Postdoctoral Associates and Fellows looking to build their knowledge and skills in teaching are invited to the听Center for Teaching and Learning, or CTL. All events for the spring semester are listed below.
CTL strategically supports CU Boulder faculty and postdoctoral professionals听in implementing the most effective, evidence-based classroom practices to facilitate听engaged student learning.听All Postdoctoral Associates and Fellows looking to maintain their teaching credentials with current best practices are welcome and encouraged to attend.
For any questions, please email听CTL@colorado.edu
In the symposia, campus experts听provide evidence-based tools to strengthen teaching and learning, as well as opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. All classroom instructors are welcome.听
Visit the CTL events page for more information.
听
Teaching in the US: How to navigate a new academic system
In this workshop, participants will discuss how to address some common challenges that international instructors face when teaching in the United States. Teaching in a different academic system requires a good understanding of the language, pedagogy, and culture to which students are accustomed. We will offer strategies to improve communication, rapport, and instructional practices and improve the educational experience for students and instructors.
January 18, 2021, 10:00-11:00am
Using class journals and rubrics to assess your teaching
We spend a lot of time preparing our classes, but how much time do we dedicate to reflecting? In this session, participants will learn the value of keeping a class journal and incorporating personally designed rubrics for self assessment. Dedicating even a small amount of time just after teaching to reflect on the lesson design and delivery is useful in honing teaching skills as well as in designing future courses. We will present research that supports the use of self-assessment tools, and look at examples of journals and rubrics that teachers have designed to assess their own teaching. Participants will begin to design their own rubrics based on personal goals and on feedback from students and coordinators.
January 19, 2021, 10:00-11:00am
Digital Accessibility Office
Disability Services and the Digital Accessibility Office present an overview of accommodation responsibilities and accessibility guidance for instructors for the Spring 2021 semester. Topics will include instructor responsibilities around student accommodations at CU Boulder, recommendations for accessible tools to implement in your course, and general tips and guidance on remote/online accessibility
January 21, 2021, 10:00-11:00am
Fostering student engagement in your remote/online classes
The walls have truly come down between the physical and virtual classroom. Your Canvas learning management system and the Zoom synchronous tool provide you with the technology to create a user-friendly, active-learning experience at distance for your students. In this workshop, you鈥檒l examine best practices in promoting student engagement including specific ideas for organizing the virtual classroom, facilitating an engaging synchronous Zoom chat and promoting asynchronous activities. The ideas and concepts that you will examine in this workshop can be immediately applied in your spring courses.
January 22, 2021, 11:00-12:00pm
Recognizing and Mitigating Unconscious Bias
Attitudes and stereotypes are developed about people and groups of people that affect our understanding and actions without our awareness or intentional control. This workshop examines unconscious bias and identifies key areas where it affects our work, interactions, and decision-making processes. We will explore personal and departmental practices that can help reduce bias and increase inclusion, engagement, and productivity. This session is designed for graduate students.
January 25, 2021, 12:30-2:00pm
Encouraging Presence
Community is so important in this time of uncertainty, and yet, many students and instructors must work remotely, and health concerns prevent others from coming to class. Still, community starts with presence, and there are ways to be present and engaged with a community without being in the same room. This workshop encourages instructors to ask: How am I presenting myself to students, online or in person, in a way that's encouraging, in this time of uncertainty? How am I encouraging students to be present in class, or at least to engage with the work independently, when absence policies aren鈥檛 so clear cut? How am I encouraging students to be present with themselves, with their work, and with each other?
January 26, 2021, 1:00-2:00pm
Remote Defenses
Learn the tips and tricks for defending your dissertation or thesis remotely. Designed for doctoral and master鈥檚 students as well as their faculty advisors, this workshop will provide useful information to ensure a successful defense.
January 29, 2021, 11:30-12:30pm
Keynote Speaker: Spring Professional Development Series
Details to be announced.
January 29, 2021, 5:00-6:00pm
Noticing, naming, and compassionately responding to our pandemic-influenced experiences
Our current pandemic-influenced language incorporates many phrases referring to the past (The Before Times) and the future (鈥渨hen things go back to normal鈥�). What do we need to learn to talk about in our present experiences? We will talk about why it鈥檚 hard neurobiologically and emotionally to be in the present right now. And we will share mindfulness strategies for accepting what is right now and strategies for staying in alignment with our goals.
February 1 2021, 9:00-10:00am
International 乐播传媒 in Online Classes
Some easy-to-implement instructional practices can significantly improve the experiences of international students in your online classes. Using an approach based on intercultural competence, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and Backwards Design, we will explore some of these practices and discuss why they can be so impactful.
February 2, 2021, 2:00-3:00pm
Classroom Management During Covid-19
Classroom management is tough, especially during COVID-19. In this session, participants will learn about, discuss, and practice using different classroom management techniques across a wide variety of disciplines and classroom structures. Participants will leave with strategies for classroom management in synchronous, asynchronous, and in-person socially distanced learning environments.
February 3, 2021, 1:30-2:30pm
Best Practices for Promoting Student Mental Health
With the growing prevalence of mental health challenges that our students face, and the negative effect these challenges can have on the engagement, performance, and retention of our students, it is essential that we faculty make conscientious and concerted efforts to accommodate the diverse needs of our students to promote their mental health wellness and academic success. This workshop, which extends best pedagogical practices for student-centered teaching to problems of mental health, explores several practical ways in which graduate student teachers can work to adjust their curricula, course delivery, formative assignments, and classroom management, to better prevent mental health crises and to empower students to proactively utilize the mental health wellness resources available on campus. Some of the practical strategies we will discuss include creating meaningful opportunities for classroom discussion of mental health, educating students on available resources, establishing a clear albeit empathetic expectation that students take ownership of their mental health wellness, adopting flexible deadlines, improving faculty accessibility, utilizing features in Canvas to help students stay organized, increasing opportunities for experiential learning and applying abstract course material in tangible ways, and promoting community in the classroom.
February 8, 2021, 11:30-12:30pm
Effective Bystander Intervention Skills
This session uses real-world examples to explore factors that promote or impede bystanders from helping. Participants brainstorm strategies for intervening effectively when they witness situations where help may be needed. We will explore skills for inside the classroom, issues between peers, and situations that involve faculty. This session is designed for graduate students.
February 10, 2021, 1:00-2:30pm
The Academic Job Market Search
In this workshop, Dr. Sarah Tynen will be outlining the four most important strategies to begin building in the early years of graduate school: networking, technical skills, publishing, and grant-writing. Don't miss this opportunity to learn about how you can start planning for your career after graduation sooner rather than later.
February 11, 2021, 2:30-3:30pm
Panel of Hiring Committee Members
Join faculty panelists from several institutions across Colorado to discuss their experiences as members of academic search committees. Panelists will discuss the process of the search, how their campus/department approaches a search and any advice they may give to graduate students and post-docs looking for academic positions. Plenty of time will be given to questions.
February 15, 2021, 11:30-12:30pm
Panel of Early Career Faculty
Join early career faculty panelists, who graduated from CU, from several institutions across the country and the world to discuss their experiences on the academic job market, how they prepared for their current position, how their institution approaches community and mentoring for early career faculty and any general advice they would give to current graduate students and post-docs. Plenty of time will be given to questions.
February 16, 2021, 3:30-4:30pm
Teaching Statement/Portfolios I
In this workshop, we will address best practices for writing a teaching statement/philosophy for the academic job market. This workshop is open to all graduate students and post-doctoral scholars from across the disciplines who want to improve their teaching portfolio materials.
February 18, 2021, 10:00-11:00am
Creating Inclusive Classroom Climates
In this workshop, participants will be encouraged to (re)think how we understand 鈥渋nclusivity鈥� in university classrooms. In small groups, participants will discuss creative ways to revitalize their pedagogical strategies and consider the various benefits of an inclusive classroom climate. At the conclusion of this workshop, all participants will receive a list of resources to support future classroom pedagogy efforts.
February 19, 2021, 11:00-12:00pm
Panel of Careers Outside of Higher Education I
Join panelists from various disciplines to discuss their career paths from graduate degree to professional. Panelists will address how they used their degrees and training to prepare them for their current positions and any advice they can give to current graduate students. Plenty of time will be given for questions.
February 22, 2021, 1:30-2:30pm
Writing Your Diversity Statement for the Academic Job Market
This workshop aims to explore the meanings of 鈥渄iversity鈥� in the university and to introduce students to various strategies of writing diversity statements, a document that is becoming increasingly required as part of an academic job application package. In addition to asking participants to think about how we can best approach the challenges of institutional diversity, we will also look at sample diversity statements to assess their strengths and weaknesses.
February 24, 2021, 2:30-3:30pm
Workshops with invited presenters from other campuses
Details to be announced.
March 1, 2021, 1:00-2:00pm
Writing Your Cover Letter for the Academic Job Market
Cat Diebel-Wilson of Career Services will lead a 60 minute session about the academic cover letter, answering questions around format and content. Through this presentation you will learn the basic structure of an academic cover letter, how to tailor it to your target institution, and how to include the information that will make you a compelling candidate.
March 2, 2021, 3:30-4:30pm
Facilitating Engaging Online Synchronous Sessions
From the occasional live session in an online class to a shift to remote synchronous teaching during a pandemic, college educators are quickly learning to embrace teaching via a remote teaching platform. In this session, we will explore various factors related to facilitating engaging online synchronous sessions, including developing social presence, creating a sense of community, and designing engaging small and larger group activities and discussions. Connections to the educational literature will be shared along with practical tips and lessons learned (the hard way) as we explore and engage in interactive methods.
March 8, 2021, 12:30-1:30pm
Academic CV's
Join Cat Diebel-Wilson of Career Services for a 60 minute presentation on drafting your academic CV. We鈥檒l go over formatting, content, and tailoring of the CV for academic job applications, including discussion of the basic eight CV sections, additional sections you might want to include, and how to structure the information you include in those sections, as well as some advice around CV mindset and how and when to update your CV content.
March 9, 2021, 3:30-4:30pm
Intercultural Communication in the Classroom
Our students come from very diverse backgrounds. Developing our intercultural communication skills helps us build stronger relationships and better understand our students. It also makes us more effective in the classroom. In this session, we will discuss some basic aspects of intercultural communication that have direct impact in the classroom. We will also talk about how to engage in future intercultural development.
March 15, 2021, 11:30-12:30pm
Panel of Early Career Faculty
Join early career faculty panelists, who graduated from CU, from several institutions across the country and the world to discuss their experiences on the academic job market, how they prepared for their current position, how their institution approaches community and mentoring for early career faculty and any general advice they would give to current graduate students and post-docs. Plenty of time will be given to questions.
March 17, 2021, 3:30-4:30pm
Making the Transition from Teaching Assistant to Graduate Part-Time Instructor
In this workshop we will brainstorm strategies for making the transition from teaching assistant to graduate part-time instructor (GPTI). Topics include syllabus construction and course design, keeping students engaged and wanting to come to class, active learning and group work. The workshop will include a number of breakout sessions in which a Lead GPTI will cover a specific topic. We have allotted enough time for participants to join two breakout sessions. Near the end of the workshop, the full group will reconvene to go over what was learned. This way, all participants will have some interaction with each of the topics covered.
March 18, 2021, 1:30-3:00pm
Panel of Careers Outside of Higher Education II
Join panelists from various disciplines to discuss their career paths from graduate degree to professional. Panelists will address how they used their degrees and training to prepare them for their current positions and any advice they can give to current graduate students. Plenty of time will be given for questions.
March 30, 2021, 1:00-2:00pm
Writing Your Research Statement for the Academic Job Market
Job postings in higher education often require a research statement
as part of the application process. This session will focus on assembling a research statement for academic jobs. We'll consider the intended audience and analyze examples from recent applicants.
April 8, 2021, 3:00-4:00pm
Student Centered Course Design
During this workshop, we will discuss how to use the principles of 鈥渂ackward course design鈥� to create a syllabus. We will talk about how to make student centered assessments and learning outcomes that reflect the instructor's course goal. Throughout the workshop, participants will then apply the ideas they are learning to the beginnings of their own course syllabus. Participants should bring an idea for a course at any stage in development.
April 16, 2021, 9:30-10:30am
Remote Defenses
Learn the tips and tricks for defending your dissertation or thesis remotely. Designed for doctoral and master鈥檚 students as well as their faculty advisors, this workshop will provide useful information to ensure a successful defense.
April 22, 2021, 12:30-1:30pm
Teaching Statement/Portfolios II
In this workshop, we will address best practices for writing a teaching statement/philosophy for the academic job market. This workshop is open to all graduate students and post-doctoral scholars from across the disciplines who want to improve their teaching portfolio materials.
April 28, 2021, 10:00-11:00am
Day long training for summer instructors
Details to be announced.
May 10, 2021, 9:00-3:00pm