Future Events

 This talk explores new opportunities and questions that have arisen in teaching and learning scholarship under COVID/remote learning conditions.

A collaboration between the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence (SITE), Student Disability Resources, World Campus, and the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), this free, non-credit course begins on March 1 and ends on March 26.
   
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. Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to identify, select, and apply UDL principles that are appropriate to their individual courses.
   
This four-week, entirely asynchronous, online course provides an opportunity for faculty of any rank or status, teaching assistants, post-doctoral instructors from all disciplines, and members of the learning design community to explore and apply UDL principles. It includes three pre-recorded lectures by Allison Posey, CAST Curriculum and Design Specialist, and discussion and practice based on information drawn from teaching and learning literature on UDL, as well as from the experiences of individual participants. Participants may be invited to submit the results of their course work as exemplars in future SITE courses and events.
   
Direct questions about the course to Mary Ann Tobin at matobin@psu.edu.

International instructors and TAs might sometimes find it challenging to navigate the values and attitudes inherent in U.S. undergraduate education. In this interactive workshop, we'll explore practical strategies that international instructors/TAs can use to project both expertise and approachability.
   

Interested in making your teaching practice more visible? You might consider opportunities for peer-reviewed publication in the scholarship of teaching and learning (also known as SOTL). In our interactive workshop, facilitated by Laura Cruz, you'll learn more about this lively scholarly field, with an emphasis on planning a research project based on your experiences in the classroom (physical or virtual).

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.

Mistaken, misunderstood, and mishandled communication is a common source of problems in mentoring relationships. Faculty are invited to a workshop explore strategies for communicating effectively with graduate students across a variety of dimensions including power differentials, varied backgrounds, ethnicities.

This program is sponsored by The Graduate School at Penn State.

In this interactive workshop, facilitated by Schreyer Consultants Chas Brua, Associate Research Professor, and Deena Levy, Associate Research Professor, we'll present several tips for creating an effective teaching statement (AKA teaching philosophy). Participants will also examine a sample teaching statement for strengths and weaknesses, as well as drafting ideas for their own teaching statements.

In this workshop, facilitated by Beate Brunow, Associate Research Professor, Kris McClain and Paul Ko, Graduate Assistants, participants will learn how to make assessment(s) an integral part of the learning process. We will discuss formative assessment such as classroom assessment techniques, the use of rubrics as an aid to help instructors be consistent in their grading, and rubrics as a guide and enhancement to student learning.

A shared understanding of what each person expects is critical to establishing effective mentor-mentee relationships. Challenges arise when mentors and mentees have misunderstandings about expectations in the relationship, which naturally changes over time.

Join us for a workshop to explore how to communicate and align mentee and mentor expectations.

This program is sponsored by The Graduate School at Penn State.

 

In this workshop especially for international instructors and TAs, we'll explore strategies for effectively structuring and guiding discussions. We'll also explore useful communication strategies for responding to students' questions in ways that promote learning.

Those who intend to participate in the Instructional Foundations Series for Spring 2021 will need to register for this event for access to the Series blog and to indicate intent to earn the completion certificate.

Please see more information here: http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/instructionalfoundations. 

Register for IFS Reflection Activity to indicate your intention to participate in the Series no later than 3/17".

Reflective practices can help us simultaneously look back and look ahead in ways that improve our effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction as instructors. In this interactive workshop, facilitated by Chas Brua, Associate Research Professor, and Kris McLain, Graduate Assistant; we'll explore reasons for incorporating reflection into our teaching, plus practical strategies for doing so.

This interactive webinar will present a description and comparison of the types of assistance and therapy dogs that individuals may encounter in the classroom and on campus. A brief overview of the regulations and laws surrounding assistance animals and dogs on campus will be followed by practical guidelines on how to best interact with partners of these dogs to ensure a safe and equitable environment for all. Registration recommended, but not required. Join by Zoom at https://tinyurl.com/psuservicedogs.

Inspired by James Lang's “Small Teaching,” this session presents small but powerful instructional and assessment activities for use in the beginning, middle, and end of a class session that promote students’ engagement, motivation, and achievement.
   
Registration is recommended, but not required.

In his book Small Teaching, James Lang explains how minor modifications to our teaching can have a major impact on student learning. In this session, faculty discuss the ways they have incorporated the lessons from Small Teaching into their courses and the benefits they have seen with student learning and engagement.

Learning to identify, reflect upon, learn from, and engage with diverse perspectives is critical to forming and maintaining an effective mentoring relationship, as well as a vibrant learning environment. Faculty are invited to a workshop on how to foster an equitable and inclusive environment where everyone can do their best learning and create the highest quality of research, both because of and in spite of their diverse perspectives.

This program is sponsored by The Graduate School at Penn State.

Study guides and post-exam reflections make it easy to integrate academic success tools into courses. Using the Depth of Knowledge framework, participants will discover how to revise study guides and create exam wrappers that help students better prepare for assessments.
   
Registration is recommended, but not required.

Feedback is an integral part of student learning, especially when it guides and informs students' performance in future assessments. In this session, participants will discover the critical characteristics of feedback, how to use technology to enhance delivery of feedback, and how to provide incentive for students to use feedback in future learning.
   
Registration is recommended, but not required.