April 15, 2021
Dear Colleagues,
We write to highlight teaching resources related to the trial of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd and also to the killing of Daunte Wright. Please see “Acknowledging Ongoing Impacts of Racialized Violence” and Provost Phillips' message to the teaching community. You will find succinct information on mental health resources, conveying care for students, exercising care and caution in class discussion, and navigating difficult class conversations.
Along with partners in UO Libraries and the Office of the Dean of Students, we also offer Academic Integrity at UO, a new compilation of resources that give clear instructional advice on communicating about integrity, designing assessments, and reporting misconduct. You’ll also find student-facing materials that you can import directly into your Canvas course.
The Midway Student Survey opens next week, giving students a chance to give early feedback on the course that goes only to you. How do you get meaningful feedback? Tell students it matters to you and give them class time to complete the survey. It’s easier than ever now that the surveys are integrated into Canvas.
Finally, we offer our warmest congratulations to Raghuveer Parthasarathy, Donnalyn Pompper, and Leilani Sabzalian, recipients of the 2021 Williams Fellowships. Learn more about their teaching.
Excellence in Universal Design Award
The Accessible Education Center invites Excellence in Universal Design Award nominations of faculty who’ve developed flexible curricula and instruction to ensure equity and access for all learners. The award recipient will receive $1,000. The definition of excellence in universal design can be viewed on AEC’s Universal Design for Learning page. Click here to submit a nomination by May 3.
Invitations
Discussion Lab: Building Class Community with “Liberating Structures”
This participatory biweekly series offers the opportunity to learn and practice several Liberating Structures: “easy-to-learn microstructures that enhance relational coordination and trust. They quickly foster lively participation in groups of any size, making it possible to truly include and unleash everyone.”
Conversation Café
Friday, April 16, 2-2:40 p.m.
Register here.
Discovery and Action Dialogue
Friday, April 30, 2-2:40 p.m.
Register here.
Writing Assessment Reports
Thursday, April 22, 10-11 a.m.
Register here.
Difficult Dialogues
Friday, April 23, 2021,1-3 p.m.
Register here.
NEW: Interpreting and Responding to Midway Student Feedback
Tuesday, April 27 and Wednesday, April 27, 9-11 a.m.
Drop in via Zoom: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/97334619377
Come any time during these open office hours to discuss your survey results, including how to respond to student feedback and talk with students about the how and why of teaching and learning in your course.
NEW: 'Live Edit' Sessions to Improve Student Writing
Monday, May 3, 3-3:40 p.m.
Register here.
Developing students’ written communication is a key goal for many instructors and for the university as a whole. Yet the path toward that goal can be slow and frustrating (both for students and instructors). In this quick “popup” workshop, Mike Murashige, CoDaC’s Writing Consultant, will introduce instructors to the “live edit,” a 30-60 minute session which allows instructors to engage in a dialogue about revision rather than simply providing students with a “to do” list to improve their writing. Meant sometimes to supplement, other times to entirely replace, traditional commenting, it gives writers greater access to the process of making their writing better.
Learning from Pandemic Teaching Experiences
hosted by the Science Teaching Journal Club
Thursdays at 9 a.m.
Drop in via Zoom: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/369256082
See our schedule of readings and demonstrations.
The group so far has focused on hybrid teaching. A key point that’s emerging: the importance of making the most of face-to-face time together, perhaps by “flipping” the class to include activities that reinforce concepts introduced asynchronously. Next week, we consider how to design activities for use in socially distanced classrooms. In Week 5, we turn to HyFlex teaching.
'Research-Informed' Reading Group: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Online Courses
Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m.
Drop in via Zoom: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/94975804093
See our schedule of readings.
Our first readings have shown that instruction that includes active learning experiences and additional structure, such as graded preparatory assignments, can reduce equity gaps. Next week we turn to a provocative paper that advocates “that students are able to handle difficult [social justice] topics with care if we train them to better work with the unintelligibility of others’ experiences.”
UO Summer Teaching Institute
The Office of the Provost invites faculty to participate in the UO Summer Teaching Institute, a banner event hosted by the Teaching Engagement Program and UO Online that will convene faculty remotely for an intensive, week-long focus on teaching July 12-16.
In fall, UO anticipates returning to campus, making the most of what we’ve learned in COVID conditions, and, almost certainly, facing new teaching challenges. And we anticipate the joy of being more fully present with students and colleagues. Join us as you build your recent investments in new methods, technological tools, and approaches to centering social context and student wellbeing into durable teaching changes.
Learn more and apply by May 3 for one of our stipended “topical pathways ($1K) on Teaching about Difference, Inequality, and Agency; Teaching Online; Designing New Approaches to Assessment; and Teaching with Mixed Modalities.
Oregon Virtual Statewide OER Symposium 2021
May 14, 2021, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
https://openoregon.org/events/event/symposium-2021/
Register now to attend a one-day interactive symposium about the design, practice, use, and assessment of open educational resources. Open Oregon Educational Resources is also seeking nominations for the 2021 OER Champion Award. Open education champions are people who do outstanding open education work in Oregon’s community colleges and universities. Consider nominating faculty, staff or students for an award.
Consultations
TEP and UO Online are here to support you in your teaching. Request an individual consultation.