“It’s incredibly exciting to be thinking about how pedagogy should evolve to embrace emerging modes of communication and new structures in the academy,” says Luke Waltzer (left), director of the College’s new Center for Teaching and Learning. The center, which opened in August, will support a range of discussions about teaching, primary among them the College’s goal to deliver a sufficient number of courses in online formats to enable at least 20 percent of Baruch students to enroll in online or hybrid courses in five years’ time. (As the name implies, hybrid courses join features of in-class teaching with online learning to promote active, independent learning and reduce class seat time.)
Says Waltzer, “The College is very concerned that the courses not be just face-to-face, classroom courses manipulated into a new format. To that end, the center will help faculty think about how curriculum needs to respond to the new environment.” Of course, more traditional forms of pedagogy won’t be overlooked. “A center for teaching and learning has to be engaged in all conversations,” says the new director, adding, “Face-to-face classes can benefit from what’s happening in online and hybrid classes.”
How does Waltzer sum up the coming pedagogical evolution at Baruch? “The College is committed to developing a strategy for supporting online and hybrid instruction that reflects and flows from the specific strengths of our faculty and the needs of our students. Online and hybrid instruction has the potential to improve access while also drawing students in to a more critical engagement with new modes of information exchange and synthesis.”
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