Bagels @ Badavas
Bagels @ Badavas provides an informal space for convening to foster collaboration and ideation around a given topic in teaching and learning. Informal sharing and learning opportunities among faculty enable the sharing of best practices, innovative teaching methods, disciplinary insights, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Informal learning fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity, providing faculty with the freedom to explore topics beyond the confines of traditional curriculum and spaces. Creating spaces for convening, such as Bagels @ Badavas, enhances understanding through shared perspectives and collective problem-solving, nurturing a sense of community and mutual support among participants and ultimately strengthening the collective expertise of the academic community. These practices not only enhance individual teaching effectiveness but also contribute to a vibrant culture of intellectual exchange and collegiality within academic institutions. Bagels @ Badavas topics have included Community Building in the Classroom, Feedback vs Feedforward, Active Learning, Global Action Learning, and more!
Join us on Thursday, January 16 at 1:30 PM on ZOOM to discuss how to engage students on Day 1 of the semester.
Student Showcase
Student Showcases at Badavas are one-hour sessions where students and faculty from a specific course share their creative and captivating work with the broader community, providing a space to convene and celebrate student achievement.
The Badavas Center's previous Student Showcase below:
Course: “Art to Art-ificial Intelligence: The Future of Humans”
Professor: Mita Das, Mathematical Sciences
Theme: Math and Nature: Observations of Human Connections in a World of AI
Pedagogical Innovation Unleashed
Pedagogical Innovation Unleashed is a interdisciplinary cohort-based workshop series that aims to empower educators to incubate new teaching
approaches & explore the role of play in the learning process.
Interested? If you are a Bentley instructor, join the Unleashed Cohort 2024-2025 this fall! Contact Liz Paushter (epaushter@bentley.edu) for details.
OPPORTUNITY
The "Unleashed" faculty embark on a pedagogical journey as a cohort, exploring areas of teaching innovation, such as:
- "Inquiry Illuminated: Igniting Curiosity in the Classroom"
- "Precision and Flexibility: Crafting Structural Excellence with Iteration in Teaching Approaches"
- "Scholarly Play: Exploring the Role of Play in Teaching and Learning"
- "Applying Innovations: Practical Transformation in Teaching"
EXPERIENCE
- Dive into bold experimentation, from interactive tech to experiential activities, pushing teaching boundaries.
- Form a collaborative learning group of educators (the "Unleashed"), becoming thought partners beyond the workshops, sharing insights and challenges.
- Iterate and adapt your teaching practices, and explore the transformative role of play in education, unlocking creative and engaging approaches to enhance student learning.
Department Visits
Department Visits offer a pedagogical partner in discipline-specific teaching and learning conversations, programs, and ideation.
The Badavas Center is dedicated to helping departments push the boundaries of innovation within each field. We offer departments a space to think creatively and strategically about their unique challenges and opportunities. Through targeted support and guidance, departments can leverage their disciplinary expertise to develop innovative solutions that not only address current needs but also anticipate future trends. In doing so, Badavas helps foster a culture of innovation and excellence within each department, ultimately driving meaningful progress and impact in their respective fields.
Most recent department visit: Department of Management, with a focus on experiential learning!
“Giving Students a World-Wide Audience Through Wiki Education” webinar with Dr. Tamara Ledley from Natural & Applied Sciences and Andres Vera from Wiki Education, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization who promotes the integration of Wikipedia into coursework by educators. Join us to hear how Dr. Tamara Ledley uses Wiki Education to help students develop their research, writing, and media literacy skills, enhance their ability to synthesize and present information, and build global perspectives. See flyer for more details.
Book Club
The teaching and learning ecosystem—Badavas Center, Academic Technology Center, Learning Design, and Bentley Learning & Teaching Council—offered a book club on texts about teaching and learning. The upcoming text was Teaching with AI.
Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to A New Era of Human Learning: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way we learn, work, and think. Its integration into classrooms and workplaces is already underway, impacting and challenging ideas about creativity, authorship, and education. In this groundbreaking and practical guide, teachers will discover how to harness and manage AI as a powerful teaching tool. This book presents emerging and powerful research on the seismic changes AI is already creating in schools and the workplace, providing invaluable insights into what AI can accomplish in the classroom and beyond.
The Bentley Learning and Teaching Council welcomed author C. Edward Watson ("Eddie") to campus for the 2024 Colloquium!
The Bentley Library has two copies available for borrowing: Print Copy and Audiobook. Feel free to request these resources from the library!
Spark Sessions
These faculty and/or student-led ideation sessions are sponsored by the teaching and learning ecosystem--Badavas Center, Academic Technology Center, Learning Design—and are intended to engage faculty, spark curiosity, and engender willingness to try new things together.
Most recent Spark Session: "Crack the Case: Case-Based Teaching with Generative AI" with Professor Bill Schiano!
Stay tuned for information on future Spark sessions! In the meantime, take advantage of Bagels @ Badavas, Innovation Incubation Hours, Book Club, and more!
Past Events
How does a world-renowned Finance professor bring issues of race and racial inequity into the business classroom? What insights can his experiences provide for other faculty who want to teach content related to race, racism and social justice but feel uncertain or apprehensive about doing so?
The Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning, Bentley Learning & Teaching Council, and Office of Diversity & Inclusion are pleased to co-sponsor an engaging session, Integrating Race and Social Justice in the Classroom, with Harvard Professor Mihir Desai (Harvard Business School - Finance and Harvard Law School). Professor Desai will talk about a new case he created on the Tulsa Massacre, how he addressed the challenges that came with the unfamiliar experience of teaching deeply disturbing and painful topics related to racial injustice, and how he gained confidence at grappling with race and racism in his classroom. View the event here!
The Art & Craft of Designing and Facilitating Learning Spaces
The Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning is delighted to collaborate with award-winning B-Corp Emzingo to bring top creativity and design school Kaospilot master class to Boston!
The course is for leaders, faculty, staff, curriculum designers and program directors in higher education as well as trainers, consultants and entrepreneurs in education. The Art and Craft of Designing & Facilitating Learning Spaces Masterclass will introduce, explore and train participants in experiential learning and teaching.
Work across departments to continue to advance a coherent structure of Foundational Learning Experiences for all Bentley students.
Bring a colleague or come alone! Bring your ideas and your questions! This Spark Session is a time for you to work on your Global Experience proposal and share feedback with others.
How does Signature Work provide an opportunity for students to integrate their learning? In what ways can students bring together their curricular and co-curricular learning? Learn about some innovative examples from other institutions and spend time working on your own Signature Work proposal.
Work on your Business & Society proposal and share feedback with others.
The Badavas Center was established by a generous gift from former Chair of the Board of Trustees Robert ’74 and his wife Kally Badavas. Under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Suzanne Dove, the Center supports campus-wide teaching and curriculum innovation, provides thought leadership to the campus community and external partners, and stimulates strategic initiatives to ensure that Bentley remains at the forefront of innovation in teaching and learning.
The Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning is pleased host a public talk by Dr. James Genone, Associate Dean of Academic Programs at Minerva, a new undergraduate institution designed to deliver a highly innovative, learner-centered undergraduate program.
Dr. Genone has extensive experience with GenEd curriculum reform at traditional universities (Rutgers, Franklin & Marshall, Stanford) as well as at Minerva. His public talk will focus on interdisciplinary teaching designs, curriculum reform and thoughts on the future of undergraduate education.
Interested in developing Signature Work for Bentley students? Explore community-based research projects at this Badavas Center Spark Session. Co-facilitated by Suzanne Dove with Rob DeLeo and David Rochefort, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University.