Cayla Delardi

The Conversations with an Innovator monthly video series is the latest venture within the NYU School of Professional Studies’ “Voices from the Classroom,” an initiative from the Center for Academic Excellence and Support (CAES) which provides opportunities for the SPS community to learn more about their faculty colleagues and their developments and successes inside and out of the classroom . Each video features an instructor discussing why they teach and an innovative approach they have embraced in their teaching. This month’s video features the Center for Applied Liberal Arts’ very own Academic Director, Noncredit, and Clinical Assistant Professor, Jenny McPhee, who describes the shift and impact she feels online teaching has had for both students and professors. 

McPhee discusses how the online forum format of her classroom has shifted the roles and functions of many parts of the classroom experience including the course itself, the instructor, and the student. Online learning, she says, has been beneficial in creating space for a more individualized learning experience. The format allows students to participate at their own pace, releasing them from what are often unhelpful and anxiety-inducing pressures; these pressures are similar to those McPhee described as feeling herself growing up as a soft-spoken student who did not participate as much in class but still had much to say. 

McPhee also describes the shift to online learning as an act of “shifting the cognitive load.” By putting more responsibility on the students to engage with the course according their own needs, the instructor is allowed to function as less of just a teacher and more of a guide and fellow student. McPhee says she knows she’s “had a really successful class if [she’s] learned as much as they have.” 

All in all, despite being initially “terrified” to begin teaching online, McPhee is no doubt a convert and believes that “it’s the future for sure.”

A writer and translator, Jenny is the author of The Center of Things, No Ordinary Matter, and A Man of No Moon, and co-authored Girls: Ordinary Girls and Their Extraordinary Pursuits. Her translations from Italian include books by the authors Primo Levi, Natalia Ginzburg, Giacomo Leopardi, Curzio Malaparte, Paolo Maurensig, and Pope John Paul II.  She is a co-founder and on the board of the Bronx Academy of Letters, a public high school and middle school. She teaches in the MS in Translation at NYU SPS CALA.

Interested in furthering or pursuing a career in translation?

Apply for CALA’s MS in Translation program, a fully online, 36-credit graduate degree that prepares students to become effective translators across high-demand industries and professions.

Dr. Kristine Rodriguez Kerr, Academic Director of the MS in Professional Writing program, was invited to speak at the Words Without Borders (WWB) Gala to share insights on their WWB Campus: an online educational resource that connects students and educators to contemporary international literature and cultural resources from around the world. WWB Campus is a free resource that incorporates text, image, audio, and video in the sharing of written work from nearly 200 international authors and translators. 

In her brief talk, Kristine discussed the power of multimodal resources to create active and layered learning experiences. She also highlighted the ways in which WWB Campus can help educators feel confident about including diverse authors and perspectives in their classrooms, syllabi, and schools. From her talk: “This is a real and recognized need for creating more inclusive learning spaces. With WWB Campus, educators don’t need to be experts in international literature to incorporate diverse texts and perspectives. Instead, they can enjoy the journey of discovery and meaning making with their students. A journey that can be particularly empowering for immigrant, first generation, and minority students that may be celebrating their home languages, countries, and cultures in a formal class space for the first time.”  Following her talk, Kristine introduced a short video prepared by high school students from Brooklyn, NY in which they explained what having access to international literature meant to them.

To learn more about the fully online MS in Professional Writing program visit sps.nyu.edu/mspw or email sps.mspw@nyu.edu

Recently, CALA Instructior John Tauranac was interviewed by ABC7NY about the current subway map and his concepts for how it can potentially be improved for today’s riders. While Tauranac worked for the MTA, he was creative director of the award-winning 1979 NYC subway map. Since his departure over 30 years ago, he has designed several new versions of the map, making improvements each time. Tauranac’s ideas have the potential to revolutionize millions of New Yorker’s subway-riding experience, prioritizing clarity of and accessibility to more information on one map, such as late-night service and delineating between local and express trains. He continues to improve on his ideas and bring them to the MTA in the hopes that they will one day hop back on board.

This Spring, Tauranac will be teaching The Design and Architecture of New York’s Public Transportation System (NYCM1-CE9006001). Further details and registration will be available on our website starting the first week of November: https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/topics.html” 

 

 Aside from map-making, John Tauranac has written extensively on New York City’s social and architectural history. He created New York Magazine’s “Undercover Maps” of midtown and lower Manhattan, as well as the famous street atlas, Manhattan Block By Block. Tauranac was also named a Centennial Historian by the Mayor’s Office, awarded a Commendation for Design Excellence for the 1979 subway map, and was presented with an award for teaching excellence from NYUSPS.