CTL Happenings - Message #516

The 2021 LEG Request for Proposals (RFP) will be released soon! Start thinking about the possibilities for creating innovative, inclusive, and engaging informal and formal learning spaces on campus. You will need to submit your preliminary ideas in a Capital Projects Request for Service form no later than August 1, 2021. Full proposals are due by October 1, 2021. Contact Douglas Jerolimov, Center for Teaching and Learning, at djerolim@iupui.edu to discuss your ideas.

The CHAT Room: Conversations Happening Around Teaching is a virtual, informal space where faculty can gather to discuss timely topics related to teaching. There will be a different topic each month. Each one-hour CHAT Room discussion will have a faculty facilitator and a CTL host. At the beginning of the session, the host introduces the topic and the facilitator, who then talks briefly about the topic and facilitates open discussion for the remainder of the  hour. The room will open 10-15 minutes early for people to socialize. Following the facilitated discussion, a CTL host will direct the participants to resources pertaining to the topic. The June topic is "What did you learn about yourself as a teacher?

Check out this instructional guide to think strategically about how you structure participation in your course so that you can encourage participation from all students.

Do you know anyone who will be a new graduate teaching assistant (TA) in fall 2021 and/or spring 2022? Have them register for the 2021 TA Orientation, to learn about the expectations and responsibilities of their 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.

Teach, Play, Learn (TPL) is IU's annual conference on game-based teaching and learning. This year's presentations will focus on real-life usage, empirical studies, and theoretical discussions. We're particularly interested in interactive workshops involving best practices for teaching with games or playful elements in the classroom. For discussion topics, more details, and to register, visit the TPL website.

Students are introduced to you and your course through the syllabus. A syllabus that emphasizes and transparently articulates inclusive and equitable student learning experiences can set a positive and welcoming tone for the semester. In this webinar, you will learn about the learning-centered syllabus rubric and the equity-minded syllabus review guide, two syllabus design tools that you can use to self-assess and improve your syllabi. The facilitators will also present sample syllabus language and formats that exemplify these best practices in syllabus design.  

Two Small Teaching Online (or anywhere) Faculty Learning Communities (FLC)  will be held this summer.  The goals of the FLC are to strengthen community among teaching colleagues, increase confidence and skill in applying online and general teaching strategies, and provide an opportunity to document professional development in teaching. Flower Darby’s book, Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes will serve as a guide to generate reflection and discussion. Each FLC will be capped at 10 participants. All participants will receive a free copy of the book. 

Register for the Tuesday, June 15-July 6, 12:30-1:30 FLC.  
Register for the Thursday, July 8-August 5 10:30-11:30 FLC.

As IUPUI continues the process of reviewing general education courses, course coordinators or faculty responsible for preparing course dossiers for review may have questions about the information and materials that need to go into the dossiers. This webinar will provide an overview of the course review process, course dossier requirements, and the rubric that will be used to review the course dossiers. It will also address the option for preparing a simplified course dossier based on using a Mile Marker assignment. Examples from existing course dossiers will be incorporated into the webinar. Questions and discussion will be encouraged.

The Faculty Forum offers writing groups that provide encouragement, accountability, and a sense of community for faculty and staff. This summer, there is only one writing group that meets via Zoom on Tuesdays from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. The writing sessions ends Tuesday, August 10. There are no hybrid or at your pace groups. Click here for more information and registration or contact us at: faccross@iupui.edu. 

Attend The Connected Faculty Summit: Building Better Higher Education on the Foundation of Great Teaching, hosted by Arizona State University, virtually on June 9 – 10, 2021, free of charge. This event provides a forum and support for all colleagues across higher education to help them design the most effective and engaging experiences for learners. Leading educators with extensive practical online and blended teaching and learning experience drawn from across global universities and colleges to present immediately useful and evidence-backed practices on both subject-specific and general online teaching techniques.

Upcoming SAVI Data Literacy Skills Training: SAVI data literacy training empowers you to find, use, and understand data. Classes are as follows:

• Find Meaning in Data | June 10, 10 a.m. | Register
• Making Decisions with Data  |  June 24, 10 a.m. | Register
• Frame the Problem  | July 8, 10 a.m.  | Register
• Find Existing Data  |  July 8, 12:30 p.m. | Register

Lang, J. M. (2021, May 17). 2 Ways to Fairly Grade Class Participation. The Chronicle of Higher Education

Common approaches to awarding participation points rely on instructors’ (imperfect) memory of class sessions and is subject to unconscious bias. In this article, James Lang offers two alternative approaches for assigning participation points that rely on concrete artifacts created by students.