View the CITL Teaching & Learning Newsletter April 13 Issue.
Announcements
Call for Presenters: August 2017 Grad Academy and Grading Symposium
Faculty, academic professionals, and experienced TAs are invited to participate as presenters and facilitators in the Graduate Academy for College Teaching (August 21-22, 2017), CITL's program for new TAs with classroom teaching responsibilities, and the Symposium on Grading & Office Hours (August 22, 2017), our program for those TAs with non-classroom responsibilities. There are opportunities to create your own concurrent session, facilitate a lesson from a pre-existing lesson plan, or facilitate microteaching sessions (a great choice for those with some experience but who may not feel like an expert quite yet). Follow this link to volunteer.
ICES Longitudinal Profiles
ICES Longitudinal Profiles contain a chronological listing of your ICES item #1 and #2 evaluation results. Profiles are often utilized in promotion & tenure applications, teaching award decisions, and department third-year reviews. Faculty and teaching assistants can request a profile at any time by completing our web-based Longitudinal Profile Request Form (it will require a University secure log-in). If you have questions, contact us at ices@illinois.edu or by calling 333-3490. It takes approximately 10-14 business days to produce and send the profile. All profiles are paper-based and not available via e-mail. View a sample longitudinal profile.
Faculty Summer Institute Registration Open
Are you interested in technology and education? Want to network with colleagues from around the state? Looking for a great value for a local conference? Registration is open for the 2017 Faculty Summer Institute. We welcome all faculty, staff, students, anyone interested in finding ways to engage students in the classroom. The conference is May 23-24 at the I-Hotel in Champaign. We have an excellent hands-on interactive program across many disciplines. We hope to see you there.
CTEN Presents: A Talk from Jose Vazquez
The College Teaching Effectiveness Network (CTEN) invites all interested parties to join us for our last pedagogy talk of the semester. Dr. Jose Vazquez, Director of the LAS Teaching Academy, will be presenting on technology and student engagement. Along with a focus on using specific technology (i>clickers), we'll discuss technology and pedagogy more broadly afterwards. Join us for this exciting guest and the subsequent pedagogy discussion. A short (optional) business meeting will follow. The talk is at 3:30 on Thursday, April 27th in Armory Room 428. Please contact Donovan Bisbee (bisbee2@illinois.edu) with any questions.
Celebration of College Teaching
Join us in celebrating the work and dedication of those who earned a teaching certificate over the past year. On Tuesday, May 2, 3:30pm-5pm, in the Heritage Room at the ACES library, we will be officially awarding this year’s certificates. We will also hear from Wojtek J. Chodzko-Zajko, Dean of the Graduate College, and we will share some stories (inspiring, funny, sometimes both) from certificate recipients.
Certificate Deadline is April 17
If you hope to earn one of our teaching certificates this year, please have all requirements completed and your application submitted by the end of the day on Monday, April 17. You may drop off your completed application to the CITL office in room 249 of the Armory, or send it through campus mail (MC-528). Certificates will be awarded on May 2.
Illinois Online Network Upcoming Courses
Registration just opened for the summer term. UIUC member code is GV355. Faculty, LAS staff, and anyone else teaching for the University pay no fee, staff fee is only $60. See our whole list of courses on the summer schedule including GL1721, the one week course on teaching language online.
CITL Events & Workshops
Want to see what workshops and events are coming later in the system? Look at our full calendar for more information.
Workshops
Thu Apr 27
CTEN Presents: A Talk from Jose Vazquez
3:30 P.M. - 4:00 P.M., room 428, Armory
Speaker: Jose Vazquez (LAS)
Training Opportunities Across Campus
Mon Apr 17
InDesign CC: Level 1
1:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M., room 27, Illini Hall
Sponsor: Fast3/Webstore Training Services
Fri Apr 18
Illustrator CC Level 1
9:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M., room 27, Illini Hall
Sponsor: Judy Geistlinger (Fast3/Webstore Training Services)
Fri Apr 19
Photoshop CC: Layers
9:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M., room 27, Illini Hall
Sponsor: Fast3/Webstore Training Services
Teaching Tips
Rubrics: An Undervalued Teaching Tool
English teachers know a few things about managing the paper load. But managing isn’t leading. We should do more than manage the load; we should lead our students through the writing process (invention, drafting, and revising) to help them become independent thinkers who can effectively present their ideas to an audience. Rubrics offer an effective way to guide thinking and learning in any course that requires a paper or writing-intensive project.
Why Open-book Tests Deserve a Place in Your Courses
With the proliferation of learning management systems (LMS), many instructors now incorporate web-based technologies into their courses. While posting slides and readings online are common practices, the LMS can also be leveraged for testing. Purely online courses typically employ some form of web-based testing tool, but they are also useful for hybrid and face-to-face (F2F) offerings. Some instructors, however, are reluctant to embrace online testing. Their concerns can be wide ranging, but chief among them is cheating. Instead of wasting valuable time to deter cheating, open-book tests shift the onus of responsibility onto the students themselves. They are the ones who must track down answers and page through online notes.
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