Celebrate your first week of teaching with the CTLT (Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology) Fall Kickoff! Pizza, camaraderie, and professional development starts at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 26, in the Instructional Technology and Development Center. Get a preview of new and returning fall workshops. We’ll also highlight teaching tips you can use right away, like how journaling can help students learn, or how to get students to learn more than just what is on the flashcard. Stop by when you can. No registration is necessary.

Short presentations (20 minutes)

Daybooks for Student Metacognition
11:30 a.m.
Jeff Rients, graduate assistant for programming, CTLT

Discover the student daybook: a form of journaling designed for documenting learning both between classroom sessions and during classroom activities. The daybook provides a safe space for student experimentation, for “thinking out loud on paper,” while providing a venue for assessment. Furthermore, we will also look at specific daybook activities that promote a metacognitive approach, cementing past learning and aiding in the formation of new knowledge structures.

Helping Students Move Beyond the Flashcard Mindset
12:30 p.m.
Julie-Ann McFann, team lead for programming and faculty development coordinator, CTLT

Despite instructors’ best efforts to encourage deep learning, students believe they should primarily focus on rote memorization. As a result, they struggle to develop knowledge structures that will help them in the long run. In this interactive session, participants will be introduced to a sorting activity that helps students find multiple connections within course material.

Thinking About Learning
1:30 p.m.
Dana Karraker, faculty development coordinator, CTLT

Reflection and reflexivity encourage students to consider what is happening as learning is taking place—how are they learning and why. These are lifelong skills that can help students become more honest with themselves and self-critical, thus developing independent learning. In this session, we will discuss strategies you can incorporate throughout the semester that encourage students to think about what they are learning and how their actions are impacting the learning. These strategies help them synthesize information and consider how their new learning may be applied in the future.

If you need an accommodation to fully participate in a CTLT event, please contact the main desk at (309) 438-2542.