CTL Happenings - Message #490

Will you be a new graduate teaching assistant (TA) in fall 2020 and/or spring 2021? Register for the 2020 TA Orientation, to learn about the expectations and responsibilities of your new position, and develop strategies to confidently and effectively interact with faculty and undergraduate students in face-to-face and online classes. Click here for more information and registration details.

As we transition to online teaching for the rest of the semester, our students may also be finding themselves in a new learning environment. When you contact your students to provide updates and generally check in during this time, please share this informational resource that will help them get familiar with various online tools that could help them complete course requirements successfully.

Keep Learning is a self-enrolling online course on IU Expand that features information for students about the most commonly used technological tools in online courses, including options for attending lectures, completing assignments, taking tests and quizzes, and collaborating in groups. Encourage students to ask questions about the changes you will make to your course and consider their feedback as you pivot to effective online instruction.

Do your courses normally include many international students? Given the changes due to COVID-19, many international students may have returned to their home countries and will be participating in online courses from around the world.

In this webinar, we will explore some of the challenges these students can face, including technology and linguistic barriers, time zone conflicts, and increased responsibilities, as well as ways in which online courses can encourage greater participation and interaction than you might see in an in-person course. We'll discuss ways to connect with and support international students in your online courses and a panel of faculty members who have taught online courses including international students will share their experiences and strategies for creating a positive learning environment. 

A teaching philosophy presents a faculty member’s reflection on the experiences and beliefs that shape his or her teaching and learning strategies. Often used as part of a job application, a promotion and tenure dossier, a teaching award nomination, or course syllabi, a teaching philosophy captures and documents a teacher’s values and aspirations in teaching. 

This webinar will review one model for structuring a teaching philosophy and will also examine some example philosophies. Webinar participants will take the first steps in articulating their teaching philosophy; those who have already begun to craft a philosophy will have an opportunity to continue that work. This webinar is the 1st webinar in a 3-webinar series designed to introduce faculty and graduate students to the process of creating, refining and documenting one’s teaching practices.

Do you have questions about moving your course online?  Then join us for a virtual mini-consultation session with teaching and learning consultants to get your questions answered.

We will be using Zoom breakout rooms to allow simultaneous conversations between you, your fellow instructors, and a teaching and learning consultant.  You will be assigned to a consultant based on your specific questions. Please expect to wait in the room’s waiting room as the host matches participants to consultants.

Main breakout room topics will be:

• Kaltura (video management, sharing, quizzing, and creation)
• Canvas (general questions and rubrics)
• Zoom (general overview)
• Accessibility
• CN Post
• Active Learning Activities

Drop in anytime during this 90 minute session.  If you are not sure what you need help with, our Zoom host will happily direct you to the consultant who can best address your needs.  These are considered “mini-consultations” in order to help answer quick questions you may have about a topic.  If you would like a longer consultation about your course, you can contact the IUPUI Center for Teaching and Learning at thectl@iupui.edu or 317-274-1300 and request an appointment with one of the CTL consultants.

Consultations will also be held on:  Tuesday June 9, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

To join the online session, go to https://iu.zoom.us/j/338253938.

Civic learning is a form of integrative learning that supports students, as citizens and professionals, for lives of informed and active participation in society.  Arguably, civic learning is an untapped dimension of much of the teaching we do in universities. Too often, it lies dormant inside many of our most common learning goals such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and quantitative reasoning skills. 

Making our courses “civic-rich” can support students to explore and examine their experiences in light of larger public purposes, adding relevance to concepts that can feel very abstract.  In addition, civic learning can be cultivated using a variety of high impact practices in both F2F and hybrid course settings. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to relevant frameworks and strategies to make civic learning visible in disciplinary and general education courses.

A syllabus is often the first impression that students form of a course, and it serves both faculty and student as a guide to and contract for the semester. A well-designed and personalized syllabus can help faculty set the proper tone while simultaneously helping them avoid having to repeatedly answer basic student questions about expectations, policies, and deadlines. This webinar will offer tips and considerations for effective syllabus design and show examples of syllabi from various disciplines in face-to-face and online classes. 

This webinar is part of the Center for Teaching and Learning’s online mini-workshop series focused on foundational teaching skills, Teaching@IUPUI. Designed for new faculty, adjunct faculty, graduate students, and those looking for a refresher on good teaching practices, the webinars are short, with a brief presentation interspersed with opportunities for interaction and questions. Grounded in current research, the workshops address various teaching topics and provide participants with strategies and resources to make instruction more effective, efficient, and enjoyable. Sessions are scheduled with the time of semester in mind, to keep topics relevant for faculty needs at that time.

This webinar will help instructors review and revise their course and session learning outcome statements to be effective, meaningful, and measurable and use them to guide instruction and learning. Participants will analyze examples of student learning outcome statements, write their own, and begin to complete a course map that articulates the alignment of their course learning outcome statements with learning activities and assessments. 

This webinar is part of the Center for Teaching and Learning’s online mini-workshop series focused on foundational teaching skills, Teaching@IUPUI. Designed for new faculty, adjunct faculty, graduate students, and those looking for a refresher on good teaching practices, the workshops are short, with a brief presentation interspersed with opportunities for interaction and questions. Grounded in current research, the workshops address various teaching topics and provide participants with strategies and resources to make instruction more effective, efficient, and enjoyable.  Sessions are scheduled with the time of semester in mind, to keep topics relevant for faculty needs at that time.

This event aligns with the following IUSM Academy of Teaching Scholars program competencies: Curriculum and Course Design (C).

Friday, May 29, 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Cornell University is hosting its annual one-day conference for graduate students and postdocs interested in future faculty positions and leadership positions in higher education. It showcases the research of Cornell graduate students and postdocs into effective teaching and learning practices, and the ways this work shapes their professional and career development. Event will include an invited keynote presentation by a Cornell alumnus, 8 research talks by graduate students and alumni about teaching projects they have recently completed, and opportunities for interactive discussion on how to use research skills to inform and improve teaching and professional development for early career scholars. This event is free and open to all CIRTL network members. IUPUI is member of the CIRTL Network. Register here for the event and receive the Zoom meeting link to attend the conference.

The SEA Change Institute will be hosting five, short online learning events with the authors of Talking about Leaving Revisited. Each event will focus on specific implications of TALR, and the authors of will provide an overview of their findings and answer questions from participants.

Registration for the TALR events is open to all who are interested – SEA Change Membership is not required to participate in this SEA Change Institute offering. Please follow the links below for to register for each event individually.

Webinar 1: Why we are still Talking about Leaving
Tuesday, June 9, 2020, 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. EST

Webinar 2: Entering an uneven playing field
Tuesday, July 21, 2020, 11 a.m. -12:00 p.m. EST

Webinar 3: STEM learning experiences and their consequences
Tuesday, August 18, 2020, 11:00 a.m. -12 p.m. EST

Webinar 4: Dysfunctions of the STEM weed-out system
Tuesday, September 22, 2020, 11 a.m. -12:15 p.m. EST

Webinar 5: Dimensions of STEM persistence
Tuesday, October 27, 2020, 11 a.m. -12:15 p.m. EST

SAVI data literacy training empowers you to find, use, and understand data. Classes are as follows: 

• Make Decisions with Data | June 18,  10:00 -  12:00 p.m. - Register

Teach, Play, Learn, IU’s annual academic conference on game-based teaching and learning, will now take place online June 26, 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. Registration is now open and due to the change, there will be no cost to attend.

Teach, Play, Learn conference explores how games and play can be effective tools for learning. This year's topics include: 
• Changing technologies and pedagogies in the quickly evolving area of educational games and playful learning 
• Benefits of using games as part of classroom education 
• Practical solutions for the design and implementation of games in the educational context 

Go here to register to attend this online conference.

The deadline for FACET/Mack Center SoTL Travel Grants for travel to present SoTL research in the Fall 2020 is July 1, 2020. Grants are for allowable costs as delineated by IU Travel Management up to $750, faculty are encouraged to combine this funding with other sources. Look here for more information.

Teaching for Student Success: An Evidence-Based Approach is a new module series developed in response to President McRobbie’s call for supporting excellence in teaching and learning at IU. 

Created expressly for IU faculty, by members of the IU faculty, this professional development series provides a framework for education grounded in empirical research, combined with opportunities to document evidence-based practices
Module topics include:

1. Course Design
2. Assessment
3. Science of learning
4. Active and interactive learning
5. High-impact practices
6. Creating positive first impressions 

To learn more about the module series click here.

Ormand, C. (2020, April 2). SAGE Musings: Working from home. Tomorrow’s Professor, 1798.

Working from home has become the new normal in many higher ed. institutions. This article shares several helpful strategies to maximize our academic productivity without burning out and setting realistic expectations for others and ourselves.