CTL Newsletter - March 2022

This guide provides evidence-based information about CATs and links to descriptions, ideas, and how-to instructions for numerous learning assessment strategies. Also listed are a few favorites that can be used in all kinds of classrooms...

High impact practices (HIPs) are educational opportunities that have been shown to improve student retention, grades and graduation rates. Incorporating these practices in your classroom brings structure and guidance to learning for your students and will help to build important relationships that improve mindset and attitude about the content...

A classroom dialogue is a facilitated conversation within a CU class that provides an opportunity for participants to share their experiences and speak from their own perspectives while also challenging participants to understand why they hold a perspective. A dialogue is both an introspective and sharing process which allows differing viewpoints to be held side-by-side. The goal is for participants to gain a deeper understanding of their own and others’ perspectives on a course related topic or issue. A dialogue does not aim to persuade or push a certain perspective but to help participants understand varying viewpoints. The facilitator helps promote introspection and critical thinking about the perspectives participants hold. If you have any questions, or would like to learn more, please contact Pilar Sattler via email.

March 9, 2022 from 12:00pm-1:00pm MT - Join the ASSETT Innovation Incubator Inclusive Data Science team and the Center for Research Data & Digital Scholarship for a panel discussion with Professor Andrea Armstrong, Professor Judson Mitchell and student collaborators from Loyola University New Orleans on their collaborative effort to create the Incarceration Transparency database.

March 10, 2022 from 3:30pm-4:30pm MT - With Allison Glover, Chiara Forrester, Chris Haynes, Samara Mendez. Join panelists from various disciplines to discuss their career paths from graduate degree to professional. Panelists will address how they used their degrees and training to prepare them for their current positions and any advice they can give to current graduate students. Plenty of time will be given for questions.

March 31, 2022 from 10:00am-11:00am MT - With Scott Millspaugh, Interim Assistant Director of Learning Experience Design in the Office of Academic and Learning Innovation; Karen Crouch, Instructional Design and Technology Consultant, ASSETT; and Preston Cumming, Professional Development Lead, CTL. We are continuously finding ways to build community in our online courses. How about doing so with our fellow online education practitioners and professionals? The Online Pedagogy Community of Practice (OCoP) is not just another workshop or a tool demonstration. It is a community of like minded folks invested in surfacing shared concerns, identifying mutual goals, and building trusted relationships. As CU Boulder Online convenes a campus-wide community of practice, we want your voice in the mix.

April 4, 2022 from 11:00am-12:00pm MT - With Stephanie Foster, Assessment Lead, CTL. Student engagement is essential to learning. High levels of engagement have been linked to enhanced cognitive and social development, and positive outcomes such as retention and persistence in the academic program. How do we know that students are engaged, and in what ways? How much effort have students put into their coursework? How much have they contributed to collaborative or team-based learning? Should “participation” count toward a student’s grade, and if so, what does participation look like? This session will share some of the current thinking around assessing student engagement in the classroom, and explore how teaching and assessment strategies can communicate to students the value of active participation in their learning.

April 7, 2022 from 11:00-12:00pm MT - With Stephanie Foster, Assessment Lead, CTL. A course map is a visual representation of the ways in which your course instruction and assignments align with the learning objectives. Mapping your course allows you to identify where students are learning key concepts and skills, and make decisions about formative and summative assessments. It can also help determine where to provide additional instruction or learning support. This session will guide participants through a course mapping process using a template. Please bring a syllabus and key assignments to use in the session.

April 14, 2022 from 2:00pm-3:00pm MT - How do students feel about your class? Is your classroom a comfortable space for learning? Are your teaching methods successful? These questions are central for most graduate students, instructors and teachers, but never have a straight-forward answer. The goal of this workshop is to shed some light on them by presenting the information gathered in a cross-disciplinary questionnaire throughout the Fall 2021. We have collected and analyzed the thoughts and reflections on pedagogical dynamics, assessment methods, and inclusion strategies of 150 students from the Math, Computer Science, Theatre and Dance, and Spanish and Portuguese Departments. The results reveal which instructional strategies, evaluation methods and inclusive practices work best for students in general and in their specific contexts. So, no matter what discipline you belong to, this workshop will help you to better understand your students’ motivations and feelings.

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and You—beside—

- Emily Dickinson, “The Brain—is wider than the Sky”