2023 Faculty Summer Institute Banner Image with program title and stock photo of a library.

2023 Emphasis Areas: GE, Writing II, and Diversity Courses

Do you wish the course design process was a little less solitary? Is it hard to tell if your students are engaged and learning? You’re not alone! Join CAT’s summer learning community and work with peers and CAT staff to get a jump start on building out a 2023-24 course plan that is academically rigorous but also flexible, equitable, and–above all–authentic to YOUR teaching context and learning goals. Special emphasis areas for 2023: GE, Writing II, and Diversity courses.

CAT’s 2023 Faculty Summer Institute will be held on campus August 14-18 with workshops held daily from 10am-12pm Pacific Time (with Zoom contingency plans). Participants who satisfy all program requirements will receive a letter from CAT certifying completion and will be eligible to apply for up to $1,000 from CAT to support further teaching-related professional development. See below for details.

Dates and TImes

August 14-18, 2023

Workshops held daily on campus
from 10am-12pm (PDT)

What is the Center for the Advancement of Teaching’s Faculty Summer Institute for Course (Re)Design?

CAT’s 2023 Faculty Summer Institute for Course (Re)Design is a facilitated learning community that provides support for instructors who are preparing to develop a new course or substantially revise an existing course to be offered during the 2023-24 academic year. You can expect to work closely with peers and CAT facilitators to build on lessons learned from your prior teaching experience and apply evidence-based practices to create or revise your course plan with an eye toward fostering equitable and effective learning for your students. We ask participants to apply with a specific course to work on, but the work you will complete in this institute is designed to support your teaching long-term. This institute is suitable for faculty who are creating a new course as well as those who are substantially revising an existing course, and is designed to support teaching in any modality. All interested faculty are encouraged to apply but space is limited. See below for additional information re: eligibility and priority curricular areas for 2023.

BENEFITS: In addition to the support of a learning community composed of faculty peers, CAT staff, and librarians, participants who successfully complete all program requirements receive a letter from CAT certifying completion and are eligible to apply for up to $1,000 from CAT to support further teaching-related professional development. Participation in CAT’s Faculty Summer Institute for Course (Re)Design can also be highlighted in your dossier to be recognized for your next merit or promotion.

DATE & TIME: August 14-18 with workshops daily from 10am-12pm PDT on campus (with Zoom contingency plans).

DEADLINE TO APPLY: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until July 10 (or until the program reaches capacity).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The design of this program was inspired in part by the Out of the Box initiative launched by the Division of Life Sciences and Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences. All workshop curriculum has been developed by CAT, with the exception of Workshop 3, which was developed in collaboration with the UCLA Library’s Writing Instruction & Research Education team (WI+RE). We have aligned program objectives and outcomes with UCLA’s Peer-Assisted Reflection on Student Learning program (PAROSL) and with the values of CAT’s instructional Improvement Group in order to better support faculty who participate in multiple programs supported by CAT and our campus partners.

QUESTIONS: Email Project Director Dr. Beth Goodhue, CAT Associate Director for Faculty Engagement.

What are past participants saying about CAT’s summer institute?

“The summer institute offered a unique opportunity to work with, and learn from, colleagues and CAT pedagogy experts. The materials I developed during institute have been invaluable. I plan to use them, and build on them, in the years to come.”
– Muriel McClendon, Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Social Sciences Division

“The summer institute definitely inspired me to be more flexible and creative in teaching and provided helpful information about useful tools to facilitate that as well as clear guidance for how to align these kinds of activities with course goals and assessment.”
– Olivia Osei-Twumasi, Assistant Adjunct Professor and Director of Undergraduate Initiatives in the Department of Economics

Program Details

Learning Objectives

This program is organized around the following learning objectives, each of which is tied to a deliverable that you can use immediately in your teaching (and dossier):

  1. Increase transparency in course-level and assignment-level learning objectives [deliverable: revised syllabus / assignment]
  2. Adapt assessments to be more effective for student learning and equitable for all modalities of instruction [deliverable: revised assignment]
  3. Identify opportunities to scaffold learning and build community through intentional activities during and outside of class sessions [deliverable: revised lesson plan / assignment]
  4. Create a plan to collaborate effectively with TAs and other members of your teaching team to implement equity-minded course revisions that help students from all backgrounds and skill levels succeed [deliverable: Teaching Innovation Plan + optional teaching team contract]

Program Structure & Outcomes

Your work to meet the institute’s learning objectives will be supported through five hands-on two-hour workshops held on campus, as well as resources you can consult on your own time. See the schedule and details below. Each workshop will require approximately two hours of pre-work so that our synchronous time can be devoted to interactivity and engagement. Participants will access all pre-work and supplemental resources via a Bruin Learn site dedicated to the program. The institute culminates in the creation of revised course materials, as well as a short 1-2 page Teaching Innovation Plan documenting lessons learned and future directions.

Revised course materials and Teaching Innovation Plans must be submitted to CAT by September 15, 2023 to receive your letter certifying completion and to be eligible to apply for up to $1,000 from CAT to support further teaching-related professional development. Participants will also be invited to showcase their work in a CAT event. Extensions to the September 15 deadline can be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Eligibility

This program is open to all faculty assigned to teach during the 2023-24 academic year, including Senate Faculty, Non-Senate Faculty, teaching postdocs, and academic administrators. The program is suitable for faculty who are creating a new course as well as those who are substantially revising an existing course. Space is limited. Priority will be given to instructors teaching general education, Writing II, and diversity courses–but all interested faculty are encouraged to apply. We will build a wait-list in the event that the institute reaches capacity.

Admission to the program is contingent on availability to attend all workshops. We will have plans in place to pivot to Zoom meetings if the public health situation necessitates a shift to remote programming, but the expectation and hope is that this learning community will meet in person. Applicants will be asked to verify that they will be available to join us at UCLA from 10am-12pm on August 14-18. Light refreshments will be provided each day, along with an optional kick-off breakfast on Monday and a celebratory lunch following our final workshop on Friday.

Workshop Descriptions

Subject to change

Workshop 1: Foundations for Equitable and Effective Course Design

This kick-off workshop provides an opportunity for you to reflect on your teaching experience and guides you through core principles of backward design, as well as self-reflection and group activities to explore how our identities impact our roles as educators and examine ways that social identity threat and other forms of bias negatively impact students. This workshop culminates in an action planning activity to help ensure that your individual work in subsequent workshops aligns with goals that are authentic and meaningful for your specific teaching context.

Workshop 2: Interrupting Bias in Course Design

This workshop explores how various forms of bias impact course design, and helps you develop skills to interrupt bias when selecting and delivering course content and designing assignments and lessons. You will receive structured peer feedback on specific elements of your course design and will leave the workshop with a plan of action for revising your course plan to increase transparency and improve outcomes for all students.

Workshop 3: Scaffolding Instruction to Support Student Learning

In this hands-on workshop, CAT staff and members of the UCLA Library’s Writing Instruction & Research Education team (WI+RE) will introduce you to strategies for supporting students as they develop skills in research, writing, and critical thinking. After reflecting on common and hidden challenges students face, you will work in small groups with peers and librarians to scaffold high-stakes assignments and identify equitable and effective strategies for assessing student performance.

Workshop 4: Fostering Student Engagement

This practical session offers a deeper dive into equity-minded, evidence-based strategies for fostering student engagement in courses of any size and in any teaching modality. Our focus is on giving you an opportunity to experience accessible, high-impact teaching practices that can help support individual and collaborative learning inside and outside of class time. You will also have an opportunity to begin aligning activities with lessons for your specific course.

Workshop 5: From Action Planning to Action

This culminating workshop will provide an opportunity for you to showcase your course design work, receive peer feedback, and strategize with other participants about next steps—including ways to engage your TAs and other members of UCLA’s teaching support community in further developing and implementing your re-envisioned course. CAT facilitators will introduce you to strategies for developing a teaching team contract centered around equity, as well as resources to support your teaching beyond the duration of this institute.

Archive of Past Programs

2021 CAT Faculty Summer Institute for Course (Re)Design

CAT’s 2021 Faculty Summer Institute for Course (Re)Design focused on supporting faculty as as they built on lessons learned from remote teaching and worked to apply evidence-based teaching practices to 1) foster equitable and effective learning for students, 2) build capacity (and that of their instructional teams) to design flexible activities and assessments suitable for any teaching modality. Click to view the 2021 program.