The CTE’s 2024 Summer Institute will be held completely online, and will feature three learning tracks on topics that we feel are particularly relevant for teaching and learning today:
Inclusive Teaching (Monday) – In this track, you will hear from some of your peers about why inclusive teaching is so important and how you can begin to implement some of the best practices for inclusive teaching in both your course design and your pedagogy.
HHMI IE3 Team definition of inclusive teaching: Inclusive teaching is a pedagogical approach which aims to create a welcoming and engaging environment that affords all students an opportunity for a successful learning experience and sense of belonging. An inclusive instructor fosters learning environments which consistently recognize the diverse values, experiences, and knowledge of students as an asset.
(no registration necessary; links for each session are in the online program)
Generative AI (Monday) – In this track, you will hear from some of your peers about some of the policies on the use of generative AI that have been established in their schools and departments, how they may be encouraging the use of generative AI by students in their classrooms, and how they are using generative AI to develop and facilitate their courses.
A quick note about our view on the use of generative AI: Note that none of the panels listed below focus on whether or not we *should* be using AI in the classroom; we (the CTE as a whole) feel that that particular genie is already out of the bottle, and that trying to prevent the use of AI by our students is a fruitless endeavor. We also feel that not teaching our students how to use generative AI is an approach that really doesn’t serve them in the long run, and that our best response to AI as educators is to not necessarily embrace it whole-heartedly and without reservation, but to learn as much as we can about it and explore how we may be able to use it (and teach our students how to use it) as a tool for learning. We are not here to set policy, however (and have no wish to do so), but to support you in your teaching; these discussions are an attempt to help in that regard, given everything that we have learned about the current state (and likely future) of generative AI.
Please keep in mind that these panels are starting points for larger discussions, and that we don’t have to (and will not be able to) cover everything relevant to these topics in this handful of short sessions. We do plan to provide opportunities for more discussions like this moving forward, however.
(no registration necessary; links for each session are in the online program)
Critical Thinking (Tuesday / Wednesday) – This track provides a deep dive into the assessment of critical thinking and guided workshop time on how to integrate critical thinking learning activities into your courses. Trainers are from the Center for Assessment & Improvement of Learning at Tennessee Technological University, the developers of the Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT), the instrument GGC has used for assessing critical thinking since 2015.
The Assurance of Learning Committees (ALC), Kaufman Library, and the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) proudly sponsor two days of intensive critical thinking pedagogical training as part of the CTE’s virtual 2024 Summer Institute. This training provides a dive into the assessment of critical thinking and guided workshop time on how to integrate critical thinking learning activities into your courses. Limited spots are available.
Trainers are from the Center for Assessment & Improvement of Learning at Tennessee Technological University, the developers of the Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT), the instrument GGC has used for assessing critical thinking since 2015.
What You Will Be Doing on Day 1 and Day 2:
May 14th, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The first day of training is for faculty new to the CAT and critical thinking pedagogy. Day 1 participants will be introduced to the CAT as a gateway for learning how to build classroom activities and curriculum aligned with critical thinking skillsets assessed by the CAT. Then in workshops led by the CAIL training team and supported by GGC faculty, participants will workshop teaching activities suitable for their specific course needs and content.
May 15th, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The second day of training is workshop-intensive, where participants will develop classroom activities, consider how to embed them in their courses, and consider how to align them with more complex critical thinking skillsets – as creative thinking, problem solving, and evaluating information. Participants will collaborate with others, members of the CAIL team, and small group coaches from GGC, in preparation of sharing their activities at the end of the second day of training.
How to Reserve your Spot for Critical Thinking Day 1 and / or Critical Thinking Day 2:
Faculty who are attending Day 1 or who have previously completed CAIL critical thinking training may register and attend Day 2. Only faculty who have previously completed a CAIL critical thinking training are eligible to participate on Day 2.
To register or to verify your eligibility for Day 2 training only, contact Karen Perell-Gerson.
Registration for the Critical Thinking workshops is limited to 10 people per day, and closes on May 10th.
For more information (including the detailed schedule and session links), see the online program.
The CTE’s Teaching & Learning Day is an annual event that showcases the fresh thinking and innovative strategies of faculty and staff related to enhancing teaching and learning at GGC. Our eighth annual Teaching & Learning Day will consist of hybrid (physical and virtual) poster sessions that provide a visual forum for individuals and groups to showcase innovative work related to teaching, learning, and technology, including but not limited to:
These poster sessions provide an opportunity to reach a broad audience and initiate conversations with colleagues sharing similar interests.
The CTE is partnering with GGC’s School of Science and Technology this year to include the SST IE3 Inclusive Teaching Showcase as a part of Teaching & Learning Day.
Teaching & Learning Day will take place on Friday, April 12th, 2024. It will be a hybrid event, with an option to present in-person or virtually.
*** Participants will vote on the best posters in several different categories; the winning posters will be featured prominently in the CTE (and/or on the CTE website) over the next academic year.
Please see the letter below for information on the Governor’s Teaching Fellows (GTF) 2024-25 Academic Year Symposium. Note that each institution can recommend no more than two candidates, so please be sure to read all of the information below. The application deadline is March 15.
GGC internal application process and timeline:
1. Interested faculty submit applications to the Department Chairs and Deans for review and approval.
2. Deans provide letters of support for each candidate recommended by Friday, March 1st.
3. Applications are reviewed by the GGC Annual Award Committee, who will submit the nominations by Friday, March 8th.
4. Provost and President review and provide letters of support.
5. Recommended candidates submit their application packages to USG by Friday, March 15th.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Dr. Mei Miranda Zhang, Associate Provost for Faculty, mzhang@ggc.edu
Original letter from the Governer’s Teaching Fellows Program:
Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program
February 12, 2024
Dear Colleague,
The Governor’s Teaching Fellows (GTF) Program, hosted by the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, invites applications for the 2024-25 Academic Year Symposium. Over the course of the academic year, Fellows will attend six unique three-day seminars while also engaging in a course design/redesign or other instructional improvement project. The highly interactive seminars, which are held on the University of Georgia campus, include a combination of structured instructional and faculty development activities as well as self-directed activities designed to meet their individual needs. Fellows receive a stipend for each day of full participation on campus to assist with travel expenses and meals. Lodging is provided by the Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program.
Program Dates: • September 11-13, 2024 • October 9-11, 2024 • November 6-8, 2024 • February 5-7, 2025 • March 12-14, 2025 • April 9-11, 2025
Location: • Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, Meigs Hall, University of Georgia
Eligibility: The Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program is designed for full-time faculty members who teach at accredited public or private colleges or universities in the state of Georgia, except the University of Georgia. UGA faculty are not eligible for this program. Any full-time, regular faculty member regardless of rank may apply; preference will be given to faculty who primarily teach undergraduate students. Fellows are selected on the basis of their commitment to: • enhance their undergraduate teaching practice and professional development • disseminate the fruits of their fellowship experience with faculty at their home institution • secure the support of their institution’s President or Vice President of Academic Affairs (or equivalent).
Program guidelines stipulate that no more than two fellows from the same institution may participate simultaneously. Therefore, institutions are encouraged to limit the number of candidates submitted for consideration to no more than two per program.
Application Process:
To apply, submit the following items via the GTF Academic Year Application portal: • A concise description of the course that will be redesigned during the academic year. We believe Fellows will reap the most benefit from the Symposium by redesigning a course, but you may propose another project if you wish. (300 word maximum; PDF) • General demographic information about yourself and your classes • Brief letter explaining your interest in attending the GTF Program (300 word maximum; PDF) • Teaching statement with concrete examples of how your teaching is innovative and how you hope to improve it (300 word maximum; PDF) • A letter of support from your institution’s President or Vice President of Academic Affairs (or equivalent). A letter template is provided here for your convenience. • Current CV
Applications must be submitted by 11:59 PM, March 15, 2024. Applicants will be notified of their standing in the selection process by the end of April 2024.
Please share this opportunity with interested faculty members at your institution. The GTF Program will also contact your President and Vice President for Academic Affairs (or equivalent) for their assistance in identifying qualified faculty. Stay up to date on GTF news by visiting our website.
If you have questions regarding the Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program, please contact me directly at nnorman@uga.edu.
Sincerely,
Naomi J. Norman, PhD Director, Governor’s Teaching Fellow Program
Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences should not be viewed as deficits. Join Dr. Samantha Mrstik from the School of Education on the topic of neurodiversity on Thursday 2/8 @ 2:00 p.m. in Teams. She will be providing concrete examples for in-person and online classes that you can apply right away to work with our extremely neurodiverse student population to ensure inclusive classrooms and teaching styles. Jennifer Accerona, the Director of Disabilities Services, will also be there to answer questions.
Are you curious about some of the teaching and learning topics / buzzwords that you’ve been hearing about but just haven’t have time to look them up or attend a workshop? Join us this spring for some bite-size information sessions on a wide variety of teaching and learning topics.
A twenty-minute introduction to each topic will cover three things: what the general idea is, why it’s important, and how you can start to implement it in your teaching (a handout will also be provided with this information). This introduction will be followed by an optional twenty-minute Q&A for further discussion.
We’ll try to spread these out with repeated sessions over different days and times, so feel free to come by whenever the opportunity fits with your schedule.
If you have suggestions for additional topics that you would like to see covered, send me an email at mdsmith@ggc.edu.
The first round of TMTTs will be:
02/21 @ 10:30 a.m. – TMTT: Small Teaching
02/21 @ 2:00 p.m. – TMTT: TiLT (Transparency in Learning and Teaching)
02/22 @ 11:00 a.m. – TMTT: TiLT (Transparency in Learning and Teaching)
Some of the faculty have recently expressed an interest in a series of lunchtime discussions on a variety of teaching and learning topics; this is something that we had already been considering, so we’re happy to explore this possibility. Please join us for some lunchtime exploratory discussions on the best way to structure these sessions.
Questions we will consider:
Format: in-person / hybrid / online
Frequency: every week / every other week / once a month
Schedule: best days and times / number of times per week
Location (for in-person sessions): CTE / Dining Hall (or a mix of both)
Structure: pre-determined topics / introductory topic followed by open discussion / open discussion (and / or a signup sheet to propose topics and to see who else will be attending on a given day)
If you are interested and would like to provide some input in how these will be structured, please join us for one of the planning sessions below. If you are unable to attend any of these sessions but would still like to provide some input, feel free to send me an email with your thoughts on the questions above at mdsmith@ggc.edu.
The CTE’s Teaching & Learning Day is an annual event that showcases the fresh thinking and innovative strategies of faculty and staff related to enhancing teaching and learning at GGC. Our eighth annual Teaching & Learning Day will consist of hybrid (physical and virtual) poster sessions that provide a visual forum for individuals and groups to showcase innovative work related to teaching, learning, and technology, including but not limited to:
These poster sessions provide an opportunity to reach a broad audience and initiate conversations with colleagues sharing similar interests.
The CTE is partnering with GGC’s School of Science and Technology this year to include the SST IE3 Inclusive Teaching Showcase as a part of Teaching & Learning Day.
Teaching & Learning Day will take place on Friday, April 12th, 2024. It will be a hybrid event, with an option to present in-person or virtually.
We invite you to submit an application to present your work. Please complete this application by Friday, March 22nd, 2024
*** Participants will vote on the best posters in several different categories; the winning posters will be featured prominently in the CTE (and/or on the CTE website) over the next academic year.
Perusall Academy offers three separate courses (Kickstart, Next Level, and Mastery) with multiple dates. Remaining dates include:
Perusall Kickstart:
Monday, February 26th, 2024: 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Tuesday, March 5th, 2024: 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Perusall Next Level:
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024: 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Wednesday, March 6th, 2024: 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Perusall Mastery:
Friday, March 1st, 2024: 10:00AM – 11:00AM
Thursday, March 7th, 2024: 10:00AM – 11:00AM
What is Perusall?
Perusall offers social annotation features that can be used to increase student engagement, collaboration, and community within your MyCourses course. Perusall can be used with many open educational resources, websites, PDF files, Word documents and even select publisher materials to encourage students to actively engage with assigned readings and each other. Perusall is integrated with MyCourses.
Students use Perusall to collaboratively annotate readings; answering each other’s questions and engaging in discussions. Student annotations can be graded using Perusall’s AI- assisted grading system to help instructors determine engagement and participation grades.
For more information about Perusall at GGC, see the IT website.
Perusall offers social annotation features that can be used to increase student engagement, collaboration, and community within your MyCourses course. Perusall can be used with many open educational resources, websites, PDF files, Word documents and even select publisher materials to encourage students to actively engage with assigned readings and each other. Perusall is integrated with MyCourses.
Students use Perusall to collaboratively annotate readings; answering each other’s questions and engaging in discussions. Student annotations can be graded using Perusall’s AI- assisted grading system to help instructors determine engagement and participation grades.
For more information on Perusall at GGC, see the IT website.
What is Perusall Academy?
See the following announcement from Perusall:
We are thrilled to announce the upcoming Perusall Academy, our webinar series designed to enhance your teaching with Perusall. Join us for our three-tiered program: Kickstart, Next Level, and Mastery. Each session is crafted to build your expertise with Perusall.
Perusall Kickstart Tailored for educators that are new to Perusall or are looking for a refresher, this session covers foundational features, streamlining course setup, and basic LMS integration. It’s the perfect starting point to get your course up and running smoothly.
Perusall Next Level Ready to deepen your understanding? Next Level delves into advanced assignment creation, including Peer Review, and and in-depth look at LMS features. Enhance your skills in scoring settings and advanced feature configuration to ensure you get the most out of Perusall’s dynamic capabilities.
Wednesday, January 24th, 2024 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Wednesday, January 31st, 2024 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Perusall Mastery For experienced users, Perusall Mastery focuses on creating training/sandbox courses, troubleshooting common issues, and unlocking advanced features essential for IT/ID professionals. This session will fine-tune your expertise and empower you to leverage the full potential of the Perusall platform.
Friday, January 26th, 2024 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Thursday, February 1st, 2024 10:00AM – 11:00AM EST
Each webinar builds upon the last, advancing in complexity and offering a comprehensive understanding of our platform. To foster interactive learning, we’ve integrated a live Q&A segment in each webinar, providing you with the opportunity to have your questions answered by our experts in real time.
As a token of our commitment to your professional development, attendees who successfully complete all three webinars will receive a Certificate of Completion.
✨ Don’t miss this opportunity to boost your pedagogy through the Perusall Academy. Build your skills, engage with experts, and join a community of forward-thinking educators.
