Below are the workshops that we offer at least once a year. We hope that you identify ones that will be useful to you and your teaching goals. You may request private group sessions of any of these workshops for faculty by emailing Dr. M. Geneva Murray at geneva.murray@ou.edu, unless otherwise noted. All OU faculty and Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are welcome to attend any workshop unless the workshop is advertised as for faculty only.
The following workshops are organized thematically within CFE’s Professional Development Plan for Teaching (PDF).
These workshop offerings provide you with the essential teaching strategies to create your curriculum, syllabi, engage students in the course material, incorporate writing throughout your curriculum, and improve your grading productivity.
(Re)Design your course in a supportive, structured, and communal environment. Using a backward design approach, this workshop provides opportunity for you to work on your course (re)design by engaging in reflective activities to consider what, when, and how the course will be taught, as well as how the course objectives are achieved. This session will include a cursory introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered twice annually during CFE’s Teaching Preparedness Weeks.
Curriculum Plan: Core Teaching Skills 101
Takeaways:
Motivational and transparent syllabi can both increase student motivation in your course and decrease the number of questions you’re asked throughout the semester. This workshop builds upon our online syllabus templates and provides suggested activities to get students to read your syllabus. Bring syllabi or a draft syllabus with you, in whatever stage it is in, to share and discuss with others during hands-on activities.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop is offered twice annually during CFE’s Teaching Preparedness Weeks.
Curriculum Plan: Core Teaching Skills 102
Takeaways:
A key component to student success is a sense of belonging in the classroom and at the university. This workshop provides participants with strategies to build rapport with students so that they feel more connected with you and their peers. Participants are encouraged to bring their own ideas, while also learning about Student Background and Experience surveys, icebreakers, establishing community expectations, and motivational language.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered twice annually during CFE’s Teaching Preparedness Weeks. A workshop on this topic for those teaching online, asynchronous courses is also available.
Curriculum Plan: Core Teaching Skills 103
Takeaways:
Canvas can be used strategically as a pedagogical tool to build community, help students make connections between course topics, and much more. We’ll discuss how to organize information using modules, making information easier for your students to find, as well as some of the external tools that can help make your Canvas a site for engagement and learning.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered twice annually just before the start of the semester (August and January).
Curriculum Plan: Core Teaching Skills 104
Takeaways:
If you want to assign writing but are wary of the grading work, this workshop is for you. We will learn how to make feedback more efficient and meaningful by clarifying expectations, distinguishing commenting from grading, and training student writers (and their peers) to evaluate their own work. You will learn to give specific, productive feedback instead of wasting time proofreading and micro-grading student work. And you will learn to use Canvas tools such as SpeedGrader, rubric templates, and peer review to create a feedback environment appropriate to your teaching style.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop is offered twice annually: once in October and again in March.
Curriculum Plan: Core Teaching Skills 105
Takeaways:
These workshop offerings are focused on effective active learning techniques to foster academic achievement among your students.
Join us for a session on teaching with instructional technologies that will make teaching easier and more engaging for students: Gradescope (grading and submission of work made easier), TopHat (teaching and learning all in one place, student response system), Jamboard (visually organize and represent thoughts), Mentimeter (create word clouds, polls, and open-ended responses for student engagement), and Hypothesis (digital annotation for online readings). Other effective technologies may be included.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered twice annually during CFE’s Teaching Preparedness Weeks. A recording of a past panel may be requested, but this session will not be able to be recreated for individual units upon request.
Curriculum Plan: Active Learning 201
Many discussion-based classrooms quickly devolve into a dynamic of instructor-student Q and A, with a small percentage of students accounting for most of the participation. It doesn’t have to be this way. Drawing on Stephen Brookfield’s Discussion as a Way of Teaching, this workshop will show you how to coach student-to-student interactions, set expectations for participation from day one, and anticipate “flare ups” with proactive discussion guidelines. We will also learn how to leverage the discussion dynamic to model academic skills such as citation, collaboration, and problem solving.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop is offered twice annually during CFE’s Teaching Preparedness Weeks.
Curriculum Plan: Active Learning 202
Takeaways:
In this workshop, we practice several group discussion approaches, such as:
There are effective and dynamic ways to lecture that will keep your students engaged throughout your course. This panel discussion brings together faculty who teach large enrollment courses to discuss tools and strategies that can be utilized across all disciplines and in any class size. You are also encouraged to bring your strategies to share with other session participants.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This panel occurs annually in March. A recording of a past panel may be requested, but this session will not be able to be recreated for individual units upon request.
Curriculum Plan: Active Learning 320
Want to assign group work because it’s a necessary skill for students to learn, but remember hating group work yourself? Or not sure how to assess group work fairly, or set students up for success? Group performance is often translated into individual grades, which raises issues of fairness, equity, and motivation. This workshop will discuss multiple ways to assess group work effectively and how to help students establish group guidelines.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop is offered annually in February.
Curriculum Plan: Active Learning 321
Takeaways:
Through a discussion of project-based and problem-based assignments, you’ll be invited to consider using one of these frameworks to engage and assess student learning, intentionally connecting students with how your course objectives can help them to develop transferrable skills and applied knowledge. These frameworks promote higher-order thinking and assess not just what students have learned, but how they can transfer their knowledge to other scenarios.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop is offered every other year in November.
Curriculum Plan: Active Learning 333.
Takeaways:
Covering both assessment of your teaching and your students, these workshops will focus on providing appropriate feedback and assessment strategies to spark growth for everyone in the classroom.
Student feedback on their learning in our courses can be affirming, as well as transformative, in supporting our own growth as instructors. However, it can be challenging to hear negative feedback on courses when we’ve dedicated so much time, energy, and intellectual creativity to them, and not all feedback is created equally. Through guided reflection and peer support, we’ll spend time together reviewing our CRS feedback. You can choose to read yours privately in advance or use this session to process them for the first time, either on your own or with a peer. We ask that you bring printed copies of your CRS results or email them to geneva.murray@ou.edu at least two hours in advance of the session if you need assistance printing, with the subject heading “CRS Results.” Graduate students are welcome to attend The Power of Their Words when hosted by the Graduate College.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered annually in May.
Curriculum Plan: Feedback & Assessment 203
How do we get students to “think with” generative AI rather than rely on generative AI think for them? How does the use of generative AI align with your own teaching philosophy? In this workshop, you’ll articulate how you would like to address generative AI in assignments. We’ll then collaboratively work together to discuss what assignment types may limit the misuse of generative AI and which can incorporate generative AI to aid a student in their own learning. Throughout, we’ll situate student motivation as an important consideration in any assignment created. Be prepared to be asked to login to either ChatGPT, ClaudeAI, or Microsoft CoPilot as part of our exploration.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered in August during teaching preparedness week and as needed pending new developments in generative AI.
Curriculum Plan: Feedback and Assessment 209
Reinvigorate your assessment strategies by offering students choices in how they demonstrate what they have learned. This approach aligns with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to inform how students can demonstrate their learning. We’ll work together to share various assessment strategies and provide tips about using videos, podcasts, role plays, self-assessment, and/or visual displays such as concept maps or infographics.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This panel occurs annually in September. A recording of a past panel may be requested, but this session will not be able to be recreated for individual units upon request.
Curriculum Plan: Feedback & Assessment 210
Does it ever feel like students don’t know what you’re asking for on an assignment? Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) is a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practice which emphasizes the importance of transparency when designing assignments in order to mitigate barriers to success and increase student motivation. This workshop will engage faculty in redesigning a course assignment using the TILT framework.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop occurs annually in September.
Curriculum Plan: Feedback & Assessment 211
Takeaways:
Classroom observations allow you to document your teaching successes and hone your skills. We’ll discuss identifying shared goals and opportunities for growth, understanding the diversity of effective teaching practices, effective feedback through transparent communication, and how to develop an action plan. If you are interested in observing someone’s class, or having your course observed, this is the workshop for you!
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop is offered annually in February.
Curriculum Plan: Feedback & Assessment 301
These series of workshops provide you with strategies for supporting students within your classroom through classroom management, understanding of student experiences, and knowledge of applicable resources.
According to the AAU Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct (2020) (PDF), 20.6% of undergraduate students in their fourth year or higher reported nonconsensual sexual contact since starting their educational experience on their campus. As mandatory reporters, faculty are required to report incidents of interpersonal violence, but may have trouble knowing how to respond to a student in the moment they disclose. This workshop supports faculty through learning more about interpersonal violence on college campuses, positive responses to disclosures, mandatory reporting obligations, available resources, and more. By the end of the workshop, faculty will have practiced how to respond to a student who discloses.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered every other year in September.
Curriculum Plan: Inclusive Teaching 304
Takeaways:
Inspired by trauma informed teaching principles (Dr. Janice Carello), this workshop provides examples of how those principles can be actualized within your course. We’ll discuss policies, email responses, resources, and strategies within the classroom to support students so they can engage more in your course. While applicable to all courses, we’ll provide additional tools for sensitive subjects, while supporting professional development. At the end of this session, faculty will choose 1-2 techniques to begin using in their classrooms and with their students.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered annually in January, with additional offerings as needed.
Curriculum Plan: Inclusive Teaching 305
Takeaways:
After reviewing the techniques proposed (establishing community guidelines, a routine in the classroom, and/or flexible course policies, and using a survey to communicate about course expectations regarding sensitive topics), modify and apply one or two techniques for your classroom.
Conflict can occur within a classroom during disagreements and if students don’t feel a sense of belonging. Conflict can be scary and uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be! In this workshop, we’ll discuss preemptive strategies and facilitation approaches to engage students in productive conversations on difficult topics. You’ll leave this session with concrete resources that can help you build community among your students and yourself. You’ll also have an opportunity to role play strategies in managing difficult conversations so that you’ll feel more confident in classroom facilitation.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered annually in October, with additional offerings as needed.
Curriculum Plan: Inclusive Teaching 306
Takeaways:
All students deserve an equal opportunity to learn and to succeed. Using UDL principles as a framework, this workshop will discuss practical course design and teaching strategies to remove barriers to student learning. Through interactive group discussions, this workshop will support faculty in applying UDL principals to their courses. We will brainstorm ways to implement the principals through diversifying course content, engagement, representation, and action and expression for our students. Participants will take away at least 1-2 practical strategies to implement right away without revamping the whole curriculum.
Duration: 1.5. hours
Frequency: This workshop is offered every other year in October.
Curriculum Plan: Inclusive Teaching 308
Takeaways:
We’ll work in small groups to Identify opportunities to intentionally incorporate the UDL principles in a class of your choice:
CUREs can help you achieve your research and creative activity goals. CUREs are in-class experiences that engage students in conducting novel research and creative activities that would enhance, and be of interest to their discipline. This workshop will discuss how to use your scholarly interests to create a CURE.
Duration: 1 hour
Frequency: This workshop is offered every other year in March.
Curriculum Plan: Research & Teaching 400
The Know No Bounds book club is a learning community that occurs every Fall where we discuss our teaching practices in conjunction with a community read. Know No Bounds books include: Promoting Inclusive Classroom Dynamics in Higher Education by Kathryn C. Oleson, Designing a Motivational Syllabus by Christine Harrington and Melissa Thomas, and How Learning Works by Marsha Lovett, et al. Each participant sets individual goals related to their teaching practices and the community read, and receives support from Know No Bounds in reaching those goals.
The Center for Faculty Excellence newsletter will help you stay up to date with cohorts that will meet during the summer. For example, in Summer 2023, CFE led a week-long (Re)Designing Your Course series where faculty came together to explore their course design and provide feedback to one another.
