Volume 2 | Issue 4
November 2015
TILE
Fall events for instruction in TILE.

FEATURED EVENT
Group Assessment Strategies
November 11, 11:30 - 12:30 pm
474 Van Allen Hall (TILE)

TEACHING
Workshops for teaching and learning excellence.
FEATURED EVENT
First-Generation Students
November 12, 12:00 - 1:30pm
469 Van Allen Hall (TILE)

GRADUATE STUDENTS
Effective rubrics, micro-teaching and more.


CONTACT US
Center for Teaching
319-335-6048

Brave Spaces: Encouraging Difficult Dialogues

Preparations for the spring 2016 UI Themes Semester, Just Living, have encouraged many instructors to consider how best to incorporate and facilitate difficult dialogues around social justice. 

"While authentically exploring social oppression can be challenging, engaging in difficult dialogues about racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, politics, and religion are necessary," says Sherry Watt, associate professor of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies. "These dialogues allow for exploration and eventual action that address the social problems that lead to emotional and physical violence in our society."

While acknowledging and anticipating the potential for emotionally charged discussion, instructors and students who explicitly tackle difficult topics--including politics and religion--can also achieve important learning goals, including acquiring fundamental knowledge, cultivating critical thinking skills, and applying learning beyond the classroom...


SITA Supports Success
From tweaking an ICON grade book to helping an instructor navigate a TILE classroom, Student Instructional Technology Assistants (SITAs) work with instructors from across the UI campus to maximize student success using technology effectively and efficiently.

As half-time Center for Teaching student employees, the SITAs works with instructors in one-time consultations as well as short and long-term projects. SITAs provide insight on technology use, offer design and production assistance, and introduce other instructional resources as needed.  Faculty requests sometimes go beyond what commonly used tools such as ICON or the wiki have to offer.

"Often what an instructor wants isn't an 'off-the-shelf' technology," says Steve Silva, Associate Director, Center for Teaching and SITA program manager. "We like to begin a consultation by asking the instructor about their course objectives and how they support student learning. Then we simply listen."...


YouTube Alternative for Campus Streaming
The rapid development and pervasive use of new media tools have empowered almost anyone to create, shape, and disseminate information and narrative that engage and persuade.

ShareStream--a campus-supported YouTube alternative for streaming audio and video files--now provides one more opportunity for faculty, staff and students to connect with others through story. ShareStream allows users to upload video and audio files, tag content with metadata, and view, browse, and play media through easy-to-use media streaming software...

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Center for Teaching Open House
Stop in to check-out a book on teaching and learning from the Lending Library.
To celebrate the new location of the ITS Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology's Center for Teaching, please attend the Center for Teaching Open House event:


Tour the Center's new facilities, meet the staff and learn about new opportunities to collaborate to enhance your teaching and learning experience at Iowa.