UMass Offices That Support Teaching

Office of Professional Development (Graduate School) 
OPD offers regular workshops for graduate students and postdocs to prepare them for success in the classroom. Their offerings on teaching include topics such as active learning strategies, classroom management, interpersonal communication with students, streamlining class preparation and grading, and course design. In addition to supporting those teaching right now, OPD also helps prepare graduate students and postdocs for careers as teachers and faculty in higher education.

CIRTL@UMass (Graduate School) 
The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is a network of research universities with the shared goal of helping graduate students and postdocs strategically position themselves for careers in college and university teaching through a series of comprehensive online workshops and courses. The UMass CIRTL chapter also leads in-person workshops and learning communities on topics in evidence-based and inclusive teaching for the UMass campus, and offers opportunities for evidence-based teaching projects.

Office of Inclusion and Engagement (Graduate School) 
OIE aims to cultivate an inclusive environment through which graduate students from all backgrounds can thrive and succeed at UMass Amherst. Their recent series, Empowering Future Leaders for an Inclusive Academy, was an initiative aimed at preparing graduate students and postdocs to be change agents in academia.

Instructional Technology 
There are two offices that can support your use of technology in the classroom: the Instructional Design, Engagement and Support group (IDEAS) and the Instructional Media Lab. They offer one-on-one help (over instruct [at] umass [dot] edu (email) or Zoom) and workshops focused on technologies like Moodle, Blackboard, VoiceThread, and Echo360. 

Center for Teaching and Learning
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) organizes a variety of events and often partners with OPD on programming to jointly serve faculty, postdoc, and graduate student instructors. Their website also offers additional teaching resources, such as a series of videos on Inclusive Syllabus Design, advice from UMass faculty, and articles on practical teaching strategies.

Library Support for Teachers
The Libraries are here to help you prepare for the semester; here is specific information on: 

For questions ranging from eReserves to ways to enhance students’ research skills, please contact your departmental liaison or Ask Us! to get started.

Writing Center Support for Teachers
The Writing Center can support you as you work with your students on writing! They can help you make decisions about how to make your writing instruction as smooth and productive as possible. You can request a consultation to talk about time management around grading, advice for working with multilingual writers, or how to organize peer feedback activities.

Office of Equity and Inclusion
OEI has prepared a website (and printable pdf flyer) about inclusive classroom practices.