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By Emily Pitts Donahoe, associate director of instructional support

The CETL workshop “Yes, And: Igniting Your Pedagogical Imagination” will be held on October 2 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. in the Butler Auditorium, Triplett Alumni Center. Register for the event here.

Have you ever attended a teaching workshop and thought, “That’s an interesting idea—but I don’t know how it would work in my class”? Have you ever wanted to get creative with your teaching but didn’t know where to start? Have you ever wanted to see your friends at CETL—Josh, Liz, Derek, and Emily—compete in a game-show-style contest to see who can come up with the most innovative application of a pedagogical technique? If so, this workshop is for you!

At CETL, we’ve found that one of the biggest barriers instructors face when they want to make changes to their teaching is that they aren’t always sure how general or abstract strategies might apply in their specific course contexts or how to translate a teaching strategy from a different discipline into their own field. Of course, CETL staff can make recommendations, but we also think helping instructors get creative with potential teaching applications will result in stronger and more authentic new practices for the instructors who want to implement them. 

That’s how we hatched the idea for “Yes, And: Igniting Your Pedagogical Imagination.” It’s built on a concept we’re calling “pedagogical improv”: the ability to take a new teaching technique and play around with it, to get creative even when you don’t have a script for how, exactly, to implement the technique. Don’t worry—we won’t ask you to do any theatrical improvisation during the session! What we will do is model some improvisational strategies in teaching and then give you a chance to practice those strategies on your own—and perhaps even share strategies with folks from other disciplines. 

Best of all, we’ll model the practice of pedagogical improv by asking CETL staff to compete in a game-show-style contest. I (Emily) will introduce a general teaching technique. And then our distinguished cross-disciplinary panel—Josh in humanities, Liz in social sciences, and Derek in STEM—will have 5 minutes to generate a plan for how they would employ the technique in their courses. The person who proposes the most creative application of the technique, as determined by our audience, will win the prize (i.e., bragging rights, in perpetuity, at all future CETL staff meetings). 

After our competition, you’ll have a chance to play too. We’ll pass around a hat full of teaching techniques, and each participant will draw one. You’ll have a few minutes to brainstorm about how you might implement the technique you’ve drawn in your class—keeping in mind that some of the best ideas come from creative play. And you’ll have the opportunity to discuss your ideas with us and with other attendees. 

If you’d like to gain new teaching techniques, learn from instructors in other disciplines, and flex your creative muscles, we hope you’ll register to join us for this original workshop session!

The Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning is pleased to announce the addition of three new team members as we begin the fall semester. 

Hanna Lee, Operations Coordinator, joins CETL and the Academic Innovations Group most recently from a position as Youth Services Coordinator at First Regional Library in Hernando, MS. Having earned a Master’s of Library and Information Science from Rutgers University, Hanna has worked in public libraries in Mississippi and New Jersey, in addition to public schools, international schools, and higher education institutions from Baltimore, MD, to Maputo, Mozambique. 

Hanna will provide administrative support for CETL and AIG. Hanna notes that she is “excited to learn more about CETL’s programs, services, and all of the students and faculty that we serve—and finding ways to make our internal processes more effective and seamless.” 

Liz Norell, Associate Director of Instructional Support, joins CETL most recently from a position as Associate Professor of Political Science at Chattanooga State Community College in Chattanooga, TN. She has been teaching courses in political science, journalism, and research and writing at various institutions across the South since 2000. She is an Associate Editor of the journal To Improve the Academy and a Contributing Editor at College Teaching, as well as the conference co-chair for the education section of the American Political Science Association. She is currently at work on a book entitled The Present Professor for the popular Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series edited by James Lang and Michelle Miller.

Liz will advance scholarship of teaching and learning initiatives at UM and direct CETL assessment efforts. She is most excited about the opportunity to work with those who are invested in the transformational possibilities of higher education. “As a first-generation college student from a small town in northern Arkansas,” Liz notes, “I’ve experienced how higher education can radically impact (in a positive way) the trajectory of a person’s life and the horizon of possibilities before them. I’m committed to using this role to advance critical conversations about equity, accessibility, and empowerment in higher education.” She adds that she has “boundless enthusiasm for conversations about teaching!”

Amitesh Singh, Graduate Consultant, is a PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UM, where he explores the evolving dynamics of binary black hole systems, helping us understand their formation channels and how they transform spacetime around them. He is a seasoned teaching assistant in his department and strives to advance active learning in physics education, especially in UM’s SCALE-UP classrooms. 

Amitesh will support graduate student teaching development efforts at CETL, including the Fundamentals of Teaching community and the Graduate Reading Group. He is looking forward to “being more involved with the teaching & learning community, learning from the best people, and helping other graduate students in the classroom.”