Why Intercampus Mentorship?

In recent months, we have occasionally been featuring guest blogs by participants in the Rackham-CRLT Intercampus Mentorship Program, which you can learn more about here. In this post, Alicia Hofelich, a recent graduate of the Psychology Ph.D. program, writes of the many personal and professional benefits stemming from her experience in the program.   

By the time I finished my fourth year in grad school, I knew two things for certain. One, I loved teaching, and two, I had to go on the job market next year. The latter certainty terrified me:  what’s the right next step? How do I successfully navigate the world of research post-docs, teaching post-docs, tenure-track, non-tenure track, and visiting positions?
 
Having graduated from a small liberal arts college, I had envisioned my ideal future self as a professor at such a college, teaching interesting classes and still being active in research. But as the reality of the job market approached, I realized I had no idea what that job would really be like or what it would take to get there. I knew the Rackham-CRLT Intercampus Mentorship program would fulfill a requirement for my Graduate Teacher Certificate, but it also ended up filling in a lot of questions I had about life as a liberal arts professor and how to survive on the job market.  
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Submitted by tbraun on Tue, 02/26/2013 - 9:19am
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PowerPoint and Student Learning

Have you ever wondered whether you're using PowerPoint effectively to enhance student learning in your classes? Or hoped you could learn how to do so? This coming Tuesday, CRLT Assistant Director Rachel Niemer will lead a seminar on strategies for designing presentation slides that successfully serve several purposes: an organizing platform for a lecture, a study guide for students after class, and a place for students to take notes during class. Informed by recent research on how students learn, the session will equip participants with techniques to avoid "Death by PowerPoint." 

"PowerPoint Supported by Science of Learning" will take place Tuesday, 2/19, 2:00-4:00pm in Palmer Commons. More details can be found on the registration page for the event. For full information about this term's Seminar Series, click here or pull down on the Programs & Services menu above. 

Photo Credit: Mike Seyfang via Compfight cc

Submitted by tbraun on Fri, 02/15/2013 - 12:31pm
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Internationalizing the Curriculum: Grant Applications Due Soon

The deadline is fast approaching for CRLT's new Grants for Internationalizing the Curriculum. With support from the offices of the Vice Provost for International Affairs and the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, we will be awarding two-year grants of up to $7500 for courses that expand and enrich international themes. These grants support faculty in their innovative efforts to prepare U-M students for lives of significant international engagement. Applications are due February 19.

Full information about the grants and application instructions can be found by clicking here or pulling down on the Grants & Awards menu above. CRLT has also created web resources to support U-M instructors as they develop ways to internationalize the curriculum, including those who are considering applying for the new grants. Click here or on the Internationalization button on our home page to find a range of resources, including several different options for internationalizing the curriculum. 

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Submitted by tbraun on Wed, 02/13/2013 - 4:20pm
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Increasing Student Engagement in Large Courses: Faculty Use of Online Collaboration Tools

CRLT recently published an Occasional Paper by Assistant Director Chad Hershock and U-M Associate Professor of Political Science Mika LaVaque-Manty detailing a range of innovative ways U-M faculty are teaching with Online Collaboration Tools (OCTs). In the coming weeks, we will highlight sections of this paper on our blog, starting this week with ideas from two Thurnau Professors about ways to promote student engagement and participation in large courses. For the full paper, including recommendations for implementing OCTs effectively and efficiently in teaching, click here.

Although students can easily become passive learners in a traditional lecture setting, with the right approach lectures can be a very effective way to disseminate content efficiently to large numbers of students, to present cutting-edge material not available elsewhere, and to model expert thinking. Here are two examples of U-M instructors who have used OCTs in large courses to increase student interactions and engagement.  Read more »

Submitted by tbraun on Sun, 02/10/2013 - 4:46pm
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The Rewards of Being a Graduate Teaching Consultant

CRLT is currently accepting applications for our Graduate Teaching Consultant (GTC) team. For more information about the program, including a link to application materials, click on our GTC page. In this guest blog, current GTC Melody Pugh, a Ph.D. student in English & Education, highlights some rewards of her participation in the program.    

I taught my first college level writing course in the Fall of 2005.  I’d had no formal training in how to teach writing, and in fact, I was teaching a course that I had never actually taken myself.  Thankfully, I was surrounded by generous teacher-scholars who mentored me toward excellent teaching.  They took time out of their busy schedules to think with me about the challenges of curriculum design, classroom management, and writing assessment. 

When I came to the University of Michigan for further graduate study, I received formal training both from my department and from CRLT. But I also knew how valuable I’d found the informal mentoring that I received early in my teaching career, and I wanted to offer similar guidance and support to other new teachers. So when I learned about the GTC program, it knew it would be a great fit for me. And it has been. Here’s why: Read more »

Submitted by tbraun on Sun, 02/10/2013 - 3:42pm
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