TLS Team Services
Mission Statement
The Teaching, Learning, and Research (TLR) team aims to promote teaching excellence by providing instructors with cutting-edge tools, resources, and support to create and deliver high-quality courses. We aim to enhance learning experiences for all our students by ensuring that courses are well-designed, engaging, and accessible. Through our commitment to instructional excellence, we support instructors and teaching assistants in adopting effective teaching strategies and fostering student engagement.
We believe in the power of evidence-based practices to drive continuous improvement in teaching and learning. By leveraging data and research, we aim to reflect on and evolve our teaching methods to meet the diverse needs of our learners. Our mission expands beyond the classroom by providing institutional support to current and upcoming academic programs and general education initiatives, fostering a holistic, collaborative, and innovative educational environment across all levels of the institution.
The TLR team’s mission is to create a thriving educational community where educators and students can excel, supported by a foundation of pedagogical innovation, excellence, and evidence-based practices.
We offer individualized support for faculty at every stage of course creation, including full course design, targeted revisions, and Canvas course development. Faculty can also access one-on-one consults and participate in workshops or earn certificates focused on course development. For those seeking asynchronous support and resources, we provide a rich collection of teaching toolkits, online resources, and website content, including the Teaching Fundamentals site, faculty spotlights, and newsletters. Our student support resources include how-to videos, learning support materials, and tools for soft skill development to enhance student success
Our faculty and teaching assistant support services help faculty refine their teaching through consults, classroom observations, and student experience feedback tools like IEF and ICES/FLEX. We also offer strategies for student engagement, multimodal teaching, and professional development through partnerships, workshops and certificates. For TAs and post-docs, we provide structured support through the Graduate Academy, customized TA training, on-demand workshops, and pilot programs like the Instructor-of-Record Support Program. We also recognize and celebrate teaching excellence through teaching recognitions, including awards, certificates, tenure and promotion documentation support, teaching highlights, and CITL engagement transcripts.
To support teaching effectiveness, we offer data-informed services, including course evaluations, gradebook analysis, classroom observations, and online course assessments. Our research and data-driven support empowers faculty to engage in educational research, apply for grants, and participate in initiatives like the Inclusive Course Redesign and Faculty Fellows programs. We also explore technology and innovation in education, offering guidance on new technologies, open educational resources, AI in instruction and learning, and website support to enhance digital teaching practices.
We assist with academic program support through services like program approval, assessment, general education alignment, and campus space mapping, while also contributing to campus committees. Our conferences and events, including the Faculty Retreat, Lincoln Legacy, Reimagining the Classroom, and the Graduate Symposium, allow us to highlight faculty efforts across campus and foster collaboration and innovation. Through partnerships with units like the Siebel Center for Design, the Provost Office, and the Graduate College, among others, we co-develop impactful programs and conduct needs analyses to ensure our instructional design services meet evolving campus needs.
Calendar of Events
Workshop Series:
- Faculty Workshop Series in Teaching and Learning (FWSTL): Lucas Anderson and Manny Rodriguez Rivera
- Inclusive Course Design Series (ICDS): Manny Rodriguez Rivera and Jordan Leising
- Canvas and Course Design Series (CCDS): Jordan Lesing, Rachel Martiniak, and Jenny Schwartzberg
- The Art of Teaching Series (AoT): Jordan Lesing and invited guests.
- Master Course in Online Teaching (MCOT): David Favre
- General Workshops (GW): Leads: Lucas Anderson and David Favre
- CITL Faculty Book Club (FBC): David Favre
Leads: Lucas Anderson and Manny Rodriguez
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| September 17th, 2025 | Informal Early Feedback |
| September 24th, 2025 | Active Learning Strategies |
| October 1st, 2025 | Assessment Strategies |
| October 8th, 2025 | Peer Observations |
| October 15th, 2025 | Syllabus |
All sessions will be delivered from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at the Armory Room: 182
Leads: Manny Rodriguez and Jordan Leising
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| August 19th, 2025 | Inclusive Syllabus – Inclusive Policies to Support All Students |
| August 26th, 2025 | Inclusive Syllabus – Course Structures and Strategies to Support Student Learning and Success |
| September 2nd, 2025 | Inclusive Course Design – Increasing Representation and Diverse Voices in Your Curriculum |
| September 9th, 2025 | Inclusive Course Design – Facilitating Difficult and Sensitive Discussions |
All sessions will be delivered from 9:00 am to 10:00 am at the Armory Room: 182
Leads: Jordan Leising, Rachel Martiniak, & Jenny Schwartzberg
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| August 19th, 2025 | Building your online canvas course fundamentals |
| August 20th, 2025 | Using DesignPlus to make your course visually appealing and interactive |
| August 20th, 2025 | Other tools to help you with Canvas: multitool, proctor, quizzes, etc. |
All sessions will be delivered from ?? at the ??
Leads: Jordan Leising, and Invited Guests
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| September 4th, 2025 | Teaching Undergrads to Read Scholarly Work |
| October 2nd, 2025 | Pedagogically appropriate learning through Spanish |
| November 6th, 2025 | TBD |
| December 4th, 2025 | TBD |
All sessions will be delivered from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm via Zoom.
Leads: David Favre
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| October 23rd, 2025 | Module 1: Designing Your Online Course |
| October 30th, 2025 | Module 2: Developing Your Learning Community |
| November 6th, 2025 | Module 3: Adapting Best Teaching Practices to Your Online Course |
| November 13th, 2025 | Module 4: Motivating Your Students to Excel |
All sessions will be delivered from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm via Zoom.
Leads: David Favre
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| September 16th & 19th, 2025 | Session 1: Relationship Rich Education |
| September 30th and October 3rd, 2025 | Session 2: Relationship Rich Education |
| October 14th and 17th, 2025 | Session 3: Relationship Rich Education |
| October 28th and 31st, 2025 | Session 4: Relationship Rich Education |
Tuesday sessions will be delivered from 10:00 am to 11:30 am via Zoom.
Friday sessions will be delivered from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at the Armory Room 156 red chairs area.
General Workshops
Leads: David Favre
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| September 10th, 2025 – 11:30 am to 12:45 pm | Designing Cooperative Learning Experiences |
| October 22nd, 2025 – 10:00 am to 11:15 am | Get in the Flow: Promoting Student Learning Engagement |
| November 18th, 2025 – 3:00 pm – 4:15 pm | Cultivating Learning Communities |
| December 3rd, 2025 – 11:30 am – 12:45 pm | Course Design - Foundations |
All sessions will be delivered via Zoom at times above.
Leads: Lucas Anderson
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| September 18th, 2025 – 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm | Using Informal Early Feedback (Zoom) |
| September 29th, 2025 – 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm | Developing Your Teaching Philosophy Statement for a Faculty Job Search (in person) |
| Flexible | Flexible |
Leads: Ava Wolf
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| Friday, September 5th, 2025 | |
| Friday, October 3rd, 2025 | |
| Friday, November 7th, 2025 | |
| Friday, December 5th, 2025 |
Calendar
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 9:30 to 10:30: Uni High Visit | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 1-4 pm: Grad Academy | 19 8:30 – 5 pm: Grad Academy 9 – 10 am: ICDS: Inclusive Syllabus 10:30 to noon: Graduate Symposium 11:30 – 1:00 pm: CCDS: Canvas Fundamentals | 20 8:30 – 5 pm: Microteaching 10:30 to 4:00 pm: Info Fair and & Expo 11:30 – 1:00 pm?: CCDS: Canvas DesignPlus | 21 8:30 – 5 pm: Microteaching 11:30 – 1:00 pm: CCDS: Other Tools: Multitool, ProctorU, quizzes, etc. TBD: Advanced Grad. TA Program | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 9 – 10 am: ICDS: Strategies to Support Student Learning | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 |
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 9 – 10 am: ICDS: Increase Representation in your Curriculum | 3 | 4 12 – 1pm: AoT: Teaching Undergrads to Read Scholarly Work | 5 12- 1 pm. FTLL | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 12 – 1 pm: GW: Ava: Digital tools for classroom collaboration | 9 9 – 10 am: ICDS: Facilitating Difficult and Sensitive Conversations | 10 11:30 – 12:45: GW-David: Designing Cooperative Learning Experiences | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 10 – 11:30: FBC-Zoom: Relationship Rich Education | 17 11:30 – 1: FWSTL: Informal Early Feedback | 18 1:30 – 3pm: LWS: Using Informal Early Feedback (Zoom) | 19 10 – 11:30: FBC-Armory: Relationship Rich Education | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 11:30 – 1: FWSTL: Active Learning Strategies | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 1:30 – 3pm: GW-Lucas: Development of Your Teaching Philosophy Statement for a Faculty Job Search | 30 10 – 11:30: FBC-Zoom: Relationship Rich Education |
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 11:30 – 1: FWSTL: Assessment Strategies | 2 12 – 1pm: AoT: Pedagogically appropriate learning through Spanish. | 3 10 – 11:30: FBC-Armory: Relationship Rich Education 12- 1 pm. FTLL | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 11:30 – 1: FWSTL: Peer Observations | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 10 – 11:30: FBC-Zoom: Relationship Rich Education | 15 11:30 – 1: FWSTL: Syllabus | 16 | 17 10 – 11:30: FBC-Armory: Relationship Rich Education | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 10 – 11:15: GW-David: Get in the Flow: Promoting Student Learning Engagement | 23 11:30 to 1pm: MCOT: Designing Your Online Course | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 10 – 11:30: FBC-Zoom: Relationship Rich Education | 29 | 30 10 – 11:00: GW-Lucas: 5 Room Dungeon 11:30 to 1pm: MCOT: Developing Your Learning Community | 31 10 – 11:30: FBC-Armory: Relationship Rich Education |
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 11:30 to 1pm: MCOT: Adapting Best Teaching Practices to Your Online Course 12 – 1pm: AoT: TBD | 7 12- 1 pm. FTLL | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 11:30 to 1pm: MCOT: Motivating Your Students to Excel | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 3 – 4:15: GW-David: Cultivating Learning Communities | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 13 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 |
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 3 – 4:15: GW-David: Course Design – Foundations | 4 12 – 1 pm: AoT: TBD | 5 12- 1 pm. FTLL | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
For a comprehensive list of CITL offerings, see: Teaching & Learning Strategies Team-TLS Team Internal Documentation - CITL Workshop Curriculum - 2025 Workshop Planning
Certificate and Other Offerings
Certificate programs consist of approximately 16 hours of content engagement through workshops or other professional development opportunities in teaching and learning, and the submission of a deliverable created in conjunction with CITL or CITL adjacent unit or staff.
“Badge” Programs
- Graduate Academy (Lead: Lucas Anderson)
- CITL Book Club (Lead: David Favre)
- Instructor of Record Training (Lead: Jane Coleman)
- Current Classroom Climate Discussions (Lead: Manny Rodriguez Rivera)
Online Asynchronous/Self-Paced Courses
- Intro to Course Design
- Intro to Teaching Online
- Canvas Instructor Guide
- Canvas Start page (Knowledge-Based – KB)
Certificates
Teaching Excellence
- Certificate in Foundations of Teaching
- Introduction to teaching. No teaching assignment requirement. Ideal for Graduate students, post-docs, or future faculty with no teaching assignment.
- Graduate Teacher Certificate
- For teaching assistants who are or will be teaching at least two semesters at Illinois.
- Dr. Sandra J. Finley Teacher Scholar Certificate
- Cheelan Bo-Linn Teaching Excellence Certificate
- Teaching Innovation Certificate
- Minimum of 16 hours of engagement and a deliverable.
Focused Certificates
- Master Course in Online Teaching (MCOT)
- For teachers (faculty, APs, and TAs) who want a deep dive into online teaching strategies.
- Certificate in Technology-Enhanced Teaching (AI group might reinvent this one on AI)
- For teachers (faculty, APs, and TAs) who teach at least one semester while investigating educational technology.
- Hybrid Teaching & Learning Certificate (to be turned into a handbook/resources)
- For faculty, graduate students, and instructors who want to learn more about developing and teaching a hybrid course.
- Inclusive Teaching Certificate (under development)
- Stepping Stones Certificate (under development)
College-Specific Certificates
- Inclusive STEM Teaching Certificate
- Created by Bennett and Sarah, this certificate focuses on inclusive teaching practices in STEM education. This certificate can be delivered by the faculty, department, or college on request.
- Custom Graduate Teaching Certificate
- CITL staff can create a customized graduate student certificate program specific to any college or department focused on preparing undergraduate and graduate students for their teaching assistant and teaching appointment.