Teaching Festival 2021 - Webster Leiden Inclusive Online Environment

By WebsterCanal Team

On February 10, 2021 WebsterCanal team had an opportunity to present its projects & activities during the annual event hosted by Webster University St. Louis Campus – Teaching Festival. Organized and moderated by Holly Hubenschmidt and the 2021 Teaching Festival Planning Committee, the week-long event has been attended by St. Louis campus faculty as well as Webster international campuses (Leiden, Geneva, Vienna, etc.).  

During the St. Louis – Leiden session, faculty and student leaders from both campuses had a chance to exchange knowledge on various ideas, projects, & on-going activities. Two faculty members from the Leiden Campus – Noemi Mena Montes & Jonathan Talbott along with three student leaders – Nikki Jennings, Sophiya Gautam, & Artyom Napolskiy covered numerous topics, starting with ways of enhancing student engagement online and ending with one of the most ambitious Leiden campus student-led projects – WebsterCanal.

Noemi Mena Montes led the Leiden Campus presentation. The head of Media Studies at Webster Leiden introduced Jonathan Talbott along with the student leaders and gave a concise summary of what the university has achieved in the previous year. Jonathan Talbott continued the presentation by highlighting the difficulty of online engagement and touched upon various ways to improve the digital environment, both for faculty & students. The WebsterCanal team picked up from there, starting with Sophiya Gautam who presented WebsterCanal and gave a brief overview of the website. Nikki Jennings had an opportunity to discuss various workshops (i.e., Interview Workshop, etc.) the team hosted in the last six months. Lastly, Artyom Napolskiy introduced the Red Card Campaign, its purpose, & multiple ways Leiden Campus has contributed to the global movement.