Instructional Development: Pillars of Teaching Assistantship certificate

Instructional Development invites you to join the Spring ​Quarter Pillars workshop series listed below. Complete all six workshops to earn a Pillars of Teaching Assistantship certificate.

Instructional Development's "Pillars of Teaching Assistantship" workshop series and certificate is designed to provide TAs with a comprehensive, research-based foundation for teaching in the role of TA.

Please note that the Pillars workshops require a short pre- and post- workshop assignment; you will be emailed a link to the pre-workshop activity and the Zoom link after you REGISTER.

Pillar 1: Creating Supportive Learning Environments

Fostering Belonging and Community in the Classroom
Facilitator: Dr. Mindy Colin, Instructional Development
Dates: Fri, April 17, 1-2pm

Come learn about the diversity of UCSB's undergraduate students and how to support them from a perspective of inclusivity. In this workshop, you will explore communication and classroom strategies that promote community, and reflect on how your life experiences affect your interactions with undergraduates.

Pillar 2: Engaging Students in their Learning

2A. Active learning: What, why and how?
Facilitator: Brody Thompson, Instructional Development
Date: Mon, April 20, 7-8pm

Students learn better when they are actively participating in the learning process rather than passively listening. In this workshop, you will differentiate between active learning and passive listening, identify elements that foster active learning, and apply a variety of instructional methods.

2B. Creating Engaging Lessons
Facilitator: Brody Thompson, Instructional Development
Date: Thurs, April 30, 7-8pm

Creating lessons is essential, but how can we ensure those lessons are engaging for our students? In this workshop, you will use learning objective taxonomies and a lesson planning framework to design active, student-centered classes.

Pillar 3: Assessing Student Learning

3A. Effective Questioning and Classroom Assessment Techniques
Facilitator: Anthony Clairmont, Instructional Development
Date: Thurs, April 16, 2-3pm

Much of a TA's role during section is to formulate generative questions, structure activities that check student understanding, and give effective feedback. In this workshop, you will explore several classroom-based assessment and questioning techniques that are based on the principles of giving effective feedback.

3B. Designing and Grading Assessments
Facilitator: Anthony Clairmont, Instructional Development
Date: Thurs, April 23, 10-11am

TAs are responsible for creating, implementing, and evaluating assessments. But what makes a good assessment? How can we use assessment to support learning? And what are some reasonable ways to grade student work? In this workshop, you will use principles from evidence-centered design to make assessments more focused and impactful, and help you with practical grading strategies.

Pillar 4: TA Professional Growth and Development

Improving Teaching through Feedback and Reflection
Facilitator: Dr. Lisa Berry, Instructional Development
Date: Wed, May 20, 4:00-5:00pm

How well are your teaching strategies working? How can you get useful, real-time feedback on your teaching? How will you respond when students have widely different perceptions of your teaching? In this workshop, you will evaluate different ways of reflecting on your teaching that help you grow as a TA.