Reflective Teaching Seminar
The UT Dallas Reflective Teaching Seminar (RTS) is sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
This program seeks to:
- Create an environment for junior faculty in which self-reflection about teaching is fostered and innovation in their instruction is encouraged;
- Promote interdisciplinary dialogue on teaching-related issues;
- Expose junior faculty to educational research that might be used to facilitate excellent teaching, and
- Offer direct assistance in improving the teaching of individual faculty members.
This is NOT a program exclusively or even primarily for those having classroom difficulties. Instead, the program is directed to all faculty interested in pedagogical issues and in improving their own teaching. Indeed, as per the provost’s directive, participation in the seminar should be rewarded in annual evaluations and RTS members will be recognized in a ceremony and reception at the end of the academic year.
Description
The primary activity of the UTD Reflective Teaching Seminar will be a weekly meeting scheduled approximately eight times during the fall semester and four to five times during the spring semester. Seminar facilitators will engage participating faculty in discussing readings on a range of practical teaching topics and encourage them to bring their teaching questions to this forum. Guest speakers also will be invited to present expert information on selected topics.
Sample topics include early feedback, integrating technology, alternative teaching styles, and dealing with challenging student behaviors. A second set of activities of the program will involve peer observation and mentoring with some of UTD’s award-winning teachers.
Syllabus: RTS Seminar Syllabus 2018 – 2019 (pdf)
Senior Reflective Teaching Seminar
The Senior Reflective Teaching Seminar is based on the philosophy that even award-winning instructors can improve their teaching through innovation and experimentation. Senior faculty members are also in a unique position to influence the quality of instruction in their own units and across campus through modelling good practices, encouraging experimentation and innovation, and by systematic evaluation of colleagues’ instruction.
Typical seminar sessions include providing information about innovative teaching approaches, time for interacting with colleagues, and dialogue about important pedagogical ideas and approaches.
We hope that the Senior Reflective Teaching Seminar will help to improve and enrich participant careers by expanding horizons, increasing awareness of the scholarship on teaching and learning, and providing some knowledge to experiment with new approaches and ideas in classrooms and beyond.
Syllabus: Senior Reflective Teaching Seminar Syllabus 2021 – 2022 (.doc)
Graduate Teaching Seminar
This seminar is geared toward graduate students who want to deepen their pedagogic knowledge and teaching skills. In particular, it offers sessions designed to help graduate students to improve their lecturing, become more effective at leading discussions, and develop active learning strategies. The seminar also discusses issues of cheating, managing students, and conflict situations in the classroom. Lastly, you will gain insights into how to become a more efficient (yet fair) grader.
The seminar consists of 10, one-hour sessions. Each session will introduce you to the current academic literature on the topic to ensure that we are up to speed regarding best practices. The majority of the meeting time, however, is assigned to case studies. These case studies offer an opportunity to apply learned concepts to real world classroom situations. The completion of this course fulfills Requirement #4 for the Advanced Graduate Teaching Certificate.
Syllabus: Graduate Reflective Teaching Seminar Spring 2022 (.doc)