Starting on Thursday, April 16 and continuing each Thursday at 2:00 p.m., COLI Director Mark Gallimore will host a virtual meetup during which professors can discuss techniques, troubles and triumphs in remote teaching. Mark is there to answer questions but faculty learn most great things from each other! Please RSVP to coli@canisius.edu if you plan on attending the COLI Remote Teaching Meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 16.
Submitted by: Mark Gallimore, Center for Online Learning and Innovation
The New Buffalo Institute has updated its list of ways to support our larger community while recognizing the need for social distancing. Please see the revised list below:
Calls for Volunteers: Please consider how you might be able to assist in this time of challenge. We respect your individual decision-making and assessment of personal risk in engaging with in-person volunteer opportunities to support organizations that remain open and serving local residents and families.
Donations: Consider donating to one of the emergency funds below to support our neighbors. If you have additional ideas for how to offer support, please send suggestions to mary.rockwell@canisius.edu for distribution.
City Year Buffalo seeking donations for a food pantry for their corps members through an Amazon wish list site. More information contact mstevens@cityyear.org.
WNY COVID-19 Community Response Fund Join 22 local foundations in assisting those who are working tirelessly to meet the needs of people affected by COVID-19. https://app.mobilecause.com/form/L0uCXA?vid=6j743
Justice for Migrants is calling for the full release of all in detention centers and they have a petition to sign. Those who are released need shelter and food. justiceformigrantfamilies@gmail.com
John Carr, the director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Lifeat Georgetown University, recently hosted two panels about Catholic Social Thought and COVID-19. The first of these panels was titled “Catholic Social Thought and the Coronavirus Crisis: Moral Principles for Terrible Times” and may viewed by clicking here or on the video above.
The second panel, “Life and Dignity, Justice and Solidarity: Moral Principles for Responding to the COVID-19 Economic Crisis” with David Brooks, E.J. Dionne, Michael Strain and Maru Bautistia, may be accessed (at the 16-minute mark) by clicking here.
Submitted by: Rev. Patrick J. Lynch, SJ, Jesuit associate, Mission & Identity
Not getting out much these days? Why not bring some social engagement home. Tune into “Threadtalks,” a podcast series available in a language-enhanced format featuring interdisciplinary exchanges – and guests from Canisius College and beyond.
The podcast started as an investigation of the many facets of the textile trade and industry with guests sharing their thoughts and expertise. Originally embedded in the interdisciplinary course FRC326 (“Threads: Weaving Industry, Culture and Commerce Through the History of Textiles), it provides Canisius students with an opportunity to share their exploration of the course outside the classroom.
In episode 1, Isabella Jankowski (a French minor, and journalism, communication and political science major) interviews Bruce Dierenfield, PhD, professor of history, on the confluence of slavery, inter-regional trade and the cotton industry in the early American republic.
In episode 2, Erin Metz (a French and adolescence education major) initiates a conversation with Erin Robinson, PhD, professor of sociology, about the contributions of Pierre Bourdieu, Roland Barthes and Jean Baudrillard to the semiology of taste and “distinction” and carries on with a discussion of the social consumption of fashion in today’s society.
The next episode will present a conversation with the historian Patrick Fridenson (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris) about his collaboration with Larissa Zakharova considering the field of mass communications, its production and reception, across the past eighty years of its history, from early radio to the latest smart media.
To keep up to date with the episodes, subscribe to the podcast or visit www.threadtalks.org to explore more.
For questions, suggestions or comments, Email Emilie Pack, packe@canisius.edu, a clinical instructor for the Department of Modern Languages, Literature & Culture.
Submitted by: Emilie Pack, clinical instructor, Department of Modern Languages, Literature and Cultures
Here’s another great example of an incredible teaching moment.
Students in Margaret Stefanski’s SPA 323 online course are participating in a virtual dual immersion, facilitated with assistance from AUSJA and AJCU. They’re connected with students from a Colombian University (Javeriana, Cali) and a Mexican university (Ibero-Torreon) via Zoom. Here, they go into virtual rooms for conversation sessions and Stefanski is able to join and leave any room at any time.
The class has close to 30 participants including four Mexican instructors of English.
“This is as close as it gets to learning a language with a native speaker at a native pace,” said Stefanski, associate professor of Modern Languages, Literature and Cultures. “The dynamics were fabulous.”
