In addition to independent efforts and those coordinated by your department, the Center for Teaching & Learning Innovation is a campus partner that provides support to all members of the faculty. As indicated in our mission, the CTLI “supports the innovative pedagogical advancement of faculty for the purpose of fostering the professional, and personal growth of each student. As a community committed to diversity and inclusion, we provide opportunities and resources for faculty to create meaningful learning experiences for our students within and beyond the classroom.”
Opportunities include formal workshops as well as individual and small group consultations. In addition, we share many self-service resources through our website, such as:
- Active Learning Strategies
- Methods for building community within the classroom.
- Recommendations for designing courses.
- An archive of workshop and event recordings.
- Teaching with technology guides.
- Information related to inclusive and anti-racist pedagogy.
There’s always more to learn about teaching, and we don’t want to overwhelm you; be assured that you will have plenty of time to grow and develop your teaching skills and techniques. In your first semester, our advice is to keep things as simple as possible so you have a strong foundation upon which to build.
Top 6 Suggestions for a Successful First Semester
- Connect with your colleagues and the CTLI – we care about your success and no question is too small!
- Get to know your students and their needs using a survey at the beginning of the semester.
- Use Canvas, but focus on the most essential pieces:
- Syllabus
- Post assignments
- Use the gradebook for feedback
- Focus on aligning all teaching and learning activities to the specific, measurable Learning Objectives of your course. This ensures that you don’t overwhelm yourself or your students. All readings, assignments, in-class activities, lectures, projects, quizzes, discussions, exams, etc. should be tied to the core purpose of the class. This gives you permission to do less, but do it better.
- Keep the workload manageable and give yourself grace. Anytime you start a new job, things just take longer because you’re learning the systems as well as doing the work. For instance, prioritize giving quality, timely feedback to students and tailor the course schedule and assignment load to that – what is reasonable for you to
- Keep a teaching journal to capture those great ideas you don’t have capacity to implement just yet as well as to reflect on each class session or week – you’ll thank yourself later because otherwise it will be a blur!