Since Fall 2022, the A&S Office of EdTech has partnered with GSAS to offer a 3-week asynchronous course called Teaching to Engage. This course offers novice and aspiring instructors the opportunity to use various educational technologies with a keen focus on the pedagogical rationale behind using these tools.
We’re very excited to share that one of our Teaching to Engage graduates presented at the 2023 Perusall Conference, Perusall Exchange 2023, with some exercises she created in the course.
Wei Zhao with the Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) created a video presentation entitled, Social Annotation of Visual Materials with Perusall as Active Learning Activities for Art History Courses. The summary of her presentation is as follows:
“Perusall as a social annotation platform has been welcomed by educators. Yet, most use cases focus on using Perusall to annotate texts. In this presentation, I will explore utilizing Perusall to socially annotate visual materials such as images and videos for courses in art history. In particular, I will discuss concrete examples of student activities with Perusall that I have designed based on the principle of active learning. This approach has multiple advantages, which include engaging students in active learning, making classes more inclusive, fostering a sense of community, providing richer learning experiences, and aiding efficient communications among students.”
You can view Wei’s full presentation by visiting the Persuall Exchange page and registering for the conference. Visit the Perusall Exchange website and click the Join the Exchange button to register. By registering, you’ll actually have access to all of the presenter’s materials.
Wei Zhao’s efforts to articulate and share her Pedagogy is an exceptional example of Document Your Teaching. Not only can approaches like this help instructors share their approaches with one another, but efforts to Document Your Teaching can be invaluable for teaching portfolios and tenure packages. Further, the reflective practice of translating what instructor do in a classroom can further support instructors in refining their own instructional practice.