Teaching + Learning Lab

Meaning-Makers: cultivating growth mindset environments
2021-04-29 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual
Learn how educators can cultivate growth mindset environments to support student learning and belonging

In this talk, Dr. Canning will discuss her recent research on cultivating growth mindset cultures in the classroom—the idea that anyone can develop their ability and talent over time with effective strategies, deliberate practice, and adequate support.

Three empirical studies suggest that growth mindset messages from faculty positively impact student motivation and promote performance for underrepresented groups, such as racial minorities, women in STEM, and first-generation college students. Discussion will center on evidence-based, practical strategies that instructors can implement to reduce opportunity gaps and inclusively support their students.

You will be able to post your questions throughout this session and have them addressed in a Q&A following the presentation.

Please register to receive your Zoom link.

Register

Guest Speaker

Elizabeth Canning, Ph.D.

Dr. Elizabeth Canning earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is now an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at Washington State University. Her research centers on student motivation and investigates the subtle interpersonal and environmental messages that perpetuate bias and inequality. Her approach includes controlled laboratory experiments, randomized intervention studies, and longitudinal field studies. Dr. Canning’s research has been featured in various news outlets, including ABC News, Business Insider, Inside Higher Ed, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Crafting your teaching philosophy statement
2021-04-27 14:00 - 15:00
The teaching philosophy statement is a required part of most academic job applications and is often required in the faculty tenure and promotion process.

By articulating your motivation for and perspective on teaching, you can surface the underlying assumptions you have about teaching and learning—a critical step in developing your teaching skills. This workshop seeks to demystify this process by providing strategies and structured activities that you can use to craft your teaching philosophy statement.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to

Describe what a teaching philosophy statement isIdentify aspects of your teaching or personal experience and beliefs that could be a part of a teaching philosophy statementIdentify features of teaching philosophy statements that resonate with you

Please register to receive your Zoom link.

Facilitator

Ben Hansberry, Assistant Director for Graduate Student Teaching, TLL

Please note: This workshop is open to MIT students and postdocs only.

Related Sessions

This session is part of a 3 workshop series to help you prepare for the faculty job market. Other sessions include:

Crafting your digital teaching portfolio on Thursday, April 22 @ 2:00 – 3:00 pm

Teaching portfolio peer review on Thursday, May 6 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm

Register

Crafting your digital teaching portfolio
2021-04-22 14:00 - 15:30
This interactive workshop will be facilitated by the Teaching + Learning Lab (TLL) in partnership with Adobe Education.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

Articulate and develop the professional narrative you want to convey.Create a dynamic website that hosts your digital teaching portfolio using Adobe Spark.Create a video introduction of yourself as an educator.Understand best practices for capturing your “headshot” photo.Leverage your professional assets, digital teaching portfolio, and professional online profiles to effectively curate your online presence as an educator.

Please register below to receive your Zoom link.

Background

Your professional identity is being built online, with or without your deliberate input. This digital version of you, or your “digital persona,” can significantly impact your academic career and teaching.

Your digital persona is the aggregate of all the information available about you online — forming the reputation that will often precede your direct interactions with your future students, colleagues, collaborators, hiring committees, funders, conference organizers, and so on.

For educators, a digital teaching portfolio can serve as an effective hub for your online presence, not only helping to clarify who you are as an educator, but also serving you in establishing your credibility, building relationships, and adding value for your intended audiences.

Part 1: Assembling your professional narrative

This workshop will begin with a brief overview of the key elements of an effective digital teaching portfolio. We will also explore the research on how your digital persona can impact your effectiveness as an educator.

Following a brief Q&A with workshop facilitators, you will then have an opportunity to assess and begin workshopping your own professional narrative, forming an actionable plan that will guide part 2 of this workshop.

Part 2: Developing your teaching portfolio & assets

The hands-on section of this workshop will be led by our Adobe Education partners: veteran creative professional Stephen Hart and Eliason Distinguished Professor Todd Taylor.

You will be guided in creating your online teaching portfolio using Adobe Spark. We will also review other key professional assets you may wish to include in your portfolio, including how to create a video introduction using Adobe Premiere Rush, best practice for capturing a headshot/profile photo, and where to find resources and tutorials for creating other common assets, such as infographics, logos, etc., adding professional assets such as your teaching philosophy statement, which you can learn more about on our website or by attending the next workshop in this series, Crafting your teaching philosophy statement.

Facilitators

Ryan MacDowell, Communications & Operations Officer, TLL

Stephen Hart, Adobe Education

Todd Taylor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill & Adobe Education

Please note: This workshop is open to MIT students and postdocs only.

Related Sessions

This session is part of a 3 workshop series to help you prepare for the faculty job market. Future sessions include:

Crafting your teaching philosophy statement on Tuesday, April 27 @ 2:00 – 3:00 pm

Teaching portfolio peer review on Thursday, May 6 @ 3:00 – 4:30 pm

Register

Mind the Gap
2021-04-01 13:00 - 14:00
How active learning improves equity in STEM classrooms

Educational inequity remains one of the most persistent and intractable problems in our society. Without equity, the STEM workforce in particular is unlikely to meet the needs of the growing economy. It will also suffer from stunted innovation, as diverse groups are more creative and more successful at solving complex problems.

Despite widespread efforts to increase access to and inclusion in STEM, minoritized students remain excluded from both STEM majors and STEM professions. The reasons for this are complex but instructors can play an active role in disrupting these inequities. For example, active learning techniques have been shown to improve student performance on average, but can active learning also be a partial solution to achieving equitable student outcomes?

This talk will be presented by Elli Theobald, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington. Her recent work demonstrates that opportunity gaps—differential performance between minoritized students (BIPOC students as well as low-income students) and over-represented students—were reduced by 75% in college STEM courses when instructors incorporated active learning strategies, but only when active learning was implemented in a majority of class time.

You will be able to post your questions throughout this session and have them addressed in a Q&A following the panel discussion.

Please register to receive your Zoom link.

Register

Guest Speaker

Elli Theobald, PhD

Elli Theobald, is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington. Prior to her current position, she worked as a middle school and high school teacher, completed her PhD in ecology, and transitioned to discipline-based education research as a postdoc. Currently, the heart of Theobald’s research program revolves around how to be a better teacher, with particular emphasis on how to achieve equity in college-level STEM classes.

How instructors can support student well-being
2021-02-24 12:00 - 13:00
College campuses across the country are struggling to respond to the significant social, emotional, and economic burdens carried by our students. With the dual challenge of navigating ongoing remote learning while also envisioning how we come back together in person, the work of caring for ourselves and one another is more important than ever.

Well-Being for Life and Learning (WBLL), an initiative led by the University of Washington Resilience Lab, is focused on meeting this moment by helping instructors design learning environments that promote well-being. A guidebook recently released by the WBLL initiative combines research, teaching practices, and personal testimony to provide instructors with concrete ideas to support the whole student and promote resilience, compassion, and connection.

In this interactive session, developers of the Well-Being for Life and Learning initiative will discuss why engaging the whole campus in advancing student well-being is imperative. The session will include a sample of practices and teaching strategies drawn from the guidebook, considerations for developing a community of practice around this work, and reflections on leveraging well-being practices and resilience coping skills to teach in a more equitable and inclusive way.

You will be able to post your questions throughout this session and have them addressed in a Q&A following the panel discussion.

Please register to receive your Zoom link.

In this session, participants will:

Learn about the background and purpose of the University of Washington’s Resilience Lab and Well-Being for Life and Learning (WBLL) initiativeReceive an overview of the Foundations of Advancing Student Well-Being, which set the stage for the WBLL initiative’s recent guidebook and include: teaching for equity and access, nurturing connection, building resilience coping skills, and connecting to the environmentLearn directly from an instructor about the experiences and challenges that come with implementing teaching practices to support the whole student Be introduced to a few models for building communities of practice to support instructors in designing learning environments that promote well-being

Register

Speakers

Megan Kennedy

Megan Kennedy (she, her, hers), MA, LMHC, is the director of the University of Washington Resilience Lab and co-chair of the UW Student Well-Being Collaborative. Kennedy’s focus at the UW is on leading strategic initiatives to support student mental health and well-being. Kennedy believes that building systems to support high-quality wellness and educational programs requires teamwork at every level. From engaging community stakeholders in vision-setting to partnering with students, staff, and instructors, her approach to leadership centers collaborative relationships. Kennedy, who has a background in mental health counseling, served as clinical director at Youth Eastside Services (Redmond, WA) before working at the UW.

Robin Evans-Agnew

Dr. Evans-Agnew (he, him, his) is an associate professor in the vibrant University of Washington Tacoma’s School of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership. He is focused on upstream actions to transform inequities, especially as they relate to asthma and environmental justice and trauma-informed nursing practice. He is co-editor of an upcoming special issue of Health Promotion Practice on photovoice – a method for empowering communities for transformative change. In his research and practice, he explores and engages with the intersection of action inquiry processes and group leadership and followership. In particular, he leads a regional community of practice with other nurse leaders focused on transforming nursing education for resiliency and prevention of the lifelong consequences of adverse childhood experiences. As a community-based nurse, he has worked extensively with Black, Indigenous, People of Color for community transformation, including a 9- year Community-Based Participatory Research partnership with the Mujeres Latinas Apoyando la Comunidad, a group of new immigrant mothers of children with asthma. His second degree was in nursing from Johns Hopkins University and he completed his Masters in nursing at the University of Washington (1998) working with a northwest tribe on a culturally appropriate physical activity assessment. His PhD (UW, 2011) concerned asthma management inequities in Black urban youth from Seattle.

TA Days Winter 2021
2021-02-02 11:00 - 2021-02-12 14:00
Aspects of your work as teaching assistants may vary departmentally across the institute. However, there are also roles, responsibilities, and concerns that are common across MIT teaching assistants. To support you in developing these foundations of TAing, we offer a series of workshops called TA Days.

The next session, TA Days Winter 2021 (spanning February 2 – 11), aims to help you prepare for the spring semester. To review the workshop schedule and descriptions, please see our dedicated TA Days page.

To review pre-workshop resources and asynchronous modules, visit the Canvas site for TA Days Winter 2021. You may also register for live workshops via Canvas or using the registration form now below.

Registration is now open

Flipping Failure COVID Diaries: Short Films by MIT Students
2021-01-21 14:00 - 16:00
Description

The Flipping Failure COVID Diaries are independently produced short films made by MIT students to creatively express their reflections on academic struggles that were either created by the pandemic, brought to the forefront because of the pandemic, or further exacerbated by the pandemic.

Join us for a screening of 2 student films followed by a moderated panel discussion. The student producers will share their reflections on the films and the insights gained from noticing and documenting their experiences in this way.

Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their lived experiences during a pandemic in a safe environment. You will also learn coping strategies to bolster your resilience during these challenging times.

All MIT undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to register.

Register

Schedule

2:00 – 2:25 Film screening2:25 – 2:45 Moderated panel discussion2:45 – 3:15 Coping strategies for students living in a global pandemic, Zan Barry, MIT Medical3:15 – 4:00 Optional discussion

About Flipping Failure

This event is sponsored by the Flipping Failure initiative at flippingfailure.mit.edu.

Flipping Failure is a collection of video stories told by MIT students about their path towards resilience when faced with challenges at MIT.

Assessments & Assignments for Remote Learning
2021-01-14 15:30 - 16:30
The Teaching + Learning Lab and Open Learning are cohosting an IAP panel discussion for faculty and instructors on innovative assessments and assignments for remote subjects. Panelists will discuss a spectrum of assessment and assignment options and share their unique approaches and decision-making processes. We will have an opportunity to reflect together as panelists consider ways to continue and further develop their innovations.

You will be able to post your questions throughout this session and have them addressed in a Q&A following the panel discussion.

Note: This event is for MIT audiences only. Please register to receive your Zoom link.

Panelists

Craig Carter, Professor, Materials Science & Engineering

Barbara Hughey, Senior Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering

Michelle Ruth Tomasik, Lecturer, Physics

Register

Lesson Planning Track
2021-01-14 14:30 - 2021-01-28 16:00
Lesson Planning Track

The Lesson Planning Track is a sequence of 3 workshops focused on preparing an effective lesson plan for a class session or recitation, developing skills for classroom presentation and effective classroom activities, and giving formative feedback to students. Over the course of the workshop track, participants develop a detailed lesson plan on a topic of their choice with feedback from the instructor.

Applications for the IAP 2021 session of the Lesson Planning Track open at 12:00 noon ET on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Workshops will take place on the following days and times

Workshop 1: Facilitating Learning, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2:30-4:00 ETWorkshop 2: Planning for Learning, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2:30-4:00 ETWorkshop 3: Feedback and Learning, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2:30-4:00 ET

To complete the track and receive a letter of completion, participants must attend all 3 workshops and complete required out-of-class work.

Eligibility & selection criteria

Priority is first given to those who have completed a prior workshop track and then to those who anticipate a teaching or TA appointment within the next 2 semesters. The remaining applications will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications must be received by the deadline to be considered.

Applications

Applications are now closed (as of Wednesday, 12/16/2020 at noon). Go to Grad Teaching Development Tracks to learn more our this program and find answers to frequently asked questions.

Building community in the remote classroom
2020-11-19 16:00 - 17:00
Student learning and well-being are supported by the presence of a cohesive classroom community, both in face-to-face learning as well as remote learning.

On Nov 19, 2020, Open Learning and TLL cohosted this xTalk panel discussion, in which MIT instructors Simona Socrate, Ari Epstein, and Kang Zhou share how they have built and maintained community while teaching in a remote learning environment.

Panelists

Dr. Simona Socrate (2.001), Senior Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Ari Epstein (12.000 co-instructor), Associate Director and Lecturer, Terrascope

Mr. Kang Zhou (21G.109), Lecturer in Chinese, Global Languages

Leading with data: overcoming the data divides
2020-11-12 13:00 - 13:45
Data work is often thrust upon teams of people who already have a day job. Data teams are thrown together and data leaders have to overcome various data divides. This session will explore the evidence-based data literacy continuum that bridges these data divides. Data leaders will leave with a framework they can use to foster confidence and growth to empower their data teams.

After participating in this workshop, you will be able to:

Understand the evidence-based data literacy continuum utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy
Recognize where people are on the continuum
How to empower and support others in progressing along the continuum

Register

ESL TA Panel
2020-10-30 11:00 - 12:00
If you are TAing or will TA in the future as a non-native English speaker, we are hosting a panel discussion for English as a Second Language (ESL) TAs, in which experienced ESL TAs will share their stories and answer your questions on teaching. Panelists will share how they overcame challenges the same challenges you may facing now to become effective educators.

In the meantime, please submit your teaching-related questions on Sli.do here, and the panelists will discuss them at the event.

Also, 3 attendees (chose at random) will receive a copy of the highly recommended book: Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning.

Panelists: Cecelia Testart (EECS), Chuliang Song (CEE), Mohamad Nahleh (Architecture), Qian Song (DMSE), Seo Woo Choi (ChemE)

New Insights & Directions for MIT First-Year Advising
2020-10-27 13:00 - 14:00
Over the past 20 years, multiple stakeholders have identified and recommended improvements for first-year advising at MIT. More recently, students who participated in the Designing the First Year Experience undergraduate class in the spring of 2018 identified advising as a key priority.

In response, the Teaching + Learning Lab (TLL), the Office of the Vice Chancellor (OVC), and the Office of the First Year (OFY) collaborated to review past advising reports and studies and to implement a model focused on an advising network. This model was piloted last fall with a subset of the class of 2023.
This presentation will describe the reasons for the pilot and the accompanying study of the first-year advising experience from the perspectives of the faculty, OFY staff, and first-year students, and the findings and recommendations for future implementation.
Presenters: Melissa Barnett, Lauren Pouchak, Elizabeth Young

Teaching in a Tense Political Climate
2020-10-26 11:00 - 12:00
How are you planning to communicate with your students before, during, and after the election?

Students’ ability to learn effectively is greatly affected by their social lives and emotional state, both inside and outside the classroom. As we approach another tense and fraught election in the United States, many students—regardless of their political leanings—feel anxious about the election and can feel frustrated and distracted when faculty act as though nothing momentous is going on.

This workshop will provide tools and perspectives for faculty and instructors who feel that they need to say something about the election or current political landscape, but are concerned with exposing their political opinion or excluding students whose political leanings may differ from their own.

Charles Stewart, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science, will explore ways instructors can discuss the election and related topics with students. You will then hear from Ray Feller & Jimmy Doan (DSL) on the impact of the election on students’ well-being and stress. This will be followed by a discussion with your colleagues from across the Institute on ways to support conversation and dialogue about the election and discuss specific, actionable strategies for initiating and fostering productive discussion.

Learning Outcomes

Communicate awareness of and concern about the impact of the current political climate to support effective learning, regardless of discipline.
Justify why a conversation about tense political times is relevant in their course.
Balance sharing their own experience and political commitments with a desire to include students with different political opinions
Direct students to support resources when a tense political climate impacts their learning.

Presenters: Charles Stewart, Ray Feller, Jimmy Doan, Janet Rankin, Ben Hansberry

Data Dialogues
2020-10-21 13:00 - 13:30
This informal discussion and networking series is for MIT staff who are interested in keeping the conversation going in between Data Talks workshops, with the intention of building our community.

Join us for this 30-minute informal breakout session, centering on the advantages and challenges of working with data (from home) since the onset of Covid-19. The format will be two 15-minute breakout sessions.

Register

Craft Your Teaching Philosophy Statement (Part 2): Peer Review
2020-10-14 15:00 - 16:30
In this structured peer review exercise, you will give and receive feedback from your peers on your teaching philosophy statement drafts. After completing Part 2 and incorporating feedback, participants are eligible to schedule a consultation with a TLL staff member for additional feedback on their teaching philosophy statement.
Facilitator: Ben Hansberry

Learning Outcomes

Recognize characteristics of TPS that resonate with you as a reader and those that resonate with peers
Reflect on and revise your TPS in consideration of peer feedback

Register

Craft Your Teaching Philosophy Statement (Part 1)
2020-10-07 15:00 - 16:30
The teaching philosophy statement is a required part of most academic job applications and is often required in the faculty tenure and promotion process.
By articulating your motivation for and perspective on teaching, you can surface the underlying assumptions you have about teaching and learning—a critical step in developing your teaching skills. This workshop seeks to demystify this process by providing strategies and structured activities that you can use to craft your teaching philosophy statement.
This workshop is open to MIT students and postdocs only. In part 2 of this workshop, you will have an opportunity to review your TPS with your peers.
Facilitator: Ben Hansberry

Learning Outcomes

Describe what a teaching philosophy statement is

Identify aspects of your teaching or personal experience and beliefs that could be a part of a teaching philosophy statement

Identify features of teaching philosophy statements that resonate with you

Register

Taking MIT's Pulse
2020-09-17 13:00 - 13:45
This event has passed. See our recap blog post here.

In this virtual workshop, Jason McKnight (Assistant Director of MindHandHeart) and Kate Doria (Assistant Director of Institutional Research) introduced MIT’s Pulse Survey Project and describe 3 approaches for exploring the data. Participants were given the general background about the project before diving deeper into some of the findings and outcomes.

This event marked the beginning of the AY20-21 Data Talks workshop series, organized by TLL’s Melissa Barnett and Ryan MacDowell in collaboration with offices across MIT.

Learning Outcomes

articulate the purpose of the pulse surveyinterpret histograms and bullet chartsarticulate a challenge and opportunity in longitudinal surveys
