Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT) Workshops

The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching offers teaching workshops and seminars to help interested faculty, teaching assistants and instructors improve their teaching effectiveness and course management skills. These training programs provide opportunities to gather with colleagues to listen, discuss, interact, learn about and reflect on a number of topics to enhance teaching and learning.

Our list of programming is constantly growing. Make sure to check out past and future offerings.

Your feedback is very valuable to us. The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching welcomes feedback, suggestions and requests for workshops; email: CELT@uml.edu.

Summer 2024

Check out CELT's summer workshops below and join us in embracing the spirit of continuous improvement and innovation in education!

Setting the Stage for Effective Learning

August 8, 10-11 a.m., Zoom. Facilitated by Professors Michelle Hunt and Janet Welby.

Register for CELT's workshop: Setting the Stage for Effective Learning

Join us to unlock the keys to fostering impactful learning environments in our upcoming workshop. Developed from insights gathered at the Teaching Professor Conference, this session is designed to equip you with essential strategies to elevate your teaching prowess and promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within your classrooms.

By attending, you will:

  • Master two fundeamentals of teachinf for course enhancement: Learn practical methods to enhance course structure and relevance, fostering a more engaging and effective learning experience.
  • Implement two fundamentals of teaching for classroom impact: Discover strategies to elevate student engagement, fairness, and participation, all while nurturing a positive learning environment.
  • Leverage two fundamentals of teaching to reflect your character: Harness the power of your attitude and organizational skills to inspire and motivate students towards academic success.
Throughout the workshop, we will delve into the foundational principles behind organization, fairness, content relevance, and student participation. You will gain actionable insights into integrating these elements seamlessly into your teaching approach, ensuring a dynamic and supportive learning atmosphere.
In the second half of our session, we will explore how these siz fundamentals of teaching serve as pillars for DEI in the classroom. Join us a we gain a deeper understanding of the importance of student identity and the challenges and rewards of teaching in diverse educational settings.

Gradescope: A Tool for Grading Paper-Based Exams / Assignments and a Scantron Alternative for multiple-choice question (MCQ) Questions.

August 12, 2024: 10-11 a.m., Zoom. Facilitated by Professor Johanna Choo.

Register for Gradescope: A Tool for Grading Paper-Based Exams / Assignments and a Scantron Alternative for MCQ Questions.

Gradescope is a powerful tool that can help instructors grade all sorts of paper-based exams or assignments in various formats (MCQ, Fill-in-Blank, Essay Questions, etc..) Those of us who grade on paper know that the most efficient and unbiased way to grade is to grade one question at a time for the whole class. Gradescope allows you to do that without having to turn and shuffle through sheets of papers to grade. Because you can set up rubrics in Gradescope, grading is consistent, and possible for multi-section ourses taught by multiple instructors or Teaching Assistants (TAs).

In this introductory workshop, Professor Johanna Choo will demonstrate examples of how she utilizes this tool to grade lab reports and exams so that you can decide if you want to use Gradescope to help you grade, too!

Objectives:

  • Demonstrate the set up of rubrics within Gradescope for different questions formats.
  • Illustrate efficient grading techniques using Gradescope, including the step-by-step process of grading one question at a time.
  • Showcase the benefits of using Gradescope over traditional grading methods, such as reduced paper handling and enhanced grading accuracy.
  • Guide participants through the process of uploading graded scores directly to learning management systems.
  • Provide practical examples of using Gradescope to grade lab reports and exams, allowing participants to evaluate its potential use in their own teaching practices.

Teaching Students How learning Works: Transform Your Student Learners to Master 5 Effective Learning Strategies

August 14, 10-11 a.m., Zoom. Facilitated by Professors Sarah Rozelle and Ekaterina Zagriadskaia

Register for CELT's workshop Teaching Students How Learning Works.

This workshop is designed to empower educators in the art of cultivating effective learning habits among students. Professors Rozelle and Zagriadskaia will highlight multiple teaching strategies that embrace the profound essence of "teaching students how to learn."

The workshop will center on five pivotal study methodologies:

  1. Brain Files: Unveil the mechanisms behind how the brain processes and retains information, equipping you to guide students in maximizing their cognitive potential.
  2. Engaging Drew: Harness the power of active engagement techniques to foster deep understanding and critical thinking skills among learners.
  3. Targeting Different (Higher) Bloom's Levels: Explore strategies to elevate learning experiences by promoting students to operate at higher levels of cognitive complexity.
  4. Spaced Practice: Discover the science behind spaced repetition and its role in strengthening knowledge retention over time.
By adopting these evidence-based approach rooted in cognitive science, educators can expect to:
  • Enhance Course Learning Outcomes: Witness tangible improvements in student comprehension, application, and retention of course material.
  • Elevated Academic Performance: Facilitate higher academic achievement as students apply optimized learning techniques consistently.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize your teaching practice and empower your students to thrive academically.

Project-Based Learning (2-Part Workshop)

Part 1: Designing Project-Based Learning Assignments.
August 13, 10-11 a.m., Zoom. Facilitated by Professor Diana Archibald.

Register for this 2-part workshop: Part 1: Designing Project-Based Learning Assignments and Part 2: Assessing Project-Based Learning Assignments.

Engage students in course material through active learning! Deter student reliance on AI by activating their curiosity, fostering/supporting creativity, and requiring critical thinking in a project-based assignment! Alternatives to traditional assignments offer many benefits for student learning. Replacing a lab, exam, or paper with an interdisciplinary project can help students achieve the same learning objectives in a way that excites them (and you!).

Part 1: will explore how to design and integrate projects into CORE, Breadth of Knowledge curriculum, or course in any major. We will discuss how to encourage students to interact more deeply with course concepts, skills, etc.. through projects that require connecting material to things they care about and interest them.

Objectives:

  • Define project based learning and describe the benefits of this active learning pedagogy.
  • Review models from different disciplines, analyzing why these have been successful.
  • Examine challenges of this approach and consider how to avoid pitfalls.
  • Brainstorm an idea for a project to integrate into a course for this academic year.
  • Review the steps to develop the project assignment (a template will be provides to guide you after the session).

Part 2: Assessing Project-Based Learning Assignments

August 19, 10-11 a.m., Zoom. Facilitated by Professor Diana Archibald.

Register for this 2-part workshop: Part 1: Designing Project-Based Learning Assignments and Part 2: Assessing Project-Based Learning Assignments.

How can we assess student learning in non-traditional assignment formats? What does project based learning look like? What about rigor and equity and standards and..? Are projects more time consuming and more work for students and faculty? In this session, we will engage with these questions to develop assignments to use in Fall 2024 (or Spring 2025) semester.

Objectives:

  • Review models of different approaches to assessing project based learning.
  • Examine project assessment challenges and discuss best practices.
  • Participate in peer review (receiving and offering feedback on assignment drafts).
  • Develop an implementation plan.

Fall 2024

Register for Multilingual Student Support Workshop Series & Earn Your Certificate

As we continue to foster an inclusive and supportive learning environment at UMass Lowell, CELT is delighted to invite you to sign up for our Fall 2024 workshop series: Teaching for Multilingual Student Success: Practical, Time-Saving Classroom Strategies.

This three-part, in-person series has been designed to provide insights and to develop your skills for effectively teaching multilingual students. The session topics build upon one another, so we strongly encourage you to attend all three workshops to make the most of this learning opportunity.

The series' overarching learning outcomes will help you:

  1. Recognize how language and culture affect multilingual students in an academic setting, and identify ways to foster their confidence and sense of belonging.
  2. Optimize your teaching materials and instructional approaches to support all learners.
  3. Learn culturally responsive strategies for mentoring and providing useful feedback to multilingual writers.
  1. Part I: Multilingual Students: Who Are They and How Can We Support Their Learning?
  2. Part II: Academic Writing and Multilingual Students
  3. Part III: Effective Writing Feedback for Multilingual Success

These workshops are part of a renewed effort to ensure that UMass Lowell provides support to multilingual students, a necessity to fulfill our mission of inclusivity and excellence in our academic programs, and a singular need noted by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE). Your participation in these professional development offerings is key to making changes and improving student learning.

Faculty who participate in all three workshops will earn a certificate distinguishing them as a multilingual student advocate which will be considered in future mini-grant applications related to this project.

Video Recordings

Winter 2024

Summer 2023

Spring 2023

Winter 2023


Fall 2022


Summer 2022


Spring 2022

Previous Workshops

Looking for a topic that was discussed in previously? Explore all previous CELT Workshops: