Description

Grounded in the WGSC initiative to articulate shared program learning outcomes, the Collaborative Teaching Exchange provides a supportive environment where faculty can exchange ideas, receive constructive feedback, and intentionally strengthen their courses. Participants will work toward cultivating core disciplinary competencies, including an understanding of intersectionality, feminist and queer theory, transnational feminist perspectives, the ability to critically analyze systems of power, the integration of theory and practice through community engagement, and the development of transferable skills in research, communication, collaboration, and problem solving.

Rather than focusing on individual campuses or specific course numbers, the series is organized around the student journey through a GWSS program—from introductory courses to community-engaged and culminating experiences—creating opportunities for faculty to examine how knowledge and skills are intentionally scaffolded across the curriculum while preserving the distinctive strengths of each campus.

Participation

The WGSC encourages each Universities of Wisconsin campus to send at least one participant to every session. A participant could be a GWSS faculty member, faculty affiliated with an interdisciplinary academic program, or another designated affiliate who teaches or supports the curriculum. Campuses are encouraged to rotate participants based on the monthly topic so that faculty with expertise in the featured course can contribute to and benefit from the discussion. Regular participation from every campus will strengthen statewide collaboration while ensuring that ideas and resources circulate broadly across programs of varying sizes and structures.

For each session, participants will bring:

1. One or two questions they are grappling with related to course design, assessment, or student learning

2. A current syllabus

3. One representative assignment or assessment

Calendar

Beginning in early October, each monthly session will focus on a different stage in the curriculum:

• October: Foundations (Introduction to GWSS)
• November: Sexuality and Queer Studies
• December: Feminist Theory
• January: Global and Transnational Feminisms
• February: Feminist Research Methodologies
• March: Intersectionality and Social Justice
• April: Community-Engaged Learning, Internships, and Applied Practice
• May (optional): Capstone, Senior Seminar, and Curriculum Showcase

Participants are encouraged to attend sessions that align with the courses they teach or are developing.

Guiding Frameworks

Together, participants will examine how each course contributes to shared disciplinary learning outcome. Furthermore, an important thematic consideration across all discussion will be while exploring strategies for adapting teaching in an era of generative AI. Rather than focusing solely on preventing AI use, the series emphasizes intentional course design and asks how assignments, discussions, and assessments can cultivate the intellectual and practical skills that define Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies.

Throughout the year, participants will explore questions such as:

• How does this course develop students’ understanding of intersectionality, feminist theory, queer theory, and transnational feminist perspectives?
• How are students learning to critically analyze systems of power, inequality, and oppression?
• How does the course connect feminist theory to practice through community engagement, activism, or applied learning?
• How are students developing transferable skills such as critical thinking, research, communication, collaboration, and problem solving?
• Which assignments continue to effectively assess these learning outcomes in an age of generative AI?
• Where can AI serve as a tool for brainstorming, revision, accessibility, or research support while preserving meaningful student learning?
• How might syllabi, assignments, and assessment practices evolve to reflect both disciplinary values and emerging technologies?

Goals

To support ongoing collaboration, the WGSC will develop a shared digital resource library containing syllabi, assignments, sample assessments, classroom activities, and other teaching materials contributed by participants throughout the series. This evolving repository will provide faculty across the Universities of Wisconsin with practical, adaptable resources that can be incorporated into existing and new courses while strengthening curricular coherence across campuses.

By the conclusion of the series, participants will have developed revised syllabi, assignments, and assessment approaches while contributing to a growing statewide collection of shared teaching resources. More importantly, the WGSC Collaborative Teaching Exchange will foster an ongoing community of practice that supports innovation, mentorship, and collaboration among GWSS educators across the Universities of Wisconsin, strengthening the discipline through the collective sharing of ideas and expertise.