Powell Library

45th Annual Teaching Assistant Conference

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This year, UCLA’s Office of Instructional Development TA Training Program organized the 45th annual conference to provide pedagogical training and resource information to future, new, and continuing TAs. All graduate students were welcome to attend the conference in preparation for future teaching assignments.

Our conference met for two days, September 24th & 25th, 2018 (Monday and Tuesday of Fall Week 0), again this year, offering specialized workshops and panels on topics ranging from lesson planning, grading, and creating inclusive classrooms to preparing teaching portfolios, managing time, and reducing teaching stress. Over 640 people attended, and the average attendee went to about four workshops and special events. This means we checked in people for more than 2,450 seats in workshops, panels, and special events designed to make them more prepared and effective in their roles as TAs. Our conference grew nearly 50% since 2017, and is playing an increasingly vital role in supporting excellence in teaching at UCLA.

The day started with a complimentary breakfast and informative resource fair that connected TAs to campus resources for undergraduate teaching. Then, conference attendees gathered for a keynote to introduce them to UCLA’s undergraduates and their needs. They reconvened to hear from a panel of Distinguished Teaching Award-winning faculty and TAs on Tuesday. Here, they asked questions of the expert instructors who answered questions about how to not only survive the first quarter of teaching, but to excel in their classrooms. The second day finished with complimentary coffee, sweets, and a raffle as participants shared the lessons they learned and networked with fellow TAs from all over campus. Both days offered three 90-minute workshop sessions, with 20 concurrent workshops each session through Monday and 13 concurrent workshops each session through Tuesday.

Sessions focused on important topics such as:

  • Strategies for classroom management, the first day of class, and lesson planning
  • Opportunities to ask experienced TAs and professors questions about teaching students in crisis
  • Discussions of how to lay the foundations for successful student writing and learning
  • Strategies for assessing and grading students and for leading active learning-based sections and labs in each discipline
  • Developing cross-cultural communication and conflict resolution skills
  • Professionalizing and preparing materials for academic job markets
Group Photo of Attendees from the 4th Annual International Faculty Development Program

OID Hosts 4th Annual International Faculty Development Program

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Group Photo of Attendees from the 4th Annual International Faculty Development Program

From July 29 to August 11, 2018, OID hosted 33 faculty from Ocean University of China and Huazhong University of Science and Technology for a two-week training workshop at UCLA.

This was the fourth iteration of OID’s International Faculty Development Program and comprised the largest group to date. The program provided faculty participants with a comprehensive overview of approaches to student-centered learning at leading American universities and in-depth training in pedagogical frameworks, common practices in teaching and assessment, and cutting-edge instructional technologies. Participants were also introduced to how OID fosters interdisciplinary cooperation among administrators, department and program leaders, and faculty to promote broader campus goals. Participants not only gained greater knowledge of learning theories, but also how to deploy these theories to meet specific needs at classroom, department, and institutional levels.

The program was designed and spearheaded by Dr. Kumiko Haas, Director of Instructional Improvement Programs at OID. Special acknowledgement goes to the following OID subject matter experts and guest speakers who led workshops for the program:

  • Adrienne Lavine, Ph.D. – Faculty Director of OID and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  • Marc Levis-Fitzgerald, Ph.D. – Director of Center for Educational Assessment (OID)
  • Michelle Lew, M.B.A. – Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies (OID)
  • Michelle Gaston, Ph.D. – Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning Initiatives (OID)
  • Hannah Whang Sayson, Ph.D. – Assistant Director of Data Analytics (OID)
  • Shannon Toma, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Scholar (OID)
  • Jessica Hoover – Coordinator of Evaluation of Instruction Program (OID)
  • Candice Christiansen – Program Assistant of Evaluation of Instruction Program (OID)
  • Sean Cruser – Principle Producer-Director, Instructional Media Production (OID)
  • Kimberly Cohen – Assistant Producer-Director, Instructional Media Production (OID)
  • Deborah Kearney – Instructional Designer/Support Manager, CCLE (OID)
  • Ronny Choe, Ph.D. – Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology
  • Ira Clark, Ph.D. – Associate Director for the Minor in Biomedical Research
  • William Grisham, Ph.D. – Lecturer/Academic Coordinator, Department of Psychology and Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience
  • Shanna Shaked, Ph.D. – Senior Associate Director for Physical Sciences Initiatives, Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences
  • Andrey Nikolayev – Senior Instructional Technologist, University Extension
  • Naat Jairam – Online Course Manager, University Extension
  • Noor Jabaieh – Digital Initiatives and Information Technology, Library
  • Garrett Romero – Digital Initiatives and Information Technology, Library

Additional thanks goes to the OID staff who assisted with behind-the-scenes execution to make the program possible:

  • Michelle Chen
  • Gary Krolak
  • Anita Han
  • Lucia Tabarez
  • Harvey Bui
  • Daniel Bustos
  • Long Le
  • Greg Vincent
Instructional Media Production

OID’s Instructional Media Production Brings State-of-the-Art Video Creation to Online and Blended Learning

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Instructional Media Production (IMP) is the video production unit under OID with a focus on supporting online video instruction for faculty, staff, students, and the UCLA administration.

IMP’s bread and butter is usually fully online course production – from beginning to end – usually allotting tens of hours for completed videos. It can vary anywhere from 30-50 separate 15-25 minute video segments per course or 10-12 separate 3-hour video segments per course. At times they may be in production on multiple online courses concurrently.

With a large, fully equipped studio space in CHS with historic and up-to-date equipment, IMP can accommodate different styles of filming. In addition to green screen and a learning glass as the main modes of filming, IMP is one of the only video units on campus with mobile capabilities and often films across campus. IMP provides support for campus events such as the Faculty Research Lectures and OID’s own Night to Honor Teaching hosted annually at the Chancellor’s Residence. Videos of awardees’ short interviews about teaching broadcast at that event each autumn are also on OID’s website. Below you will find a video that showcases some of what IMP does.

Learn more about the Instructional Media Production Unit

 

CCLE Login Page

CCLE Moodle 3.4 Upgrade Launched on June 19, 2018

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The CCLE Home Team has been working the past six months to meet our June 19th deadline to upgrade to Moodle 3.4. Since we use the open source course management system Moodle platform to deliver online courses for UCLA’s undergraduate courses and collaboration sites, we must have a model of continuous improvement to meet the needs and expectations of our students, faculty, staff and researchers.

What’s New in Moodle 3.4?

You may be interested in knowing some stats about CCLE and our recent upgrade:

  • Before CCLE there were 22 various CMS solutions on campus, now there are only a few: CCLE Home and Social Sciences Computing share a common code base on their respective servers. Think of these two systems as identical twins with slightly different hairstyles. Check out links below to see for yourself.
  • Some interesting data points about the Moodle 3.4 upgrade:
    • 17 developers from SSC, CDH, Chemistry and CCLE Home
    • 93,176 line changes in the code from previous version of Moodle 3.1
    • 319 tickets created related to the upgrade and 252 tickets closed (complete)
    • 210 hours of meetings discussing the upgrade (Support, Scrum, Backlog grooming and Product Owners meetings)

CCLE has come a long way since 2007 (pilot year). CCLE Home Team grew from an FTE of 3 (2009) to 6 (2015). The changes become really apparent when you compare today’s Moodle 3.4 version with the earlier Moodle 2.0 user interface in 2012.

More about CCLE:

As you might expect with a popular and extensively used system, upgrades are always on the horizon. In fact, we are already planning for the next Moodle 3.5 upgrade (scheduled in 2019).

CCLE encourages all campus system users to tell us what you think! Email us with your feedback: Amber Stokes, CCLE Support Coordinator, astokes@oid.ccle.edu

OID Welcomes 2018-19 CUTF Cohort

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On June 12, OID hosted the 2018 Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) Spring Reception to welcome the 2018-19 CUTF cohort to the program.

The CUTF is a highly sought-after program with limited slots that provides graduate students with a valuable opportunity to develop and teach a lower division seminar in their field of specialization. This experience serves as a “capstone” to the teaching apprenticeship, preparing them for the academic job market and their role as future faculty.

Each year, 19 students are selected to participate in the program. The 2018-19 CUTF fellows and their respective seminars are:

  • Sohaib Baig, History – “Full Moons Rising in Splendor”: Muslim Scholars, Poets, and Mystics in 18th Century South Asia
  • Lianne Barnes, Pyschology – The Science of Empathy: How Empathy Leads Us to Help – and Hurt – Others
  • Laura Beebe, Gender Studies – The Violence of Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Feminist Self-Representation
  • Kathryn Cai, English – The Entangled Body: Narratives of Bodies and Environments Across Scales
  • Elizabeth Collins, French & Francophone Studies – Decolonizing French Food through Literature and Film
  • Adriana Guarro, Italian – Transgressive Voices: Women in the Italian Renaissance
  • Matthew Hayes, Asian Languages & Cultures – Pilgrims, Patrons, and the Sacred: Ritual Participation in Japanese Religions
  • Stefan Love, Law – Questions of Interpretation: Reading Law, Reading Music
  • Abigail Mack, Anthropology – Cultures of Mental Health in the United States
  • Carolyn Merritt, Anthropology – Worlds of Well-Being: Anthropological Perspectives on Health and Wellness in the Age of the Happiness Industry
  • Oscar Moralde, Film, Television, and Digital Media – Video Games, Aesthetics, and Politics
  • Farrah O’Shea, Theater – Listening to Intimate Musical Performance: From Beethoven to Beyoncé
  • Mehrenegar Rostami, Ethnomusicology – Musical Activism as Political Contestation
  • Veronika Rozhenkova, Education – Diversifying the University through Internationalization: New Directions, Challenges, and Opportunities
  • Elaine Sullivan, World Arts & Cultures/Dance – Curating and Contemporary African Arts
  • Gwyneth Talley, Anthropology – Animals in Anthropology
  • Jenna Tamimi, Theater – Embodying the Past: A Desire for Queer Temporality
  • Schuyler Whelden, Musicology – Prince and U.S. Culture in the 1980s
  • Katharine Winchell, Chemistry & Biochemistry – Clean Energy from the Ground Up

Special thanks to the CUTF Faculty Advisory Committee for their hard work in reviewing the 50+ applications this year.

Learn more about the CUTF Program

Chart of mean reported knowledge of topic

OID and Engineering Collaboratively Develop Pedagogy Workshop Series for Faculty

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OID has been making concerted efforts to engage more proactively with faculty in order to improve teaching at UCLA. One of these efforts was a collaboration with Engineering to develop and run a pedagogy workshop series. During Fall quarter, Kumiko Haas and Michelle Gaston worked with engineering faculty to develop each session. The collaboration with OID provided a foundation in evidence-based pedagogy to support the discipline-specific expertise and experience of engineering faculty.

The result was a ten-week pedagogy workshop series held in Winter, 2018, entitled “Faculty Teaching Faculty about Teaching,” or FT^2. Each workshop listed below was led by one or more engineering faculty members, with OID’s Kumiko Haas, Michelle Gaston, Michelle Lew, and Deborah Kearney also contributing to the presentations.

DATE SPEAKERS TOPICS
January 8, 2018 Scott Brandenberg, Kumiko Haas Diversity, equity and inclusion
How instructors can improve outcomes for engineering students with diverse backgrounds while helping all students be prepared to succeed in a diverse workplace.
January 16, 2018 Jake Schmidt, Michelle Gaston Backwards course design
Establishing learning objectives and using them as a foundation for assessments, lectures, course activities, and assignments.
January 22, 2018 Hal Monbouquette Test design
Designing tests that cover a range of performance levels.
January 29, 2018 Adrienne Lavine Assessment and inclusive grading practices 
Criterion-based grading vs. grading on a strict curve, variations. Research showing how grading practices affect student performance.
February 5, 2018 Laurent Pilon Assessing prerequisite preparation
Identifying what students need to know to succeed in your class. Assessing preparations early to inform both you and the students of preparation gaps. Providing resources to mitigate preparation gaps.
February 12, 2018 Veronica Santos, Rob Candler Active learning techniques 
Active learning techniques including think-pair-share and polling tools such as clickers and the UCLA online polling tool. Research and evidence about how active learning can affect student outcomes.
February 20, 2018 Amit Sahai Socratic method
An approach to student centered learning using a directed question lecture style of guiding student learning.
February 26, 2018 Rob Shaefer, Bill Kaiser, Don Browne Managing active learning through group work and project teams 
How to form teams. How to grade team-based projects to encourage collaboration while not rewarding lack of participation. Clear rubrics that still allow creativity. Separately, a discussion about student motivation.
March 5, 2018 Jenn-Ming Yang, Michelle Lew, Deborah Kearney Technology resources for enhanced education 
Avoiding technology for its own sake. Finding technology that supports and enhances your teaching style and learning objectives. Building awareness of the technology resources available at UCLA.
March 13, 2018 Carey Nachenberg, Sasha Sherstov, Bruce Dunn The art of great teaching/lecturing
Overcoming the hurdles of a lecture environment to truly engage students. Examples of tools and tricks that you can use. Selecting the tools that align with your teaching style.

The 25 engineering faculty participants reported knowledge gains in every topic, as shown below. The effort was very much appreciated by the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the series will be offered again next Fall.

Chart of mean reported knowledge of topic

Anatomy of STEM teaching in North American universities

OID Contributes to Assessment of STEM Teaching Published in “Science”

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OID’s Center for Educational Assessment researchers Casey Shapiro, Michael Soh, and Brit Toven-Lindsey, guided by CEA Director Marc Levis-Fitzgerald, collaborated with CEILS Director Erin Sanders and UCLA faculty on a large, national research study of STEM teaching methods that was published in the journal Science in March 2018.

This seminal study used classroom observations to reliably characterize teaching styles that use traditional lecture vs. various combinations of student-centered teaching practices in STEM courses. Teaching practices were systematically characterized into three types, Didactic, Interactive Lecture, and Student-Centered, and these practices were observed in over 2000 classes taught by over 500 STEM instructors across 25 universities. These classes ranged from lower to upper level and were conducted in learning spaces ranging from smaller rooms, some with flexible seating arrangements, to large lecture halls. It was discovered that teaching practices were not dictated by learning spaces or course level and that simply creating flexible spaces does not automatically lead to student-centered teaching.

Link to full paper

Texas A&M University Logo

UCLA Presents on URM Student Success at Texas A&M

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Marc Levis-Fitzgerald, Director of the Center for Educational Assessment at OID, and Kelly Wahl, Director of Statistical Analysis & Assessment Coordinator in the College of Letters & Science, were invited to present at the Engaging National Leaders in Undergraduate Student Success Conference held at Texas A&M University on February 20, 2018.

Marc and Kelly presented on programs and initiatives at UCLA that support underrepresented, minority (URM) students and described the use of data to determine the impact of these programs. UCLA is among the top universities in the country for success among URM students, and UCLA presenters were honored for the opportunity to share their work with other institutions. This letter to UCLA’s EVC Scott Waugh from the Assistant Provost of Texas A&M, Timothy Scott, expresses his appreciation for UCLA’s participation and impressive work in this area.

As Marc notes, “OID provides assessment support to faculty across campus, and we lean towards embedded assessment, rather than top-down assessment. This approach invites faculty into the process and allows us to work collaboratively to understand findings.”

Office of Instructional Development Booth at Bruin Day

OID’s Evaluation of Instruction Program Showcases Resources for Admitted Students at Bruin Day

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Office of Instructional Development Booth at Bruin Day Students at Bruin Day Mugs given out at Bruin Day

The Evaluation of Instruction Program is proud to annually represent OID at both the freshman and Transfer Bruin Days. These all-day events help admitted students and their families decide if UCLA is the right choice for them.

Welcomed visitors at the EIP booth learn key takeaways about the course evaluation process by playing a fun quiz game, and can win an OID mug. This face-to-face interaction is excellent for communicating our values of student feedback and improvement of teaching at UCLA.

Haines A44

Haines A44 – First General Assignment Active Learning Classroom

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Haines A44

OID Educational Technology Systems, in cooperation with Facilities Management, has created the first general assignment Active Learning Classroom at UCLA – Haines A44.

The room is available for use in Fall 2018, and will be offered for scheduling first to those faculty who will make use of the special features of the space.

With a capacity of 40, and moveable tables and chairs, the room can be configured for collaborative work as well as more traditional modes. There is one projector and screen in the front of the room, and four interactive whiteboards, with the ability to share data in multiple ways. Power can be supplied to the student stations, and a solid wifi network supplies connectivity.

OID has been hosting open house sessions in the room. The remaining two are Wednesday February 14th and Thursday February 15th, 8:15 – 9:15 AM. Faculty and instructors who attend the open houses will be given the first opportunity to schedule classes in Fall 2018. Arrangements can be made with the Registrar to move classes currently scheduled in other rooms to Haines A44. Two additional spaces in Boelter Hall will be renovated this summer and converted to Active Learning Classrooms. They will be available for scheduling on a limited bases in Fall 2018, and more widely usable in Winter 2019.

If you are unable to attend the open houses or have questions or need further information, please contact Rob Rodgers via email (rrodgers@oid.ucla.edu) or at x44872.