Well, April was mostly nice. Good weather, nice activities, some personal gains, work remained unchanged, and the world is a wreck. All in all, that is the vibe. Below is a more detailed version.
Early in the month I presented two sessions at the eLCC conference. Nice small groups. I was a little sad after the first one as I had selected “Roundtable Discussion” as the session type. I thought that a good Zoom session and I figured we would have a discussion. You know, the part after “roundtable.” It was really hard to get people to talk and sooo many did not have a camera on… I was saddened by all that. On the other hand, people showed up, and while not many had ideas that are working, a couple did. Below are the recordings of the sessions.
What PD Formats are Working for You?
We have all made 100 videos, run 1000 brown workshops, made too many webpages, and led learning communities to help faculty better understand the learning environments and the tools they use as educators. Today feels different, doesn’t it? Join this discussion and share what is working, or what you are trying at your school.
Using International Collaborations as Faculty PD
It may be the simple novelty of getting to someone at a university located in another country that helps faculty want to learn more about teaching. It is inspiring to work with someone in another country! And we certainly need more of that these days! The silo of the department or school is just as large as the silo of the university itself. This presentation looks briefly at a few international collaborations that worked and then turns to a discussion about how participants can create similar events at their schools.
I got to hang with the amazing educators from BCcampus in the middle of the month. I was the only US dude there and I apologized multiple times for my countries fucked-upness. Interestingly, the topic for the meeting was how tarifs are effecting the price or use of OER materials. So many books, of all prices, are printed int he US. There has been some change to the pricing, but not too much yet.
It was nice to see all the lovely Canadian faces. I feel lucky they even let me in at this point…
Later in the afternoon I went for a run in the wonderful long day. I did not get home till nearly eight and it was still light!
Still playing mini-golf with Gardner.
I Am Meritorious
I received an email in April that was unexpected and very nice. Not that I don’t think I can usually teach ok, but I was voted “meritorious” by the School of Nursing & Health Studies faculty voted me into the elite club 🙂 Here is what I got.
Dear Todd,
I am pleased to inform you that the faculty of the School of Nursing and Health Studies have completed the review reprocess of your AY 2024-2025 merit packet, and that you have received a ranking of “meritorious.”
Faculty comments regarding your merit packet included:
“Todd always goes above and beyond to help faculty enhance their pedagogy. We are lucky to be able to work with him.”
“Utterly fantastic at his job and extremely helpful and accessible. Thank you for all that you do for our School and campus.”
“Excellent instructor and has been endlessly supportive of teaching faculty in NHS for many years.”
“Todd consistently rocks! He is always available, generous, helpful, and creative. Given the level of expectation that faculty will self-teach hybrid education, Todd’s ongoing assistance is invaluable.”
“Good team member!”
If the UW authorizes merit increases for September 1, 2025, you will be eligible for this increase.
Congratulations on your positive merit ranking and thank you for your important contributions to our school.
Digital Yoga
I submitted a proposal to do a session for the Yavapai College Summer Institute. Pretty cool that I am still involved with it even though I ain’t worked there for nine years. The idea of the session is to identify practices that can help us feel better about all this electrical mumbo jumbo. You know, fewer emails suffocating your inbox and you. More space to breathe. Fewer notifications telling you more than you really benefit from knowing. I am excited.
In April of 2025 I have been here in UW | Bothell for nine years! Go me.