Whole Group Sessions
Teaching Inclusively at IU Indianapolis
Diversity is a strength and a resource, fraught with challenges and possibilities. At IU Indianapolis, understanding diversity is crucial to cultivating a more equitable and inclusive classroom, campus, community, and society. Social identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, faith, social class, or ability are a powerful lens through which one can better understand diversity. In this session, you will learn about the diverse student body at IU Indianapolis and explore the meaning and influence of this diversity in the context of classroom teaching and learning. In small groups, you will examine, discuss, and reflect on how you can incorporate teaching strategies to leverage diversity for student learning.
Managing Classroom Safety During COVID-19
As a member of the IU Indianapolis community, you have a significant role in promoting health ans safety. As TA or a classroom assistant, you will be required to enforce compliance of IU's heathy and safety protocols as you engage with students and instructors in physically-distanced classrooms. In this whole-group session, you will discuss the range of expectation in your roles and how to help students uphold their responsibility for promoting health and safety.
Breakout Sessions
Lab Instructors
Graduate students assigned as lab instructors require a toolbox of strategies to effectively organize and manage their physically-distanced lab environment and their students. In this breakout session, you will discuss techniques for developing clear learning objectives, utilizing focused hands-on activities, and assessing students’ work in a way that engages, rather than disengages, them from laboratory science. These strategies will help you foster more effective and enjoyable interactions with your students, while adhering to health and safety policies and also increasing opportunities for student learning and success. Depending on your discipline, you can choose between the breakout sessions on Teaching Labs in the Biological Sciences, Teaching Labs in the Physical Sciences, and Teaching Labs in Engineering and Technology.
Graders
Grading responsibilities include evaluating student work in the form of homework assignments, projects, exams, and other assessments. In this breakout session, you will learn more about the grading tools used at IU Indianapolis, strategies for providing effective feedback, and tips for time management in order to become a fair, timely, and resourceful grader. The session will also review common challenges graders face with students’ complaints and academic misconduct.
Undergraduate and Graduate Classroom Assistants
Undergraduate and graduate classroom assistants will have a range of responsibilities for managing in-person classes to promote student learning and safety. In this breakout session, you will discuss the various roles you will have as a classroom assistant, including how to facilitate interactions between students and instructors, ensuring compliance with health and safety policies, and using technology to record class sessions. You will also discuss how to address potential challenges in this role.
Online Modules
IU Indianapolis Policies, Procedures, and Resources
In these short modules, TAs will receive information and resources, on IU Indianapolis policies and procedures regarding: grading and The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); student academic misconduct; equal opportunity, discrimination, and sexual harassment; campus safety and emergency management; and resources for the University Library and for International TAs. These modules will be available through a self-enrolling Canvas course from August 3rd- August 31st.