News

CITL Teaching and Learning News: November 3, 2021

Nov 3, 2021, 16:39 PM
 
Click here to see this online
 
 
 
 

Announcements

 
 

Art of Teaching Seminar: How the 'Yes' Classroom Fosters Learning

Join us online tomorrow from noon - 1:00 pm for the next Art of Teaching Lunchtime Seminar featuring Teaching Assistant Professor, Katie Ansell (Physics). Katie has been transforming her STEM classrooms into ‘Yes’ spaces utilizing positive reinforcements and self-determination to drive the classroom atmosphere. In this presentation she will highlight strategies for creating a collaborative classroom where experiences, needs, and emotions are shared, and where students feel that they can succeed even if they don’t understand something the first time they see it. Don’t miss this important discussion of new research on teaching and learning. Register to receive Zoom link.  

Using Design Tools for Research and Teaching: Introduction to Miro

Join the Siebel Center for Design for their final interactive workshop of the year. This workshop will introduce you to the basic mechanics of Miro - a virtual whiteboard tool used across many industries to create and collaborate. The SCD team uses Miro to collect and organize research, to facilitate remote and asynchronous work, and to create assignments and collaborative environments for student group projects. In this session, we’ll show you examples of how we use it in our work and provide templates and suggestions for how you might begin using it for instruction or research.

Thursday November 11, 12:00 - 1:00 pm. Virtual sessions are free, though capacity is limited. Registration closes November 5.

Move to Canvas Week Starts November 8

Join us in person, or via Zoom, next week to connect with campus Canvas experts and get the support you need to move your courses to Canvas for Spring. We'll be offering a variety of flexible options including extended Help Desk hours, Hands-on Workshops, and Tech Demos. Join us for one session, or take advantage of the full suite of offerings, no registration required. Be sure to self-enroll in the Canvas course for access to Zoom links and the full calendar of events.

Self-enroll in the Canvas course here.

 
 

CITL Events & Workshops

 
 
Thursday, November 4
Art of Teaching Seminar Series: How the "Yes" Classroom Fosters Learning
12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M., online via Zoom
Presenter: Katie Ansell
 
Tuesday, November 9
Innovation Studio Open hours
10:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M., CITL Innovation Studio, Armory Room 172, repeats every Tuesday
Host: Jamie Nelson
 
Tuesday, November 9
Cultivating Online Learning Communities
12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M., online via Zoom, register for Zoom link
Presenter: David Favre
 
Tuesday, November 16
Get in the Flow: Promoting Student Engagement in Online Learning
12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M., online via Zoom, register for Zoom link
Presenter: David Favre
 
Check the CITL calendar for new workshops added regularly, and for a complete listing of all our Canvas training and support opportunities.
 
 

Teaching Tips

 
 

Don't Spam Your Students and Other Practical Communication Tips

(from Faculty Focus) Like us, students get a lot of messages in their inbox, which leads to students’ eyes glazing over, and then our messages get lost in the mix. How can we avoid that? Set up a consistent communication protocol that is shared with students the first week and then stick to it.

Here’s an example: Once a week, send students a message that includes what is upcoming along with other important information or announcements. Send that update on the same day each week so that students know that on Friday (or whichever day you choose) they will get a class update. We are going for quality rather than quantity. Yes, this takes a little planning ahead, but the resulting clarity of communication will pay off. Here are ways to maximize communication through other means, such as announcements section, course webpage, and student-friendly assignment schedule.

The Sound of Silence Can Be Deafening and the Questions You Ask Your Students Can Provoke It

(From Stanford University: Tomorrow’s Professor) A colleague recently told me that the students in his undergraduate class “didn’t want to talk.” He and I had previously talked about how to get students more engaged, and I had suggested to him that he ask questions. I probed, “What kinds of questions have you asked your students?” He replied, “Well, the first question I asked this morning was ‘What is the main point of the article I assigned for the day?’” Nobody said anything. I pointed out that even I might be afraid to answer such a question. Such questions pose a severe challenge to the confidence of undergraduate students, because the instructor knows the answer and they don’t. The answer is a “fact” which the instructor clearly thinks the students should have already known before they came to class. When it comes to answering questions about “facts,” there are many ways to be wrong, but only one way to be right. When faced with this dilemma, students are understandably silent.

I suggested that he come up with nonthreatening questions: questions that didn’t put a student’s self-confidence and reputation at risk. There are better ways which start with different types of questions. 

See More Teaching Tips Here

 
 
footer logo