CTL & ASSETT Newsletter - May 2025
"Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is rest and let your ideas marinate."
— Danielle LaPorte
🎉 Wrapping Up the Semester: Reflect, Celebrate & Recharge
As the semester winds down, we invite you to take a moment to reflect on the journey, celebrate your accomplishments, and look ahead to summer as a time for renewal, reconnection to self, and restoration.
🎉 Celebrate 5 Years of CTL – Share Your Experience! 🎉
As CTL approaches its 5-year anniversary, we’d love to feature testimonials from past participants like you in our annual report and other communications. If CTL consultations, workshops, or events have made a difference for you, please consider sharing your experience through our optional testimonials form.
Thank you for being part of our community!
🚀 Countdown to the 2025 Summer Design Studio: Teaching, Learning & AI
Only a few weeks left! Join ASSETT and CTL on May 19–20 for a hands-on, two-day studio at CASE E390 & Zoom. Discover your “right fit” approach to AI in the classroom and connect with a community of forward-thinking educators. Spots are limited
Reflecting on the Semester: Celebrating Growth and Looking Ahead
Celebrating Milestones - Yours and Your Students’
The end of the semester marks an opportunity to pause and celebrate. Whether it was a breakthrough in student understanding, a successfully piloted new assignment, or simply making it through a challenging term, these milestones—both big and small—deserve recognition. Taking time to reflect helps reinforce what went well, what didn’t go as planned, surface areas for growth, and strengthen your teaching practice moving forward.
Consider jotting down a few notes about what felt most rewarding or surprising in your courses, or sending out a brief feedback poll to gather student perspectives for future planning. Reviewing final projects, discussion threads, or even your own course materials with fresh eyes can reveal meaningful patterns, successes, and ideas to carry into future terms.
Whether you are preparing for summer teaching or stepping into a much-needed break, take time to celebrate yourself, giving yourself credit for all that you have accomplished. Teaching is complex, creative, and often emotionally demanding work. Reflection and celebration are not just for students; they are vital parts of your journey as an educator, too.
Try Out the Canvas Template in Your Summer or Fall 2025 Courses
Created by the CTL and OIT in partnership with a faculty working group and colleagues in Continuing Education and the Digital Accessibility Office, the Canvas template reflects extensive faculty and student input, as well as promising practices in teaching and learning, digital accessibility, and instructional design. Over the coming months, we encourage you to explore the template and consider adopting it in your Summer or Fall 2025 courses. Visit the Canvas Template webpage to learn more about the template, how to import it into a Canvas sandbox or course, and resources and support available to you! Also, consider requesting a CTL group consultation or OIT group consultation on the Canvas Template tailored to the unique needs of your department or program.
Alternatively, if you are already using the Canvas template in your courses this semester, we would greatly appreciate your feedback! Please consider sharing your experiences via this brief (~10-minute), anonymous feedback survey.
📚 Recommended Readings of the Month:
- The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer
A classic in the field of education, this book explores the inner life of teaching and encourages educators to reconnect with their passion and purpose. It is a reflective and affirming read as the semester comes to a close.
- Start Where You Are by Pema Chödrön
A gentle and wise book perfect for summer reflection, this guide offers short teachings and meditations that invite readers to embrace compassion, patience, and presence.
- Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
This science-backed book is ideal for educators looking to recharge. It explores how to manage stress in a sustainable way and emphasizes the importance of rest and recovery.
🌟 Buff Spotlight: Honoring Our Summer Educators and Campus Professionals: Teaching and Serving with Heart and Resilience
While many are wrapping up for the semester, we want to recognize the educators and campus professionals who continue to teach, advise, support, and serve students throughout the summer. Your dedication, whether through intensive teaching schedules, one-on-one academic advising, counseling services, research mentoring, or other essential roles, helps sustain CU Boulder’s academic and campus life during a time that may feel quieter but remains deeply important.
Whether you are working online, in person, or in a hybrid format, your commitment does not go unnoticed. We sincerely thank you for the time, energy, and care you bring to our students and community. If you are teaching this summer, be sure to explore CTL’s summer teaching resources, and know that support is available to help you thrive throughout the season.
THANK YOU!
We would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the students and faculty who participated in this year's Students as Partners program and presented their incredible work at the April 4th showcase. This collaborative initiative brings faculty and undergraduate students together to co-create student-centered solutions that enhance teaching and learning. From innovative course design to inclusive classroom practices, these partnerships are a testament to the power of dialogue, creativity, and shared purpose in higher education. We are inspired by your work and honored to celebrate your contributions.
Student Partners and Faculty Partners:
- Anna Hoisington (Linguistics) & Christy Fillman (Teaching Professor of Distinction, Molecular Cellular & Developmental Biology)
- Aneesh Waikar (MCDB and Biochemistry) & Christy Fillman (Teaching Professor of Distinction, Molecular Cellular & Developmental Biology)
- Aaron Klass (Theatre Department) & Beth Osnes (Associate Professor & Co-Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre & Performance Studies)
- Sarah Fitzpatrick (ENVD) & Beth Osnes (Associate Professor & Co-Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre & Performance Studies)
- Anthony Cortez (Political Science) & Kevin Mason (Assistant Director for Social Science Education)
- Grace Zinser (Neuroscience) & Nicole R. Stob (Assistant Teaching Professor IPHY) & Sara Tabatabaie (Assistant Teaching Professor ENVD)
- Aris Wertin (MCDB) & Cheryl Pinzone (Teaching Assistant Professor MCDB)
- Abi Horton (History and Classics) & Lauren Collins (Program Director and Teaching Assistant Professor, Asian Studies)
- Isaiah Fuentes (Psychology & Pre-Health) & Adriana Espinoza (MCDB) & Kate Semsar (Assistant Director of STEM Education & PEAC Director)
ASSETT is pleased to continue their Students as Partners program! In Fall 2025, faculty and student partners will attend a seminar, engage with topics related to student-faculty partnerships, and work interdependently on a student-centered project. The call for faculty participation is open through May 31, 2025.
📅 What’s Ahead: Events & Announcements:
- 🌿 Pedagogy and Wellness in the Classroom: A Maymester Microcredential - Thursday, May 15 & Thursday, May 22 - CASE E390. This hybrid professional development opportunity is designed for faculty, advisors, and staff who want to cultivate learning environments that support wellness for students and themselves. Through online content and two in-person community meetings, participants will explore inclusive, evidence-based teaching and communication strategies, reflect on current practices, and gain tools to navigate difficult conversations around mental health, accessibility, and more. Join a supportive community of educators working to create resilient, inclusive, and wellness-centered classrooms. Register here!
🛠️ 🖥️ Join our three-day workshop from May 12-May 15, 1-3 PM MT (Zoom) to explore course design for multiple modalities. We’ll cover pedagogy, inclusive frameworks, technical tools, and research-informed practices for Canvas courses. An optional fourth day will dive into CU templates, technology questions, and using Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools for instructional design. Register here!
- 🤖 Save the Date: 2025 Summer Design Studio – Teaching, Learning & AI. Join ASSETT and the Center for Teaching & Learning for a two-day immersive studio on May 19-20, 2025, at CASE E390 & Zoom. With generative AI reshaping higher education, this event will help you explore its impact on student learning and develop a “right fit” approach for your teaching. Whether you’re looking for resources, strategies, or guidance on integrating AI, this studio will provide practical insights and support. Don’t miss this opportunity to navigate the evolving AI landscape in education. For more information and registration, click here!
- 📚 CTL Book Club – Join Us This Summer!
Looking for a meaningful way to connect with colleagues and rethink classroom practices? The CTL Book Club returns this summer with Grading for Growth—a compelling read on alternative grading strategies that promote student learning and reduce stress for everyone. Open to all instructors, students, and staff, this is a chance to dive into practical, research-informed ideas in a relaxed, supportive space. Learn more and sign up here!
- 👥 Calling all collaborators! As we continue our Faculty Fellows program, we invite faculty of all ranks to apply as departmental pairs or an interdisciplinary team to work on teaching, learning and technology initiatives. Examples could include curriculum design, alternative grading, gamification, portfolios, challenges in large courses, equitable teaching approaches, gen AI in teaching and learning, or interdisciplinary course design. For full consideration apply no later than May 30, 2025 by completing the online application.
- 📝 Apply for the Just & Equitable Teaching (JET) Micro-Credential! Elevate your teaching with the JET micro-credential in Fall 2025! Learn about evidence-based resources and practices, and commit to fostering an equitable, just and inclusive learning environment in this hybrid course. Open to all CU Boulder instructors, graduate students, and instructional support staff, this program will meet six times on every other Thursday (3:30 - 5 P.M.) from Sept 4, 2025 onwards. Limited to 18 participants on a first-come, first-serve basis. Fill out the application form to reserve a spot by May 30, 2025.
- 🗣️ Join us for Communication in the Classroom, a hands-on, collaborative workshop facilitated by Tamara Meneghini-Stalker, Professor of Theatre & Dance. This two-part series meets on Fridays, September 12 & 26 from 9:00–11:00 a.m. in CASE E390. Participants will explore how vocal and physical presence impact student learning by presenting short teaching segments and working together to refine communication strategies that enhance classroom engagement and understanding. Register here!
Join Us for Other Upcoming Events!
Mo-Wed, May 12-14, 2025, 9:00 AM-3:00 PM MT, May Training → reach out to preston.cumming@colorado.edu
Thu, May 15, 2025, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM MT, Pedagogy and Wellness in the Classroom
Mo-Tue, May 19-20, 2025, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM MT, Summer Design Studio 2025
Thu, May 22, 2025, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM MT, Pedagogy and Wellness in the Classroom
🎓 InspirED✏️📚 A Poem for Pause: “Instructions on Not Giving Up” by Ada Limón
As you transition into summer, take a moment to breathe and soak in the resilience of the season and of yourself. In her poem “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” Ada Limón reminds us of the quiet strength in beginnings, endings, and everything in between. It is a powerful reminder that growth often happens just beneath the surface and that rest is part of the process.
Instructions on Not Giving Up
Ada Limón 1976 –
More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out
of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor’s
almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving
their cotton candy-colored blossoms to the slate
sky of Spring rains, it’s the greening of the trees
that really gets to me. When all the shock of white
and taffy, the world’s baubles and trinkets, leave
the pavement strewn with the confetti of aftermath,
the leaves come. Patient, plodding, a green skin
growing over whatever winter did to us, a return
Copyright © 2017 by Ada Limón. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 15, 2017, by the Academy of American Poets.
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