We are delighted to invite you to join us for a week of joyful, engaged teaching and learning from August 19-23. Explore innovative pedagogical strategies, discover campus resources, and connect with fellow educators across disciplines. Throughout the week, we will host a series of interactive sessions and enriching activities designed to inspire and enhance your teaching practice.
We look forward to meeting you this August!
Event Schedule
Pedagogy Sampler
When: Monday, August 19th at 10am-1pm
Where: Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL)
Our Longhorn Teaching Labs will kick off by featuring five mini-lessons from Provost's Teaching Fellows in a variety of colleges across campus, each of whom will share an activity, methodology, or strategy with attendees who are primarily outside of their disciplines. We are spotlighting activities that are dynamic, engaging, and joyful, which could be adapted by participants in their own courses. Attendees will be able to attend two different mini-lessons, discuss its purpose and outcomes with the instructor and participants, and close out with a celebratory lunch. Check out the list of Samplers here.
Teaching with the Gems: Harry Ransom Center
When: Wednesday, August 21st at 3pm-6pm
Where: Harry Ransom Center
Break up the midweek slump by visiting one of our campus gems, the Harry Ransom Center, and explore some of the ways you can use the Center's archives and resources in courses of all disciplines. Participants will take a facilitated tour of the Center's main three spaces (permanent exhibits, temporary exhibits, archives), hear from instructors who have utilized HRC resources for their teaching, and end the evening with a Happy Hour.
Additionally, Texas Extended Campus will offer a Professional Headshot Station for anyone who would like a new or updated photo for their department profiles.
Design for All
When: Thursday, August 22nd at 10am-1pm
Where: Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL)
In the week before classes, instructors often have lots of questions about how to make their courses accessible for all students. This Longhorn Teaching Lab will include three activities, each designed to provide small, tangible takeaways for participants to utilize in their teaching:
Access Tour: Participants will engage in an exploration of space (both physical and experiential) to notice and reflect on how students with different needs and from different backgrounds may experience the 40 Acres.
UDL Primer: Learn about the basics of Universal Design for Learning, a framework for rethinking course design and assessment to make them more inclusive and accessible for all. Participants will walk away with just-in-time tips and +1 Thinking ideas to take away and use.
Gallery of Accessibility Solutions: Join campus experts for a "speed dating" style Q&A to answer all of your lingering questions around creating and improving accessible course materials and class environments. Check out the Gallery representatives here.
Teaching with the Gems: LBJ Presidential Library
When: Thursday, August 22nd at 1:30pm-3pm
Where: LBJ Presidential Library
After lunch we invite you to join us on a trip next door to another campus gem, The Lyndon B Johnson Presidential Library. Come take a docent led tour of the highlights of the library’s extensive artifacts, experience a Great Society exhibit activity, and discover different ways to utilize their resources to enhance our student learning.
LTL Grand Finale: Theatre of FAQs
When: Friday, August 23rd at 10am-1pm
Where: Laboratory Theater Building
Longhorn Teaching Labs will end with our culminating not-to-be-missed celebration, the Theatre of FAQs:
Theatre of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) is an original theatre production devised by current UT staff, instructors, and undergraduate and graduate students for an audience of new-to-UT faculty members. As actors perform a series of short scenes that explore themes of belonging and accessibility – and what these terms might look and feel like in practice for all members of the UT teaching and learning community – participants will gain familiarity with campus resources, units, and teaching practices they may explore in the coming academic year and beyond. Co-facilitators will offer context before the performance and guide a group reflection and time for Q&A at the conclusion of the 30-45 minute production, and then join the attendees for a celebratory lunch.