Hit the easy button on department meetings! If you’re looking for an easy way to add professional development to your department meetings this semester, consider these offerings from the Office for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. Each of these sessions can scale anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes and can be done for either in-person or virtual meetings. The purpose of these interactive workshops is to provide department chairs with some ready-made professional development options from ATL that they can schedule for their colleagues as part of a department meeting.
How to Schedule a Session
Find the session or sessions that pique your interest and email teach@uri.edu. A member of the ATL team will work with you to schedule a time and shape the workshop to the context of your department, including the modality that best suits your needs (virtual or in-person). Scheduling is based on availability and will be done on a first-come, first-served basis. Workshops can scale from 30 to 60 minutes depending on the time available.
Session Topics
Finding a Place for AI
There seems to be a consensus that AI will reshape how we work and teach. Yet, who has the time to figure out how to incorporate AI into their well-established patterns of working and teaching? In this session, we will work through this paradox by conceiving of AI as a three-legged stool. One leg is values – how AI can support important academic values such as critical thinking? A second leg is pedagogy – how AI can support students in the learning process? A third leg is ethics – how can we assure the common good as we use tools where privacy, environmental, and other costs are often opaque? Aligning these legs can help us rest assured that our use of AI is on a more solid foundation.
What is SoTL?
Do you have persistent questions about your classroom teaching and your students’ learning? Are you curious to learn more about teaching practices in your field and others, but are unsure where to start? This session will introduce participants to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning’s foundation, core principles, and trending topics. Find inspiration for conducting your own self-studies on teaching and learning and sources for expanding your knowledge of evidence-based teaching in your field.
ATC 123
This program has been designed by the Academic Testing Center to affirm the faculty experience, demystify the accommodation process, and provide direct support when implementing exam accommodations. Current trends and data provided by URI’s office of Disability, Access, and Inclusion will be reviewed, followed by Q & As about DAI letters and exam accommodation implementation. The workshop concludes with faculty enrolling into the ATC exam management system, demos, and finally faculty submitting real-time requests for proctoring support.
Personal knowledge management (PKM) and file organization
Imagine having all your best ideas from teaching, research, and service stored in one easy-to-search digital notebook. In this session, you’ll explore the basics of personal knowledge management (PKM) and learn how to use Google Keep, a free app, to capture, store, and search your notes effortlessly. We’ll also discuss how to better organize digital files within shared platforms like Google Drive. While these tools allow us to collaborate and share materials, disorganized files can make finding documents difficult, especially when file names are similar or forgotten. This hands-on session will offer strategies to help you collaborate more efficiently and maximize your productivity.
Active Learning Strategies that Support Inclusivity
What exactly is “active learning”? How can you leverage these strategies to create a more engaging and inclusive classroom experience? Come find out! In this workshop, we’ll explore the active learning continuum and discuss strategies to promote student participation while fostering a sense of belonging.