News from CTL

The end of the spring semester is near. We are on the sidelines cheering you on as you get close to the finish line! In our May newsletter, we celebrate many milestones and achievements of our teaching and learning colleagues, as well as share out some resources and upcoming events available to you as the semester comes to a close.

The CTL's first-ever Came to Listen, a nod to The Moth, took place on April 22, 2022. This storytelling event was designed to foster and bolster teaching and learning amongst instructors.

Lessons learned from solving puzzles in escape rooms, teaching in community schools and prisons, and leading parties at zoos were just some of the stories shared at the 6th annual Graduate Teaching Showcase presented by the Center for Teaching and Learning in partnership with the Graduate School and UT Libraries.

In Spring 2021 the OER Working Group successfully applied for a Center for Teaching & Learning Instructor Learning Community (ILC) grant. Working group members Ashley Morrison, Hannah Chapman Tripp, and Lydia Fletcher created the content and facilitated the ILC, which focused on open educational resources (or OER) -- learning materials that carry open licenses and allow anyone to freely read, share, and modify them -- and how adapting courses to incorporate OER can enhance inclusivity in classrooms.

Eight members of the Provost’s Teaching Fellows program shared the results of their PTF Initiatives at the PTF Annual Showcase on Friday, April 1 in the PCL.

Wow, it's April. If your experience is like ours, the weeks are flying by with few opportunities to take a breath. We hope you find peace and meaning in the midst of your work. See below for what is available this month and let us know how we can support you!

Do you work hard at continuously improving your teaching? Interested in documenting your work with a nationally-recognized teaching credential? The University of Texas System is awarding grants for 30 full-time instructors to participate in the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) Effective Teaching Practices course. This year-long professionally facilitated asynchronous course gives you the opportunity to learn about, implement, and reflect on research-based teaching practices in the courses you are teaching in real time.

https://themoth.org/The Center for Teaching and Learning will hold an event to center personal experience and anecdote as a highly effective strategy to share knowledge.

We hope spring break provided an opportunity to recharge in your favorite ways. Graduate Teaching Showcase is this Friday, and all are invited to hear the six selected instructors virtually present their stories. In addition, there are two more GrantED opportunities to hear from previous grant recipients. As a reminder, ILC and TIG proposals are due April 3.

March is the month we celebrate the contributions of graduate student instructors at the Graduate Teaching Showcase as well as a new cohort of Provost's Teaching Fellows. In addition, see below for experiential and blended learning opportunities this month. Finally, there are two grant programs that provide funds to support your instructional goals. We continue to make progress on steps towards our name change: Center for Teaching and Learning! Stay tuned.