Registration

During the plenary session, we will hear from a number of speakers addressing teaching-related issues such as active learning, communicating with students, privacy and legal considerations, and campus resources. We will also hear from a panel of experienced returning TAs who will facilitate a question and answer segment. It is mandatory for all participants to register for this session.

Instructor: Crystal Tenan

Join NC State’s IT Accessibility Coordinator Crystal Tenan as she discusses accessibility and inclusion in the classroom. During this time we will have a discussion about person first language and ableism in the (digital or physical) classroom and how to eliminate it. As part of that discussion, we will discuss the differences between accommodations and accessibility and we will have a high level tutorial on how to make a digitally accessible environment.

Instructor: Katie Homar

Academic writing is an interplay of verbal and visual elements, but you may not have thought about assignment instructions in this way. Participants in this workshop will explore and apply effective visual design principles to create “user friendly” assignment instructions. We’ll also combine visual and written strategies for conveying complex instructions to diverse student audiences in paper and online formats. Participants in this workshop will not only leave with tips for creating visually appealing, “stylish” assignment sheets but also with approaches for making technical documents that are usable to broad audiences. This session is led by Dr. Katie Homar who is the Director of Academic and Engineering Writing Support at NC State’s Graduate School where she designs writing support and outreach for grad and postdoc trainees across disciplines.

Instructors: Anne Burke and Alexa Carter

The NC State University Libraries is dedicated to supporting students, faculty, and researchers at NC State — That’s you! In this session you will learn why Librarians are your co-teachers, supporting you and your students in and out of the classroom. From reviewing your research assignments to teaching your students how to use research databases, and answering your students’ research questions, we’ve got your back! Participants will also learn about the Libraries’ support for your own research, including citation management, data management planning, copyright and publishing agreements, and more..

Instructors: Jill Anderson

Many of us are now familiar with Zoom, often in the negative space of hours-long meetings or presentations with minimal interaction. How can we use Zoom as a tool for active learning in a physically distanced era? What are the specific affordances of Zoom, and how do we design instruction to take full advantage of them?

Instructor: Leslie Rand-Pickett

Beginning work as a Teaching Assistant adds an important entry to your CV or resume, and in this role you will be developing skills and experiences that you will communicate to potential employers in the not too distant future. Your written words set the tone for how you are perceived by potential employers, so it is important to clarify your intended message, and apply a targeted approach to submitting applications. Taking inventory now, by drafting or updating your CV/resume can help you identify your current strengths, and discover the additional skills, knowledge and experience that you need to develop over the course of your study to shape your brand prior to graduation. This session will provide guidelines for customizing your job search documents for your field of interest, and give an overview of how the process of updating your resume/CV can help you define your own personal brand.

Instructor: Sarah Heckman

Balancing your research, teaching, service and your personal life is challenging as a graduate student.  Incorporating strong time management skills into your life can help you as your work your way through graduate school.  This breakout session will cover time management strategies to help you succeed in graduate school and beyond.  We’ll talk about goal setting and long term planning and how to prioritize your activities.  Additionally, we’ll explore how to balance the realms of faculty responsibility and how to get the most out of your grad school experience while maintaining a positive work-life balance.

Instructor: Matthew Cooper

Being an effective TA for a laboratory course involves utilization of technical knowledge, hands-on skills, and the ability to interact in a positive way with students. This workshop focuses on the challenges and strategies for serving as TA of a laboratory course in the COE at NCSU. Among the topics discussed are maintaining an efficient laboratory work environment and dealing with common laboratory/student problems. Since the active learning environment of the laboratory is different from the more passive learning environment of most lecture courses, strategies for engaging students to participate in a meaningful way in the laboratory setting will be discussed.

Instructors: Michelle Bartlett and Carrol Warren

Strategic focus helps navigate teaching in the online environment. Four objectives for this interactive session include:  a review of an online teaching engagement model, engagement to peers/instructor, engagement to course material, and customer service. This session will begin with an introduction to the online teaching engagement model, and will use FlipGrid and teamwork concepts to demonstrate engagement to peers and instructor roles. The session will provide examples of ways to engage learners to course material and will end with a discussion on online class related customer service. Attendees will leave the session feeling empowered to create and lead a successful and interactive online class environment.

Instructor: Jason King

Grading is a teaching technique used to provide feedback so that students can better understand course materials and identify the concerns they should address in future work. Therefore, grading must be completed in a timely manner so that students have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and improve. In addition, grading criteria must be applied consistently across all student submissions to accurately reflect the quality of student work. This breakout session will introduce tools and techniques for facilitating consistent grading with the goal of providing timely feedback for students.

Instructor: Miriam Ferzli

Instructor: Sarah Heckman

We’ve all had teachers who inspired us and helped us grow and learn in a field.  We’ve also had teachers who haven’t.  So how do you know which type of teacher you are?  How can you improve your teaching?  This breakout session will explore ways to improve your teaching through feedback – both from colleagues and students.  We’ll explore what peer and student evaluations look like and identify constructive ways to critique a class. 

Instructor: Miriam Ferzli

In this workshop you will learn how to budget your time, establish ground rules, create a positive classroom climate, and foster group work and discussion in the laboratory setting. Participants will identify various challenges of teaching in the laboratory through a collaborative and active learning activity. Participants will also discuss issues relating to managing the lab environment by working through various case studies.

Instructor: Christopher Beeson

Did you use a Learning Management System (LMS) in your undergraduate program such as Blackboard or Canvas? Is the idea of online coursework a new concept for you? Will you be assisting in teaching a course in Moodle? In this session, we will showcase the main tools and functionality of Moodle, including finding your course, working with assignments, and posting to forums as both an instructor and as a student!

Instructor: Rhonda Sutton

Managing the classroom environment can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. This session is designed to provide you tips on managing some common classroom management issues and concerns, such as creating a welcoming environment, establishing guidelines and expectations, maintaining professionalism, and handling disruptions in the classroom.

Instructor: Jason King

Grading student deliverables requires making consistent judgments based on a set of criteria for evaluating student performance. During this breakout session, the speaker will present common evaluation techniques, including rubrics and grading guides. In addition, participants will share and discuss tips to promote consistent evaluation, fair grading, and meaningful feedback to facilitate student learning.