An AHTR Twitter Chat: Syllabus Planning

What’s going on?

If you’ve been thinking summer would be a great time to start prepping classes for the fall, but haven’t quite gotten around to it, AHTR has plans to help you out!  Join us on Twitter for an #AHTRchat on Wednesday August 5, between 7-8pm (EST) to talk about syllabus planning.  Topics may range from broad ideas around teaching the introductory art history survey to specific questions about particular content areas, useful course assignments, and links to readings and other resources. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about new materials that have been tested by others and will be helpful to your students, and to share your best syllabus planning strategies.

Who’s coming?

Teachers who include art historical and visual culture content in their classes at any academic level are welcome to participate!  The AHTR community encompasses experienced educators in K-12, art museums, community colleges, schools of art and design, liberal arts schools, and universities with expertise in a range of art and architectural history.

What do you need to do?

On the night of the chat, use the hashtag #AHTRchat to join the conversation and connect with members of the AHTR community.  Come prepared with questions to ask and materials to share–put your most successful assignments/readings/video links/etc. in a Google Doc or other easily-accessible format and prep a short link so you can them tweet out easily. This #AHTRchat can be experienced in real time if you want to engage in conversation or as an asynchronous event if you simply want to post and share materials or ideas before, during, and after. Just remember to use the hashtag as the connecting thread.

Here are a few questions to consider beforehand:

• What materials do I have to share with others? (ie: sample syllabi; course-level learning objectives; suggested readings; assignment details; grading rubrics; links to videos and open educational resources)
• Where is the usual sticking point in my semester? Where could I benefit from the experience of others?
• Am I planning a new class or want to address a new topic?  Would someone else have a syllabus they’d share?

How does it work?

If you haven’t participated in a Twitter chat before, here’s a link explaining them.  You can follow the conversation by searching the hashtag #AHTRchat.  To participate, just tweet your question or idea and include the conversation hashtag #AHTRchat.