Are you in charge of a recitation section as a UTA? Do you come up with your own lesson plans for tutoring? Are you interested in knowing how to create an effective lesson plan as a teacher? Then this workshop is for you! This workshop is for undergraduate students who teach in any capacity at Brown (e.g. UTAs, tutors, mentors, etc.) and want to learn more about how to create effective lesson plans for their role. Come prepared to design a lesson for an upcoming recitation, problem-solving session, office hours, etc. Registration is required.
Are you in charge of a recitation section as a UTA? Do you come up with your own lesson plans for tutoring? Are you interested in knowing how to create an effective lesson plan as a teacher? Then this workshop is for you! This workshop is for undergraduate students who teach in any capacity at Brown (e.g. UTAs, tutors, mentors, etc.) and want to learn more about how to create effective lesson plans for their role. Come prepared to design a lesson for an upcoming recitation, problem-solving session, office hours, etc. Registration is required.
Are you interested in discussing STEM education at Brown? STEM Ed Friday is a vibrant learning community where STEM instructors and staff members share ideas, experiences, and challenges related to STEM education. Please register.
Faculty of any rank and any staff are invited to participate in a Faculty Writing Group. Writing groups can be an invaluable source of motivation and accountability, and the Faculty Writing Group is a “guilt-free” group that prioritizes spending time in community and goal-setting together. Each group meeting begins with a brief goal-setting exercise and concludes with a short reflective conversation. Writing projects can be any works in progress, and historically have ranged widely from articles to dissertations to letters of reference. Please register.
New faculty in their first or second year are invited to lunch with Provost Frank Doyle. This will be an informal conversation over a lunch held in an indoors space. Space is limited; please register.
In this hands-on, interactive workshop, Dr. Jenna Morton-Aiken (Sheridan Senior Associate Director For Writing And English Language Support) and Timberley Barber (Sheridan Associate Director, Learning Technologies) will review strategies for creating a motivating, inclusive, and accessible learning environment; provide an overview of Sheridan’s digital teaching resources; and demonstrate how to get support from the Center and other campus partners throughout the semester. This session is designed for faculty and postdocs who did not have the opportunity to attend the Launch New Faculty Teaching Orientation. In-person attendees are encouraged to bring a wifi-enabled device (phone or laptop) for interactive activities, and virtual attendees will be sent links during the session. Lunch will be provided to in-person attendees. Please register here.
Well-crafted rubrics are effective tools to make both teaching and admissions more inclusive. The design process helps us make evaluation criteria explicit and intentionally include the full breadth of relevant criteria. In addition, there are a variety of ways to structure rubrics and rate assignments or applications to reflect different teaching values and perspectives. The Graduate School and the Sheridan Center are sponsoring this mini-institute on rubrics with a morning session on Rubric Design Principles and Variations in Teaching and an afternoon session on Using Rubrics for Holistic Review of Graduate Program Applications. Both sessions will include faculty panels sharing concrete examples from Brown courses and graduate admissions committees. Lunch provided. Please register for this event.
Do you have questions about importing and using the Canvas template for your in-person summer course? Join learning designers and technologists from Digital Learning and Design for an overview on how to use the Canvas template, and we will share tips for using Canvas as a supplement to your in-person course. We will also devote part of the session to Q & A where you will be able to hear from and share ideas with fellow instructors. Please register for zoom link.
Join Digital Learning and Design members for an overview on how to streamline grading, give feedback in Canvas and review some tips to facilitate the grading process. We will start with a brief introduction followed by a demonstration and finish the session with Q&A. Please register for the zoom link.
Before the session, we recommend reviewing the following guide on what to think about grading before designing your course in Canvas:
New ways of theorizing learning compel us to rethink our approaches to teaching and assessment that build on students’ interests, identities, and prior experiences, particularly in this third year of the pandemic. In this interactive workshop, we will discuss frameworks for planning assessments, how they apply to our teaching, and work in small groups to generate ideas for new approaches to more authentic assessments that provide students with ample opportunities to show what they know. Please register for this event.
Erin Marie Furtak, PhD, is Professor of STEM Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A former high school science teacher, Erin transitioned into a career studying how science teachers learn and improve their daily classroom practices through formative assessment. In a series of multiple studies, Dr. Furtak has been partnering with teachers, schools, and districts to learn how teachers can design, enact, and take instructional action on the basis of classroom assessments that they design. Her recent publications have examined the ways in which the design and enactment of classroom assessments can promote more equitable participation in science learning. Dr. Furtak received the 2011 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and the German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2006). Her research and professional writing has been published in multiple journal articles, research-and practitioner-oriented books, book chapters, humorous essays, and advice columns. She also conducts extensive service to the teaching profession through long-term research and professional development partnerships with school districts and organizations in Colorado and across the US.
The Sheridan Center hosts a wide variety of paid student roles focused on supporting and cultivating a culture of intergenerational, interdisciplinary teaching and learning at Brown. We also offer learning opportunities for student staff through ongoing professional development around learning, pedagogy, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Come by and learn about programs and student job opportunities at the Sheridan Center:
- Academic Tutors
- Problem Solving Fellows
- Digital Learning Assistants
- Writing Fellows
Learn more about creating and using assessments in Canvas. Digital Learning and Design technologists and designers will review how to approach using and then configure the Canvas Quiz tool for online quizzes and exams. Topics include using advanced settings to provide timed exam windows, randomized questions, and question banks. Please register for this event.
Members of the Brown community are invited to honor the recipients of the University awards for Teaching on Monday, May 1st at the University Awards Ceremony. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of faculty and graduate students at this university-wide ceremony. The Reception and Gallery Show (photos of Brown classrooms) will begin at 4:30pm, The Ceremony, with opening remarks by Interim Provost Lawrence Larson will begin at 5:00pm. This event will be live-streamed. No pre-registration required.
In this presentation, we will discuss how to ensure the digital elements of your course are accessible and inclusive. We’ll review strategies for creating an inclusive learning environment, provide an overview of Brown’s accessibility tools, and show you how to get support from Sheridan's Digital Learning & Design team throughout the semester. This session is designed for faculty, postdocs, and graduate students. It will include plenty of time for Q&A.
Are you looking for a personalized way to welcome students into your virtual classroom so that they feel connected to you and to each other? Do you want to level up the quality and professionalism of your self-produced video content? Join media specialists from Digital Learning & Design to discover best practices for producing effective media in your hybrid or online course. We will start with an overview of video presentation tips, including simple tricks to get the best visual and audio recording with your existing technology. Then we’ll share best practices for ensuring media is accessible to a multitude of learners.
Learning Outcomes:
Learn about how course introductions and/or micro-lectures can enhance the learning experience for students;
Gather tips for how to improve your self-recorded videos for use in online or hybrid courses;
Become familiar with ways to ensure your media is evergreen (reusable over time) and accessible to more learners.
We will spend any remaining session time on Q&A.
Before the session, we recommend reviewing our guides for creating course videos and think about any related questions about self-recording and/or educational media at Brown.
Do you have questions about using Canvas for teaching and facilitating your course, whether it’s online, hybrid or in person? This workshop primarily addresses what instructors do during the course, as opposed to what must be done before the course, which is design. Facilitation focuses on how you, the instructor, can facilitate conditions for student learning through actions like setting clear expectations, maintaining instructor presence, and supporting and motivating learning. Join a Learning Designer and Learning Technologist from the Sheridan Center’s Digital Learning and Design team for a discussion of these topics. The session leaders will provide an overview of topics related to facilitating learning in courses utilizing Canvas and provide opportunities for instructors to share their strategies and tips with each other.
Before the session, we recommend reviewing the Facilitation Guide about how to use Canvas for teaching.
