12 May 2025                                           News Editor Jane Weiss

KLC Student Writing Workshop Wednesday 14 May 2025 2:00-3:00 PM in L-304: Breaking Down the Research Process

A message from Maxine Krenzel:

                The next KLC writing workshop will take place this Wednesday, 5/14, from 2-3pm (in room L-304).  This workshop is called “Breaking Down the Research Process.” The workshop will focus on strategies/skills for choosing a meaningful research topic, generating research questions, and finding and then organizing outside sources. This will be a generative and supportive workshop for students as they work on any research related writing assignment. A flier has been sent to your KCC email addresses.

English Department Meeting Tuesday 20 May 2025 3:00-4:30 PM in A212

                The English Department will meet on Tuesday 20 May 2025 from 3:00-4:30 PM in A212.

Using Accommodate

A message from Christine Rudisel:

This spring, Kingsborough began using Accommodate, which is CUNY’s new student disability management system.  Students use this platform to request accommodations and services (e.g., accommodation letters, in-class and testing accommodations, and accessible furniture), and faculty members use it to manage their students’ accommodation requests.

You can review the user guide and instructional videos by clicking here (scroll down to “Faculty & Staff Resources” and click on “Access Training Sharepoint”).

If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact Christine at [email protected].

Proposals Invited for Open Education Lightning Talks for 5 June 2025 12:00 PM

                On June 5, 2025 at 12:00pm, we’ll gather virtually for a series of lightning talks, exploring all things open education at KCC. Please save the date, so you can attend, and consider submitting a proposal for a talk of your own! We invite proposals for 5-minute lighting talks on faculty/student/staff work in the areas of open education, open educational resources, open pedagogy and open educational policy, broadly conceived. Talks may take the form of presentations, provocations, or anything else that fits into 5 minutes. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to: Creation of Open Educational Resources such as textbooks, lecture slides, lab manuals, etc.; Course Conversions from commercially-licensed textbooks to Zero Textbook Cost Courses; Creation and sharing of Open Syllabi; Open Course Sites involving platforms like the CUNY Academic Commons and Omeka; Use of open repositories like CUNY Academic Works; Text-based projects involving open publishing platforms like CUNY Manifold and CUNY PressBooks; Open Pedagogy projects involving work that is co-authored with students;  Design and Implementation of Open Assignments involving open texts, Wikipedia, public-facing content, etc.; Annotation projects using open educational tools such as Hypothes.is or Manifold; Engagement with other open educational practices, strategies, and tools; Any other projects that serve to create teaching and learning materials that are capable of being retained, reused, revised, remixed, and/or redistributed. Talks by or with students, as well as on works-in-progress, are highly encouraged!

                If you’d like to propose a lightning talk, please complete this proposal form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQUMHkkKRV9NbvRPHJALgjNH0sU-Qcn7qrxcPAlrKD_WDHOg/viewform no later than May 20. Those selected to present at the showcase will be notified by May 23. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Shawna Brandle, Open Education Coordinator, at [email protected] or Julie Turley, Open Education Librarian at [email protected].

WN Reversal and Grade Change Forms: New System

                This spring, grade change forms and WN reversal forms are now available in CUNYfirst – not through the Registrars Office page as was the case previously. Instructional videos about the new procedures are available here https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/registrar/registrar_forms.html and the English Department office staff can provide a PDF instruction sheet on request.

KCC Commencement: Wednesday 18 June 2025 10 AM at the Coney Island Amphitheatre

                John Keller is the English department’s official commencement liaison, and Kingsborough Community College is gearing up for an exciting 60th AnniversaryGraduation Ceremony to be held this year at the Coney Island Amphitheatre on June 18th @ 10 AM. In the next few weeks, John will send out an RSVP form that faculty will be required to fill out in order to enter the venue.

A Note about the Newsletter

A message from Jane Weiss, News editor: 

           The next newsletter will come out on Monday 19 May 2025. Send items to be included by Friday 16 May 2025 to Jane Weiss at [email protected]. Please keep items brief (preferably 100 or fewer words). Longer items will be abridged. Many faculty members would like to learn more about colleagues’ areas of scholarship, so if you would like to share what you’re working on, the Newsletter will welcome descriptions of your research and recent or upcoming presentations, publications, performances, and creative achievements of all kinds.