Annual AI Orientation

Fall 2023 Associate Instructor Orientation

 

Graduate students who will have instructional roles in the upcoming academic year are invited to attend the following events as part of the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning’s Associate Instructor Orientation. Both new and experienced AIs are welcome to participate. 

All sessions will be on Wednesday, August 16, 2023.

Please register separately for each session you plan to attend, and for lunch. Registering for one session does not register you for the entire day! 

 

From Theory to Practice: Integrating Student-Centered Teaching Principals into the Classroom

Frangipani

9:00-10:15 a.m.

Identity and Classroom Culture

Maple

10:30-11:45 a.m.

Identity, Empathy, and Boundaries in the Classroom 

Walnut

10:30-11:45 a.m.

Establishing Student/Teacher Identities to Create Inclusive Classrooms

Dogwood

10:30-11:45 a.m

Lunch Session

Frangipani

Noon-1 p.m.

Setting up for Success in STEM Courses

Frangipani

1:00-2:15 p.m.

How do I get Students to Contribute?: How to Lead an Effective Analysis-Based Discussion

Maple

1:00-2:15 p.m.

Engaging Diverse Classrooms: Creating an Atmosphere of Active Learning from a CulturallyCompetent Perspective

Dogwood

1:00-2:15 p.m.

Teaching with Canvas: #Easy! 

Frangipani

2:30-3:30 p.m.

Beyond Canvas: Advanced Instructional Technologies to Engage your Class 

Dogwood

2:30-3:30 p.m.

 

From Theory to Practice: Integrating Student-Centered Teaching Principals into the Classroom 

Sophia Amos (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Department), Jennifer Cox (French & Italian Department), & Marcela de Oliveira e Silva Lemos (Spanish & Portuguese Department) 

Frangipani, 9:00-10:15 a.m.

For Associate Instructors, developing teaching practices that are backed by research in the Scholarship 
of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is an effective way to teach a course centered on students’ needs and growth. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to SoTL as an academic field, the theoretical model of Backward Course Design (BCD) which can help you design course lessons, and the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which will help you create inclusive classrooms. Participants will practice integrating concepts from both BCD and UDL into a real or hypothetical undergraduate course by identifying learning outcomes and brainstorming ways of maximizing student engagement, representation, and action and expression in the classroom. 

Session Registration

 

 

Identity and Classroom Culture   

Shahzarin Khan (School of Public Health) & Khurram Sheikh (The Media School)

Maple, 10:30-11:45 a.m.   

This workshop will address the challenge of working with different social and cultural identities and learning abilities of students. By the end of this workshop, participants will learn skills for developing inclusive classroom culture, meeting unique needs of diverse students, and taking care of yourself while taking care of students. This workshop will explore these issues through role-play, interactive activities, and discussion. 

Session Registration 

 

 

Identity, Empathy, and Boundaries in the Classroom 

Da’Ja’ Askew (Higher Education & Student Affairs) & Kevin Mudavadi (The Media School)  

Walnut, 10:30-11:45 a.m.

Implementing healthy boundaries and bringing your full, authentic self into the classroom can be challenging for instructors, but there are changes being made to counter this narrative. This interactive workshop will inform graduate student assistant instructors about the influences their identities have on student perceptions, how to implement healthy boundaries, and how to cultivate empathy and community in the classroom through various engaging group activities and self-reflection. Instructors will walk away from this workshop with resources to create a healthy classroom environment along with practical tools to prevent burnout. 

Session Registration  

 

 

Establishing Student/Teacher Identities to Create Inclusive Classrooms 

Narmeen Ijaz (The Media School) & Maggie McLaughlin (Comparative Literature Department) 

Dogwood, 10:30-11:45 a.m.

This workshop will help instructors create inclusive classroom spaces by establishing and recognizing diverse teacher and student identities. In the workshop, we will discuss the relationship between identity and inclusivity and how to create spaces that establish, recognize, and respect diverse classroom identities. By the end of this workshop, participants will create an activity for their classroom that allows students and teachers to share their identities in a safe and inclusive way. 

Session Registration 

 

Lunch Registration 

 

Setting up for Success in STEM Courses 

Alex Tran (Psychological & Brain Sciences Department) & Basia Walenkiewicz (Chemistry Department) 

Frangipani, 1:00-2:15 p.m.

STEM classrooms present a unique challenge for the assistant instructors and students alike. Class time is often limited, and instructors have to cover the basics of the relevant material, present proper laboratory techniques, and assist students in successfully conducting the experiment/ data analysis. Furthermore, there is great diversity in what STEM encompasses and among the students that choose to be in STEM. In this workshop, we will cover real-life scenarios and useful techniques that will provide the participants with tools for (1) supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM fields, (2) engaging students in the classroom, and (3) planning and time managing in a STEM class. 

Session Registration 

 

 

How do I get Students to Contribute?: How to Lead an Effective Analysis-Based Discussion 

Richard Allberry (English Department) & Rachel Seymour (Anthropology Department)  

Maple, 1:00-2:15 p.m.

One of the largest challenges of teaching with media is simultaneously managing students’ tendencies to leap quickly to interpretation of a text while encouraging and rewarding student contributions to discussion. By the end of this workshop, participants will learn techniques for opening class-wide analysis of media to students with different levels of comfort contributing to large-group discussion. Participants will engage in learning exercises which can be expanded upon with larger groups. This workshop will explore journaling and sharing through classroom exercises such as “Thoughts, Questions, Epiphanies.” 

Session Registration  

 

 

Engaging Diverse Classrooms: Creating an Atmosphere of Active Learning from a Culturally Competent Perspective 

Yu-Shan Chiang (Curriculum and Instruction Department) & Ashley Hayes (African American and African Diaspora Studies Department)  

Dogwood, 1:00-2:15 p.m.

One of the main challenges of teaching in higher education classrooms is engaging and meeting students’ learning needs. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to design and implement an active learning model from a culturally competent perspective to engage students with diverse needs and backgrounds. This workshop will discuss this topic through inquiry-based learning, small-group discussion, and guided practice of an active learning model. 

Session Registration 

 

 

Teaching with Canvas: #Easy! 

Robyn Becker (School of Public Health), Jingyi Wang (Applied Health Science Department), & Selim Yavuz (Curriculum & Instructional Department)  

Frangipani, 2:30-3:30 p.m.

Despite the conveniences offered by technology in the teaching world, it can be difficult to navigate a new learning management system. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to identify Canvas features relevant to their own course, apply knowledge in grading abilities on Canvas, and utilize Modules to organize course within Canvas. This workshop will explore these issues through interactive activities, hands-on demonstrations, and discussion.  

Please bring your own laptop or tablet/iPad. 
This workshop is for beginners and/or people who have never taught in Canvas before. 

Session Registration  

 

 

Beyond Canvas: Advanced Instructional Technologies to Engage your Class   

Chen Meng (Instructional Systems Technology Department) & Jess Tang (Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning)  

Dogwood,  2:30-3:30 p.m.

Engaging students who take your class from different places via a digital device in an online environment is challenging and most of the time can be frustrating to an instructor. This workshop will explore this issue through demo illustration, participation, and discussion. By the end of the workshop, participants will know how to organize outside of the classroom assignment discussions with PlayPosit, track students’ learning outcomes by having them take quizzes in TopHat, and get students involved in cooperative activity by creating mind mapping together with Google Jamboard. 

Please bring your own laptop or tablet/iPad.  

This workshop is for those who have taught in Canvas before and do not need to learn about Canvas.  

 
Session Registration