Have you heard about Indiana University’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Program? The SoTL program is an area of focus within the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL); it acknowledges that teaching is a scholarly activity and is thus worth researching. SoTL follows the same steps as many other forms of research: creating… Read more »
Journaling, Observing, and Reflecting on our Teaching
As an instructor, you’ve got grading to do, students to meet with, and lessons to plan. When you’re facing all this work, it might seem unrealistic to add “reflect on teaching” to your task list. However, studies have shown that reflecting on your teaching improves the classroom experience for your students (through better learning) and… Read more »
Here’s what Graduate Students have to say about GTAP!
Have you heard of the Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship Program (GTAP)? GTAP is a program developed by the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning to better support graduate students’ career development and teaching interests. GTAP participants engage in CITL-sponsored workshops and learning communities, faculty and peer mentoring, and goal-setting activities. They also spend time creating job… Read more »
Creating Learning Outcomes and Community
Learning outcomes are statements that reflect what your students should accomplish at the end of your course. Learning outcomes are measurable and can be used to direct the course timeline. For example, “by the end of the course, students should be able to…” explain, compare, create, or recall. These active verbs allow instructors to create… Read more »
Creating a Teaching Portfolio with a Graduate Student Learning Community
If you’re applying for an academic job, you’ll need a teaching portfolio to provide evidence of your teaching effectiveness. What goes into a teaching portfolio? There are usually three realms of documents: ones the teacher produces; ones from peers, students, and institutions; and ones showing student achievement. Feedback on your teaching portfolio is extremely important,… Read more »
Using Backward Course Design to Demystify the Syllabus Writing Process
A syllabus can be a creative and integrative expression of graduate students’ academic and pedagogical interests. Whether graduate students are applying to teach for their department, Collins, or Global Village, or preparing for academic job interviews, they can use the syllabus to showcase how they would teach their dissertation topic. It can be tempting, however,… Read more »