PTF Impacts

A campus-wide faculty learning community constructed a canvas sandbox website where we could share materials related to climate change, with annotations, with the broader UT community. We collected our groups materials, and tried to organize them in a useful way. This includes lectures, activities, quizzes, projects, pre/post tests, etc. We organize both by learning objective, and by course. Our website is now live. A publication on pre/post survey results is being prepared.

Many of the final projects are available online:

https://hipstas.github.io/annotating-adler/

https://hipstas.github.io/gea-psychic-spirituality-recordings/

https://makaylabaughman.github.io/the-leigh-hunt-hair-book/

https://utancientamericas.omeka.net/ 

In 2024, I piloted a new web-based version of Astronomy 301 (Introductory to Astronomy), and taught it a second time in 2025. I attempted to include best practices for active learning, which was a challenge in this environment.

3 different PTF projects presented:

Loescher project focuses on: Elevate excellence in the classroom through new strategies to understand, measure, and improve rigor in all courses 

•each class is designed and delivered with the expectation of students learning at high levels •each student demonstrates learning at high levels 

•each student is supported so they can learn at high levels

View the poster here

For more information about the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at UT Austin, visit the program's webpage: DNP Program at UT Austin

This video project was designed to be shown in all Signature Courses at UT. Together with a discussion prompt, the video aims to acquaint students with mental and physical health resources on campus, and to teach them strategies for success.

"Musings in Greek Literature" is a podcast co-produced by Prof. Deborah Beck and advanced UT undergraduate students of ancient Greek.

This invited paper is part of a group of six articles on "rupture and repair" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic published in Transactions of the American Philological Association, the journal of the professional organization for American Classicists.

https://doi.org/10.1353/apa.2023.a913465

This profile of "Musings in Greek Literature" appeared in the Spring 2023 edition of Life and Letters, the magazine of the UT College of Liberal Arts. This article explores the podcast and its origins, which occurred spontaneously in a conversation with Adam Rabinowitz about experiential learning. At the time, Adam was a PTF, but I wasn't. I re-applied multiple times to the PTF program and was ultimately selected for this podcast project in large part because of Adam's support and encouragement.

Life and Letters, the print and digital magazine of the UT College of Liberal Arts, featured ClioVis, the digital timeline visualization tool developed by Erika Bsumek's PTF initiative, in their November 2023 issue.

Dr. Jason Heppler of George Mason University reviewed ClioVis, the digital timeline visualization tool developed by Erika Bsumek, in the March 2024 issue of the Journal of American History. According to an excerpt from the review:

Team-Based Learning is a specific interactive educational method that has been shown to develop skills for meaningful teamwork. Through engaging classroom activities, students experience the benefits of working with others. According to the literature, students perceive the benefits of teamwork including understanding the course material more deeply and producing higher quality class assignments.

Each year, the PTF Chair-Elect has the opportunity to share recurring Teaching Tips with all faculty at UT. These messages cover a variety of topics, styles, and methodologies, from brief and practical classroom strategies to in-depth conversations with voices from across campus.

This year’s Teaching Tips  were written by Chair-Elect Nina Telang, from the Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Each year, the PTF Chair-Elect has the opportunity to share recurring Teaching Tips with all faculty at UT. These messages cover a variety of topics, styles, and methodologies, from brief and practical classroom strategies to in-depth conversations with voices from across campus.

This year’s Teaching Tips  were written by Chair-Elect Jessica Toste, from the Department of Special Education.

For her Provost's Teaching Fellows initiative, Nina Telang developed of a Supplemental Instruction (SI) program in a sophomore-level Electrical and Computer Engineering course, EE319K: Introduction to Embedded Systems. 

Supplemental Instruction (SI) study sessions to help students succeed in introductory courses by employing a peer teaching model. SI Leaders – TAs or peers who have already successfully taken the course – plan and lead two identical, voluntary SI sessions each week, which students can join at any point in the semester. 

Former PTF chair Nina Telang co-presented this paper at the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference in August 2022.

"Measuring Impactful Teaching Practices" was presented at the International Virtual Exchange Conference, December 2022, Spain. We explore Global Virtual Exchange (or GVE) at the University of Texas at Austin in the last academic year, 2021-2022 to measure the impact of the faculty-led program,   Our main takeaway was that professors and students participating in the GVE program find the greatest benefits to be in the intercultural student-to-student exchange and the exposure to different perspectives.

Dr. Beck made a guest appearance on the Classics media podcast "Movies We Dig" due to her work with "Musings in Greek Literature." On this podcast, hosted by several young Classicists including two graduates of the UT Classics Ph.D. program, Beck discussed the made-for-TV version of Homer's Odyssey starring Armand Assante and Isabelle Rosselini (1997).  

Former PTF chair Stephanie Holmsten co-presented a session on her global virtual exchange initiative at the American Council on Education virtual conference on March 24-25, 2021. With international collaborators from Ecuador and Venezuela, Holmsten discussed their 2019-20 international collaboration between (US)-ESPOL(Ecuador)-UAM (Venezuela), and provided evidence of the COIL model for course design in achieving student outcomes. Their experiences with icebreakers, collaborative projects, and assessment tools were also shared.

Former PTF chair Nina Telang co-presented this paper at the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference in March 2021. This paper shares a detailed look into the implementation of a new student initiative focused on promoting student success and well-being.

Read the complete paper <here,> or find the abstract below.

Each year, the PTF Chair-Elect has the opportunity to share recurring Teaching Tips with all faculty at UT. These messages cover a variety of topics, styles, and methodologies, from brief and practical classroom strategies to in-depth conversations with voices from across campus.

This year’s Teaching Tips were written by Chair-Elect Stephanie Seidel Holmsten, from the International Relations and Global Studies program.

The Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (KS WELI) held the inaugural Female Founder Pitch Competition in October 2021.

The International Virtual Exchange Conference (IVEC) is the largest and most prominent international event on virtual exchange, providing a forum for an audience of deans, directors, faculty, instructional designers, administrators, and professionals from institutions around the world interested in technology, international education, and new pedagogies.