Teaching & Learning Innovation (TLI) hosts several events throughout the academic year to provide professional development opportunities for all University of Tennessee faculty.
Calendar of Events
| Event | Date & Time | Location | Description |
| Syllabus Cafe: Brew Your Best Course | Thursday, January 16
1 pm – 4 pm (Eastern) |
Hodges Library, Mary Greer Room | Join us at the drop-in Syllabus Café, where faculty and graduate teaching students can gather to design their syllabi for the upcoming semester! Bring your coffee and collaborate with fellow faculty, Teaching and Learning Innovation, Digital Learning, and OIT experts. Whether you need help refining your syllabus or creating supplemental, engaging, short-form multimedia content your students will love and consume, we have the tools and expertise to support you! |
| Introduction to Online Teaching Seminar for Graduate Students & Postdocs (Spring 2025) | Wednesday, January 29
2:30 pm – 4 pm |
Zoom | The seminar is designed to introduce graduate students and postdocs to online course design and pedagogy as part of TLI’s Developing Future Faculty series. Upon completion of all deliverables, participants will earn a certificate at the end of the seminar. During this six-week course, participants will learn and apply principles and best practices associated with designing and developing an online course, including online course design and development, assessment strategies for online courses, student engagement techniques, content creation, accessibility, and universal design for learning.
The seminar will include four synchronous workshops held on Zoom on Wednesdays from 2:30 PM—4:00 PM EST. Participants are expected to attend at least three of the four scheduled workshops and complete all deliverables to earn their certificate of completion. Expect to spend around 2-3 hours on weekly activities. The synchronous sessions are planned for the following dates: Wednesday, January 29, 2025; Wednesday, February 5, 2025; Wednesday, February 19, 2025; Wednesday, March 5th, 2025. |
| Event | Date & Time | Location | Description |
| Making AI Work for You: Fostering Functional AI Literacy in Your Classrooms | Tuesday, February 4
1 pm – 2 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | In this session, guest faculty members will share how they foster the development of functional AI literacy among their students through discussions and assignments. |
| Mid-Term Evaluation: Build, Analyze, and Set Your Teaching Goals | Wednesday, February 5
1 pm – 2:30 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom |
Mid-term evaluations are a great way to check in on your teaching, understand student engagement, and make adjustments to improve learning for the rest of the semester. Join us for this two-part workshop series to create your own mid-term evaluations and learn how to use student feedback to improve your teaching.
Part 1: Building Effective Mid-Term Evaluations
In this hands-on session, you’ll choose from pre-crafted questions aligned with the University’s Principles of Excellence in Teaching and personalize them to fit your course or discipline.
Part 2: Analyzing Feedback and Setting Goals
In this session, you’ll analyze your mid-term evaluation feedback and learn how to set goals for improving engagement and teaching practices.
You can attend either session individually; both sessions are not required.
|
| TLI Reads | Tuesday, February 11
1 pm – 2 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | We will discuss an article by Justin Pulley and colleagues (2024) examining instructors’ experiences implementing extended reality technologies in a school-based agricultural education program. This study explores the benefits and challenges that the technology introduced and could be very helpful for those interested in using the technology but uncertain about its advantages. It also provides an example of a study addressing instructor experiences for those interested in beginning similar studies. |
| Faculty Appreciation Luncheon | Thursday, February 13
11 am – 1 pm (Eastern) |
Student Union 262 | Join us for our annual Faculty Appreciation Luncheon, an opportunity to recognize the hard work and dedication of our faculty members and express our gratitude for their contributions to our academic community. Enjoy a meal, connect with colleagues, and take a moment to relax and unwind. We look forward to celebrating with you! |
| Lifelong Learning Book Club | Thursday, February 13
12- 1 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | The Lifelong Learning Book Club will be diving into The Present Professor by Liz Norell this semester. This insightful book explores the dynamic relationship between authenticity and transformation in teaching and learning. |
| Event | Date & Time | Location | Description |
| UT CIRTL FUEL | Monday, March 3
2:30 pm – 3:45 pm |
Zoom | This six-module seminar prepares graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to teach at the undergraduate level effectively. Modules will introduce participants to evidence-based teaching strategies, learning communities, teaching as research, and learning through diversity. Readings, reflections, and group discussions will support participants in creating lesson plans and teaching philosophy statements. Graduates will earn Associate-level Certification in the CIRTL network. |
| Making AI Work for You: Cultivating Critical AI Literacy in Your Classrooms | Tuesday, March 4
1 pm – 2 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | In this session, guest faculty members will share how they cultivate critical consideration and review of AI’s value and usefulness among their students through assignments and assessments. |
| Getting Acquainted with SoTL: A SoTL Social | Thursday, March 6
2 pm – 4 pm (Eastern) |
Hodges Library, Mary Greer Room | |
| TLI Reads | Tuesday, March 11
TBD |
Zoom | |
| Mid-Term Evaluation: Build, Analyze, and Set Your Teaching Goals | Wednesday, March 12
1 pm – 2:30 pm |
Zoom |
Mid-term evaluations are a great way to check in on your teaching, understand student engagement, and make adjustments to improve learning for the rest of the semester. Join us for this two-part workshop series to create your own mid-term evaluations and learn how to use student feedback to improve your teaching.
Part 1: Building Effective Mid-Term Evaluations
In this hands-on session, you’ll choose from pre-crafted questions aligned with the University’s Principles of Excellence in Teaching and personalize them to fit your course or discipline.
Part 2: Analyzing Feedback and Setting Goals
In this session, you’ll analyze your mid-term evaluation feedback and learn how to set goals for improving engagement and teaching practices.
You can attend either session individually; both sessions are not required.
|
| CIRTL Workshop: Better Teaching Through Neurodiversity: Supporting Students’ Executive Functioning | Wednesday, March 12
1 pm – 3 pm |
Zoom |
This workshop will introduce attendees to the concept of “executive functioning” (EF), an important category of cognitive processes involved in performing tasks that often need extra support in not just neurodivergent learners but neurotypical learners as well. We will then explore how EF issues often present in our students regardless of their neurotype. Using guidelines following Universal Design in Learning principles, attendees will collaborate to identify simple opportunities to change their teaching practices that support the executive functioning of every student, including those who learn differently.
|
| Lifelong Learning Book Club | Thursday, March 13
12 pm – 1 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | The Lifelong Learning Book Club will be diving into The Present Professor by Liz Norell this semester. This insightful book explores the dynamic relationship between authenticity and transformation in teaching and learning. |
| 2nd Annual Teaching Summit Wellness and Wisdom: Integrative Approaches to Teaching and Learning |
Tuesday, March 25 9 am – 3 pm (Eastern) |
Student Union 262 | The theme for this year’s summit is Wellness and Wisdom: Integrative Approaches to Teaching and Learning. We will focus on considering faculty wellness and well-being and how we can foster a culture at UTK where this is a priority for all our instructional staff. |
| 6th Annual Innovative Teaching & Learning Conference (ITLC) | Wednesday, March 26
8:30 am – 5 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | This year’s conference theme underscores the importance of creating an effective learning environment where authenticity and transformation work together to enhance teaching and learning success for instructors and students. A learning community characterized by authenticity is one where students and instructors engage in honest self-expression and interactions that facilitate greater perspective taking, meaning-making, trust, and engagement. Transformational teaching and learning environments involve meaningful growth through the educational process. In such contexts, students and instructors experience changes in their perspectives, knowledge, and skills by mutually engaging in curiosity, challenging assumptions, and developing new habits, roles, and behaviors. Such environments equip participants to critically evaluate and assess emerging problems and arrive at innovative solutions. |
| Event | Date & Time | Location | Description |
| Making AI Work for You: Encouraging Ethical AI Literacy in Your Classrooms |
Tuesday, April 1
1 pm – 2 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | In this session, guest faculty members will share how they engage their students in ethical considerations related to the use of AI in various assignments. |
| Lifelong Learning Book Club | Thursday, April 10
12 pm – 1 pm (Eastern) |
Zoom | The Lifelong Learning Book Club will be diving into The Present Professor by Liz Norell this semester. This insightful book explores the dynamic relationship between authenticity and transformation in teaching and learning. |
| Teacher Identity & Imposter Syndrome | Friday, April 11
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm (Eastern) |
Student Union 360 |