Future Events

Good teaching involves planning, lots of it and at every level. This online, self-directed workshop, open to all new instructors at Penn State, is offered at the start of each semester through Canvas, Penn State’s learning management system.

Moderated by Cindy Decker Raynak, Senior Instructional Designer, this self directed workshop will provide you with a brief introduction to the resources and strategies that are crucial to good teaching and planning.

Registered participants will receive a registration confirmation immediately,  followed by an email within two business days with Canvas access instructions.

The last day to register is noon, Wednesday, February 26, 2020. All assignments must be uploaded by 11:59 p.m. Friday, February 28, 2020.

 

 It's not a question of if, but rather of when—challenging situations happen to all instructors, whether that means chronically late students, distracting use of mobile devices, hostile students, or some other behavior. 

This workshop, facilitated by Sara Cavallo and Jamie Kim, will focus on ways to deal with challenging situations without becoming part of the disruption.  

The workshop satisfies a requirement for the Instructional Foundations Series. 

A teaching statement (also called a teaching philosophy) is required by many search committees as part of the faculty hiring process. In this hands-on workshop, facilitated by Chas Brua and Deena Levy, participants will identify their central beliefs about teaching and will consider kinds of evidence they can use to show those beliefs in action. 

This workshop satisfies a requirement for the Instructional Foundations Series for new instructors. The session is part of "double feature": a workshop on preparing a teaching demo for the job market will follow at 11:45 a.m. Participants can attend either or both.

You’ve got one chance to showcase your teaching talents but don’t know where to begin. Feeling nervous about your teaching demo and wondering how you should go about preparing to "teach" your prospective colleagues or students? This workshop, facilitated by Chas Brua and Deena Levy, will provide practical guidelines about preparing a stellar teaching demonstration.
   
The workshop satisfies a requirement for the Instructional Foundations Series for new instructors. This session is part of a "double feature": A workshop on writing a teaching philosophy statement will precede this one (at 10:10 a.m.). Participants can attend either or both workshops.

What we do -- or don't do -- as instructors or TAs will have a big impact on our students' motivation for learning and their engagement with course material. In this interactive workshop, facilitated by Chas Brua and Sara Cavallo, we'll discuss research-based methods you can use to help your students value what they're learning and to keep them actively involved in their courses.
  
This workshop fulfills a requirement for the Instructional Foundations Series for new instructors.

This highly successful, free, non-credit, 8-week course provides an opportunity for faculty and graduate student instructors from all disciplines to share ideas and strategies for successful teaching. It includes discussion and practice based on information drawn from the teaching and learning literature, as well as from the teaching experiences of individual participants. The course is designed to allow participants to collaboratively explore successful teaching and learning.
  
In Spring 2020, the CCT, facilitated by instructional consultants Larkin Hood and Mary Ann Tobin, is offered in a blended format beginning on February 6 and ending on April 2. In addition to five face-to-face meetings on Thursdays from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. in 315 Rider Building, we will have three discussion-based online sessions in Canvas.
  
The CCT is open to Penn State faculty, graduate students, and post-docs with previous teaching experience, which is defined as developing instructional plans and/or materials and using those plans/materials to reach multiple learners at once. Those who have successfully completed the Instructional Foundations Series are eligible to take the CCT.
  
Apply at https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_818187EjvUfDK4J before 11:59 pm. on Monday, January 6. Applicants accepted into the class will be notified by e-mail prior to the start of the course

In this workshop, participants are invited to first think about why we value class discussions, and participants will explore a range of questions around the purpose and practices of leading an effective classroom discussion. How do we promote equitable participation in classroom discussion? How do we manage dominators, encourage quiet students, all with an eye toward learning? How do we know that students have learned from a classroom discussion? In answering these questions, this workshop will provide practical strategies and resources for generating active participation and leveraging classroom discussion for student learning. Adam Smith and Jamie Kim will facilitate.      

This workshop fulfills a requirement for the Instructional Foundations Series for new instructors.

 Students and instructors all bring unique personal histories to the classroom. One of our responsibilities as teachers is to make sure that our classes are places where all students—regardless of their backgrounds or identities—feel welcome to learn. 

In this workshop, facilitated by Sara Cavallo and Jamie Kim, we'll talk about practical strategies for teaching inclusively.

This workshop satisfies a requirement for the Instructional Foundations Series for new instructors.  

Have you considered doing research on your teaching and learning practice? Join facilitators Laura Cruz and Sara Cavallo in this interactive workshop to jump-start your project. 

This workshop satisfies a requirement of the Instructional Foundations Series for new instructors.

Impostor Phenomenon (IP) is the belief, despite evidence to the contrary, that one is inadequate, unworthy, and does not belong in a particular role or position. While IP is quite common in academia, both faculty and students often suffer in secret. In this workshop, we will briefly summarize some of the research on IP and consider how IP emerges both from human nature and from particular disciplinary cultures in higher ed. We’ll engage in self-assessment and discuss how to apply strategies that others have used to successfully disrupt the IP cycle. Adam Smith and Jamie Kim will facilitate.

Research from the learning sciences and from a variety of educational settings suggests that a small number of key principles can improve learning in almost any type of college or university course, from traditional lectures to flipped classrooms. This workshop will introduce some of those principles, offer practical suggestions for how they might foster positive change in higher education teaching and learning, and guide faculty participants to consider how these principles might manifest themselves in their current and upcoming courses.  

James M. Lang is a Professor of English and the Director of the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College in Worcester, MA. He is the author of five books, the most recent of which are Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2016), Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty (Harvard University Press, 2013), and On Course: A Week-by-Week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching (Harvard UP, 2008). His next book, Teaching Distracted Minds, will be published by Basic Books in late 2020. Lang writes a monthly column on teaching and learning for The Chronicle of Higher Education, where his work has been appearing since 1999.

This workshop is sponsored by:

• Center for Excellence in Science Education
• College of the Liberal Arts
• Leonhard Center for Enhancement of Engineering Education
• Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence
• Teaching and Learning with Technology
• Undergraduate Education
• University Libraries

Research from the learning sciences and from a variety of educational settings suggests that a small number of key principles can improve learning in almost any type of college or university course, from traditional lectures to flipped classrooms. This webinar will introduce some of those principles, offer practical suggestions for how they might foster positive change in higher education teaching and learning, and guide faculty participants to consider how these principles might manifest themselves in their current and upcoming courses.

James M. Lang is a Professor of English and the Director of the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College in Worcester, MA. He is the author of five books, the most recent of which are Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2016), Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty (Harvard University Press, 2013), and On Course: A Week-by-Week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching (Harvard UP, 2008). His next book, Teaching Distracted Minds, will be published by Basic Books in late 2020. Lang writes a monthly column on teaching and learning for The Chronicle of Higher Education, where his work has been appearing since 1999.

Link to be posted shortly.

This workshop is sponsored by:

• Center for Excellence in Science Education
• College of the Liberal Arts
• Leonhard Center for Enhancement of Engineering Education
• Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence
• Teaching and Learning with Technology
• Undergraduate Education
• University Libraries

As faculty struggle with the problem of distracted students on our campuses and in our classes, they have become increasingly frustrated by the ways in which digital devices can interfere with student learning. But are students today more distracted than they were in the past? Has technology reduced their ability to focus and think deeply, as some popular books have argued? This interactive lecture draws upon scholarship from history, neuroscience, and education in order to provide productive new pathways for faculty to understand the distractible nature of the human brain, work with students to moderate the effects of distraction in their learning, and even leverage the distractible nature of our minds for new forms of connected and creative thinking.

James M. Lang is a Professor of English and the Director of the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College in Worcester, MA. He is the author of five books, the most recent of which are Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2016), Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty (Harvard University Press, 2013), and On Course: A Week-by-Week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching (Harvard UP, 2008). His next book, Teaching Distracted Minds, will be published by Basic Books in late 2020. Lang writes a monthly column on teaching and learning for The Chronicle of Higher Education, where his work has been appearing since 1999. 

Link will be posted shortly

This workshop is sponsored by:

• Center for Excellence in Science Education
• College of the Liberal Arts
• Leonhard Center for Enhancement of Engineering Education
• Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence
• Teaching and Learning with Technology
• Undergraduate Education
• University Libraries

In the built environment, Universal Design enables each of us to gain unimpeded access to a particular place, whether or not we require some form of accommodation. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) applies a similar set of brain-based, research-backed principles to the learning environment. This free, non-credit, entirely asynchronous online course begins on March 2 and ends on April 3.  

This course provides an opportunity for faculty from all disciplines and members of the learning design community to explore and apply UDL principles. It includes three recorded presentations by Allison Posey, Curriculum and Design Specialist at the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), and discussion and practice based on information drawn from teaching and learning literature on UDL, as well as from the experiences of individual participants.  

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to identify, select, and apply UDL principles that are appropriate to their individual courses. Participants may be invited to submit the results of their course work as exemplars in future SITE courses and events.        

Enrollment is limited to 20 participants. Registration will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants will be notified via email prior to the start of the course. 

In the age of TL;DR (too long; didn’t read), student reading statistics aren’t encouraging. As instructors, we may be discouraged by students’ reading habits (or the lack thereof). Yet, we want students to engage with texts so as to engage with ideas in class. How can we help our students embrace reading? How do we help our students see the value in reading? Do you we ask too much, or too little?

In this workshop, facilitated by Adam Smith and Sara Cavallo, we’ll consider the reasons students may choose not to read, including mismatched expectations of students and instructors.

 When we teach, self-reflective practices can keep us connected to our students' learning experiences and our own development as instructors. This interactive workshop -- facilitated by Jamie Kim, Sharon Childs, and Chas Brua -- will focus on practical ways to use self-reflection when we teach (e.g., 3-minute journal entries, "stop-go-change" inventories, collegial conversations, etc.).        

This workshop can be used to fulfill a requirement of the Instructional Foundations Series for new instructors. 

In this session, participants in the Instructional Foundations Series will reflect on beliefs and practices about teaching and learning with peers. Come prepared to contribute to the conversation. Registering for this event indicates your intent to participate in the Instructional Foundations Series program. 

This is a closed presentation customized for the requesting department.

If you are interested in a similar Custom Workshop for your area, contact us at site@psu.edu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take Action for Student Learning (TASL) provides an opportunity for faculty from all disciplines to apply the Decoding the Disciplines http://decodingthedisciplines.org/ framework to engage, motivate, and foster deep learning in their students. Participants will identify a teaching challenge or particular course topic with which students typically struggle. And they will discuss and apply research- and evidence-based effective teaching and assessment methods to address that teaching challenge. TASL is facilitated by Larkin Hood and Mary Ann Tobin. 

TASL replaces the Summer Course in College Teaching for Faculty. 

Beginning on Monday, June 1 and ending on Sunday, June 30, this free, non-credit, entirely online course is open to full-time Penn State faculty of any rank/status who are currently teaching or who have done so recently. The course is divided into three asynchronous online modules, each of which may take up to two hours to complete, and three, two-hour Zoom meetings for a total of 12 contact hours. The modules include online activities and weekly discussion forums in Canvas. The Zoom meetings are scheduled for June 2, June 9, and June 16 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Enrollment is limited to 20 participants.  

Apply at https://tinyurl.com/TASLSpring2020 before 5:00 p.m. on May 8. Successful applicants will be notified by 5:00 p.m. on May 15.