Invitation to Learning: Emotions, Inclusivity, and Community
Assumption College’s D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence (D’CTE) will host a one-day symposium on Thursday, May 16, beginning at 9 a.m. in the Tsotsis Family Academic Center on campus. Director James Lang and Associate Director Sarah Rose Cavanagh will present the results of their research project funded by a Davis Educational Foundation grant that evaluated whether brief training in two methods of regulating emotion (cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness) would impact same-day and end-semester learning in Assumption undergraduates.
The study was conducted in several sections of art history, economics and mathematics courses over a period of two semesters, and was conducted in collaboration with Drs. Heather Urry of Tufts University, Carl Fulwiler of UMass Medical School, and Jeffrey Birk of Columbia University Medical Center.
“We believe that our design is rigorous, as it is grounded in theory, single-blind, within-subjects, randomized, and conducted in multiple disciplines over multiple semesters,” said Assumption College Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of Grants and Research for the CTE Sarah Cavanagh, Ph.D. “We were excited to observe that learning a bit about how to mentally reframe boredom, frustration, and anxiety appeared to benefit long-term retention of newly learned material.”
In addition to presenting the results of this research study, the D’CTE welcomes to campus three renowned speakers on topics such as how socioeconomic status impacts student success, creating communities of inquiry in online, blended, and face-to-face classes, and how to take lessons from the world of acting in order to bolster presence and performance while teaching. In addition to many faculty on campus, instructors, administrators, and faculty developers centered around New England but also from elsewhere in the country will attend this day of sharing both research and practical teaching tips.
The purpose of the D’CTE is to provide faculty with resources to enhance the rich tradition of teaching excellence at the College and to introduce new strategies to build upon that tradition.