News from CTL

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.

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 have begun the process of changing our name to Center for Teaching and Learning! You can read more about it in Director Molly Hatcher's recent message to instructors. This item is also discussed in Dean Mark Smith's announcement of the expanding Academic Affairs portfolio. Thanks for your patience while we refresh our branding and content.

This past summer, thirteen graduate students from the College of Liberal Arts successfully completed the Inclusive Course Design Institute, a pilot program developed by the Graduate Student Development program at the Faculty Innovation Center to support AIs who were designing a course from the ground up for the first time. Graduate students who completed the Institute received a stipend of $100, generously provided by the College of Liberal Arts.

The Faculty Innovation Center is excited to have funded six projects for this school year through its annual Instructor Learning Community grant. We aim to build or support continued capacity for instructors to cultivate an inclusive campus climate.

The start of fall semester has begun! Here's an overview of upcoming programming and we pulled together a collection of FIC and campus partner resources to support tech-enhanced instruction.

In preparation for fall 2020, the UT teaching and learning community developed a wealth of resources to get us through the pandemic. We dove back into those resources, many featured on our FIC Commons site, and extracted some that may be helpful for instructors juggling course modalities in the first few weeks of classes to meet health and safety needs. 

Rising to meet the significant barriers to learning this pandemic year presented, UT’s graduate student instructors found innovative ways to create community and address issues of equity to keep students engaged in the learning process, even in the most difficult of times. The Faculty Innovation Center, in partnership with the Graduate School and UT Libraries, was proud to celebrate some of these stand-out innovations at the 6th annual Graduate Teaching Showcase, held virtually this year for the very first time.

On Febraruy 26, 2021 the FIC hosted the annual Grants Showcase, which invites current recipients of the FIC’s Undergraduate Teaching Grants, Instructor Learning Community Grants, and the DIY Microgrants to share their project outcomes and future goals.

We know everyone is ready for and deserves much-needed respite during spring break! As this week wraps up, we are celebrating the work you continue to do in service of our campus community. Read on for the latest FIC news and what's on the horizon.