Teaching & Learning News - November & December 2007

Textbook orders for Spring 2008 are due November 1

Submit textbook orders via the University Book Center’s website at http://www.ubc.umd.edu

You may also fax your orders to the Book Center at 301-314-7858

UNIV798a Introduction to University Teaching Spring 2008

	UNIV798 is a two-credit seminar style graduate course that meets once a week and is open to all graduate students. It covers the theoretical underpinning of how students learn, student development taxonomies, pedagogical approaches, course development and assessment. The course goal is to provide information and skills with respect to university teaching that every new faculty member should know and have. It is required of students in the CTE UTLP program but all graduate students interested in higher education teaching and learning are encouraged to sign up.

Faculty Handbook of Policies & Resources

• Can I reschedule a final exam? • What are the University’s guidelines for attendance policies?
• In what cases I am required to submit early warning grades?• What must be included in my course syllabi? • Do I need approval to sell my own textbook to students taking my course?

This guide offers a brief introduction to the University’s policies, procedures, and resources related to teaching, advising and mentoring. It is available at the following address:

http://www.faculty.umd.edu/teach/InstructionalGuide.htm

The Honor Pledge

The Student Honor Council encourages instructors to include the following information in course syllabi:

The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.shc.umd.edu.

To further exhibit your commitment to academic integrity, remember to sign the Honor Pledge on all examinations and assignments: “I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination (assignment).”

Online Teaching Resource Packets

CTE has made available a valuable teaching resource for the campus community. Visit http://cte.umd.edu/PODresources.htm to review a number of brief essays published by the POD (Professional and Organizational Development) Network.

These POD packets address current, relevant topics in higher education teaching and learning. Each is composed of past “Essays on Teaching Excellence,” a POD Network publication series.

Written by expert scholar-practitioners, these thoughtful and succinct essays can be used as readings for faculty development workshops, seminars, individual consultations, and classes on college teaching.

EXAMPLES OF AVAILABLE PACKETS:

The Learning Process
Change, Renewal, and the Professoriate
Technology and Related Issues
Improvement of Teaching and Assessment
Alternatives to Traditional Teaching Methods and Learning Strategies
The Student/Teacher Relationship
Defining and Characterizing Teaching
Motivating Students
Cooperative/Collaborative Learning
SmallGroups
Critical Thinking
Diversity Issues
Grading, Testing and Assessment
Introductory Courses/General Education

Distinguished Scholar Teacher Lecture Series		University Teaching & Learning Program
“Frederick Douglass and Haiti: The Secret History” Robert Levine, Dept of English 4:30 p.m. Thursday, November 8 1120 Susquehanna Hall “Information Forensics: What Sherlock Holmes Would Do” K.J. Ray Liu, Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2 p.m. Friday, November 16 Jeong H. Kim Bldg. “Human Language: You Know More Than You Think” Paul Pietroski, Dept of Philosophy 4 p.m. Monday, December 3 2203 Art-Sociology Bldg.		Graduate students, boost your teaching, boost your CV – join the UTLP! What is the UTLP? CTE’s University Teaching and Learning Program (UTLP) assists graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in professionalizing as college teachers by encouraging you to self-reflectively practise and document your teaching in writing. You complete the program with a notation on your transcript and a teaching philosophy and portfolio in hand. Institutions of higher education nowadays require teaching portfolios and philosophies from applicants for academic jobs. Please visit http://www.cte.umd.edu/UTLP for further information on UTLP and electronic application forms.

Try Clickers for a Day

Are you interested in the student response devices known as clickers? CTE has a loaner program. You can borrow a set of radio frequency (RF) clickers and a laptop equipped with the RF receiver which makes any classroom with an LCD projector a clicker classroom.

For more information about classroom response technology, visit http://www.clickers.umd.edu, see the November-December 2005 issue of Teaching & Learning News, or contact CTE at cte@umd.edu.

Subscribe to Teaching & Learning News ~ http://www.cte.umd.edu/TLNMailingList/

For more than fifteen years TLN has included articles, notes, and schedules to keep the campus informed about new technologies, available grants, fellowship notices, workshops and roundtables, distinguished lectures, assessment, learning outcomes, classroom management strategies, consultation programs, new conferences, established programs, award winners, grant recipients, University policies on teaching, and other valuable information for faculty and graduate teaching assistants. Most important, it always suggests ways to enhance teaching for better learning. Subscribing to the TLN listserv list takes about twenty seconds and means that you will receive approximately five emails a year, notifying you that a new issue of the only regular campus-wide publication on teaching and learning has arrived.