Goal of the Teaching Institute

The goal of the Teaching Institute is to enable participants to be successful and confident classroom teachers. Participants will explore the benefits of active learning, ongoing assessment, and fostering inclusive classrooms.  Participants will examine a variety of teaching practices and principles and will also participate in peer-evaluated micro-teaching exercises or choose to present a lesson plan that they develop as part of the Teaching Institute.

Outcomes

Teaching Institute participants will:

• Explore and test multiple teaching methods that engage and assess diverse students;
• Develop skills and strategies to continue growing as reflective instructors who employ evidence-informed teaching methods;
• ​​​​​​​Identify strategies that improve student learning outcomes for all students;
• Work in small groups to share ideas, build new skills, and cultivate partnerships in teaching and learning;
• Create a peer-reviewed lesson plan;
• Present their lesson plan or facilitate a micro-teaching exercise to their peer group.

Themes of the Teaching Institute

The Teaching Institute is based on the concept of teaching-as-scholarship, which challenges instructors to bring to teaching the critical thinking, rigor, creativity, and spirit of experimentation that defines research in all disciplines. Teaching as scholarship embodies three core themes: active learning, assessment, and diversity. The Teaching Institute uses a diverse collection of active learning and assessment techniques - diverse both in the goals and methods used and in the needs of the audience - to engage students in learning. Some activities will be more effective, some perhaps less so, and some may be unfamiliar or even uncomfortable. Regarding the diversity of activities throughout the week: each participant will be asked to note varied approaches to teaching and learning, take the time to reflect on the efficacy of each approach, and consider which methods could be adopted to their own teaching.

Format of the Teaching Institute

Interactive Sessions

The interactive sessions are designed to explore innovations and research about undergraduate education. Session leaders will present a series of mini-lectures and activities about each topic. In addition, teams of participants will work with session leaders to develop and lead reading assessment activities that are designed to assess understanding of the material.

Small-Group sessions

Group work is an important processes of the Teaching Institute. The group process encourages the cross-fertilization of ideas among participants and across the many disciplines represented. Participants should feel free to ask questions or share comments about the group process.

Individual Presentations and Peer Review

Most of the morning on the last day is devoted to presentations. Each person will have 15 minutes to present either an overview of their lesson or use the time to practice a micro-teaching activity. Each presentation is followed by a 5-minute question-and-answer period. 

Topics Covered Include

• Teaching-as-Scholarship
• Backward Design
• Assessment
• Active Learning
• Universal Design for Learning
• Inclusive Classrooms
• Evaluation
• Course Planning
• Preparing for the 1st Day
• Teaching Statements and Portfolios