks (The Graduate Center and College of Staten Island, Psychology) Jill Grose-Fifer (The Graduate Center and John Jay College of Criminal

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Diana Romero and Ananya Mukherjea present projects from their team-taught course Social Inequality & Health Disparities: Sex, Gender and Reproduction (Spring, 2017) - Diana Romero (Hunter College and the CUNY School of Public Health, Community, Society and Health, Public Health Program) Ananya Mukherjea (College of

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) The Public and Publics (Spring, 2017) - Setha Low (The Graduate Center, Environmental Psychology, Anthropology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Women’s Studies) Amy Chazkel (The Graduate Center and Queens

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Photo of protestors holding signs. Image is focused on African American woman holding a sign that says, "Unite Here!" Race and Gender Theory in the Undergraduate Humanities Classroom (Spring, 2017) - Cathy N. Davidson (The Graduate Center, English) Michael Gillespie (City College, Black Studies and Film Studies) Shelly Eversley (Baruch College, English) will

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Screenshot of American Literature, American Learning website American Literature, American Learning (Spring, 2016) - Cathy N. Davidson (Graduate Center, Futures Initiative and English) and Danica Savonick (Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Center, English and Graduate Fellow with the

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Mindfulness and STEM Education (Spring, 2016) - David Forbes (Brooklyn College, School Psychology, Counseling, and Leadership) and Gillian Bayne (Lehman College, STEM Education) U ED 72200, Spring 2016, The Graduate

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Agency and Social Transformation: Increasing Equity in Education and Beyond (Spring, 2016) - Anna Stetsenko (Graduate Center, Psychology/Urban Education) and Eduardo Vianna (Social Sciences, LaGuardia Community College)  PSYC 80103, Spring 2016, The Graduate Center, CUNY Crosslisted

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American Literature, American Learning Recap 3/30 - Games & Active Learning/Formative Assessment Assignments Readings “Active Learning Techniques for the Classroom” “A Sample of Formative Assessment Techniques” Gallagher, Kristen. “Teaching

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American Literature, American Learning Recap 3/16 - American Literature, American Learning Wednesday, March 16 Syllabus Housekeeping 6:30- 6:45 Announcements? NO CLASS NEXT WEEK, Wednesday follows a Friday schedule Upcoming

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American Literature, American Learning Recap 3/9 - American Literature, American Learning Wednesday, March 9 “[we must] try to help entering students discover a new relationship to learning. The most

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Global Perspectives on Language and Education Poster Session Global Perspectives on Language and Education (Fall, 2015) - Ofelia Garcia (Graduate Center, Urban Education and Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages) and Carmina Makar (City College, Teaching Learning and Culture)

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Icons that represent teamwork and learning (a handshake, people raising their hands, two people reading next to one another, a network of three people) Encountering Cuba – Global Race, Postcoloniality, Cultural Expression (Fall, 2015) - Kandice Chuh (Graduate Center, English) and Sujatha Fernandes (Queens College, Sociology) Cuba has long loomed large in the U.S. imagination, whether by

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Evaluation of Mapping the Futures of Higher Education - The Futures Initiative is happy to share an evaluation report (PDF) of our inaugural course, Mapping the Futures of Higher Education. The

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Mapping the Futures of Higher Education Year-End Celebration - The Futures Initiative team would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make our first year such a

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Syllabus: E-Learning Pedagogy and Course Design for Faculty - The Mapping Futures course experience has been an excellent opportunity for me to learn new strategies, and reimagine old ones, for student

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Stylized map of NYC showing courses taught by grad students About Mapping the Futures of Higher Education (Spring, 2015) - Taught by Futures Initiative Director Cathy Davidson and Graduate Center President Emeritus William Kelly, Mapping the Futures of Higher Education was a radically

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Introduction to Music: A Student-Centered Syllabus - Course: Introduction to Music Instructor: Natalie Oshukany Email: noshukany@ccny.cuny.edu or noshukany@gradcenter.cuny.edu   Required Text: Listen by Joseph Kerman and Gary Tomlinson. 7th

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“Introduction to Narrative”: A Collaborative, Experimental Intellectual Adventure - “This course should be undertaken as an experimental, collaborative, and hopefully thrilling intellectual adventure into the processes of meaning-making in our lives,”

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Group Four Recap: Embodiment in the Classroom - Week One: Hilarie: In the very first moments of our first session, I felt a shift in energy as soon as people

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Universal Design Resources and Issues - Following our brief discussion about universal design and syllabus construction last week, I thought I would share information with you from our

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Words with Friends: Creating the Student-Centered Roots Classroom - This semester I had the absolute honor and delight of participating in a course described as “Mapping the Futures of Higher Education,” a

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Syllabus - BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE The City University of New York                    Department of

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Salutations from Roots at Hunter! - Today our Greek and Latin Roots class learned the Latin word salus, salutis meaning “health, well-being, greeting” from where English gets the

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Mentoring workshop, upcoming classes, final requirements: A Recap - Subject: Mentoring workshop, upcoming classes, final requirements: A Recap Hi everyone, Thanks, first of all, to Group Four for yet another incredibly

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Persistence and Success: What I’d love to see more of - As our Mappings class has been focusing on “Professors & Persistence,” I’ve found myself hyper alert to the academic and life obstacles

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Is Educational Freedom and Choice Always Free? Reflections on Our Conversation with Dean John Mogulescu - (Another version was posted to our Futures Initiative group on hastac.org) This week our “Mapping the Futures of Higher Education” course had

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Education in the Age of Adjunctification - Yesterday’s class session with John Mogalescu, Senior University Dean for Academic Affairs at CUNY, was really wonderful, inspiring, and a bit troubling,

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Professors and Persistence: Caring Instruction and Structural Equality in the Classroom - Mapping the Futures of Higher Education Unit Recap – March 24 & 31 – Professors & Persistence 4:15-6:15 pm   Group 3:

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Happy I Had a Rubric - When our Mapping the Futures class focused on Assessment, group one asked us to implement or create a rubric for our classes.

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Teaching and Time-Keeping - This post was inspired in part by Natalie Oshukany’s excellent blog post from last week (On Watching the Clock: Student-Centered Review Session)

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In Your Words: Closing Thoughts from Mapping Class 3/24 -      
Why Graduate Training Must Change If We Want To Reverse Income Inequality #FuturesEd - Yesterday, in “Mapping the Futures of Higher Education,” a student-led graduate course for Graduate Center students currently teaching in the CUNY system,

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On Watching the Clock: Student-Centered Review Session - Despite my best efforts, I ran straight into one of the major concerns our class discussed regarding implementing student-centered learning in the

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Teaching Philosophy - In the spring of 2000, when I officially enrolled in Kingsborough at eighteen years old, I was told to go to the

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ACRL – Frameworks - When considering student-centered learning, and creating my statement of teaching philosophy, it makes sense to discuss the ACRL frameworks which is a

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Student-Centered Pedagogy Class Recap - Mapping the Futures of Higher Education Session Plan – March 10 – Student-Centered Pedagogy 415-615 pm Room 9206; Livestreamed at bit.ly/FuturesED-live  

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Celebration and Reception, May 22 – Join Us! - Please join us on the evening of Friday, May 22, 2015 for a celebration and reception honoring the inaugural cohort of Futures Initiative

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Formative Assessment in Chemistry - My collaborators Irene Morrison-Moncure (Hunter College) and Janey Flanagan (Borough of Manhattan Community College) and I (Borough of Manhattan Community College) presented

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NYPL Mapping Division and NYPL Labs Visit: Photo Essay - On Friday, March 6, members from the Futures Initiative team and the graduate Mapping the Futures course met with the NYPL Mapping

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Formative Assessment in the Undergraduate Classroom: Three Activities to Try Today - This post serves as a follow-up to a student-led unit on assessment run on February 17 and 24 as part of the Futures Initiative “Mapping

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Putting Formative Assessment to Use: Student-Led Mini-Presentations - Have you ever tried to explain the concept of musical timbre? How about describing the exact differences between an “important” versus a

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What We Did: Feb 24 (Fourth Class; Assessment, Part 2) - Week 4 — Group 1: Assessment Co-authors for this post: Janey Flanagan (BMCC) Urban Ed, eLearning Maria Greene (BMCC) Urban Ed, Chemistry Irene

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What We Did: Feb 17 (Third Class; Assessment, Part 1) - Week 3 — Group 1: Assessment Co-authors for this post: Janey Flanagan (BMCC) Urban Ed, eLearning Maria Greene (BMCC) Urban Ed, Chemistry Irene

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Video Posted from Mapping The Futures of Higher Education Session 2 – Feb. 10, 2015 - On February 10, 2015 we opened the second session of Mapping the Futures of Higher Education with a discussion and Q&A session

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Schedule of Public Events: Spring 2015 -   Events from our partners: CLAGS GC Digital Initiatives GC Office of Career Planning and Professional Development Graduate Center Library JustPublics@365 NYC

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Week 3 Prep on Assessment - Dear collaborators, Please review the linked videos, articles, and websites for next Tuesday’s (2/17) discussion and activities. In addition, please bring a

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What We Did: Feb 10 (Second Class) - Week 2 – Discussion and Introduction to Mapping Discussion and Q & A William Kelly “Forgotten Alternatives” Cathy Davidson “Changing Higher Ed from

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What We Did: Feb 3 (First Class) - This is a public document. Comments welcome! MAPPING THE FUTURES OF HIGHER EDUCATION IDS 70200 Feb 3, 2015 415-615 Materials, Ideas Room

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Photo Essay of Futures Initiative Syllabus Building Workshop - The Futures Initiative hosted its first workshop of the Mapping the Futures of Higher Education course this past Thursday, January 22nd. A

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Crowdsourced Syllabus “Mapping the Futures of Higher Education: Teaching, Learning and Research in the Age of Google” - The first week of October has certainly been a busy one! Students and educators at both Duke University’s PhD Lab and The

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