Intercampus Mentorship: A Day at Oberlin College

In recent months, we have been featuring stories by past participants in the Rackham-CRLT Intercampus Mentorship Program, which you can learn more about here. In this post, U-M Psychology Ph.D. student Katy Goldey describes her visit to a nearby liberal arts college, which was funded by the program. Her story speaks to the range of experiences a single campus visit might entail and gives a glimpse into the kinds of conversations with college faculty that the Intercampus Mentorship Program makes possible. The program is open to any U-M graduate student or postdoc.

In Fall 2011 I spent a day at Oberlin College as part of the Rackham-CRLT Intercampus Mentorship Program. My interest in the program stemmed from my own experience as an undergraduate student at a liberal arts college (Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX) and my eventual goal to become a professor at a teaching-focused university. I chose Dr. Jan Thornton as my mentor because of our shared interests in hormones and behavior, and Jan enthusiastically agreed to meet with me for a very full day at Oberlin.
 
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Submitted by tbraun on Fri, 01/04/2013 - 12:40pm
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Classroom Challenge: Breaking the Ice

With the beginning of the semester just around the corner, many instructors are strategizing about how best to start productive classroom conversations. Students who speak even briefly at the beginning of a class meeting are more likely to participate in discussions going forward, and a well-chosen icebreaker can help everyone join in. As quick, low-stakes, and often fun activities that involve students at the beginning of a session, icebreakers can be a good way to learn about who's in the classroom, reduce anxiety, and begin thinking together about course content.  

CRLT provides examples of icebreakers and guidance for using them in Chapter Three of the GSI Guidebook. We also recently polled our Graduate Teaching Consultants (GTCs) to gather a list of their favorites. Here are some good ideas we received when we asked the GTCs to "tweet" us a particularly effective icebreaker they have used, seen, or heard about: Read more »

Submitted by tbraun on Wed, 01/02/2013 - 1:22pm
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Good Reads: Designing Your Courses around Student Learning Goals

Planning your winter term courses over the break?  Hoping your students will turn in stronger final essays and exams than the ones you just finished grading?  Much research on learning and teaching suggests you can start getting them on the right path now, by designing your syllabus around student learning goals.  Here are a couple of online resources about applying the principles of "Backward Design" to the planning of college courses.

  • In this ProfHacker blog post from The Chronicle of Higher Education, literature professor Mark Sample offers a short, simple introduction to Backward Design, discussing his shift from asking the conventional question "what should my students read this term?" to considering instead, "what do I want them to learn?"
  • Vanderbilt University's Center for Teaching provides this overview of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe's influential book Understanding by Design and provides links to resources that assist instructors in applying the book's principles in their course planning.  (The full book is available electronically through the U-M library system to authenticated users.)

CRLT also offers a range of resources to help you build your syllabus on our Course Design and Planning page. 

Submitted by tbraun on Fri, 12/21/2012 - 9:44am
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Spotlight on CRLT Resources: Internationalizing the Curriculum

In line with U-M’s mission to develop internationally engaged and globally competent students, the Provost recently announced a new CRLT Grant for Internationalizing the Curriculum.

CRLT has created web resources to support U-M instructors as they develop new ways to internationalize the curriculum, including those who are considering applying for the new grants.  Here’s what you can find when you click on the “Internationalization” button on our home page or click here.

  • A learning outcomes page helps define the complex work of course design. The page lists categories and examples of student learning goals that can help instructors identify priorities in their own courses.
  • A page on cross cultural group work identifies key challenges to students working in teams where the members have  different native languages as well as different understandings of matters such as decision-making and authority. 
  • A page summarizing common pedagogical issues for teaching students previously educated outside of the U.S. provides strategies to all faculty members who work with students from abroad – not only those who explicitly incorporate international themes and questions into their courses.  
  • Two pages provide resources for thinking beyond a single course: a page on options for internationalizing the curriculum and another with links to tools for assessing intercultural and global competence.  The first sketches a range of possibilities, including changes to existing courses as well as development of additional courses and off-campus options.  The Tools page lists the key diagnostic surveys used nationally to document the impact of internationalized courses and programs on student development.

As always, CRLT can also provide consultations to faculty members seeking to innovate or improve their teaching. 

Submitted by tbraun on Wed, 12/19/2012 - 11:53am
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Nominations Invited for Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize

Are you aware of a colleague who has recently developed an innovative teaching tool or method? Perhaps you've admired a faculty member's  creative use of technology in the classroom, original approach to facilitating student collaboration, or new strategies for replicating the advantages of a small course in a large lecture hall. Or maybe you're proud of a teaching innovation you've developed yourself. If any of these is the case, consider submitting a nomination for the Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize (TIP). 

Up to five prizes of $5000 will be awarded for projects representing remarkable teaching innovations. This will be the fifth year the Provost has sponsored the TIP prize, which differs from other teaching awards in that it honors specific innovations to improve student learning, rather than an instructor’s overall teaching excellence. The awards also facilitate the dissemination of these innovations so they can be more broadly shared with faculty colleagues.

Recent awards have spread the word across campus about a range of remarkable teaching innovations. For instance: Read more »

Submitted by tbraun on Mon, 12/17/2012 - 10:23am
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