Spring into Teaching
Welcome to Spring into Teaching! Looking for new ways to think about teaching and your course design as you enter the spring semester? Want to gain new perspectives on some common teaching scenarios and dilemmas? We have just the thing for you. This January 24-26, we’re offering a series of workshops and events to help you refine your course design, pick up new strategies, and learn from colleagues across campus. Look through the workshop descriptions below, and register for one, two, or all three sessions
Workshops
Workshop: First Impressions: Activities to Start the Semester Strong
Date: Tuesday, January 24, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, on Zoom
Facilitators: Kirsten Helmer (CTL)
Are you looking for ideas to start the semester that will immediately allow you to foster connections between you and your students, among students, and between students and the course content? Join this interactive session with Kirsten Helmer (CTL) to learn how you can make the most of your first moments with students. We will discuss easy-to-implement activities for the week leading up to the semester and the first day(s) of class. Leave the session inspired by ideas on how to give students a positive and clear first impression of what to expect from you and the course you are teaching.
Workshop: “Help! How Do I Get My Students to Read?”
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, on Zoom
Facilitators: Claire Hamilton (CTL)
Instructors sometimes feel that their students just aren’t reading anymore. Or, if students are reading, they aren’t retaining the information effectively. Have YouTube videos, TikTok, and Echo360 killed students’ ability and motivation to read? Is reading a thing of the past? Or perhaps we have made course design choices that inadvertently discourage reading. In this session, we’ll look at how students read in both the print and digital context and explore concrete ways to structure our courses so students engage more deeply in the kind of active reading that helps them retain more information and builds critical thinking.
Panel: “Faculty Experiences with Alternative Grading”
Date: Thursday, January 26, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, on Zoom
Facilitators: Beth Lisi and Sara Cavallo (CTL)
More faculty are considering alternative grading approaches, like ungrading and labor-based contract grading, to move students’ focus away from grades and towards learning. In this faculty panel, we’ll hear from three instructors who have successfully used alternative grading approaches in their courses: Elkie Burnside (Writing Program); Jason Hooper (Music Theory); and Caralyn Zehnder (Biology). We encourage audience members to come with questions on how to implement these approaches in their courses and what they should consider before trying these new approaches to grading student work.
Syllabus Consultations
In addition, you can always schedule individual syllabus and course design consultations through our Consultation Request Form. Choose what works for you, when it works for you.
