Community Members

Hello, everyone, I am glad to join this wonderful community of professionals. I am interested in opening up my courses to the wider community and making online resources available to my students. As a speech instructor, I find this platform a natural extension of the speechmaking preparation and delivery. I look forward to learning from your experiences.

Hi all, I’m MaKayla (she/her)! I am an adjunct lecturer for the Music and Art Department. I teach voice class and lessons. I am interested in leaning more about teaching on OpenLab/asynchronous teaching. I am currently reading bell hooks’ all about love!

Hi everyone. My name is Amir, I am an adjunct lecturer at the CIS department. I am teaching computer programming languages courses such as Python and C++. I hope this workshop helps me for teaching CIS101, introduction to computer science and programming.

I have been teaching at BMCC in the the English Department for decades. I am looking forward to learning ways to adapt my classes to the evolving world on on-line instruction. I just finished reading The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, which I found on Kindle, after the series dropped on Netflix. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the book.

Hello everyone, My name is Maryam and I am an assistant professor at the CIS department. I am teaching data analytics and programing courses and want to work on my analytic course during summer to improve it

Being the in the hospitality industry for over 25 years and teaching is my joy. I am delighted to find a different way to reach students and discuss through a different platform to add my skills and broaden my access to the students. I look forward to meeting new people and learning alot from each and everyone of you. cheers to cupcakes

Hi everyone, I’m Alex Carney. I teach Speech & Theater in the Speech, Communications, & Theater Department at BMCC. I’ve been at BMCC coming on 4 years. It’s been an extraordinary experience. My primary interest in this learning community at this point in my teaching practice is the role of kindness in Pedagogy. I am looking to expand my understanding and use of kindness in my classroom.

Greetings, my name is Bakar, and I teach in the English Department. I am curious about the OpenLab aspect of teaching and hope to get some guidance. Currently, I am reading “Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party.”

I’m interested in those communities in which i’m implicated. Am looking to improve upon skills this summer, including driving & plumbing. Books: Murder Incorporated series (Abu Jamal), Disposessed Lives (Fuentes), The Counter Revolution of 1836 (Horne), Alienation and Freedom (Fanon) Website:https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/languageraceandethinicityintheusanditsterritories/

Hi Everyone! My name is Melissa Eder and I am an Adjunct Instructor in the Dept. of Academic Literacy and Linguistics. I teach Critical Thinking, ESL and Reading. I have been teaching for 25 years. I am also a visual artist and have shown my work nationally and internationally. Link to my course profile.

Hello I’m Sheila and I teach English. I am here to learn to create a site for my classes more accessible than Blackboard. I am already immersing myself into the slowness and the heat this summer. I am reading lots of books, poetry and fiction in bits and pieces as I always do. Wrapping up “Rain Revolutions” a book of short stories by Bessie Flores Zaldivar. Am hoping to get through “A Woman of Endurance” a novel by Dahlma Llanos Figueroa. Always flipping through “Punks” new and selected poems by John Keene.

Hi everyone, My name is Maksim Vak. I teach philosophy. I’m looking forward to learning how to design a website that will work for asynchronous classes. I’m reading a bunch of books on Hegel’s Phenomenology, rereading Spengler’s Decline of the West and Nietzche’s Untimely meditations, and some Ukrainian fiction books. Link to my course profile.

I enjoy creating, using and remixing open educational resources. This portal should allow my students to easily access resources used in my Math Courses. This summer I look forward to improving my fluency with OpenLab. I’m reading Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil. Here is the link to my course site https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/groups/mathematics-for-elementary-school-teachers-fall-2022/

Hi! I’m Yan and I teach art history. I am interested in learning more about different ways of assessment that give students more responsibility in evaluating their own performances. I look forward to leaving the country in July (destination unclear at the moment). I look forward to meeting and learning from all of you! My course is here!

Hi all! I am Elida Cisneros (formerly DeKlein), and I have been teaching in the English Department since 2010. I love teaching OER courses, and I have been interested in teaching on the OpenLab for a while now. Currently, I am reading Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which I highly recommend! English 201 Course Profile

Hi everyone. I’m excited to learn more about the Open Lab. I teach in the Speech, Comm, and Theatre department. I’ve been doing a lot of work with ungrading and have developed COM 100 into something I think is pretty special. Plus I get to teach GWS (Gender Women Studies) 100 for the first time and am going to try to go 100% Open Lab on that. I’m looking forward to meeting all of you and learning with you!

Hello Everyone! I am an adjunct in the Speech, Communications, and Theatre Arts Department here at BMCC. I am a huge supporter of OER and have made significant contributions to my department’s OER textbook. I am looking forward to this workshop because I am always looking for ways to engage my students through technology. I just finished reading “The Silent Patient” and have started “Once There Were Wolves.” I’m looking forward to working with and learning from you all this summer! The link to my potential SPE 100 Course on the Open Lab

Hi! I’m Karen Thornhill from the English Department here at BMCC. I started learning how to design an online course during the E-Learning Initiative for Faculty Development about a year prior to the pandemic. That training was tremendously helpful. So here I am today: I’m really looking forward to learning how to design and offer appealing online classes that are engaging, fun, interesting, and as affordable as possible to my students. As far as summer vacation fun, I look forward to going to Cape Cod/ Martha’s Vineyard, and to going sailing and parasailing on Block Island.

I am proud to say that I’ve just completed my first academic year teaching on the OpenLab! Now the journey continues… I’d like to build a course hub, share my own resources, invite others to share theirs, and create new and exciting course materials. Link to my course hub.

Hi! I joined BMCC’s Modern Languages Department in 2009, where I teach Spanish and Latin American literature courses at all levels (but mostly to heritage speakers of the language). I am looking forward to visiting friends and family in the Basque Country this summer and traveling a bit.

Grace and peace from Nkechi (Igbo name meaning God’s Own). I am a Professor of Mathematics, an Ethno-mathematician, a Mathematics Story-teller, a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow, an Interfaith Chaplain and a Global African Woman of Distinction in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). “In the Gbari tradition the circle is highly symbolic. If the people accept you in their circle you are considered a friend and if they keep you out of it you are considered foe” – From my Carnegie Fellowship Project. Welcome to my Gbari circle of OpenLab friendship. I am looking forward to creating open course content that will facilitate the teaching, learning and curriculum development related to mathematics literacy and quantitative reasoning from an ethno-mathematics and gender equity perspective. You can get to my course site for Mat 161.5: Mathematics Literacy and Quantitative Reasoning by clicking on the link: https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/members/nagwubmcc-cuny-edu/groups/?group_type=course. Right now, I am re-reading my epic autobiography that earned me recognition as a Black Hero of Mathematics by the five major British mathematics societies, “God’s Own: The Genesis of Mathematical Story-telling” by Nma (Beautiful) Jacob for ways to build upon it in writing the second series. I love to create Ndebele dolls and teach about the mathematical artform of Ndebele doll sculpturing. So I have uploaded a picture of myself with seven Ndebele dolls created by students in a Discrete Mathematics course I taught at BMCC. The Ndebele people are found in the Southern part of Africa and their life style is highly mathematical. Yet you will hardly learn about their indigenous mathematical knowledge systems in books that teach concepts in mathematics. Thanks to the OpenLab team for selecting me to participate in this project and to all the members of this community for empowering me in the development of my OpenLab Mat 161.5 course site. Remain blessed – Nkechi

I am part of the OpenLab team as the Student Engagement Coordinator. I am also a service designer, a learning experience designer, and co-founder of Educar 3.0, a start-up that develops games about financial literacy for students in Brazilian schools. I am currently a student in Digital Humanities at the Graduate Center. In discovering Digital Humanities as a promising pathway to exploring crucial issues in humanities using digital technology, I became curious to know how to use its theories and practices to explore the last mile of technology in cognition and learning. A couple of curiosities: I am Brazilian, and I’ll be joining our meetings from my home country. I also recently bought a Play Station, and playing Just Dance has become my new hobby. 🙂

I have been on faculty in the English Department at BMCC since 2008. I am primarily a fiction writer, but I also write and publish poetry, nonfiction, and scholarly essays. Right now I am reading THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. Du BOIS by Honorée Fannone Jeffers. It is epic and spellbinding. Link to my course profile.

I am the learning experience designer on the OpenLab team, affiliated with CETLS and the Library. I work primarily with faculty on designing their OpenLab courses and collecting their OERs, but I also support students and staff with technical issues, do testing when the OpenLab needs it, create our help documentation, and I unofficially assist our director with development of OpenLab features. +I am a linguist, and I also work at the Graduate Center doing research on heritage language pedagogy. I have experience teaching many sections of six different courses at LaGuardia, Hunter, and Brooklyn College, both full- and part-time, and I did a digital fellowship at City Tech’s OpenLab in 2016, so I came to BMCC in 2019 with some helpful background. +I aim to support faculty on their journey toward engaging in more open pedagogy practices, and I like to think that my personal experience gives me empathy and understanding of the challenges that this can bring. I love teaching people how to use WordPress, and I’m constantly learning new things about it, from my small-but-mighty team and from the people I’m helping! I’m looking forward to working with all of you this month and beyond. Here is a link to my sample course! https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/groups/eng-201-1300-intro-to-lit-prof-zelda-smith-spring-2020/

I’ve been teaching online since 2016, mostly asynchronous beginner and intermediate French courses. My intermediate courses are zero cost, as I used material I developed myself. I expanded my use of free online tools during the pandemic, such as Edpuzzle and Flipgrid. I am teaching 2 courses this summer, and will spend some time with my family in France. Here the link to my course. https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/groups/frn-200-intermediate-french-fall22-thiers-thiam/

I’ve been working with the OpenLab team since joining BMCC in 2018, and enjoy supporting the creative uses of the space for teaching, learning, and community building through faculty learning communities like this one. I’m still telling myself I’ll have lots of time this summer to read (!), and hoping to start off with Cloud Cuckoo Land, which was recommended to me by a family member. 

Hi there! As most of you know, I’m the open knowledge librarian here at BMCC, and this I believe . . . Knowledge is a public good and a human right. We need to continually develop and defend the knowledge commons so that every human being has access to humanity’s accumulated knowledge. I strive to create spaces that celebrate, spark, and engage the potential of every human being to create knowledge. So many of our students have been taught to be knowledge consumers; at BMCC, they can learn to claim space and raise their voices up as knowledge creators. My summer book list is too long to include here! But I’m very much looking forward to N.K. Jemison’s Broken Earth Trilogy (how have I not read this already?!?). So happy to be in community with everyone here and look forward to learning with you!