• Visit the UAB Faculty & Staff Learning System: www.uab.edu/learningsystem
• Details on how to register

January

• Description: First impressions in the classroom are important and lasting. Getting off to a good start is the focus of this session which is the first of a new series that focuses on honing teaching skills to innovate in the classroom. This is a repeat of the first core topic in the Teaching Innovation certificate curriculum offered in the fall and led by Dr. Tino Unlap. You may attend this session regardless of whether you are interested in obtaining the teaching certificate. The format is interactive with opportunity for questions.

• What makes a presentation engaging? What are detractors? Other aspects of presentation delivery vary but the principles of engaging an audience are more universal. You can use this understanding to make any type of presentation more effective. These are the essentials that always apply and should be addressed in design. This is the fourth core topic in the Effective Teaching Practice certificate and is open to all faculty.

• Description: Important practices to include in your first day of class to set tone, expectations, and ensure a good start that will influence the rest of the term. Emphasis will be on techniques to comfortably obtain helpful information about your students, rapport-building techniques, how to start establishing you teaching presence and present course policies so they will be positively received. This is a repeat of the first core topic of the Effective Teaching Practice certificate offered in fall and is open to all faculty.

• Description: An article comparing active learning to traditional lectures (Freeman, et al, 2014), stated "If the experiments analyzed here had been conducted as randomized controlled trials of medical interventions, they may have been stopped for benefit—meaning that enrolling patients in the control condition [passive lecture] might be discontinued because the treatment being tested was clearly more beneficial. Dr. Melanie Sivley will reveal what has worked in her classes with flipped and active learning hybrids. A brief demonstration a specific technique will be conducted. Register online at: www.uab.edu/learningsystem. Lunch will be provided to the first 50 participants.

• Description: What you think about teaching impacts how you go about it. This session starts you on the path to developing a personal philosophy of teaching that is the anchor for the professional resource known as a teaching portfolio. This is part of the Teaching Innovation series that focuses on honing teaching skills to innovate in the classroom. This is a repeat of the second core topic in the new Teaching Innovation certificate curriculum offered in the fall and led by Dr. Tino Unlap. You may attend this session regardless of whether you are interested in obtaining the teaching certificate. The format is interactive with opportunity for questions.

• Description: These are the essential skills and techniques to develop them. These include presentation and communication but also involve how to interpret student responses, read your audience and adapt accordingly. This is a repeat of the third topic of the Teaching Innovation certificate series offered in the fall that focuses on honing teaching skills to innovate in the classroom led by Dr. Tino Unlap. You may attend this session regardless of whether you are interested in obtaining the teaching certificate. Interactive format with opportunity for questions.

February

• Description: No one needs to be convinced of the importance of mastering how to motivate students to learn. This time we will discuss how principles from a best-selling book on research-based motivation tools can be applied to your course. You may be surprised to find that some of your course policies are demotivating learning. This is the fifth core topic of the Effective Teaching Practice certificate and it is open to all faculty.

• Description: We will examine techniques for increasing test construction efficiency and grading. These techniques help ensure questions assess student mastery of course objectives. Creation of different types of questions will be discussed including techniques such as structured white space and abbreviated critical thinking as well as multiple choice and multiple answer.

• Description: The ABCD Method of writing course learning objectives, selection of appropriate terms and outcomes, and linking your objectives to professional behavior will be explored. Bring your syllabus. This is a repeat of the second core topic of the Effective Teaching Practice Certificate offered in the fall and is open to all faculty.

• Description: There is an inverse relationship between the amount of information presented and the amount retained. It is to your students' advantage to have leaner, concise presentations and you will find it easier to give the presentation. We will examine how to decide what gets included or cut when preparing your presentation and the most efficient way to communicate content. This is the fourth core topic in the Teaching Innovation Certificate series.

• Description: TBA

March

• Description: This lively, interactive session will present mini-vignettes of several common, difficult teaching situations and allow the audience to determine appropriate responses with the help of two in-person advisors (lawyer and administrator). The aim is to allow faculty to try a variety of options and learn what must be addressed to pass legal standards and make it easier for your administrator to support you if a student files a grievance.

• Description: This session will explain the rationale for selecting objectives on the Faculty Information Form, the pros and cons of using the long (diagnostic) form versus the short form for student use, and how to make sense of the IDEA results summary report for teaching effectiveness, selecting new teaching methods to support learning goals, and curriculum revision.

• Description: Course organization is typically considered by students to be the most important aspect when evaluating a course. This session will include discussion of techniques to enhance you course organization. Participants are encouraged to bring syllabi for courses that they would like to discuss with regard to improving organizational aspects (design, execution, communication and assessment). This is a repeat of the third core topic in the Effective Teaching Practice certificate offered in the fall and is open to all faculty.

• Description: Dr. Tino Unlap will discuss when team teaching makes sense and practical ways to implement it. This is the fifth core topic in the Teaching Innovation Certificate series. Bring your questions.

• Description: Your own research and scholarship can be a valuable enhancement to your course. Dr. Tino Unlap will discuss how to weave your scholarship into your teaching. The related theme of including applications of concepts and course material will be demonstrated with practical examples. This is the sixth core topic in the Teaching Innovation Certificate series.

• Description: What do you think are the seven habits most closely associated with successful teachers? Come find out when Dr. Tino Unlap presents the concluding topic of the Teaching Innovation Certificate series.

• Description: Every graduate deserves to learn how to identify and solve problems regardless of major. Dr. Tino Unlap, an experienced teacher, mentor, and researcher, will explain his approach to "full application" problem-solving to enhance student skills for independent thinking and long-term retention of learning.

APRIL

• Description: Metacognition is our attempt to explain how we learn.  This session focuses on how to incorporate principles based on brain function (patterns, novelty, sensory integration, memory, processing of information) to enhance learning in courses.

• Description: Film director and videographer Dr. Ron Hubbard will be demonstrating the fundamentals for rapidly making interesting mini-videos to support your teaching using the following approach. Techniques will be demonstrated.  You make a movie three times:  Write, Shoot, Edit.  You shoot it three ways:  Wide shot, Medium shot, Close up.  The three most difficult parts of filmmaking:  Camera wobble,     Poor sound, Inadequate light.  The three positions of light:  Key, Fill, Back.  The three stages of editing:  Import or capture (and label), Cut or edit, Export DVD, Blu-ray, QuickTime.  The three fonts:  Helvetica, Futura, Arial.  Ready to learn how?

MAY

• Description: How do you edit the raw video that you have created for your course?

Create and deliver tests using Respondus and Respondus Lockdown Browser

• Wondering if you are using your Canvas online course to its full potential? How about giving it an upgrade! Did you know you can diversify your course assessments with questions from databases created by textbook publishers, which can easily be imported into your Canvas course?
• In this workshop, participants will learn how to use:
  • Respondus
    • Import previously created test from Word into Canvas
    • Retrieve 'ready-made' test questions from textbook publishers and use in Canvas
  • Respondus Lockdown Browser
    • Restrict student's ability to browse to other pages, create print screens, or minimize Canvas during a test
• Register here

Create and manage written assignments using TurnItIn

• Turnitin allows you to incorporate plagiarism prevention tools in your course, use student-to-student review, and avail of a comprehensive grading interface to provide detailed feedback to your students.
• In this workshop, participants will learn how to use:
  • Check student papers against professional journal databases, internet sites, and other institutions
  • Generate a report of similarities found in student submissions for students and faculty
  • Allow students to review each other's work and provide feedback
  • Evaluate student work using rubrics, comments, and markups
  • Develop a database of feedback comments to streamline grading procedures
• Register here

Engage students online using Collaborate virtual classroom

• Collaborate Web Conferencing (Collaborate) is a combination of two platforms, Elluminate! and Wimba Live Classroom, into one powerful web conferencing tool. Collaborate delivers a next-generation collaboration platform, incorporating two-way audio, multi-point video, interactive whiteboard, application and desktop sharing, breakout rooms, and session recording.
• Register here