About 2024 Teaching & Learning Conference

9:10 - 9:30 | Check-in, Morning Refreshments & Resource Fair

Pre-recorded Welcome Remarks by:

Dania Matos, Vice Chancellor of Equity & Inclusion

9:30 - 10:30 AM | Affinity Group Gatherings

Affinity Groups are designed to help build community among folks with shared values and/or common identities. The goals of our conference affinity groups are to:

  • Provide an opportunity for colleagues to connect, offer support and guidance to one another, and discover commonality across experiences.
  • Create space for members to talk about their identities and/or shared values in the context of teaching at a research-intensive, predominantly white institution.
  • Lower the barriers to getting to know each other as colleagues, friends, and human beings.

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Teaching & Technology
Connect with colleagues seeking wisdom around teaching with technology. Some questions you might explore include:

  • How do you use technology to support your inclusive teaching?
  • In what ways have technological advancements, like artificial intelligence, challenged you to think differently about teaching and technology?

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Graduate Student Learning
Teaching and mentoring graduate students requires a different skill set than undergraduate students. Join colleagues in discussing one or more of these example questions:

  • Do you practice inclusive and equitable teaching strategies differently when teaching graduate students or across degree programs (e.g., PhD, MA, etc.)? 
  • What are emerging challenges and strategies for supporting graduate student learning following the events of COVID, the UAW strike, and the narrowing faculty job market?

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Educators of Color
Finding community can be difficult, especially on a large college campus. Come visit with and get to know other educators of color, discover common experiences, and offer support and guidance to colleagues navigating predominantly white academic spaces. You might explore one of the following questions:

  • How has my experience as a person of color shaped my journey at UC Berkeley?
  • How does my experience as a student of color inform how I practice inclusive and equitable approaches to teaching?

10:45 - 12:00 PM | Teaching Demonstrations

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Automated Support for Flexible Extensions 
Jordan Schwartz, Undergraduate Student Instructor, Computer Science
Yuerou Tang, Undergraduate Student Instructor, Computer Science

In this teaching demonstration, we present the development of an automated extension tool that supports flexible extension policies. Students interact with a wide range of extension policies in similar ways; in particular, some students repeatedly request multi-day long extensions. When scaled to courses with hundreds or potentially thousands of students, course staff time is the limiting resource preventing adequate student support. We present a tool to help automate a range of extension processes. The use of this tool should reduce staff load while increasing individualized student support, through email communication and consequent recovery of student agency.

Best Practices in Designing Instructional Presentations for Diverse Learners
Joe Feria-Galicia, Accessibility Team Lead, RTL
Robert Hold, Digital Media Senior Visual Designer, RTL

Resilient multimedia in higher education promotes adaptability for diverse learners historically excluded from curricular design.  This includes planning for audiences with vision, hearing, learning, and cognitive challenges.  Attend this session to learn how implementing accessibility best practices in the multimedia development process removes barriers encountered by learners with diverse needs, resulting in instructional materials that are accessible to everyone.

Exam Seating: A Scalable, Transparent, Personalized Tool for Inclusive and Efficient Planning
Yu Long, Undergraduate Student Instructor, EECS

Our teaching demonstration introduces an exam planning tool suite for scalable seating assignments tailored to individual student needs (DSP room, left-handedness, aisle, etc.). Traditional exam logistics is a complex task, especially across multiple exam rooms and complex DSP accommodations. This suite (seating tool + proctoring) has supported dozens of large undergraduate courses to manage databases of campuswide room capacities and course-specific student enrollments, oversee proctoring, and tackle excessive collaboration (a large concern in many courses). Students gain full transparency with prompt, automated email notifications of seating assignments. The suite facilitates more personalized exam environments that help students succeed with integrity.

Collaborating with Students on Ethical AI Use in the R&C Classroom
Ryan Sloan, Continuing Lecturer, College Writing Programs; Co-Facilitator for Lecturer Teaching Fellows

Whatever your perspective might be about large language models, most UCB students are experimenting with AI tools and are very open to guardrails and conversation around this emerging digital literacy. This presentation calls for a collaborative, inclusive conversation with students on limitations, ethical and practical considerations, and general AI best practices in the R&C writing classroom [R1B/R4B research classes in particular]. We will road-test ChatGPT 3.5 and 4 [OpenAI], Claude [Anthropic], Gemini [Google] and Le Chat [Mistral]

Typology of Active Learning: A Framework for Selecting Active Learning Techniques
Joseph Kearns, Instructional Design Manager, RTL
Sandra Rogers, Instructional Designer, RTL

Researchers have shown that active learning can trigger cognitive functioning and build learning skills to improve overall academic performance. When effectively designed and implemented, it can reduce failure rates, advance inclusion of the minoritized, and narrow the achievement gap for underrepresented students. But with so many active learning techniques to choose from, where do you start? And what types of active learning are the best fit for your course?

Our typology is designed to make it easier to introduce active learning in your courses, with a menu of techniques ranging from simple to complex. Whether you’re an active-learning expert looking for fresh ideas or a beginner seeking practical suggestions, our typology will provide a framework for making powerful pedagogical choices.

Exploring New Perspectives: Fostering Diversity and Inclusion in R&C Courses
Joan McQuade, Lecturer, Department of Comparative Literature

In this teaching demonstration, we will delve into the significance of incorporating multicultural content into R&C courses. As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, it is crucial to prepare students for a diverse and global society. Through my own experience and research, I have developed methods to help undergraduate researchers and writers expand their perspectives beyond their own boundaries. We will also discuss the positive impact of study abroad programs and the value of including world literature in R&C classes to promote global citizenship. Additionally, we will explore the potential of AI to support these efforts.

Using Social Annotation and Hypothesis in Conjunction with Generative AI
Courtney Gomas, Instructional Designer, RTL

Finding out how employing social annotation can stimulate engagement among students while improving their digital literacy skills, and gather ideas about how a combination of group work, peer review, and backward problem solving strategies can give students agency. Brainstorm ways to empower students and implement social annotation by identifying strong learning objectives in your own courses, regardless of subject matter.

10:45 - 12:00 PM | Gallery Walk of Teaching Artifacts

Upstairs in Sproul Room

In its inaugural year, the Online & Hybrid Course Design Institute (OHI) will showcase intentional integration artifacts that faculty participants adapted to an online or hybrid learning environment. These artifacts can be a rethought assignment, in-class or out-of-class activity, or even a description of a new learning technology to drive student engagement. This showcase will present artifacts and provide space for question-and-answer sessions with OHI faculty participants. 

12:00 - 1:30 PM | Lunch & Keynote Address

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12:00 PM | Lunch Served

12:30 - 1:30 PM | Keynote Address

Abigail De Kosnik has been named this year's Teaching & Learning Conference Keynote Speaker. Dr. De Kosnik is an Associate Professor in the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM) and the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS), and an affiliated faculty member of Gender & Women’s Studies, Film & Media, and Folklore. She researches histories and theories of new media, film and television, social media, fan studies, piracy studies, cultural memory, and archive studies. She is particularly interested in how issues of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and transnationalism intersect with new media studies and performance studies.

1:45 - 3:45 PM | Teaching & Learning Talks

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1:45 - 2:15 PM | Equitable Grading Practices
Dan Garcia, Teaching Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Armando Fox, Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Inspired by professional development offered by the UC Berkeley College of Engineering, we endeavored to create policies and support structures in which students could achieve any grade (level of mastery) that they were willing to work for, even if some students took longer than others or required more practice to get there. Achieving this goal would have profound effects on fairness and equity, to say nothing of student learning outcomes. Our proposed approach is not all-or-nothing, but all-or-something: there are many things instructors can do within existing policy frameworks and course constraints to move their course experience in this direction.

2:30 - 3:00 PM | Designing for the Virtual Classroom: Social Presence, Placemaking, and Belonging
Meg Everett, PhD Student, School of Education
Pa Vue, PhD Student, School of Education
Nevin Bangloy, Undergraduate Research Assistant, School of Education
Kelsey Choe, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Berkeley Center for New Media

The Immersive Virtual Classroom, equipped with a video wall and a comprehensive audio-visual system, enables on-site faculty to deliver dynamic, interactive instruction to fully remote students. This presentation documents the pedagogical shifts in teaching and instruction that fostered engagement, participation, and a sense of community in the newly constructed virtual classroom on campus. Given the unique challenges and opportunities associated with multimodal shifts in learning environments, and new, immersive technologies (Selber, 2004), we consider what possibilities exist when virtual classrooms are designed to center relationships and promote belonging.

3:15 - 3:45 PM | The Open Skills and Knowledge Initiative (OSKItech): Inclusive Technical Education to Improve Digital Skills Equity Across the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Emma Fraser, Assistant Teaching Professor, Media Studies
Clancy Wilmott, Assistant Professor, Geography
Asma Kazmi, Assistant Professor, Art Practice
Maria Pettis, PhD Student, Geography

This presentation reports on findings from the inaugural year of the Open Skills and Knowledge Initiative (OSKItech). A collaboration between faculty in Media Studies, Art Practice and Geography, coordinated through the Berkeley Center for New Media, OSKItech aimed to intercept inequities in technical education across campus by providing inclusive, accessible spaces for non-STEM students - specifically those in our disciplines who are first generation, underrepresented and/or underserved. We developed dual initiatives: the production of a shared mobile tech cart housing high-powered technology for teaching; and, a series of interactive, skills-based workshops open to all students from across our courses.s

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1:45 - 2:15 PM | Engaging Students in Authentic Writing Experiences While Enforcing Course Content
Nichole Lewis, Postdoctoral Scholar, Integrative Biology

As part of a grant-funded project on instructional development, our team has developed a writing assignment that targets undergraduates’ scientific writing, peer review skills, and content learning. The assignment requires students to create a scholarly abstract and share these abstracts with peers. Our team developed this assignment because these are writing products students will likely need to produce for their careers. While abstracts are often used to summarize academic journal articles, our intervention pairs abstract writing with a series of lectures, challenging students to synthesize what they learn from the lectures into an organized synopsis.

2:30 - 3:00 PM | What We Talk About When We Talk About Grading: On Diverse Assignments and More Equitable Evaluation
Brett Driben, Lecturer, Department of Comparative Literature

Undergraduate courses offered across UC Berkeley have one thing in common: grading. This presents challenges. The most often used grading practices can lead to inequitable classrooms that are not inclusive of students from diverse backgrounds. Our common grading challenges, however, are also a boon. They present an opportunity for us as educators to collaborate across departmental lines and craft better grading strategies. In my presentation, I explore traditional grading’s challenges and present alternative grading strategies I’ve developed alongside colleagues grappling with the same challenges. I include students’ feedback on these grading practices to amplify students’ reception of these inclusive strategies.

3:15 - 3:45 PM | Enhancing Pedagogy in Teaching Assistant Training
Lisa Yan, Assistant Teaching Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Krina Patel, PhD Student, School of Education
Abigail Brooks-Ramirez, Undergraduate Student Instructor, Computer Science

Our presentation explores the development and implementation of a pedagogy course that prepares teaching assistants for teaching STEM undergraduate courses. The course syllabus promotes a growth mindset for learning with a focus on social justice and meta-learning. We outline how course objectives emphasize teaching competencies and student engagement with a live activity demonstration. We discuss strategies for integrating social justice and anti-racism pedagogy as well as Human Context and Ethics principles into TA training courses, promoting inclusivity, and acknowledging diversity. Key takeaways from this course offer insights for enhancing pedagogical courses at UC Berkeley.

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1:45 - 2:15 PM | Creating Inclusive Online Learning Environments through Community Agreements
Sarah Zyba, Lecturer, School of Public Health
Evan VanDommelen-Gonzalez, Academic Director, School of Public Health
Julie C. Moss, Instructional Designer, School of Public Health

Online learning with asynchronous discussions and limited face-to-face interactions invites us to be creative in building a strong and supportive classroom community. Community agreements can be a powerful tool for building a respectful and inclusive classroom environment, but they are traditionally developed through an in-person group activity and in courses with small class sizes. Here, we propose an adapted online synchronous and asynchronous model for 1) developing community agreements using the online tool Jamboard, 2) incorporating community agreements into multiple classroom activities, and 3) using community agreements to demonstrate and apply inclusive public health practices.

2:30 - 3:00 PM | UDL and Accessibility in STEM Pedagogy Training
Carl Marth, PhD Student, Physics
Austin Hedeman, Lecturer, Physics

This presentation will address multiple improvements in one of the STEM-focused 300-level pedagogy courses based on lessons learned from the Spring 2023 Universal Design for Learning Workshop, with the goal of building a foundation in accessible and inclusive teaching from the start for beginning GSI’s. These changes included a lecture on UDL and its potential implementation in STEM pedagogy, along with an Accessible Lesson Plan assignment. Key points from the presentation will be discussed, and examples will be shown of worksheets produced through the lesson plan assignment with accessibility features built in.

3:15 - 3:45 PM | Using Team Video Projects to Encourage Inclusive Learning and Community Building
Crystal Chang, Lecturer, Political Economy

In a course of 150 students, this presenter has used Team Video Projects to create community and foster an inclusive learning environment. She creates diverse teams of 3-4 students taking into consideration gender, ethnicity, major, and academic performance. Teams are then asked to design a format for the video (i.e., debate panel, news show, The Office), co-write a script around a research question, and create/edit a video based on that script in which each team member embodies a scholar from the syllabus. [proposal author] will discuss how this project allows students to form bonds, demonstrate understanding of course concepts, and most importantly - have fun!

3:45 - 4:30 PM | Afternoon Refreshments & Resource Fair

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Unwind, connect, and reflect on the day’s events with light refreshments.
Explore resources, tools, and campus support available to all educators on campus.

> The Center for Teaching & Learning
> Classroom Technology Services
> Digital Learning Services
> Learning Environment & Tools

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A Celebration of the Lecturer Teaching Fellows (LTF) Program

Join current and past Fellows in celebrating the accomplishments of this year’s cohort, gathering to network and connect about LTF projects, and envisioning future developments for the program.

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Year 1 Celebration for Presidential Chair Fellows (PCF)

A space for PCF grant recipients and members of the AY 2023-2025 program cohort to gather, reflect on project developments from the year, celebrate milestones, and discuss goals and plans for the coming academic year.

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2023 Conference Archives

Questions?

Please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning by emailing teaching@berkeley.edu with any questions, concerns, or additional considerations.