June Newsletter: Education Program

The Gottesman Libraries Education Program informs students, faculty and staff about the latest thinking in education, in ways that engage members of the community with one another and with a broad range of educational experts. The program also provides understanding of work being done throughout the College.

Read more below about offerings in June.

Workshops

Regularly scheduled instructional offerings include workshops, tours, orientations, and course-specific instruction in coordination with staff and faculty of the College.

Open Education Resources, Tuesday, 6/7, 3-4pm

Why open education? Now associated with the development digital learning, the open education movement began in the 1960s with the concept of wide open classroom spaces; it has grown to embrace access to free online content; open learning courses; and digital projects that flourish through collaboration in an effort to create more openness in society and more equitable access to education.

Open education resources may include open textbooks, authored and published on the web by faculty with support from universities and/or companies; streaming video, live or recorded media content; open access scholarship (journals that can be read, downloaded, copied, distributed, printed, and used for educational purposes); and additional free online content, including tutorials, courses, and knowledge building sites, like wikis and websites. With all or some of the copyright waived, open education resources can dramatically decrease the costs of education, while leveraging access to and visibility of information and research -- otherwise lengthy and more expensive to publish via commercial platforms.

This workshop focuses on the benefits of open education resources and integrated learning practices, with examples that include textbook repositories (Open Textbook Library; OpenStax; Google Books); journals (DOAJ), Internet Archive, and more -- and how to search / filter open source materials in EDUCAT+, the definitive record of library holdings at Teachers College, Columbia University. We will also cover resources like HathiTrust, a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries.

Interested persons may rsvp in advance and Zoom details will be shared.

Advanced Searching, Thursday, 6/9, 3-4pm

EDUCAT+ is the definitive record of library holdings at Teachers College, Columbia University, and this workshop focuses on the advanced option for search. Learn Boolean logic to construct a good search strategy; fine tune your results; and use additional search features to find what you need, whether you're writing a paper; thesis, or dissertation. Applicable to other search platforms are truncation, quotations, wild cards, and other tips in smart searching -- taking you beyond simple keyword searching to maximize your success in research.

Please rsvp with your interest and details for this session by Wednesday, June 8th and we'll follow up with a Zoom link.

Children's Literature, Monday, 6/13, 3-4pm

We can learn a great deal from changes in the writing, illustrating, and publishing of children’s materials. This workshop introduces you to library resources that strengthen study, teaching, and research in the field of K-12 children's literature, including biography, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, fables and fairy tales. You'll learn how to locate children's books in EDUCAT+; use classroom-centered databases (like TeachingBooks.net); find additional secondary source material; and discover more resources that inform the field. Read the related blog.

Please rsvp via online support no later than Friday, June 10th, with your interest and details, and we'll follow up with a Zoom link.

Cited Reference Searching, Thursday, 6/16, 3-4pm

Why find the most highly cited articles and authors? Curious about who has cited you, or who is writing on a topic similar to yours? Or do you just wonder about the impact or influence of a particular journal or journals in your field of study or research? Metrics are a science in themselves, but they lend valuable insight into the world of publishing and readership, particularly for graduate school students and faculty.

This workshop addresses citation searching for articles, books, book series, reports, conferences, and much more. You will learn some tips and tricks as you explore key citation tools, namely: Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and ISI Journal Citation Reports.

Please rsvp via online support by Wednesday, June 15th, and a Zoom link will be sent prior to the session.

Accessibility in Research, Tuesday, 6/21, 3-4pm

E-reader accessibility is an important consideration in education and research. This workshop addresses accessibility features that are available through a variety platforms and cover different types of content: e-books, articles, citation management, and more. We will share useful tips in using major research resources as provided by different publishers, among them: EBSCOHost, Proquest, JSTOR, and Zotero (Corporation of Digital Scholarship).

Interested persons may rsvp with their details in advance, and a Zoom link will be shared.

Introduction to Course Resource Lists for Instructors, Wednesday, 6/22, 3-4pm

Course Resource Lists (powered by Ex Libris Leganto) is our new, permanent course reserves platform and collaborative tool for instructors and librarians to create and fulfill reading lists for degree-seeking students in courses taught each semester at Teachers College, Columbia University. Course Resource Lists are available to instructors of all active, credit-bearing courses and can be found on the left navigation menu of their courses in Canvas.

Please join us for the next session on Wednesday, June 22nd, held over Zoom, in which we will introduce our new platform and cover the basics of creating a Course Resource List and making a course reserves request, in preparation for Summer 2022 term courses and beyond. Faculty, course assistants, and professional staff are all welcome to attend.

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Digital Futures Institute. Interested persons may rsvp in advance and Zoom details will be shared. 

Academic Integrity, Tuesday, 6/28, 3-4pm

From the library-subscribed journal, to the Wikipedia entry in the public domain, we must use with honesty, care, and accuracy the resources and information so readily accessible. Please join us for a conversation on academic integrity, a growing concern in higher, straight down to elementary education, and understand the value in adhering to the honor code in research, education, and scholarship.

This workshop will provide useful tips and guidance on plagiarism, helping you take the steps needed to cite others accurately and also make your work your own. We will describe the meaning and implications of plagiarism; distinction between paraphrasing and citing; and ways to avoid plagiarism, as we draw upon campus resources and other relevant sites.

Please rsvp no later than Monday, June 27th with your details if you'd like to attend, and we will share a Zoom link.

Zotero, Thursday, 6/30, 3-4pm

Zotero is a free, open-source bibliographic management program that allows you to collect, organize, cite, and share your research. In this workshop we will introduce you to this important tool, help you get started, and offer tips for effectively using Zotero in your studies and research so you can master the art of managing scholarly references.

You may rsvp by Wednesday, June 29th, and and we'll follow up with a Zoom link.

Talks

The Gottesman Libraries sponsors talks by leaders in education, psychology, and the applied health sciences to recognize and celebrate scholarly work of interest to the Teachers College community.

Sliding Doors: What Now? Personal Narrative Prompts to Debrief Your Graduate Study Journey, with Kartika Putri, Monday, 6/27, 3-3:45pm

The term "storytelling" has been used and abused so much that it loses its meaning. This research tries to play with stories as life lessons learned. We've often looked back from a major life experience and thought, what did we learn from that? And the first thing we try to do is tell a story about what happened. In this session, we will practice using story prompts to reflect on this wild adventure called "graduate school." Participants may not get to share their story in person, but they will leave with story ideas to flesh out later for those super-important job interviews, or their personal autobiography! If you don't tell your story, someone else will. 

(Tika) Kartika Putri is an MA candidate in the Adult Learning and Leadership program. For fun, she started the first TEDx event in Southeast Asia and grew the community for 10 years before retiring. For less fun and more money, she was a leadership development trainer and facilitator for businesses and communities all over Asia. 

Please rsvp with your interest and details by Friday, June 27th.

Where: Smith Learning Theater

Live Music

The Everett Cafe Music Program sponsors performances by TC student and affiliated musicians. Come enjoy a variety of genres and styles! Please contact us if you are interested in playing! We welcome solos, duets, and trios.

Wadsworth Strings, Wednesday, 6/15, 4-5:30pm

The Wadsworth Strings Ensemble features music for classical strings, from the symphonies of Mozart and Haydn, to well known arias from the operas of Puccini and Bizet. You may hear a selection of continental Viennese waltzes and French cabaret. Musicians of The Claremont Strings Ensemble have performed collectively at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and throughout the Northeast, playing a diverse range of symphonic and chamber music, eclectic jazz, and gypsy swing. Wadsworth Strings, emanating from the Washington Heights area, is a division of Claremont Strings, founded by Vivian Penham, a graduate of the Juilliard School and Columbia University.

News Displays

Need to keep current, look to the past, teach a topic? The Everett Cafe features daily postings of news from around the world, and also promotes awareness of historical events from an educational context. Be sure to check the Cafe News postings on the library blog.

Indian Citizenship Act, Thursday, 6/2

Remembering Salem Witchcraft, Friday, 6/10

James Weldon Johnson Is Born, Friday, 6/17

Brexit, Thursday, 6/23

Stonewall Riot, Tuesday, 6/28

Book Displays

Everett Cafe: Ukraine: Tracking the Journey of the Sun Across the Sky

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, approximately 3,500 civilians have been killed, though numbers are ​​likely much higher due to the difficulty in confirming reports. It is estimated that more than 14 million people out of a population of 44 million have been forced to leave their homes and families. While military and humanitarian aid pours into Ukraine, Russia continues to wage war in the besieged nation, despite severe economic sanctions and massive disapproval from the Western alliance. 

This book display explores the complex history of Ukraine, focusing on pre and post-Soviet influences, identity, and power, against the landscape of revolution, independence, and recent invasion by Russia. The works chosen touch upon Ukrainian intellectual thought, state building, artivism, contemporary culture, gender, and language – areas that inform the development and struggle of the second largest country, after Russia, and also the poorest one in Europe.

Inspired by the symbolism of the sunflower, the national flower, Ukraine: Tracking the Journey of the Sun Across the Sky encourages educational and restorative reflection on a courageous people who find light, no matter how weak, and keep their face to the sunshine, standing tall. A lesson in life is finding the sun in dark moments of history – and uniting in common purpose like a field of sunflowers whose shadows follow behind.

Ukraine: Tracking the Journey of the Sun Across the Sky is curated by Jennifer Govan, Library Director and Senior Librarian, in collaboration with Trisha Barton, Lead Designer, and Scarlett Cheng, Library Associate, Art and Design.

At the Everett News Cafe, you'll find a new book collection every few weeks that relates to current events, education, or learning environments.

Staff Picks: The Power of Our Subconscious Minds

"I am excited to announce the title for the June Month’s staff picks! – 'The Power of Our Subconscious Minds.' This is a topic close to my heart because I have been reading about the law of attraction, practicing mindfulness techniques, and exploring content about the importance of our subconscious minds for about 10+ years.

The subconscious mind is a mysterious but fascinating place -- it is said that our subconscious mind is like a huge memory bank. Its capacity is virtually unlimited, and it permanently stores everything that happens to you. The function of our subconscious minds is to store and retrieve data. Its job is to ensure that you respond exactly the way you are programmed. Your subconscious mind makes everything

you say and do fit a pattern consistent with your self-concept, your "master program.” This is why repeating positive affirmations are so effective – you can reprogram your thought patterns by slipping in positive and success-oriented sound bites.

Our conscious mind commands and the subconscious mind obeys. The subconscious mind is an unquestioning servant that works day and night to make our behavior fit a pattern consistent with our emotionalized thoughts, hopes, and desires.

Through these concepts I find a lot of strength and intuitive knowledge, and I hope to provide Teachers College students, faculty and staff the same.

Feel free to explore the collection and help you understand yourself better."

.-- Vanishka Ahuja, Library Associate

Where: Readign Room, Second Floor

Staff Picks: Self Care for Finals and Beyond

"Here at TC, May brings both the stress of finals week and the excitement and relaxation of the beginning of summer. During this month, it’s imperative that we remember to take care of ourselves so we can not only survive finals, but get a true recharge and reset with the beginning of the summer break. These selections can help you do just that! Self-care is multidimensional and different people require different things in order to properly care for themselves. In order to accommodate various needs in this area, these books are arranged into various categories: mindfulness, meditation, sleep, gratitude and self-talk, specialized advice for educators and other people in helping professions, and books that are just plain fun to read. Check out whatever category is currently calling out to you, and I hope that my picks bring some rest and relaxation into your life!"

-- Patti O'Meara, Library Associate

Where: Second Floor Reading Room

Staff Picks is curated and designed each month by the Gottesman Libraries' staff to highlight resources on educational topics and themes of special interest.

Featured Databases: Ethnology in Research

In June we highlight research resources that aid the study of people in their own environment through the use of methods such as participant observation and face-to-face interviewing. While ethnographic accounts, classical and contemporary, are descriptive and interpretive, preparation for going into the "field" involves learning what is known about people and places. Read more on the Library's news feed.

Exhibit: Art for a Purpose

Art for a Purpose unites global visual statements where the processes and ideas are as important, if not more, than the finished artwork. This exhibition’s open call to all multi-disciplinary artivists provides a platform to express social concerns and provoke conversations for action.

The mission of Artivism: The Power of Art for Social Transformation, an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional global collaboration, is to engage people in transforming society through the power of art. The vision of this initiative is to generate a movement with committed social artivists in response to historic global concerns. Artivism aims to generate community through multi-disciplinary teamwork for a more dignified and meaningful coexistence, however you define these terms. 

"The activism in these selections touches on connecting nature to the body and how individuals advocate for themselves or heal through art and nature. Additionally, it addresses the concerns of nature and the body and how they affect each other.

The collection expands minds on how we care for ourselves as individuals, as a collective, and nature's influence in the process of seeking liberation. Romanticism and transcendentalism connect to the theme of nature and the body, but with 21st-century concerns of liberation. These contemporary concerns relate to the self reaching sublime and that the sublime is accessible to all. We can ask the question of what disrupts our personal and collective peace and how nature is involved. Our selection explores how the body is either manipulated by nature, moves in nature, or uses, or rejects, nature through various mediums such as paint, media, and literature."

-- Curator's Statement

The Offit Gallery exhibition, Art for a Purpose, is curated by Trisha Barton, Lead Designer, with assistance from Scarlett Cheng, Library Associate, Art and Design, in collaboration with the Artivism Team.

Where: Offit Gallery

When: May 6 - June 23

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To request disability-related accommodations contact OASID at oasid@tc.edu, (212) 678-3689, or (646) 755-3144 video phone, as early as possible.