The Ellbogen Center for Teaching & Learning is an interdisciplinary team, working together to make a difference in faculty and student success through teaching excellence. This document provides a snapshot of our work in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. This report includes participant data; the various programs, services, and resources we were able to offer; how this programming impacted faculty, staff, and students; and so much more. We are excited to share our work and to recognize those who go above and beyond with their teaching.
Click on the graphic below!
The University of Wyoming is in the process of transitioning to a new website platform. This migration may affect our ability to make updates to our website during the migration blackout period, currently set for January 13th through February 5th.
In the meantime, please check our Facebook Page for timely updates on programming, registration, news, features, and updates. We will also continue to send out updates via our mailing lists. If you are not receiving these updates but would like to, please reach out to ellbogenctl@uwyo.edu to be added to the list.
The ECTL believes that ChatGPT is a next step in technological utility that will push us towards a more critical and creative approach to teaching and learning. We are excited to explore assignments, assessments, and activities that will incorporate this exciting new tool and also help students and faculty recognize its limits. Beginning in the Spring 2023 semester, we'll offer programming to explore the impact of this new technology. Meanwhile, we're compiling a list of resources about ChatGPT and other AI-driven language tools. Check back soon for specifics!
Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College | Research shows that the single factor most influencing student success in college is human relationships. This spring the ECTL is offering a series of book club sessions using Peter Felten’s and Leo Lambert’s, Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (2020). This book is referenced in UW’s strategic implementation plan. Participants will engage in discussions on how to move student, faculty, and administrative relationships from the periphery to the center of higher education.
Each participant who registers will receive a complimentary copy of the book. Each group will meet for three sessions throughout the semester. Those who attend all three sessions will be invited to a special presentation with the authors in the fall of 2023.
Some groups are offered online and some in-person. Each group will be capped at 10 participants to provide an environment where conversation and communication can be most effective. If you do not see a group when you register, the group is already full and no longer available. Hopefully, there is another group that will work with your schedule. Groups will remain open until they are full.
Please go here for more information and to sign up for a book group.
The ECTL offers various options for instructors to work one-on-one with an Instructional Designer. If the assistance you need is not addressed below, please email wyocourses-inst@uwyo.edu or call us at (307) 766-4847.
We offer drop-in support hours every week to consult about a wide range of curriculum and pedagogy questions, explore more advanced uses of WyoCourses, or get a refresher about the basic WyoCourses tools. Drop-in support is open to all UW instructors and no appointment is necessary.
Mondays and Thursdays 2:00-4:00p
Want to revise an assignment, adjust a syllabus, or review a set of course evaluations? Interested in feedback from an independent classroom observation? We provide a variety of consultations to help you revise a course with the goal of improving student learning. All consultations are confidential unless otherwise arranged.
To request a consultation, please fill out our Consultation Request Form.This workshop focuses on the MOST ESSENTIAL tools to get your WyoCourses class websites up and running as quickly as possible! This session will give you hands-on assistance setting up the basic functionality for your course.
Thursday, January 19th | 10:00a-12:00p
Tuesday, January 31st | 1:00p-3:00p
Curriculum maps will be incorporated into Program Assessment Reports for all undergraduate programs at UW on June 1, 2023. In collaboration with the Office of Academic Affairs, the ECTL is offering a workshop to help programs work through curriculum maps, looking at student learning outcomes (SLOs), courses offered, mapping student learning, and so on. Some programs will be better equipped to complete curriculum maps than others, thus this session will attempt to meet programs where they are in a workshop format where many templates for mapping will be utilized. These workshops are geared to those responsible for program assessment.
Wednesday, February 1st | 3:30p-5:00p
Thursday, April 13 | 10:00-11:30a
Wednesday, May 17 | 1:00-2:30p
Thursday, May 25 | 11:00a-12:30p
Wednesday, May 31 | 1:00-2:30p
Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College | Research shows that the single factor most influencing student success in college is human relationships. This spring the ECTL is offering a series of book club sessions using Peter Felten’s and Leo Lambert’s, Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (2020). This book is referenced in UW’s strategic implementation plan. Participants will engage in discussions on how to move student, faculty, and administrative relationships from the periphery to the center of higher education.
For planning purposes, registration is appreciated by: Wednesday, January 27 for Groups 1 - 4 and by Tuesday, February 28 for Groups 5 - 8.
Go here for more information and to register.
These day-long events will feature UW educators and ECTL educational developers sharing teaching strategies that have an impact on student learning.
Thursday, February 23: Information coming soon
Monday, April 3: Information coming soon
Go here for information about the 2023 Call for Presentations.
The Summer Institute is founded on the model of the Great Teachers Movement, which is based on the philosophy that well-facilitated shoptalk is one of the highest forms of professional development. No individual "expert" can match the collective knowledge, experience, wisdom, creativity, and genius of any group of teachers actively involved in their profession. The participants are the "experts" at the retreat.
The John P. Ellbogen Summer Institute is funded by an endowment from the Ellbogen Foundation and the Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning.
Let's take some time to talk about assessment! Join the Assessment Faculty Learning Community for engaging conversations and to think with your peers about assessment for student learning at UW.
Applications are closed for this semester.
This learning community is a collaboration between Disability Support Services (DSS) and the Ellbogen Center for Teaching & Learning (ECTL) and is geared toward faculty (tenure-track and non-tenure track). It is designed to build a community of educators desiring, or already committed, to supporting students with disabilities in the classroom. We will use the text Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally (Ladau, 2021), to generate conversations about the ways we can create processes, policies, and interpersonal experiences to support the success of students with disabilities.
In our hectic schedules, we often do not take the time to slow down to reflect on and think together about our work. The ECTL has been hosting an informal collaborative communication (CC) group for the past four years that does just that. Although slowing down for an hour and a half may seem counterproductive, it can provide us with deeper insights and new ways of viewing challenges and opportunities that may be more sustainable in the long run than when we hurriedly rush to make decisions.
In this learning community, faculty, staff, administrators, and Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are invited to join us in thinking together. We learn about and use CC in real-time as we dialogue about topics that naturally arise from the group. This is not problem-solving, group therapy, nor is there a specific agenda, other than reflecting and thinking together through CC dialogue.
Register here for Spring 2023
Meet other new faculty from a variety of disciplines, discuss best practices in teaching and learning, share resources and attend social events. Past participants have found these learning communities valuable for improving their teaching practices as well as creating community with others.
There will be no New Faculty Learning Community this Spring
This learning community is for Graduate Teaching Assistants. We will use the book, "The Successful TA: A Practical Approach to Effective Teaching" Nomme, K. M., Pollock, C. (2022) as a guide to structure our five meetings together. Building teaching self-efficacy and facilitating the best learning for students is the objective. Each participant will receive a copy of the book.
Participants who attend four of the five sessions will receive a $250 scholarship. Please note that payment of scholarships can differ depending on the student’s status in the financial aid system. Some students may receive a scholarship deposited to their Banner account, and some may receive compensation paid directly to their bank with taxes taken out. If you have questions about the taxes on your payment, please contact Casey Green in the Tax Office at tax@uwyo.edu or 766-2821. If you have questions about when your scholarship will be paid, please reference this page: http://www.uwyo.edu/sfa/contact-us/index.html.
The learning community will be split into two groups, one is offered in an online format via Zoom and the other is in-person at the ECTL. Note: If both dates, times, and meeting styles work for you, select both options and we will assign you to a group. Space is limited; please complete the application form and answer every question fully to be considered.
Applications are appreciated by Friday, January 20th.
There have been many innovations in education. We have moved from classrooms to Zoom and back again. We have learned to teach effectively in synchronous and asynchronous, online environments. We have explored and implemented active, team-based, collaborative, project-based, problem-based pedagogy in our classrooms, increasing students’ engagement and learning. We have learned how games and game theory can be used to increase student engagement in class materials. In short, we have transformed education in many ways. How else might we inspire ourselves and our students? What else might we explore?
Applications are closed for this semester.
Current assessment activities include information on a range of projects and activities recently completed or currently underway to gauge student learning, make improvements, or respond to accountability interests.
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. (2021). NILOA Current Assessment Activities
Digital teaching and learning encompasses instructional practices that effectively use technology to strengthen teaching and learning experiences through best practices in pedagogy and andragogy. Digital teaching and learning can incorporate many different techniques, tools, digital content and resources, and applications to support and empower teachers and students, in all educational environments including online, hybrid, and face-to-face. Digital teaching and learning increases equity and access to educational opportunities as well as providing instructors with the knowledge and tools to teach inclusively.
The ECTL subscribes to the Magna Publications weekly 20-Minute Monday Morning Mentor series. These video-based programs are designed to answer a specific question related to teaching and learning. They deliver actionable insights in highly focused 20-minute presentations designed to fit busy schedules.
SoTL (The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) is defined at UW as "Systematic inquiry into student learning by integrating the experience of teaching and prior scholarship on teaching and learning and making the findings appropriately public. Thus, building a SoTL community which leads to the assessment and enhancement of student learning."
Every year we offer and promote educational development opportunism for new instructors in part funded by an endowment by th eJohn P. Ellbogen Foundation.
The ECTL recognizes that graduate students play an important part in the UW teaching and learning community. We encourage students to utilize our programs and resources to develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities as instructors.
Every year we offer and promote educational development opportunities for Graduate Teaching Assistants which are funded through an endowment from the John P. Ellbogen Foundation.
We have worked hard to develop a limited, curated list of links and resources within this Knowledge Base. You can also find links to other resources in other sections of our ECTL website--so if you can’t find what you’re looking for here, please reach out to us for help: wyocourses-inst@uwyo.edu
The ECTL library provides access to a range of resources about teaching and learning. Our books cover a wide variety of subjects and themes and include many of the most well-liked and well-respected books about teaching and learning. All books are available for checkout and can be shipped to off-campus faculty at their location.
Breakout EDU is an active learning tool purchased by the ECTL that is available to UW instructors.
Breakout EDU is an immersive learning games platform that brings collaboration to both remote and in-person learning. Breakout EDU games consist of a combination of physical and digital puzzle elements that must be solved in a set amount of time. Players of all ages are challenged to open the locked Breakout EDU box using critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity.
To facilitate your growth as an effective instructor for UW's students, we provide this Graduate Teaching Assistant Handbook as an introduction to your training in pedagogy. We also provide our students a range of learning opportunities and environments. Learning takes place in traditional classrooms, studios, and laboratories, and also n the field and in the community. UW's most effective teachers are constantly learning by testing new strategies and approaches to covey topics to facilitate higher levels of understanding within their students. Because students learn most effectively when they are actively engaged, university educators learn to employ a range of strategies to facilitate student learning. In this handbook, you will find a number of these strategies and approaches. Some will work for you, some will not fit your particular uses. Pick and choose wisely, for that is the role of the effective instructional graduate assistant.
Looking to innovate your online teaching delivery style? If the answer is yes, the ECTL Lightboard Studio may be for you! With CARES funding, the Ellbogen Center for Teaching & Learning (ECTL) has acquired a new teaching tool that lets you create innovative, fun and engaging videos. It can be used for lecture as well as supplemental videos.
“Lightboard is a glass chalkboard pumped full of light. It’s for recording video lecture topics. You face toward your viewers, and your writing glows in front of you.” – Professor Michael Peshkin, Northwestern University, Lightboard inventor
To facilitate the growth of effective instructors, we have gathered and developed the following strategies and approaches that recognize the responsibility instructors have to provide students a range of learning opportunities and environments. We have also included information about important legal and ethical responsibilities that instructors need to be aware of, career development materials, and other helpful information.
The ECTL Newsletter provides information about what's happening at the ECTL this current month. Hear from our faculty and staff about what we do at the ECTL!
Pictured from left to right: Jeff Miller, Oksana Wasilik, Megan Jones, Meg Van Baalen-Wood, Christine Boggs, Janel Seeley, Cathy Gorbett (not pictured) Heather Webb Springer, Shujuan (Olivia) Wang, Janissa Martinez, Jake Hayden
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Mailing Address:
1000 E. University Ave.
Dept. 3334, Coe Library 510
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone:
(307)766-4847
Email us with questions about:
Teaching & Course Delivery | wyocourses-inst@uwyo.edu
Programs, Events, & General Inquiries | ellbogenctl@uwyo.edu
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