Items

• Tweet: CUNY and SUNY Faculty and Staff Are Being Asked to Donate 15-20 hrs

  This tweet, written in May 2020, documented the fact that CUNY and SUNY faculty and staff were being asked to volunteer their labor to support NYS's Contact Tracing initiative despite drastic cuts in CUNY funding and reductions in contingent workers like adjuncts. The tweet demonstrates how New York State continuously asked for more labor from the workers in the very institutions like CUNY and SUNY whose budgets the state was then cutting. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Tweet: The Same Workers on the Front Line Fighting the Epidemic Are Our Students

  This tweet, posted in April 2020 by a CUNY adjunct lecturer, called attention to CUNY students' roles as frontline workers in the pandemic. This point is significant in the discussion of cuts at CUNY affecting students and the broader community. It showed how the CUNY community and especially its students are inextricably tied to the proper functioning of the city. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Tweet: CUNY is Essential NYC Infrastructure

  This tweet, written in May 2020, by a CUNY adjunct lecturer, addressed the importance of funding CUNY given its key role as an "essential NYC infrastructure." This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Instagram Post: "This is not the time (not [nor] will it ever be) for cuts that affect the most vulnerable people in our community."

  This Instagram post from May 2020, at the onset of imposition by the state of austerity measures in the wake of the pandemic, significantly addresses the ways the cuts affect the most vulnerable members of the CUNY community. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Letter to Gov. Cuomo Regarding CUNY Cuts

  This petition, signed by various CUNY faculty and staff in May 2020, argued against proposed CUNY cuts during the COVID-19 crisis. The signers asked then New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to reverse his decision. Directly addressed to the major state governmental official responsible for determining CUNY's budget, the document is significant as a representation of faculty pushback against austerity policies during the pandemic This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Statement From Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodriguez: On Rule Changes Requiring International Students To Take In-Person Classes

  Chancellor Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodriguez's formal statement and denunciation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's modified policy requiring that students with an F-1 visa enroll in at least one in-person to remain in compliance with the Student Exchange and Visitor Program was published on July 7, 2020. With the vast majority of planned Fall 2020 classes to be held remotely, the Chancellor stressed that this policy change would have a detrimental impact on thousands of international students across the CUNY system, in turn noting his administration's intent to "explore and pursue measures that would help these students remain in the country and continue their education at CUNY." This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
• BLA Trauma Informed Pedagogy Workshop

  Developed by the Open Lab at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in August 2020, this website offered materials and resources on trauma-informed pedagogy, calling for more responsive teaching practices during the pandemic in order to "reduce (re)traumatization while supporting student success and professional achievement. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
• "Still being charged Student Activity Fee and CUNY Technology Fee for Summer?"

  This Reddit thread, posted on April 12, 2020, resolved CUNY students' questions regarding student activity and technology fees during the summer semester of the Covid-19 pandemic. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
• Considerations for Instructional Continuity

  Distributed in March 2020, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) at The Graduate Center compiled this preemptive guide on navigating the midstream shift to distance learning, along with associated forms of campus-based guidance from other City University of New York (CUNY) colleges. This initiative was accompanied by an informal Slack workspace staffed by TLC and GCDI Fellows and Staff, where CUNY instructional faculty and staff congregated to crowd-source resources and solicit support. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
• "My professor isnt responding to her emails"

  In this Reddit thread, one student chronicled their struggles navigating course communications on assignments in Blackboard during the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of these anxieties resulted from their inability to maintain contact with their instructor as a form of recourse to resolve their Blackboard problems. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
• "has anyone been told something rather alarming about the final exam policy on Internet outages?"

  This Reddit thread, posted on April 2, 2020, documented one student's concerns over the assessment policies of their class if they were to suffer a network outage and were unable to complete a given test as a result of such connectivity concerns. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
• Miranda Fedock's TLC Thread on Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

  Posted on behalf of Teaching and Learning Center Fellow Miranda Fedock on October 3, 2020, by The Graduate Center's TLC, this Twitter thread provided commentary and guidance on the pressing importance of trauma-informed pedagogy during the Covid-19 pandemic. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Matthew K. Golds Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with The Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, we wanted to document the moment of crisis response with a critical approach to educational technology.
• Do Not Let CUNY Violate Student Privacy Change.org Petition

  This Change.org petition – supported by multiple student organizations at on CUNY's Brooklyn, John Jay, Baruch, Queens, BMCC, Hunter, York, and CSI College campuses – called for the City University of New York (CUNY) system to disavow intrusive and unethical software services, such as Proctorio, which had been endorsed CUNY administration to curb the alleged increase in academic dishonesty among CUNY's student population following the instructional shift to distance learning. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• "im tired of these professors"

  Posted on April 15, 2020, this Reddit thread featured a post by an "essential worker" at the City University of New York (CUNY) student who felt their professors were ignorant to the stresses and responsibilities of over-extended students employed in labor-intensive jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• GC Online

  GC Online was a resource developed in the summer of 2020 for Graduate Center faculty teaching online courses at the CUNY Graduate Center. It offered broad guidance on a range of pedagogical approaches via quick guides, overviews of digital platforms supported at the Graduate Center, and opportunities for instructional support from educational technologists. The resource guide was accompanied by a workshop series for faculty offered in late August. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Petition in Opposition to Turnitin for Plagiarism Detection Software

  This petition – opposing the CUNY Central administration's resolution to approve a contract with Turnitin for Plagiarism Detection Software – was crafted by Lisa Rhody, Luke Waltzer, and Roxanne Shirazi and circulated on December 3, 2020, among City University of New York (CUNY) students, faculty, and staff. The petition stated: "This statement was drafted in response to the Board of Trustee's consideration of a resolution to approve CUNY's contract renewal with Turnitin for Plagiarism Detection Software in 2020." The authors submitted the final version – signed by 1,065 members of the CUNY community – to the Board of Trustees on December 7, 2020, for consideration at their meeting on December 14, 2020.This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• "My professor has provided no contact, and tomorrow is the last day to drop without penalty. What should I do?"

  Posted on March 18, 2020, this Reddit thread documented the perspective of a struggling student at CUNY's LaGuardia Community College during the Covid-19 pandemic. Unable to reach their professor via email ahead of the original deadline to drop classes during the Spring 2020 semester, the student sought support from fellow City University of New York (CUNY) students and asked for advice on how to proceed. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• "Having a breakdown falling behind in online classes"

  In this Reddit thread, posted on April 2, 2020, one student wrote about their experience of falling behind in their coursework, leading to "having a breakdown" during the Covid-19 pandemic. The student attributed their problem to the lack of direction from the professors and the disproportionate amount of work required to complete their online coursework. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Interview with Baruch College Senior on the Distance Learning Experience

  Recorded and transcribed by by Zach Muhlbauer, on April 21, 2020, this interview with an anonymous undergraduate student at CUNY's Baruch College who grappled with the abrupt transition to remote learning formats during the interviewee's final semester of college in Spring 2020. The interview began with a well-being check-in. The anonymous student reflected on picking up the pieces of her social, occupational, and academic identities and identified a diverse spectrum of learning experiences during the shift to online modes. The interview then discussed a series of concerns ranging from her feelings of preparedness to her perspective on student engagement in online formats to the level of contact and communication that she had maintained with classmates and instructors alike. Throughout the interview, the student unpacked remote teaching practices of multiple instructors overseeing her upper-level courses as a graduating senior, reflecting on their strengths and weakness in ways that shed light on the diverse learning experiences of CUNY students during the pandemic. On the one hand, the student expressed gratitude for one of her instructors, describing them as "a reasonable and understanding professor," who redesigned their class to accommodate their students' personal struggles and emergent learning needs. On the other hand, the student drew attention to the broken lines of communication evidenced by other professors, pointing in particular to a heavier workload, vague or nonexistent class communications, inflexible requirements, and assessment methods, as well as the unclear adoption of remote technology. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• The Single Most Essential Requirement in Designing a Fall Online Course

  Written by Cathy Davidson, Distinguished Professor of English at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center and published on the HASTAC blog on May 10, 2020, this piece reflected on pedagogical challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. It offered a critical perspective on instructional design for instructors to consider as they prepared for the Fall 2020 semester: ". . .education is an excellent way of moving beyond trauma to a place of agency, confidence, control, community, care, activism, and contribution." This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• CUNY From My Window

  Led by Fernanda Blanco Vidal (in her capacity as Graduate Student Fellow of the Teaching and Learning Center at the CUNY Graduate Center), this crowd-sourced initiative featured a sense-making project aimed at documenting the embodied perspectives of CUNY community members during the pandemic, framed from the separate but related vantage point of the socially distanced window view. The output of this initiative has been published on a number of different venues and social platforms, including a Cargo website co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Act as If You're Really There: What Learning to Speak Remotely Teaches Us about How to Compensate for the Coming Era of Social Distancing

  Published on March 15, 2020, by Douglas Rushkoff, Media scholar and Professor of Media Studies at CUNY's Queens College, this Medium post focused on teaching and learning in online classrooms during the pandemic. It specifically covered issues related to the effects of social distancing on instructional communication and student engagement in remote formats. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Together Alone

  In this video, Tomo Imamichi, Associate Professor at CUNY's La Guardia Community College, described his experience of teaching and learning at CUNY during Covid-19 through the use of music. Imamichi's video was initially uploaded to YouTube and made public on April 12, 2020. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Guidance from CUNY Regarding Classroom Observations, Office Hours, Annual Evaluations, Tenure/Promotion

  Sent to faculty on March 25, 2020, from the Office of Academic Affairs at CUNY's College of Staten Island (CSI) to faculty, this email offered administrative responses to looming questions at the center of City University of New York's (CUNY) "current telecommuting situation," with guidance related to office hours, teaching observations, annual evaluations, as well as reappointment, tenure, and promotion practices. The email also highlighted the subject of "Distance Learning and Contractual Obligations" for departments to conduct classroom observations of faculty instruction before describing updated expectations, logistics, and protocol pertaining to these issues. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.
• Open Pedagogy on the Open Lab

  Published on March 21, 2020, this web guide discussed open pedagogy on New York City College of Technology's (City Tech) OpenLab blog, with two instructors providing tips and advice on distance learning techniques. The teachers focused on student engagement and participation when using remote educational technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.