The Faculty Center holds monthly events during the semester, typically on Tuesdays. These events offer two or more concurrent sessions in each of three time slots, much like a mini conference. By their very nature, they are held in-person only, with remote options only available when the entire event is held online.
Each Teaching and Learning Day is announced several weeks before the event, and participants sign up to reserve a spot (participation is capped at 75). This event is for full-time faculty only, and we provide lunch in the form of pizza, salad, and subs from Publix. Since participation is limited, we ask that faculty only sign up if they can attend at least two sessions.
We do not record these sessions, since we prioritize the networking and sharing elements of the face-to-face experience. You’re always welcome to contact presenters to see if they’d be willing to share materials with you separately.
The third event of fall and spring terms (November and April) is held virtually, and usually consists of only single online workshop. Summer events are also held virtually.
Typical Event Format:
Session 1, 9:00–10:00 a.m.
Coffee Break, 10:00–10:10 a.m.
Session 2, 10:10–11:10 a.m.
Coffee Break, 11:10–11:20 a.m.
Session 3, 11:20–12:20 a.m.
Lunch, 12:20 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Sept 11, 2024:
Session 1, 9:00–10:00 a.m.
CB1-205 – Academic Integrity, GenAI, and Replacements for Essays
Kevin Yee, Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning
We know that it’s a losing proposition to try to prevent, deter, or detect student use of AI on writing assignments. So, what do we do instead? We’ll discuss ways to make AI a part of the writing process, as well as alternate directions such as switching to AI-proof deliverables. Finally, we’ll explore ways to replace writing, while trying to measure critical thinking via GRE-type multiple choice questions.
Coffee Break, 10:00–10:10 a.m.
CB1-207 – Coffee, tea, and snacks in the Faculty Center
Session 2, 10:10–11:10 a.m.
CB1-202 – Career Services 101: Tools you can use to Create a Career Ready Classroom
Emily Flositz and Shelby Melfi, Career Services
Attend this session to learn how Career Services provides resources to support faculty in delivering career readiness content. This session will highlight Career Services programming and resources, major career readiness initiatives, and the new structure of the department within Career Planning and Academic Success. The presenter will give an extensive overview of Career Services digital resources, including the faculty Webcourse, Focus 2 Careers, VMock (a new A.I.-powered employability tool), and more. Learn how you can use these platforms to infuse career planning in your curriculum.
CB1-205 – Helping Students Learn How to Learn
Liz Giltner, Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning
The ability of college students to be self-regulated learners varies widely. Self-regulated learning (SRL) involves skills like time management, metacognition, and effort regulation, but these skills are rarely explicitly taught. In this workshop, we will explore effective strategies to promote SRL to help students take control of their own learning processes. Whether you teach large lectures or small seminars, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and skills to foster independence and resilience in your students, preparing them for success in academia and beyond.
Coffee Break, 11:10–11:20 a.m.
CB1-207 – Coffee, tea, and snacks in the Faculty Center
Session 3, 11:20–12:20 a.m.
CB1-202 – Stressed-Out Students and Lonely Learners: How Small Actions Can Have Big Impacts
Laurie Uttich, Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning
Our schedules may now be back to “normal” four years after the onset of COVID-19, but college students are more stressed and lonelier than ever before. Beyond referring them to CAPS and other resources, how can we as educators—and not mental health professionals—help our students? In this session, we’ll talk about how small actions can benefit struggling students and how you can easily integrate them into your face-to-face and online courses…. without changing your academic standards or core pedagogy.
CB1-205 – Would a “Decoding the Disciplines” Approach Improve Your Students’ Learning?
Eric Main, Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning
Decoding the Disciplines is a process for discovering and presenting the essential ways to think and learn within disciplinary structures. Based on the work of David Pace and Joan Middendorf (2004), the approach intends to improve student success by addressing epistemological, procedural, and emotional “bottlenecks” to learning, where significant numbers of students struggle to perform essential tasks and so either fall behind or leave the discipline. This workshop will guide participants through key aspects of their teaching practices and course designs to improve student learning.
CB1-207 Conference Room – Freedom Dreaming: Reflecting on our Goals to Serve our Students
Natalie Madruga, Department of Writing & Rhetoric, Office for Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives
Dr. Gina Garcia is a scholar who explores the ways in which Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) can effectively serve students, using what she has called the servingness framework. In her most recent work (2023), she has expanded on the concept of servingness by integrating it with Dr. Robin Kelley’s work on freedom dreaming (2022). Garcia defines freedom dreaming as a reflective process where individuals name and record their goals of servingness, even if they seem “utopian” in nature. She practices freedom dreaming herself in her most recent work, creating a freedom dream she titles the Transforming HSIs Framework. Based on the combined work of these scholars, this session will provide a reflective opportunity for faculty members to freedom dream themselves—whether it be for their classroom, or other capacities in which they serve UCF’s student body.
Lunch, 12:20 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
CB1-207 (Faculty Center)
Register using this Qualtrics form.