Career & Tools
Join a group of graduate students to discuss strategies for equitable teaching and collaboratively workshop your teaching materials! The community of practice (CooP) will meet three times during Fall 2023 and Winter 2024, for a total of six meetings. Apply by September 18.
Are you committed to equity and anti-racism and want to integrate these ideals into your day-to-day teaching? Are you searching for a like-minded community? Are you hoping to strengthen your teaching and job application materials? Join a group of graduate students to discuss strategies for equitable teaching and collaboratively workshop your teaching materials!
The community of practice (CooP) will meet three times during Fall 2023 and Winter 2024, for a total of six meetings. Each meeting will last 2.5 hours to provide time for deep work; the specific times will be set based on participants' availability. Food will be provided. In addition, there will be preparation work between the meetings, opportunities for individual consultations, and optional informal gatherings. As part of the community of practice, you will:
- Network with other thoughtful graduate student instructors
- Discuss research-based approaches, tools, and practices that bridge the theory and practice of equitable teaching
- Receive and provide feedback on teaching materialsDraft and adapt a syllabus, two student assessments, and a DEI or teaching statement
- Each participant who attends at least five of the six meetings and completes the activities associated with the CooP will receive an award of $400. (No academic credit is available.) The CooP will be facilitated by Drs. Elina Salminen and Nate Emery from the Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning; however, this will be a small, collaborative group, and everyone will be welcome to and expected to contribute. The CooP will be aspirational as well as practice-oriented, with a focus on what we can do now to build toward a future we would like to see.
While all are encouraged to apply, the community of practice is oriented towards graduate students who are further along in their teaching career and who might be looking to prepare materials for the job market. Graduate students from all disciplines are invited to apply - organizers are excited to facilitate cross-disciplinary groups! Participants must be in good academic standing.
Organizers strongly encourage you to look through the overview below; it is a draft and subject to change, but it provides a general sense of the format and content of the CooP. To apply, fill out an application asking about your teaching experience and interests by September 18, 2023.
Please email any questions you have to Dr. Elina Salminen, salminen@ucsb.edu.
Program Overview
Meeting 1: Introductions
- Setting goals and group norms
- Equity frameworks for teaching and learning: D-L Stewart's equity and justice framework, Universal Design for Learning, bell hooks' Teaching Community, Laura Pipe's and Jennifer Stephens' Learning Spirit, etc.
Before meeting 2:
- Identify a course topic - either one you have taught, will teach, or one you would like to teach.
- Make sure to have enough of an idea so that you can workshop some course goals, activities, and assignments in meeting 2.Watch a video on research into backward design and TILT.
Meeting 2: Unhiding the curriculum - backward design and TILT
- What do we really want our students to learn?
- How do we communicate what we want them to learn?
- Begin workshopping your course design
Before meeting 3:
- Complete a draft of your syllabus. This should include a course description and outcomes, overview of activities and assignments, and at least one example of materials-activities-
assessment/feedback. - Meet up with a partner to provide and receive feedback on syllabi.
- Identify one resource on asset-based approaches and come prepared to share what you learned.
Meeting 3: Asset-based assignments
- Examples of asset-based courses, assignments, and approaches
- Begin workshopping one asset-based assignment or course element
Before meeting 4:
- Complete a draft of one asset-based course element.
- Identify a writing assignment topic. Make sure to have enough of an idea so that you can workshop the assignment and assessment in meeting 4.
- Identify one resource on equitable writing instruction and come prepared to share what you learned.
Meeting 4: Epistemological equity and writing
- Different ways of knowing - and writing
- Troublesome knowledge
- Standardized academic English
- Begin workshopping one writing assignment and assessment/feedback/rubric
Before meeting 5:
- Complete a draft of a writing assignment and assessment/feedback strategy.
- Identify one example, of your own teaching or that of others, that effectively "disrupted" the conventional hierarchies or boundaries of a classroom.
- Identify one resource on collaborative approaches and come prepared to share what you learned.
Meeting 5: Collaboration and co-creation
- Examples of/models for co-creating knowledge with students
- Examples of/models for disrupting hierarchies
- Group discussion: how can we co-create and collaborate in the classroom
Before meeting 6:
- Optional: Workshop a tangible action step to create change in your field/department
- Draft either a DEI statement or a teaching statement.
- Collect and, if needed, polish your teaching materials so you are ready to receive feedback on them.
Meeting 6: Bringing it all together - sharing our learning and work
- Peer feedback and discussion on teaching materials
- Planning ahead: how can we cultivate our community going forward