What We Do

While ATL works collaboratively to advance teaching and learning for faculty in all areas, each of our groups leads specific workshops and programs, from ATL conversations and Book Clubs to Brightspace training and Online Pedagogy workshops and everything in between. We have organized our offerings by group for ease of navigation; however, we strongly feel that everything we do works to support faculty no matter the modality or focus of their teaching!

Faculty Development Programs & Workshops

ATL Conversations

ATL Conversations are designed to ignite interest and discussion among faculty and staff from across campus about teaching and learning. Each conversation combines brief presentations with active discussion and exploration of a topic.

Inclusive Excellence Learning Communities and Book Clubs

Our Learning Communities and Book Clubs feature small groups of faculty who meet for critical conversations, shared learning and reflection. There is no more opportune time to find solutions that move us toward justice and an increase in every learner’s sense of belonging. We like to think of learning communities and book clubs as using books to foster a learning circle that address interpersonal development and real world issues that face us in our work at URI.

IDEA Workshops

Discover all the elements that make IDEA Student Feedback much more than just a number! The IDEA tool is a very powerful instrument providing a wide variety of insights that can help instructors tell their unique teaching story, collect additional evidence for their portfolios, and explore strategies to enhance their classroom practice. We offer departmental workshops on the use of the IDEA tool, including how asking questions and interpreting results across a program can support departmental planning and assessment efforts.

Seminars

The High Impact Teaching (HIT) Seminars are designed to help URI instructors adapt, implement, and assess evidence-based strategies in their courses. Recent topics include Teaching for Learning, Research, Ethics, and Writing. Typically seminars run multiple days – either in a multi-day institute or over the course of the term – and delve deeply in their topics.

Online Education Programs & Workshops

Basic Brightspace Training Course

This course has been designed to ensure that you have the basic Brightspace competencies to begin teaching in online and blended formats. It will introduce you to the platform, show you how to navigate, explain tools, and start you on the right track for course design. It takes about 2-3 hours to complete. Once you successfully complete the course, you will receive a certificate of completion.

This training course is now a prerequisite for our Online Pedagogy Course, and one part of a 2-part certification to designate you as an exemplary online teacher.

Online Pedagogy Competency Course

Online Pedagogy is a 4-week, asynchronous online workshop designed to give you the background and knowledge of best practices to develop and enhance your online teaching skills using the Brightspace platform and the Quality Matters standards. In just four weeks, you will learn best practices, create a course site, syllabus, course map/schedule, establish your methods of grading, and populate your grade book. Finally, you will create a Start Here section and populate two weeks of actual content. You will emerge from this course with a solid start to your online course site, great ideas for remote instruction, and a certificate that designates you as a qualified online teacher! This course is also ideal for faculty members chosen to create master shells for URI Online programs.

Hybrid Bootcamp

This intensive 1-week workshop will equip you to create a mixed modality course, using asynchronous and synchronous activities and tools.

Online Pedagogy Course for Non-Designers

This is a 3-week, asynchronous online workshop designed to provide a platform for you to learn about pedagogical best practices for online courses and to reflect on creating a high-quality, engaging learning experience for your students. This course is ideal for instructors who have been selected to teach a course from a pre-built URI Online master shell.

ATL-Wide Programs & Workshops

Special Events

ATL hosts large events for the university community to share information and ideas of importance. Thought leaders are brought to campus for speaking engagements, often supplemented with book clubs, seminars, and/or conversations.

Strategies & Tools for Teaching at URI

ATL hosts a multi-day workshop before each Fall semester to welcome URI’s new faculty to our community. This professional development event offers insights and pragmatic information designed to enhance their success.

Showcase

The URI Teaching and Learning Showcase gathers annually to highlight and celebrate the work of our faculty and their latest innovations in implementing effective teaching strategies, assessing learning, and reflecting on their practice.

Events & Programs

To see what events are coming up in the new few months, refer to Upcoming.