Announcements

'Art of Teaching' Lunchtime Seminar Series

TheArtofTeaching Lunchtime SeminarSeries continuesonApril 1 (12-1pm) whenCITL Faculty Fellow,Lawrence Angrave, will presentAccessibility, Equity, and UDL: Dos, Don’ts, and Time-Saving Practices. We know that students may present a wide range of hidden and non-hidden physical, emotional, and learning disabilities, but we don’t always know how to meet their needs. Lawrence will highlight principles of universal design and offer effective strategies for making your classroom and course materials accessible and welcoming to all types of learners. If you haven’t already done so pleaseregister to receive a zoom link at: https://go.illinois.edu/artofteachingregistration.

This series continues through May, and all sessions are recorded. Links to slides, videos, and short articles written about each of the speakers can be found at: https://go.illinois.edu/artofteaching.

Canvas Migration Timeline

Preparations are underway for the campus rollout of the Canvas Learning Management System with course migrations starting this summer.Visit the Canvas Transition Website for a detailed timeline. If you're interested in learning more about Canvas, consider registering for this free Growing with Canvas course from Instructure. They also provide robust instructor guides and video tutorials for anyone wanting to learn more about how to use the tools and features available in Canvas.

Draft List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students

The Draft List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students for Fall 2020 is now available at go.illinois.edu/lotrae.If your course is missing, check your instructor report against the criteria in the draft list. At least five students must have completed the relevant item(s) and you must have released your name and course for inclusion on the list if you qualify. For questions or corrections, please email ices@illinois.edu or call 244-3846.

Pivoting in a Pandemic

COVID-19 has made adapting to new regulations and creatively reaching customers a must for all types of businesses. Join us for a panel discussion on how small businesses in Champaign-Urbana are adjusting their daily activities and pivoting their operations to stay open in a pandemic.Brought to you by CITL Innovation Spaces and the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignThursday, March 25, 2021 from 12pm to 1pm. Registration

Breaking New Ground Webinar Offers First Look at New Instructional Spaces

Tired of looking at the same four walls? Tune into Breaking New Ground on April 16 (9am – 12pm) for a first look at new campus instructional spaces nearing completion this Spring. Brought to you by theReimagining the Classroom Symposiumcommittee, this webinar will feature campus luminaries and others showcasing the new Siebel Center for Design and the new Campus Instructional Facility. Video tours, keynotes, campus trivia, prizes, and breakout conversation spaces will round out this fun and engaging webinar celebrating the great new things happening on this campus. Let’s reimagine a post-pandemic classroom and prepare for good things ahead. Please register today.

Certificate Deadline is April 15

If you are pursuing one of CITL's teaching certificates, the deadline for finishing the requirements this year is Thursday, April 15. If you don't submit your application by April 15, all of your progress still counts and you have until next April to finish the remainder of the requirements. See the bullet points below for information that may answer some questions you currently have.

• You will not be able to submit your application in person or through campus mail by April 15. You may instead email your completed applications to Lucas Anderson at lander23@illinois.edu. You will need to scan your completed application and attach it to the email, and also attach any other required documents, such as reflective essays, examples of original work, or a teaching philosophy statement.
• If you are missing any signatures of CITL staff on your application, you may submit the otherwise completed application and we can provide signatures upon receipt of your application. This includes signatures for CITL workshops you attended – just be sure to indicate the dates and titles of any workshops on your application.
• If someone outside of CITL helped you complete a requirement, such as a faculty member observing your class, and you did not get their signature on your application, ask that person to digitally sign your application, or send that person an email asking them to affirm that they helped you, then forward their response on to Lucas.
• If you still need to get your class observed for a certificate, there is still time to conduct an observation of your in-person or online class. Contact citl-info@illinois.edu to request an observation.
• If you are pursing a certificate that requires a teaching philosophy statement, be sure to get feedback from someone outside of CITL, revise the statement in light of that feedback, and submit the revision as part of your application. You don’t need to get CITL’s feedback on the statement before the April 15 deadline, but you do need to get your outside feedback and revise the statement before that deadline.
• Other questions about the certificate may be posed directly to Lucas at lander23@illinois.edu

CITL Events & Workshops

Teaching Tips

Extending the Shelf Life of Your Instructional Videos: Six Common Pitfalls to Avoid

(from Faculty Focus) When instructional video is produced thoughtfully and used to promote active engagement, it can improve student motivation, learning, and performance, make content more memorable, and bring highly visual material to life. Video has other benefits as well. It allows students to watch lectures at their own pace, rewinding and re-watching as needed. It lets instructors assign lectures as homework, opening up class time for interaction. And it can reduce the total time faculty need to spend preparing and delivering the same material for different semesters or audiences. Once you’ve recorded a video, you can–theoretically–use it again and again.

I say “theoretically” because it’s not as easy as it sounds. In fact, there are a number of small mistakes that can shorten the shelf-life of video unnecessarily, limit its reusability, and compel you to re-record sooner than you’d like. Here are six strategies that can help you avoid these pitfalls and make videos that last. 

See More Teaching Tips Here