Pedagogy in Action Workshop Series: Summer 2026
Registration is now open for the Summer 2026 Pedagogy in Action Workshop Series. Enrollment is ordinarily limited to 15 people, and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Workshop descriptions and links to the registration page for each workshop are included below.
The Tatlock Fund for Strategic Faculty Development provides modest stipends for participants: $75 per day for half-day workshops; $150 per day for full-day workshops. We are unable to provide stipends for administrators or librarians on 12-month contracts.
Many thanks to our workshop organizers!
May 26–27: Inclusive Course Design Institute
Offered by Alexia Ferracuti, Director of Inclusive Pedagogy
When: Tuesday, May 26 & Wednesday, May 27, 10 a.m.–3 p.m., with lunch provided
Where: Thompson Library, Room 153 (part of the newly renovated space)
Are you preparing to teach a new course in the fall or spring? Or do you need to revise or refresh a course you already teach in the hopes of making it more effective and student-centered? Join the Inclusive Course Design Institute, a two-day intensive workshop in which you will be guided by Vassar’s Director of Inclusive Pedagogy in designing or redesigning a specific course as you look ahead to the upcoming academic year.
Through a learner-centered framework known as “backward design” that advocates designing with the “end in mind,” you will be guided in the process of articulating clear goals for your course, conceptualizing intentional assignments and assessments that align with those goals, and integrating various inclusive teaching approaches that will help you create a supportive learning environment across the different aspects of your course. Following two days of reflecting and refining your ideas in community with fellow faculty, you will come away with a clear schema for your course.
For more information, please contact Director of Inclusive Pedagogy, Alexia Ferracuti, at aferracuti@vassar.edu.
June 1–3: (Re)Considering the FYWS
Offered by Matt Schultz, Director of First-Year Writing & The Writing Center and Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic, Academic Engagement Librarian
When: Monday, June 1st–Wednesday, June 3rd
Where: Library, room 122
Full Days (mornings: group discussions/workshops; afternoons: individual reading/drafting)
This three-day Pedagogy in Action workshop invites faculty teaching First-Year Writing Seminars to reconsider what we ask students to do when we ask them to write, especially in a moment when AI can produce fluent prose with increasing ease. Rather than focusing on detection, enforcement, or AI policy, the workshop will approach AI as a pressure that clarifies what remains essential about reading and writing in a liberal arts education: attention, uncertainty, revision, interpretation, dialogue, and sustained engagement with difficulty.
Participants will reflect on their own assumptions about writing, examine how assignments and classroom practices shape student thinking, and redesign course materials to foreground writing as an unfolding, collaborative process rather than a finished product. By the end of the workshop, faculty will leave with a clearer statement of their pedagogical commitments, revised FYWS materials, and course-specific language that explains the role or refusal of AI in support of meaningful intellectual work. Capped at 15 participants (priority given to FYWS instructors, but those teaching writing-intensive courses across the curriculum are welcome).
August 14: Enhancing Reading Engagement: From Reading Compliance to Collaborative Meaning-Making with Perusall
Offered by Baynard Bailey, Assistant Director, Academic Computing and Pier Carlo Tommasi, Assistant Professor of Chinese and Japanese
When: August 14, 9:00 a.m. –3:00 p.m.
Where: Main (Thompson) Library
This one-day workshop introduces faculty to Perusall, a collaborative annotation platform designed to transform reading from a solitary task into a shared intellectual experience. Building on Dr. Pier Carlo Tommasi’s (CHJA Department) experience using this e-learning tool in literature and language courses, the workshop will show how structured, low-stakes annotation can improve reading compliance, deepen student engagement, and foster more meaningful in-class discussion.
This workshop responds to concerns widely shared across departments: How can we make sure that students come to class prepared, engaged, and ready to participate in discussion? Traditional LMS tools often fall short in this regard, as they do not reliably foster sustained interaction with texts. Perusall also introduces a form of accountable engagement that can help mitigate concerns around AI-generated work, while ultimately encouraging more spontaneous, authentic participation.
Through online interaction with texts and peer comments, students not only complete readings more consistently but also develop a stronger sense of intellectual community and arrive in class better prepared to participate. With the College poised to adopt a Perusall license (supported by the Fergusson Fund), this PIA will also serve as an opportunity to familiarize faculty across campus with this platform and explore its broader pedagogical potential through discussion and hands-on activities. Participants will leave the workshop with concrete strategies and sample activities that they can readily adapt for their own courses, as well as a clearer understanding of how this technology can be used to reshape students’ habits of reading, writing, and a/synchronous engagement.
Research regarding Perusall’s effectiveness
August 19: AI-Resistant Pedagogy
Offered by Baynard Bailey, Assistant Director, Academic Computing, and Jamie Kelly, Associate Professor of Philosophy
When: Wednesday, August 19, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. (with breakfast and lunch provided)
Where: Main (Thompson) Library—Room 153 & Class of 1951 Reading Room
The influence of AI is all around us and is of great concern to faculty at Vassar College. It seems most of us are past the shock phase and are working on modifying our approaches to teaching in light of the fact that AI tools are now omnipresent. This workshop will be a place for participants to share what has worked for them. Participants will also be exposed to new ideas and be given space to workshop “AI-Resistant” pedagogy for use in their own teaching.
Many faculty have voiced concerns about not wanting to be the “police” of higher education. Hopefully, the workshop will provide opportunities for faculty to build trust with their students despite AI’s tendrils creeping into everything.