Certificate in Teaching Excellence for Student Success

Past Programming 

• From Theory to Practice: Designing Critical Thinking Activities - Practical Tools for Immediate Integration - This interactive workshop is brought to you by the Provost Learning Community on Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking. Building on last year’s conversation, this hands-on workshop invites faculty to go beyond theory and actively design a critical thinking activity that they can immediately apply to their teaching. Using practical templates like Bloom’s Taxonomy, Six Thinking Hats, the Five Whys, and SWOT analysis, participants will explore creative ways to foster critical thinking across disciplines. Walk away with a ready-to-use activity tailored to your own course and context. You do not need to have attended last year's workshop to attend this one.
• The Neuroscience and Cognitive Biology of Learning - This interactive workshop is brought to you by the Provost Learning Community on the Implications of Cognitive Science Research for Teaching and Learning. It is designed to equip faculty with knowledge about the fundamental scientific principles behind memory and learning. In this workshop we will explore how the brain forms memories and the six strategies backed by scientific research that promote effective learning. We will delve into how retrieval practice, spaced practice, interleaving, elaboration, dual coding and concrete examples can be incorporated into instructional plans to promote learning. Additionally, you will leave with a toolkit of practical strategies and resources that can be shared with your students to foster improved independent study habits.
• Integrating Community-Engaged Learning into Your Course -  Learn how to design meaningful community-engaged learning experiences that connect academic content with real-world contexts. This workshop will focus on aligning learning outcomes with community-based activities, integrating critical reflection to deepen student learning, and structuring assignments to promote civic awareness and academic growth. We will review sample syllabi and take part in planning activities to begin shaping your own community-engaged learning course or project.
• A New Hope: Academic Integrity in the Age of AI - Take a step back and look at what the research actually says about why students cheat and how thoughtful course design can reduce the temptation in the first place. We’ll also share practical, adaptable strategies for creating AI-resistant assessments and introduce a Red/Yellow/Green framework to help you clearly communicate expectations about AI use in your courses. Feeling stuck on how to respond to AI? You’re not alone. We may not have all the answers — but as Yoda reminds us, “In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.” This workshop offers a chance to find that light — together.

• InterActive Lecturing - Faculty will be introduced to a variety of research-based strategies to enhance lecture effectiveness, which include providing students with opportunities to immediately grasp, practice, or apply content via brief individual, partner, and group activities. The strategies presented are appropriate for and can be adapted to any class size. 
• Empowering Critical Thinkers: Strategies for the Classroom - This interactive workshop is designed to equip faculty with practical strategies for fostering critical thinking skills in their classrooms. Developed from the collaborative efforts of our faculty learning community, this workshop explores effective teaching techniques to nurture critical thinking among students. Participants will delve into innovative approaches and activities tailored to promote critical thinking across disciplines, gaining valuable insights through presentations, discussions, and hands-on activities. By the end of the workshop, attendees will have a toolkit of practical strategies and resources to integrate critical thinking into their teaching practices, whether for specific assignments or an entire course revamp.
• The Science of Learning with Visuals - More than three decades of research inform us on effective, practical multimedia learning principles that we can apply to our course materials, such as slide presentations, recorded video lectures and graphs. In this session, we will connect research and application to land on what it takes to ensure your visuals are effective teaching tools.   
• Teaching with Generative AI - Explore the transformative potential of generative AI in education with our hands-on workshop designed for college faculty. This session will provide an overview of AI tools and strategies, fostering discussions on innovative applications in the classroom. 
• Motivating Students Part 1: Support Student Autonomy - We will examine strategies such as fostering intrinsic interest, offering choice, implementing multimodal reflection and assignments, and creating authentic, participatory learning experiences to give our students more autonomy and thereby boosting their engagement. 
• Motivating Students Part 2: Belonging - Research shows that when students feel like they belong — in the classroom, in college, and in our community — and that their voice matters, they are more motivated to learn and feel better about being in the classroom. In this workshop, we will explore strategies for developing a sense of community and belonging.
• Motivating Students Part 3: Competence - A key aspect of motivation is the belief that you can manage the task at hand. We will examine the role that instructional alignment, low stakes assessments, timely and actionable feedback, and metacognitive strategies play in encouraging greater self-efficacy among our students and helping them feel more confident in their learning.

• Gamification of Learning - Escape Rooms - You've been summoned to a high-stakes meeting to save MAD University from a crisis. Your dean expects you to gamify MAD 1101 asap to improve its unacceptable DFW rate. The problem? You and the Committee for Things that Matter know nothing about gamification and need help from Chatty, an untrained AI program. To help you, Chatty must access three encrypted files to learn about gamification. But you don’t have the encryption keys! Can you unlock these files in time to save yourselves from the dean’s wrath? In this experience, you will learn gamification principles you can apply to your courses.