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New Directions for the Learning Fellows Program

10/3/2023, DCAL, 102 Baker Library, 5:00pm – 6:30pm

Join the Learning Fellows Program for hors d’oeuvres and discussion as we celebrate the accomplishments of our last eight years and share our new directions! Beginning 24W, we will expand to work with more courses, dive deeper into field-specific teaching practices, and increase face time for faculty and fellows. These changes are based on the results of a comprehensive external analysis conducted in 2019-2021 as well as feedback from our faculty, students, past learning fellows, and course facilitators. Come find out how the program is changing and how it can work for you, whether you have been involved in the past or are thinking about taking part in the future.

Registration is required. There are 39 seats available.

Meet our LF Program Manager!

I am delighted to announce that Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez joined the DCAL team as our Program Manager for Student Programs, with an immediate focus on the Learning Fellows Program, in mid-December 2022 – just in time to be involved in winter term preparation! Elizabeth has been working with 2 sections of Bio13 and joining huddles for many of the other winter 2023 LF courses. She’s working with Elaine to get us ready for Spring 2023 LF courses and taking the lead on organizing and updating all the program-related materials. She’ll work on updating this news page so it doesn’t take months to make important announcements and we don’t go years between posts. 🙂

Before coming to Dartmouth, Elizabeth served as Undergraduate Program Director and Associate Professor of Instruction in Temple University’s Department of Religion. She was actively involved in the Diamond Peer Teachers Program through which she mentored undergraduate fellows to facilitate discussions, run weekly learning sessions, and create their own assignments. Elizabeth has collaborated on many innovative teaching opportunities to improve learning for undergraduates in her own courses and campus-wide efforts at Temple. She has also devoted time and energy to community building and work on diversity, inclusion, and conflict management and brings project management experience working with faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students.

Now hiring Program Manager for Student Programs!

Do you like program management, working with students and faculty, and teaching? If so, you may want to apply to be Program Manager for Student Programs at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. In this role, you will oversee the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning’s (DCAL) programming and services for Dartmouth students. You will provide support, management, and coordination of DCAL’s student programs, including leading the Learning Fellows Program. You will collaborate with DCAL staff and campus partners in developing programs and resources to support students and educators at Dartmouth. For more information and to apply, please see this link.

Learning Assistants Alliance International Conference 2018

Check out our poster presentation, “A Thriving Ecosystem of Learning Fellows at Dartmouth College” from the 2018 Learning Assistants Alliance International Conference 2018 in Boulder, CO at CU-Boulder.

Abstract:

What started as one course with three learning fellows in the summer of 2015 has grown to just over 40 courses and almost 130 Learning Fellows in the 2018/2019 academic year. Learn how we handle shorter 9-week terms through weekly course team “huddles” that include the learning fellows, professor(s), and a learning designer or faculty developer. The ecosystem we’ve created not only benefits student learning, but offers professors and learning fellows training in pedagogy, reflection, and course design as well as giving the learning designers and faculty developers deeper insight into courses, the undergraduate experience, and stronger collaborative relationships with faculty.

Learning Fellows Program Receives Hearst Foundations Award

DCAL Receives Hearst Grant to Support Learning Fellows Program

HANOVER, NH July 19, 2018— On June 26, 2018, the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL) was awarded a grant of $125,000 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation to support the Dartmouth Learning Fellows Program. The grant will be used to sustain and increase capacity for the program, which pairs undergraduate students with academic faculty to design and deliver active learning opportunities in Dartmouth courses. Kate Norton in the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations played a pivotal role in supporting this effort.

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Jason Laackman honored as Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher

Jason Laackman, one of our Learning Fellows, was honored last month as an outstanding graduate student teacher! Jason is a Learning Fellow in War Stories (COLT 64/CLST 11), taught by Dr. Roberta Stewart. War Stories examines military texts from the ancients till today, trying to understand what it means to be a soldier during times of war. Jason, in addition to being a Dartmouth graduate student and Learning Fellow, is also a vet. Together with Jonathan Kong, also a vet and Learning Fellow for War Stories, Jason has helped students understand the narratives of war from a soldier’s perspective. Thank you, Jason and Jon, for your support of War Stories and your dedication to Dartmouth’s teaching excellence!

Read more about the graduate teaching awards here: https://dcal.dartmouth.edu/news/2017/04/outstanding-graduate-student-teacher-appreciation-lunch

And read more about the origins of Roberta Stewart’s War Stories course here: https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2014/04/classics-professor-and-veterans-read-homer

-Kes

The Laws of Physics

“Many people suffer unnecessarily in physics, just as they do in math. I liked that the department recognized that and was taking steps to change it.” – Benjamin Nesselrodt, ’19, Learning Fellow in PHYS 13

In winter term, Professor Robyn Millan in the Department of Physics restructured the format of PHYS 13, an introductory course on the fundamentals of physics. She designed new problem sets and small group activities, then worked with Learning Fellows Ben Nesselrodt, Krishan Canzius, and Christopher Yu to implement these learning strategies in the classroom. Read more about their great work in Elli Goudzwaard’s new article: “The Fundamental Laws of Physics Classes!”

-Kes