Quarterly Newsletter from LACOL
Volume 4, Issue 2
Spring 2019
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Founded in 2014, LACOL is a partnership of Amherst College, Bryn Mawr College, Carleton College, Davidson College, Hamilton College, Haverford College, Swarthmore College, Vassar College, Washington & Lee University, and Williams College. Read about our mission.
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In this Issue:
LACOL Spring/Summer 2019 Events
● Language Instruction Jam at Bryn Mawr College
● Inclusive Pedagogies & Sensemaker at Amherst College
● Data Science in the Liberal Arts at Washington & Lee University - Register Here
Digitally Shared Courses
● Opportunities in 2019
Which list is which?
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Language Jam
at Bryn Mawr College
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 This March, faculty, technologists, and pedagogy experts on teaching world languages and literatures met at Bryn Mawr College for a two day intensive collaboration jam. Along with excellent presentations and discussions, multi-campus teams worked side-by-side over the weekend to push forward their vision for a shared, online resource to benefit students of language and their instructors in the liberal arts. By the end of the weekend, a working prototype and project roadmap became a reality, moving ever closer to a "phase one" public launch of the new Chianti site by the fall of 2019. Read more: https://lacol.net/language-jam-2019
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Cultivating Student Leadership
to Foster a More Inclusive Classroom
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 How do we think about leadership and power while attempting to address inequity in our educational environments? Are there models of leadership that we want to cultivate in our students that are not at odds with the egalitarian ideals of liberal arts education? These are just two of many crucial questions that framed a one-day mini-conference on student leadership to foster a more inclusive classroom hosted by Amherst College. Participants engaged in a rich program of presentations and discussions co-led by faculty, staff, and students from the Amherst Center for Teaching & Learning, Pedagogical Research Associate team, Being Human in STEM, Academic Technology Services, and the LACOL Sensemaker team. A major highlight of the afternoon was an active reflection and workshop on inclusion and belonging led by Prof. Bryan Dewsbury from the University of Rhode Island. Participants are charting next steps, so stay tuned. Read more: https://https:/lacol.net/inclusive-classroom
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Measuring Complexity
Sensemaker Data Review
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 Inclusion in a residential liberal arts environment is as much about effective culture as it is about academic success. How do we know when a community is working well and when it isn’t? Sensemaker is a culture scanning tool and method that provides statistical data backed up by explanatory narrative.
Last fall, student-led teams from Davidson College, Hamilton College, Haverford College, and Washington & Lee University embarked on a collaborative project to gather micro-narratives and look for patterns as evidence that can amplify student voices in institutional decision-making for positive change.
In April, the LACOL Sensemaker partners came together at Amherst College for a team data review. Building on pioneering work from the leads at Davidson College, the emerging multi-campus data set now begins to reveal interesting patterns that reflect student experience on individual campuses and some notable points of comparison (similarities and differences) across our institutions. Read more: https://lacol.net/sensemaker-data
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Data Science in the Liberal Arts
at Washington & Lee University
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Coming up in June, data science educators from across the network will meet for two days of deep thought and joint action to enhance teaching and learning of data science for the liberal arts. The gathering is drawing a multidisciplinary mix of faculty and educators representing foundational, theoretical, and practical aspects of data science pedagogy.
Data Science agenda and highlights:
• Think tank discussions on data science in the liberal arts
• Faculty presentations and case studies
• Brainstorming on collaboration for data science teaching and student success
Keynote:
Data Journalism as a Liberal Art
Prof. Amelia McNamara
St. Thomas University
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
“One of the main ways the general public encounters products of data analysis is through journalism. Data journalists strive to explain complex stories using visualization, statistics, and heavy use of contextualization. As we incorporate data science into the liberal arts, data journalism provides a case study as a field in which the sciences and the humanities are consciously linked. In this talk, I'll discuss the history of data journalism, how I see it fitting into a liberal arts framework, and experiences from a class I taught on data journalism."
More Information & Registration: https://lacol.net/ds-liberal-arts
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Digitally Shared Courses
opportunities for students
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The consortium's Shared Course Initiative offers many opportunities for pedagogical exploration. Building on earlier pilots, this summer and fall bring fresh course offerings available to students across the network. Follow the links below to learn more about each class. Contact your local Faculty Advisory Council representative for more information.
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Introduction to Data Science
Summer 2019
This team-taught, fully online class in Data Science emphasizes critical thinking at the frontier of digital learning for the liberal arts.
https://lacol.net/critical-ds
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Conversation for SILP
Fall 2019
Williams College and Vassar College continue their cross-campus collaboration to share online conversation for students learning Portuguese.
https://lacol.net/silp-course-sharing
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Operations Research
Fall 2019
Prof. Steven J. Miller shares his Williams College Operations Research class with students of LACOL who have completed linear algebra.
https://lacol.net/ops-research
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Bayesian Statistics
Fall 2019
Prof. Monika Hu returns with her popular Vassar College Bayesian Statistics class which will be open once again to students across LACOL.
https://lacol.net/bayesian-stats
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[LACOL] Which List is Which ???
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