Important Dates
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist… Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. (John Steinbeck)
The Art of Teaching Lunchtime Seminar Series features inspiring faculty from across the disciplines sharing their thoughts and strategies about the art and science of teaching and learning. In the first semester (Spring 2021) we showcased CITL Faculty Fellows and some of the research they have been doing on their teaching. In the second semester (Fall 2021) we featured faculty who are early in their careers sharing tools and strategies they are still developing. In the third semester (Spring 2022) we looked at alternative approaches to teaching and learning that included social justice, game-based pedagogy, and newer approaches to assessment.
This semester (Fall 2022) we return to the theme of faculty research with exemplary presenters sharing how they are conducting research on their teaching or using research to inform their teaching. Join us on the first Thursdays of the month from 12pm-1pm as we welcome new faculty, new stories, and new ways of thinking about the art of teaching. All sessions will continue to be recorded and presenter materials gathered. For more information, or to suggest a speaker for the series, please contact: Ava Wolf at arwolf@illinois.edu.
FALL 2022 PRESENTERS
Judith Pintar (School of Information Sciences)
Pintar worked with undergraduate students to identify course design elements that they experience as inclusive (or excluding), fair (or unfair), effective (or frustrating), as well as those which produce feelings of confidence (or anxiety), agency (or powerlessness), engagement (or boredom), and resilience (or failure). The resulting Students’ Bill of Rights is a meta-rubric intended to increase awareness of the connection between course design and student well-being, and to begin to outline a UX framework for designing fair and inclusive courses.
Discussion Leader Kary Zarate with Emily Tarconish, Jessica Hardy, and Catherine Corr (Special Education)
Faculty in the department of Special Education have been exploring a variety of grading practices from traditional point and letter grades to non-traditional formats such as ungrading. In this panel presentation, Kary and colleagues Emily, Jessica, and Catherine will be sharing data on how these grading processes impact student emotional health, agency, knowledge acquisition, and teaching pedagogy, and describe their efforts toward developing a universally designed grading scheme.
V. Chunoo will describe how he teaches toward pro-social learning outcomes using a leadership learning model rooted in cultural relevance and campus climate. This interactive session will include examples and stories from his teaching and research to help participants craft socially just, equitable, and fair teaching and learning contexts across disciplines. Use this original framework as an assessment tool to identify social justice strengths and weaknesses in your own instruction.
The hybrid classroom is often called the best of both worlds, and theories show that allowing students more autonomy increases satisfaction and learning. But data collected told a different story about student satisfaction. Aimee and Eric will describe the role of social context in the classroom and discuss their findings on the relationship between autonomy and satisfaction, as well as the need for instructors to consider not just individual students but the whole classroom environment.
SEMINAR SERIES RESOURCES
May 6th, 2021
Presenter: Faculty Panel
Senior Associate Director Robert Baird will moderate a panel discussion on using multi-modal assignments in teaching. See inspiring examples of faculty who successfully encouraged students to demonstrate content mastery through AR, graphic novels, games, portfolios, and other media.
April 1st, 2021
Presenter: Lawrence Angrave (CS)
Students may present a wide range of hidden and non-hidden physical, emotional, and learning disabilities. 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.
March 4, 2021
Presenter: Shelly Schmidt (FSHN)
Shelly will describe her work on the impactful connections between emotion and learning, and discuss ways to make our college classrooms a safe and authentic place for students to learn and grow, and where they can feel empowered to do their best work.
February 4th, 2021
Presenter: Emily Knox (iSchool)
Teaching is a skill acquired over time, often through the development of tacit knowledge, and can be difficult to articulate. Emily will tease apart this process and describe a variety of techniques for making teaching more effective, and helping students be more successful.
December 3rd, 2020 Presenters: Judith Pintar (iSchool) & Dan Steward (Sociology)
Judith and Dan will discuss the ways they use games to enhance learning, including table top role-playing to teach about propaganda and media interference, and "Sociopoly" to teach about social inequality
November 5th, 20210
Presenter: Leon Liebenberg (MechSE)
Concerned by a growing sense of emotional disconnect among his students online, Leon responded by developing a series of scaffolded mini-projects as a way to encourage higher engagement and self-directed learning.