by Delores M. Robinson, Geological Sciences How do we best help our graduate students graduate on time? This is a question the Department of Geological Sciences asked ourselves in 2013. We had quality graduate students, but the time needed for them to reach graduation seemed excessive. The Graduate Program Committee identified the problems and began
Category: Professional Development
2019 System Scholars Institute Recap
The 2019 System Scholars Institute covered a variety of topics, including Alabama demographics, collaboration, academic integrity, online services, and diversity.
2019 Online Learning Innovation Summit – the Notes are in the (UA) Box!
by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies I am happy to write that for a third year now OLIS brought together a cross-campus group of faculty, staff, and administrators. A record-setting 143 people attended the event supported by eight UA divisions (listed below). The objective of OLIS is to spark conversations about online teaching and learning
Three Kinds of Unknowns You MightShould Know… (Or, Cracking Open Some Johari Windows)
by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies You mightshould. While strolling through the Kentuck Festival in 2013, I saw these words printed on a postcard made by the Southern Letter Press. I thought the phrase was odd. I thought the phrase did not exist. I asked a friend what it meant, and she said people say it
Teaching Café
by James Mixson, Department of History Ask most any faculty member, and they will tell you in one way or another that they care deeply about their teaching. Most will also tell you that they are always looking for or thinking of ways to improve and to address many of the common problems we all
Reflections on the Teaching Professor Conference
by Bryce Speed, Department of Art and Art History As an art professor, I find that most of my teaching experiences involve active and experiential learning, mainly due to the hands-on nature of making and critiquing art. Simply through the sheer nature of creative practices students are experiencing and solving problems unique to their conceptual
Some Workshops on ePortfolios Showed Me What I Missed in my Course Design Process
by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies “An ePortfolio is not an ePortfolio is not an ePortfolio” is what Kathleen Yancey told us at a portfolio workshop hosted by UA’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness. Dr. Yancey said this shortly after asking everyone in the room to adopt a student’s perspective in evaluating example scenarios for ePortfolios.
HASTAC Recap: The Role of Archives in Instruction
by Paul Fess, Department of English Last month I had the opportunity to attend the annual HASTAC conference through the generous support of the Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office and the Department of English Similar to Nathan Loewen’s description of his experience at this conference, I found it to be an enlightening, refreshing event, comprised
One Best of All Possible Teaching and Learning Conferences
by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies The 2017 HASTAC conference was nothing short of amazing, in my humble opinion. The acronym stands for Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory, which is based on the proposal that “today’s new, global forms of communication and online learning are so complex and potentially so revolutionary
Building A Teaching Hub with UA+Box
Deborah Keene created a “teaching hub” for the Department of Geological Sciences, where faculty can share slides, syllabi, test questions and more. Now everyone can search and find what they need for their classes, and they get an inside look into how other faculty teach.