News

CITL Teaching and Learning News: February 18, 2021

Feb 19, 2021, 14:25 PM



Announcements


Friday Forum Continues February 26th: Building Engagement in the Online Classroom

Friday Forum lunchtime sessions are a fun way to meet others with similar interests and get new ideas. If you’ve noticed students not beingpresentonline or are looking for ways to get them more involved, join Jordan Leising and Ava Wolf on Friday, February 26, as they discuss a simple framework for building an online environment conducive to student engagement and offer tips for keeping students connected and interested. Walk away with ideas and resources you can use right away. Noon until 1pm. Register to receive Zoom link

Are You Taking the English Proficiency Interview (EPI) this Spring?

CITL and the ESL-ITA Program are offering workshops to help graduate students prepare for the English Proficiency Interview (EPI).The final virtual workshop will take place on February 23 from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. Attendance is free, but registration is required at https://go.illinois.edu/EPI_Workshop_Registration. Registrants will have access to workshop materials and videos of each session.

'Art of Teaching' Lunchtime Seminar Series featuring Shelly Schmidt on March 4th

Student wellness has always been important, but the pandemic has made the crisis of emotional wellness front page news. Veteran professor and author, Shelly Schmidt has been studying student success for several years and has developed teaching strategies in her Food Science and Human Nutrition courses that harness the impactful connection between emotion and learning. Join us for the next Art of Teaching Seminar (March 4 at 12pm) as Shellydiscusses ways tomake classrooms a safe and authentic place where studentsfeel empowered and motivated to do their best work. Please register at: https://go.illinois.edu/artofteachingregistration.

TA Reading Groups Starting for Spring

How do the best college teachers teach? Find out by reading Ken Bain'sWhat the Best College Teachers Doalong with fellow TAs and a CITL facilitator. Meetings will be arranged to fit your schedule and participation will count towards the teaching certificates. Sign up for a reading group by following this link - you will be matched up with other TAs and a facilitator with similar availability.

 

CITL Events & Workshops

 

Tuesday, February 23
The Power of Presentations: Enhancing Your Slides for Teaching and Engagement
10:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: Jamie Nelson
Tuesday, February 23
Customizing a 3D Print with Tinkercad
11:30 A.M. - 12:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: Megan Baird
Tuesday, February 23
Spring 2021, SPSS I: Getting Started with SPSS
6:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: CITL Data Analytics
Tuesday, February 23
English Proficiency Interview (EPI) Workshop Session 3: EPI Practice
6:00 P.M. - 6:30 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenters: Eva Miszoglad and Jennifer Zhang, Linguistics Department
Wednesday, February 24
Spring 2021 Faculty Series on Teaching and Learning wksp#2: Engaging Students through Active Learning in Online Synchronous Sessions
11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: Cheelan Bo-Linn
Wednesday, February 24
Spring 2021, R I: Getting Started with R
6:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: CITL Data Analytics
Thursday, February 25
Cultivating Online Learning Communities
12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: David Favre
Friday, February 26
Friday Forum: Student Engagement in Online Courses
12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link Presenters: Ava Wolf and Jordan Leising
Tuesday, March 2
Developing Your Teaching Philosophy Statement for a Faculty Job Search
2:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: Lucas Anderson
Tuesday, March 2
Spring 2021, SPSS II: Inferential Statistics in SPSS
6:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: CITL Data Analytics
Wednesday, March 3
Fall 2020 Faculty Teaching & Learning Series Workshop #3: Creating Effective Assessments of Student Learning: Tests, Quizzes and Rubrics (part A)
11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: Cheelan Bo-Linn, CITL
Wednesday, March 3
Spring 2021, R II: Inferential Statistics
6:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: CITL Data Analytics
Thursday, March 4
The Art of Teaching: CITL Faculty Fellows Seminar Series
12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M., Online, register to receive Zoom link
Presenter: Shelly Schmidt

What Are You Reading?


Active Learning Book Cover

Active Learning: A Practical Guide for College Faculty
Edited by Maryellen Weimer (Magna Publications)

Fans of the popular teaching blog Faculty Focus or The Teaching Professor newsletter will recognize Maryellen Weimer, long-time author and professor emerita at Penn State Berks.Active Learning: A Practical Guide for College Faculty is a collection of two to three-page articles, most of them published previously, discussing proven methods for building and maintaining active learning in the classroom. Each piece is straight to the point and feels like the kind of conversation you would have with your colleague down the hall. Written by and for faculty, Weimer brings together Claire Howell Major, Rob Kelly, Elizabeth Barkley, and others to share their expertise in three areas: leading effective discussions, selecting low-stakes assessments and learning activities, and managing group work.There are also a few tools and templates that both experienced and novice users will appreciate, and lots of references. Although this slim volume is a bit pricey, you’ll refer to it often and others will want to borrow it. Don’t let them, or you might need to purchase a second copy after loaning your creased and dog-eared one to someone and never getting it back. Also available on Kindle.


Teaching Tips

 

Boosting Student Motivation Through Connected Reflection

(from Faculty Focus) Universities are mandated to be the ultimate “learning culture,” powered by faculty who embody lifelong learning. We know that reflection is essential to learning; it’s the foundation of “continuous improvement,” that ceaseless cultivation of our skills and spirits as we work in the world. And this year, our reflection comes in time of global crisis—all the more reason to reflect on what matters most in our lives and our students’ lives, in our communities, and in our teaching and learning within our courses. Here are seven ways to facilitate motivation, metacognition, and a learning community.

Transforming Midterm Evaluations into a Metacognitive Pause

(from Faculty Focus) Midterm evaluations often tip toward students’ (unexamined) likes and dislikes. By leveraging the weight of the midterm pause and inviting students to reflect on their development, midterm evaluations can become more learning-centered. Cued by our language, students can become aware of a distinction—that we’re not asking what they like, but what is helping them learn. This opportunity for students to learn about their learning yields valuable insights that not only inform instructors about the effects of our methods, but also ground students in their own learning processes, deepening their confidence in and commitment to their development in the second half of the course. Many students in this particular evening course were returning learners, and so it felt beneficial to use the natural pause at midterm as an opportunity to grow their confidence by reflecting on the learning process and taking stock of their own development. I therefore tailored my midterm questions with a metacognitive slant that would prompt students to identify and articulate dimensions of and supports for their learning. Learning experts often talk about the necessary “difficulty” and “disorientation” that is part of learning. “Can you share about what has been most challenging for you so far in this course?” (Disorienting even?) “What have you learned from this difficulty? What helped you in overcoming the challenge(s)?”

 

See More Teaching Tips Here