PARTICIPATE | UCAT Events 
Throughout the year, UCAT facilitates workshops, forums, and seminars on a variety of issues concerning college teaching and learning. A calendar of university–wide events is also published in our quarterly Events on Teaching newsletter. Register online>>
All UCAT events, unless specified otherwise within an individual event description (below), will be held at Ohio State's Younkin Success Center. Click here>> to learn more about transportation and parking options for attending events at the Younkin Success Center.
Click here>> to read descriptions of former UCAT events.
Click here>> to read descriptions of some possible topics for an event for your department.
To request an event for your department, click here>>.
Events on Teaching
Cross-cultural Misunderstandings in Plagiarism and Academic Integrity
Tuesday, November 17
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
150 Younkin Success Center
InterAct Diversity Players and the Department of Theatre Register online>>
What are you accusing me of? I didn’t plagiarize! Anyway, where I came from, this wasn’t against the rules.
International students, their instructors, and the Committee on Academic Misconduct have difficulty navigating plagiarism and intellectual property. The InterACT theatre troupe will perform a piece that explores some of the consequences and confusion specific to international students and plagiarism. The performers will remain in character after the performance for an in character Q&A with the audience. Content experts will be on hand for further assistance and questions.
Integrating International Perspectives: How & Why
Tuesday, November 17
2:30 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
Joanne Monroe, Educational Development Consultant
2nd Floor Library, Younkin Success Center Register online>>
Using Howard Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future (2007), Kwame Appiah’s Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (2006) and Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World (2008), Joanne Munroe has designed an inspiring, interactive workshop that demonstrates how to infuse and integrate international experiences and perspectives into the curriculum of your classes and why this matters. Using the development of ethical and respectful mind as outcomes, Munroe integrates counter-narratives from critical race theory resolving the tension about whether to look “inward” or “outward” in developing learning objectives and activities aimed at increasing cosmopolitanism and intercultural competence.
Joanne Munroe has achieved national and international recognition for her innovations, consultations, and presentations on modeling empathy around issues of race, gender, and class and for her workshops on designing relevant, inclusive curricula. She has acted as the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Olympic College since 2006, and her professional career experience includes ethnographic fieldwork in Malaysia, teaching in Africa and Italy in study abroad programs, and immersion and continued practice in research-teaching links, scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Joanne has studied eight languages; has a passion for creating experiential, participatory learning environments; and has designed and presented multiple workshops around inclusive excellence, preparing students for the global 21st century, and developing infrastructural supports for the retention of first-generation college students. Using Laura Rendón¹s (2009) recent work she will inspire us to reflection and borrowing from Liston and Garrison¹s (2004) approach, she invites us, whatever our disciplinary focus, to reclaim the passion in our practice.
Putting Together Your Job Search Campaign: The Academic Job Search
Thursday, October 1
3:30–5:00 p.m.
150 Younkin Success Center
This workshop will provide useful information about the job search process in Academia. Information will be provided about helpful tips when starting your job search, where and how to look for openings, as well as what materials need to be prepared.
Putting Together Your Job Search Campaign: Vitae and Cover Letters
Thursday, October 8
3:30–5:00 p.m.
150 Younkin Success Center
This workshop will address how to write vitae and cover letters when searching for jobs in Academia. Importance will be placed on both their format and content while highlighting career tips useful when applying for positions with a teaching and/or research emphasis.
Developing Effective Presentation Skills
Wednesday, October 14
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
300 Younkin Success Center
Good presentation skills are important in helping students learn the material and keeping them engaged in the learning process. In this session you will examine and practice planning strategies and good delivery techniques.
Putting Together Your Job Search Campaign: Teaching and Research Statements
Thursday, October 15
3:30–5:00 p.m.
150 Younkin Success Center
This workshop will provide an overview of each type of statement, describe how they are used in the academic job search process, and provide guidance on how to write them. There will be opportunities in the session to start the process of writing these statements.
Facilitating Classroom Discussion
Wednesday, October 21
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
300 Younkin Success Center
Class discussion can be an effective method for getting students involved in most types of classes. In this session, you will learn how to encourage and maintain student involvement, respond to individual contributions, and employ questioning strategies.
Putting Together Your Job Search Campaign: The Interview
Thursday, October 22
3:30–5:00 p.m.
150 Younkin Success Center
This workshop will highlight what to do before, during, and after an interview for positions in Academia. Emphasis will be on career strategies and interviewing techniques as well as familiarity with the academic interview expectations. Samples of questions and practice opportunities will be provided, as well as useful suggestions to enhance confidence skills.
Grammar 101: Effectively Addressing Surface Errors In Student Writing
Wednesday, October 28
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
300 Younkin Success Center
Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing
Instructors who evaluate student writing are almost universally concerned that their students produce writing that is littered with glaring surface errors. Learn how to prioritize mechanical issues as students write, how to respond effectively to errors in student writing, and how to prepare students to produce carefully edited work when it counts the most.
Fact check: What are we teaching in Introductory Science Courses?
Friday, October 30
10:00–11:30 a.m.
150 Younkin Success CenterScience in the 21st century is driven by cross-cutting questions that involve many disciplines. Successful scientists are able to integrate information that traverses temporal and spatial scales to evaluate problems and synthesize solutions. Undergraduate introductory science courses are widely criticized for overemphasizing details and rote memorization at the expense of helping students develop higher-level cognitive skills. Indeed, numerous calls for reform of STEM education reflect a wide disjunction between what is taught in the undergraduate biology classroom and the skills needed by scientists, science teachers, and informed citizens. Data to support such claims, however, are surprisingly scarce. As part of a national study of faculty teaching practice, we quantified the level of learning targeted by faculty in introductory-level biology courses and documented their teaching practices through direct classroom observations that were analyzed using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol. We used the results to inform the design and implementation of FIRST IV, a national professional development program in teaching and learning targeted for postdoctoral scholars in the biological sciences.
Writing and Critical Thinking: Quick and Easy Assignments for Any Classroom
Wednesday, November 4
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
300 Younkin Success Center
Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing
While we often see writing as a way for students to demonstrate critical thinking, it can also be a powerful tool for students to develop their thinking as well. During the workshop, Writing Across the Curriculum consultants will help participants develop effective, low-stakes writing activities to address critical thinking learning objectives.
Curriculum Design Institute
October 5, 12, 19, 26 and November 2
9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.
Learning Collaborative Studio, 060 Science and Engineering Library Registration Closed.
Are you the person in your unit taking the lead on revising the curriculum for semesters? Are you serving on a curriculum committee? This 5-session intensive institute is designed to provide you with the tools, the time, and the collegial support to really dig in and design or re-design that program. You will have the chance to work through the early stages of structuring and planning your program’s new curriculum based on the foundation of what you and your colleagues believe is most important for your students to know, to learn, and to care about.
At the end of the series you will have created the draft outline structure of the curriculum, including plans for the number and range of courses mapped to the appropriate program learning outcomes that each will fulfill, assessment tools, and a strategy to work with your colleagues to finish the project. We will provide a variety of resources, introduce you to other faculty and staff on campus that can offer you advice and support based on their personal experiences with a variety of curriculum mapping and design processes, and help you build a community network of other faculty around campus who are going through the same design process.
Because many of the decisions involved in curriculum design should be based on unit consensus, we welcome small teams to apply for participation. However, in order to provide personalized interactions with all participants, enrollment will be limited to 12, so please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining us for this exciting opportunity.
Course Design Institute
October 6, 13, 20, 27 and November 3
9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
300 Younkin Success Center Registration Closed.
Because many of the decisions involved in curriculum design should be based on unit consensus, we welcome small teams to apply for participation. However, in order to provide personalized interactions with all participants, enrollment will be limited to 12, so please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining us for this exciting opportunity.
Are you preparing to teach a new course, or are you frustrated or bored with one you are already teaching? Do you need to revise a course because of changes in enrollment or curriculum? This 5-day intensive institute is designed to provide you with the tools, the time, and the collegial support to really dig in and design or re-design that course. You will have the chance to work through the early stages of structuring and planning your course based on the foundation of what you believe is most important for your students to know, to learn, and to care about. At the end of the week you will have created the basic structure of the course, including plans for a syllabus, assignments, assessment tools, and a course outline. We will provide a variety of resources, introduce you to other faculty and staff on campus that can offer you advice and support based on their personal experiences with a variety of course design processes, and help you build a community network of other faculty around campus who are going through the same design process.
Because this experience is designed to build community and the sessions are very interconnected we can only accept applications of individuals who can commit to coming to all five sessions. If you are interested in participating but unable to attend this term, we will be offering this program several times throughout the year.
We will be working together in an online environment, so you will need a laptop that can connect to OSU Wireless and a functional OSU Wireless account. In order to provide personalized interactions with all participants, enrollment will be limited to 12, so please let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining us for this exciting opportunity.