ITLAL - Calendar of Graduate Students Events and Workshops

Graduate Student Events for Spring 2009 / View as Calendar

January

Easy Classroom Activities to Increase Student Engagement
Tuesday January 20 3:00 – 4:30pm Terrace Lounge (Campus Center)
Getting Them to Do the Reading
Thursday, January 29 2:30 – 4:00pm Terrace Lounge (Campus Center)

February

How to Find the Right Faculty Job for You
Thursday, February 12 2:30 – 4:00pm Terrace Lounge (Campus Center)

March

Excel Gradebook Consultations
Wednesday, March 11 12:00 – 3:00pm Library B15
SKILL Conference for Graduate Students
Saturday, March 21, 2009 University Hall - Atrium

April

Easy Classroom Activities to Increase Student Engagement (Return to top)
Tuesday January 20	3:00 – 4:30pm	Terrace Lounge
Active learning strategies are an engaging way to foster meaningful retention of course material, promote critical thinking and group collaboration, build class community in the beginning of the semester, and break up lectures along the way. In this workshop participants will participate in three engaging activities that are quick to prepare and flexible enough to be used in any discipline or class size. We will also discuss solutions to some common barriers to implementing active learning. Participants in this workshop will start to develop activities for their individual courses.
Getting Them to Do the Reading (Return to top)
Thursday, January 29	2:30 - 4:00 PM	Terrace Lounge
The semester has begun and you suspect that you’re working far harder than your students. Or even worse, they aren’t even coming to class prepared at all. This workshop will discuss some strategies for getting your students see the value of their assigned readings and holding them accountable for preparing for class. We will also discuss what to do when you face a class full of unprepared students.
How to Find the Right Faculty Job for You (Return to top)
Thursday, February 12	2:30 - 4:00 PM	Terrace Lounge
You know you want an academic job, but where? Most students assume they would be happiest at a research university (like the University at Albany), but 80% of PhD graduates don’t end up working at research universities, and many who do aren’t happy in that environment. Join us for a panel discussion with faculty members from local non-research institutions (including liberal arts and community colleges) to learn what their faculty life is like so that you can target your job search to the type of institution that will best fit your career interests. We will also discuss how to tailor your application package so that it will be attractive to a search committee at a non-research institution.
Excel Gradebook Consultations (Return to top)
Wednesday, March 11	2:30 – 4:00pm	Library B15
You will learn how to use Excel for basic grade book management and new strategies for using your Excel grade book more effectively. Just bring in any relevant grading information (your syllabus, written grade book, etc.) and an ITLAL staff member will work with you on an individual basis to create a grade book for your class. Setting up your Excel grade book before mid-term will save you time and allow you to keep up with students’ progress and avoid surprises at the end of the semester. *Please call 442-5521 or email teachingandlearning@albany.edu to reserve a 20 minute time slot .
SKILL Conference for Graduate Students (Return to top)
Saturday, March 21		University Hall - Atrium
ITLAL is pleased to announce the 5th annual SKILL Conference for graduate students in teaching roles. This conference provides aspiring faculty members the opportunity to obtain valuable information about improving teaching, to share teaching experiences with other graduate students, and to gain professional experience presenting at a conference. This year’s theme is “Teaching for Professional Success.” We invite proposals for presentations that address excellence and growth in teaching.
Conference Website: http://skill.itlal.org Contact: Billie Bennett (bbennett@uamail.albany.edu) Proposal deadline: February 27, 2009
* There is no fee to participate or attend this conference. Please RSVP.
Keynote Speaker: Maryellen Weimer Assumptions that Grow Teachers
Good teaching requires a lot from teachers: It requires emotional energy, intellectual stamina, creative approaches, vigilance, faith in the power of feedback to prompt learning, and perseverance to find the way back from failure. This session will explore what it takes to sustain teaching excellence across a career, not in the how-to-do-excellent-teaching sense but how growth and change can be approached so that they make improvement a positive and productive process. We will propose ways of thinking about instructional growth and ways of implementing change that can increase both the motivation to change and effectiveness in the classroom.