Teaching Tidbits Workshops

Instructors want their students to understand the expectations for learning in their course. But it can be challenging to ensure this is happening without careful course planning. In this interactive online workshop, we will discuss backward design (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005) for learning, an approach to instructional planning that starts with identifying desired results– what students are expected to learn or be able to do–and then proceeds “backward” to determine acceptable evidence of learning (assessments) and to develop instruction and learning activities that promote the desired results.

After participating in this online workshop you will be able to:

• Differentiate between content-centered and learner-centered courses.
• Explain the benefits of incorporating backward design into course design.
• Describe the three steps of the backward design framework.
• Identify tools and methods needed to effectively apply backward design to your courses.

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

As an instructor, you generally have a clear idea of what you want to teach in your class and how you plan to accomplish it. But are you confident that your students understand your expectations for what you want them to learn or be able to do? Crafting clear learning objectives for your course is helpful in setting course expectations for your students and in developing effective means for assessing your students’ learning. During this online workshop, we will explore different frameworks, or educational taxonomies, that can be used to inform learning objectives. We will then draft, or revise, course learning objectives to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

After participating in this online workshop you will be able to:

• Describe the importance of learning objectives for both instructors and students.
• Draft or revise course learning objectives using the SMART framework.
• Identify how you might assess students’ mastery of or progress towards achievement of your learning objective.

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

Peer instruction is a form of collaborative learning where students engage with core course concepts and then explain those concepts to one another. In order to be effective, peer instruction must be thoughtfully planned and executed by the instructor. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore research-based tips and ideas for achieving the full benefit of peer instruction. Effective use of student response systems will be discussed as a means to achieve student engagement and deep learning.

Have you considered adding group work activities to your in-class sessions with students but don’t know where to start? Do you want to know more about how group work activities can help to engage students? Are you interested in learning about the most effective strategies for forming groups and supporting equitable group work in your class?  If so, then please join us for this interactive online workshop in which we offer practical, evidence-based suggestions for helping instructors implement group work. Specifically, we will discuss ways to structure groups accounting for diverse group dynamics, design group activities that foster individual accountability, and select assignments that work well with different types of groups.

• Identify research studies supporting the benefits of group work activities
• Develop a plan to incorporate a variety of inclusive activities that increase engagement, feedback, and learning
• Identify strategies to structure groups effectively and equitably.
• Discuss teaching techniques that foster collaboration and address classroom inequities through group activities.

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into your UIC Google account to access these materials.

Active learning benefits all students. Research studies have shown that students in lecture-dominated courses are 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in classes using active learning. Furthermore, active learning can drive the performance gains of historically underserved students, particularly in large-enrollment courses characterized by large equity gaps in student outcomes. In this online workshop, we will work through some examples of evidence-based teaching techniques you and your TAs may readily implement in your classroom to create a more inclusive and engaged learning environment.

After participating in this online workshop, you will be able to:

• Implement teaching strategies that increase student engagement, feedback, and learning.
• Plan how to incorporate at least one active learning practice into your teaching.

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

Student engagement has increasingly been positioned as a defining characteristic of high quality teaching and learning in higher education. Generative theory of learning states that students learn better when they are engaged during the learning experience, and answering questions and receiving feedback increases students’ attention so they are more likely to understand the presented course material. How can instructors accomplish this when teaching in a blended synchronous classroom? In this online workshop, we will discuss easily implemented activities you can add to your classes in order to engage all students, and also learn about the types of educational technologies you can use to support these activities.

After participating in this online workshop you will be able to:

• Describe types of student engagement interactions
• Identify activities that increase student engagement
• Compare technology tools and techniques that help in implementing interaction

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into your UIC Google account to access these materials.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a research-based framework that guides the development of flexible learning environments to accommodate individual learning differences. The lived experiences of our students are highly diverse, and, for many, English is not their first language. In addition, more and more students with both visible and non-visible disabilities are pursuing postsecondary education. When implemented effectively, UDL can help us develop and deliver courses that best reach and teach all students. In this interactive workshop, we will explore the guiding principles of UDL and brainstorm ways to apply UDL best practices to our instructional materials, course activities, and assessments.

After participating in this online workshop, you will be able to:

• Describe the principles of the UDL framework.
• Implement new UDL techniques in your teaching.
• Identify and evaluate UDL usage in your current classroom.

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into your UIC Google account to access these materials.

Students benefit when they see themselves and their identities reflected in course content. Yet instructors often face a common challenge:  “how do I make room for more?” Whether it’s in your learning objectives, your units, your assigned readings and materials, there’s only so much time and space, right? In this workshop, participants will consider strategies for diversifying content and curriculum that go beyond what’s known as the additive approach. Drawing from research and best practices in curriculum and course design, participants will practice transformative strategies that rethink course content from the ground up. By embedding marginalized perspectives vs just including them, providing a critical framing for course content, and asking questions with your students about representation in your field, instructors can help students connect to the material, and engage in more meaningful ways with course content.

After participating in this online workshop, you will be able to:

• Identify and embed (vs. just include) underrepresented voices in course materials in authentic, meaningful ways
• Frame subjects in ways that encourage critical reflection and connection to students’ lived experiences
• Ask critical questions with your students about existing content and whose voices are represented and whose are not, in the traditional works of your particular field
• Deploy diversity and critical reflection in service of existing learning objectives of your course and possible additional learning objectives and competencies

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into your UIC Google account to access these materials.

Are you updating a syllabus for your next semester course? The syllabus is often the first point of contact with new students and offers an opportunity to set an inclusive tone for your course. Join us for this interactive online workshop, where you will identify key components of an inclusive syllabus that supports student success and examine language and design elements that can help promote equity, belonging, and growth mindset in students. You will also leave this workshop with strategies to help motivate students to read your syllabus.

Workshop attendees are encouraged to bring along a syllabus to revise and annotate during the session.

After participating in this online workshop you will be able to:

• Identify key components of an inclusive, engaging, and informative syllabus that supports student success
• Incorporate language and design elements into your syllabus to promote equity, belonging, and growth mindset
• Utilize strategies to motivate students to read your syllabus

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

What are some factors that hold back or push students forward in learning and performing the best they can? How do students react to successes and failures? In this interactive online workshop, participants will review evidence from social and educational psychology of how students’ mindsets about where their knowledge, skills, and abilities come from, and how students respond to challenges and setbacks, can impact the learning experience. Participants will identify the differences between a fixed and growth mindset, and how students’ and instructors’ mindsets can impact student motivation and achievement and sense of belonging. Participants will also identify strategies that can be implemented in their teaching to foster a growth mindset and increased sense of belonging in their students.

After participating in this online workshop you will be able to:

• Explain the differences between a fixed and growth mindset
• Consider how students’ and instructors’ mindsets can impact student achievement and motivation
• Identify teaching strategies to promote a growth mindset and sense of belonging in students

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

What are some ways you can communicate assessment expectations more effectively? How can you provide qualitative feedback to students? How do you ensure the validity and reliability of your assessments and grading practices?

In this interactive online workshop, we will discuss how you can communicate expectations and provide qualitative feedback to students by implementing rubrics and checklists. We will also discuss how the rubrics and checklists development process can improve the validity and reliability of your assessments and grading practices. You will leave this workshop with strategies to develop and implement rubrics and checklists to improve student outcomes. I

Interested in developing rubrics or checklists for a course? Want feedback and support in drafting rubrics and/or checklists?

In this interactive in-person workshop, we will discuss the types of rubrics or checklists to communicate expectations to students. Each participant will work on identifying and describing grading criteria for an assignment or course. Participants will also spend time providing feedback on rubrics developed in small groups. You will leave this workshop with developed rubrics and/or checklists to improve equitable grading and student outcomes.

After participating in this workshop, you will be able to:

• Discuss the elements in a rubric.
• Differentiate between the types of rubrics.
• Identify the grading criteria in an assessment.
• Describe grading criteria at different performance levels.
• Utilize the steps in designing a rubric.
• Draft rubrics for a course.

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

What are some ways you can communicate assessment expectations more effectively? How can you provide qualitative feedback to students? How do you ensure the validity and reliability of your assessments and grading practices? In this interactive online workshop, we will discuss how you can communicate expectations and provide qualitative feedback to students by implementing rubrics and checklists. We will also discuss how the rubrics and checklists development process can improve the validity and reliability of your assessments and grading practices. You will leave this workshop with strategies to develop and implement rubrics and checklists to improve student outcomes.

What are some ways to collect evidence of student learning to inform teaching and instruction? How can you measure student performance to ensure learning objectives are achieved? What are some strategies to develop assessments as learning opportunities? In this interactive online workshop, we will discuss assessment planning through the lens of collecting data, making decisions, and developing learning opportunities. We will also discuss how to ensure alignment of assessments to learning goals and objectives. You will leave the workshop with strategies for designing effective and equitable formative and summative assessments.

After participating in this online workshop, you will be able to:

• Examine the purposes of assessments, including how assessments provide opportunities for interaction, practice, and feedback.
• Differentiate between formative and summative assessments.
• Describe how to create assessments using backward design.
•  Identify strategies and tools for designing formative and summative assessments.

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

As an instructor, how do you know if what you’re doing in the classroom is “working”? In other words, how do you know if your teaching methods are effective in engaging students and supporting them in achieving your course learning objectives? In this interactive workshop, we will discuss another strategy by which to evaluate and enhance your teaching beyond using course evaluations: collecting and using student feedback throughout the course. We’ll consider how to set up a classroom climate that is conducive to gathering student feedback. We will also review practical strategies and online tools to collect and respond to student feedback such as mid-semester feedback surveys and classroom assessment techniques (CATs) such as minute papers and polling.

After participating in this online workshop you will be able to:

• Use student feedback to enhance your teaching and the learning experience for your students
• Apply strategies to set up a classroom climate conducive to student feedback
• Identify teaching methods for collecting and responding to feedback from students throughout the course

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

As an instructor, how do you know if what you’re doing in the classroom is “working”? To answer this question, you are engaging in reflective teaching – collecting and reflecting upon data to assess if your teaching methods are effective in supporting student learning. In this online workshop, we will discuss one source of data by which to evaluate and enhance your teaching: feedback from your peers on your course materials and classroom instruction. We will review principles of giving and receiving effective feedback, different tools and ways to structure and peer observations, and consider factors for a peer review process that works for your course and/or departmental context. You will also have the opportunity to practice giving feedback on teaching.

After participating in this online workshop you will be able to:

• Identify principles of giving and receiving effective feedback
• Explore different tools for implementing peer review of teaching
• Create a plan for incorporating peer feedback and reflection into your teaching

Workshop materials include slides and handouts provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

Social annotation tools allow users to add comments that are directly anchored to assigned readings and course texts within Blackboard. These tools, which include platforms such as Hypothesis and Perusall, can make learning active, visible, and social. While we have all likely annotated books and pdfs with our own notes, social annotation tools make this process collaborative, giving learners and instructors ways to build community and co-create knowledge. In this interactive workshop, we will examine the ways social annotation can benefit students and instructors as well as explore strategies for meaningfully incorporating this technology into several types of courses. With options to participate remotely or in person, this hybrid workshop will explore applications for asynchronous, synchronous, hybrid, and in person instructional modalities. We will also consider assessment, accessibility, and generative AI as they relate to this collaborative technology.

After participating in this workshop, you will be able to:

• Discuss the benefits of using social annotation tools for assigned readings.
• Create social annotation assignments and activities in Blackboard for online and in-person courses.
• Assess course goals and learning objectives using social annotation tools.

Workshop materials include slides and links provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

In this interactive workshop, we will explore the use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools in teaching and learning. First, we will evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of incorporating generative AI tools into the teaching process. Next, we will discuss issues related to responsible use, academic integrity, access and equity, and data privacy. Given that generative AI is relatively new to the classroom, we recognize that instructors are in different stages of implementing AI in their curriculum. Therefore, a significant portion of this workshop will offer participants space to share ideas with their colleagues about incorporating generative AI in the classroom. Finally, we will provide instructors with tools and resources to respond to AI’s current possibilities and to prepare for future shifts in teaching with generative AI.

After participating in this workshop, you will be able to:

• Evaluate the potential benefits and drawbacks of incorporating generative AI tools into the teaching and learning process.
• Explore ethical considerations associated with the use of generative AI in education.
• Build an actionable plan for implementing generative AI in your curriculum

Workshop materials include slides and links provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

Asynchronous discussions can effectively foster student collaboration and engagement, but sometimes these conversations fall flat, with students merely agreeing with one another or making superficial conversation. In this workshop, we will discuss how to craft a successful discussion question prompt that encourages critical thinking, idea exchange, and meaningful conversation. We will review research and strategies for structuring successful online discussion that supports robust student engagement and active learning. Participants will have the opportunity to revise their discussion questions with their peers and will walk away with a plan to augment or improve their existing online discussion practices on Blackboard. Finally, we will review how VoiceThread, a UIC-supported EdTech tool, may help support student engagement through discussions that include videos, audio, and images.

After participating in this online workshop, you will be able to:

• Identify the features of discussion board prompts that support critical thinking, student engagement, and meaningful conversation
• Examine how Blackboard and VoiceThread support student learning through online discussions
• Design or revise a discussion board prompt that supports deep learning, student engagement, and ongoing discussion for your course

Workshop materials include slides and links provided during the workshop. Please note that you must be logged into Box using your UIC NetID to access these materials.

ChatGPT is a conversational AI system that uses natural language processing techniques to generate human-like text. Since its release to the public, ChatGPT has brought unprecedented attention to the capabilities of generative AI. However, the ethical implications of ChatGPT in education immediately came to the fore. As the use of ChatGPT becomes more ubiquitous, there is a need for awareness and dialogue across the UIC teaching community. How can ChatGPT be used effectively for teaching and learning? At the same time, how can instructors discourage or prevent unauthorized use of ChatGPT in their classrooms?

This discussion is CATE’s first step in building a community of practice among campus stakeholders and supporting an ongoing conversation across UIC’s teaching and learning community. We invite you to come listen and share your experiences and perspectives on ChatGPT in the classroom.