Staff
There are several opportunities at Bryn Mawr College for staff members both to teach and to learn from others. Click on the links below to explore new opportunities. Or click here to download a brochure.
Do you want to...
- Collaborate with a student in a mutually beneficial learning exchange?
- Learn to use email and the Internet?
- Deepen project management and professional computing skills?
- Participate in revising a course using and/or to integrate technology?
- Help to imagine, design, or teach a class for staff, students, or faculty?
Partnering With Students in a Learning Exchange
The staff-student partnerships include:
The Empowering Learners Partnership (ELP) Program, the student-mentored computing classes for staff, the Adult Literacy Program, and the Continuing Education Partnership Program.
Members of all campus departments are eligible. Currently, participating departments include Housekeeping, Dining Services, Wyndham, Copy Center, Public Safety and Transportation, Athletics, and Facilities. Students from Haverford as well as Bryn Mawr (including the McBride and Post-Bac programs) participate.
For hourly staff, the College supports staff participation in the programs for up to 30 staff members per semester through two hours of paid release time per week. A Director’s Grant from the Mellon Foundation for the academic year 2006-7 supported an hourly wage for students, now supported by the College. Students may opt instead of paid compensation to use their program participation as fieldwork in selected Education courses.
Click here to download an application to any of these staff-student partnerships programs (except for the Confident Computing class. Please see the below description of the Confident Computing Class for the link to the application).
Empowering Learners Partnerships (ELP) (www.brynmawr.edu/elp)
The Empowering Learners program pairs a student and a staff member as teaching and learning partners in a unique 4-14-week partnership. Participants are encouraged to think about their work history, life experience, avocations, and goals as sources of knowledge out of which they can teach and learn. They meet two hours weekly, one hour for each subject, and reflect on their activities, accomplishments, and questions as teachers and learners through meetings and assessments with Program staff. Topics have included cooking, woodworking, computer use, English as a second language, housepainting, an introduction to Islam, jazz appreciation, and career counseling. The project grew out of an Education course and was developed collaboratively with stakeholders across the community (a process discussed in Cohen, J., Lesnick, A., Himeles, D., “Temporary Anchors, Impermanent Shelter: Can the Field of Education Model a New Approach to Academic Work?” Journal of Research Practice, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2007).
Contact: Alice Lesnick ( alesnick@brynmawr.edu)
Comments from Participants
“I have written about this in practically every reflection, but it never ceases to amaze me how much this partnership has made me feel like a member of a real, multi-dimensional community... The theme of community building in these partnerships is still very important to me, for I am constantly being reminded of how insular this campus really is. I am now quite thankful that I have been given a way to overcome this kind of isolation and to experience real community life once again, something which most of my peers probably won’t experience until they graduate.” – Shelley Nash, BMC ’07
Computing 1
Computing 1 is a small-group, 10-week course co-designed by administrators, faculty, staff, and students with the goal of developing mutually respectful and educative relationships and experiences while ensuring that all members of the College community have access to and support in developing essential computer skills.
Designed to meet a need identified by both the Bryn Mawr staff members themselves and by the Bryn Mawr College administration that all staff members be able to access and use email and certain features of the Internet, the course meets once per week during each semester; students and staff meet for an additional hour per week for one-on-one mentoring in which the staff members practice, personalize, and extend their skills.
Computing 2
This class is based in the same core principles and uses the same structures as Computing 1. Staff learn how to create and maintain a weekly blog, as well as other "advanced" Internet skills: navigating complex web pages, identifying reliable sources online, and filling out forms with ease. They also learn about software; word processing; how to write a letter, a memo and a brochure in Word; how to name and save files locally, on a portable drive, and on a network; how to create a budget in Excel; and how to create a poster and a presentation in PowerPoint. Staff members also practice typing weekly and develop their presentation skills in teaching projects.
Computing 3
This course enables staff members to do an independent study in a small group of other staff members, a staff member knowledgeable on the subject of study, and a student guide. Two housekeepers have piloted the program by studying web design and Contribute.
Comments from Participants
“I feel very blessed to have been a part of this program. One of my favorite things (and the reason I want to teach) is sharing a learning experience with someone and growing in knowledge and passion together…Being able to navigate the web and feel comfortable with a computer is something I have always taken for granted; I grew up with it, and therefore I have always felt at ease playing around with a PC. Having to take a step back and break down those skills which I never formally learned, but acquired through years was a real challenge. I love what a supportive community of learners we became; many thanks to all those involved with this wonderful project.” - Maeve O’Hara, BMC ’08
Confident Computing
A class that will empower you to feel comfortable both using your computer effectively and troubleshooting technology problems. Through coverage of topics like Photoshop, Social Networking, Excel and more, you will gain experience with various computing software and applications and learn how to use them more effectively and collaboratively in your work place and beyond. The class will be composed of learning clusters, supported by student technology mentors, to foster a collegial network that can help you work through your computing questions and struggles. The class will meet two days a week, for one-hour sessions across eight weeks and it will be co-taught.
Click here to download an application for the Confident Computing class.
Adult Literacy Program
Work in a one-to-one relationship with a student, staff, or faculty mentor to develop your literacy learning and meet learning goals. 2 hours per week (paid release time); 1-2 semesters.
Contact: Alice Lesnick (alesnick@brynmawr.edu)
Continuing Education Partnerships
Work with a student mentor as part of an empowering learners exchange to plan and pursue educational options towards completing a first degree (G.E.D., Associate’s, or Bachelor‘s) while teaching the student a skill or interest of your own. 2 hours per week (paid release time); 1-2 semesters.
Contact: Alice Lesnick ( alesnick@brynmawr.edu)
Revising a Course With Technology
We can convene a team to help a faculty member revise his or her course to integrate technology in a pedagogically meaningful way. The team would consist of a member of the library staff with expertise in the faculty member’s field of study, a member of IT, and a student. This approach builds on the model of techno-pedagogy that informed workshops offered at Bryn Mawr College in the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001 called “Taking toward Techno-Pedagogy” and supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. If you are interested in being a part of such a collaborative effort should a faculty request this kind of support, please refer all questions and comments to the individual(s) listed below.
Contact Name: Alison Cook-Sather ( acooksat@brynmawr.edu)
Website: Talking toward Techno-Pedagogy
Comments from Participants
“[What emerged in the workshop was] the recognition that emerged in the minds of different groups about what it is that the others do and what they have to offer each other.” -Librarian
“[O]ne of the things I thought I heard very clearly from both the librarians and from IT people was, ‘We’re teachers, too. And we want to be recognized as teachers, we want our teaching to be understood as teaching.” -Faculty Member
“[Our goal is] an evolved role on our campuses. . . over time, whether it's through our own actions or by changing other people's perceptions of us, that we could have more sophisticated involvement with teaching and learning issues.” -IT Person
“As a student. . . I am usually encouraged to give feedback about what’s working [in a class] and what isn’t and to develop ideas about what would work better, not to participate directly in making changes.” -Student
Helping to Imagine, Design, or Teach a Class
We encourage staff members to take proactive roles in collaborating with the Coordinator of Staff Education in imagining, designing, or even teaching classes for staff, students, or faculty. Past and forthcoming staff education opportunities co-created and taught by staff members include classes in Excel, Contribute, Word, PeopleSoft, and Photoshop Elements. Future opportunities for staff-designed and taught classes for students and faculty include workshops on money management (from basic skills through investing and buying property) and classes on theorizing web architecture and using Contribute. To learn how to participate in current programs or to help create new ones, please contact the Coordinator of Staff Education.
Contact: Jessica Hollinger ( jholling@brynmawr.edu).
"People will take charge of their learning."
— Staff Member
"The purpose of the program is to build a sense of community amongst the people who bump into each other every day so it’s not a bunch of comfortable strangers."
— Staff Member
"I think too often staff here don’t get the chance to get to know very many students. We are often separated from one another, each busy with our own day-to-day responsibilities. By bringing us together, the Empowering Learners Partnership has given all of us the chance to get to know one another better and to see why we are all here."
— Staff Member