TILT Course Catalog
Course Descriptions
Best Practices in Teaching at CSU:
The 3-week, online Best Practices in Teaching Courses are asynchronous with specific due dates for discussions and assignments. The courses are available to faculty, staff, and GTAs.
Active Learning
Discover a range of instructional techniques related to active learning, which research on learning has consistently identified as a key factor in academic success. Explore these approaches that include checks for understanding, designing learning activities, exploring challenging concepts, managing materials and the classroom, and providing students adequate time to reflect on course content and class materials. The content is designed to support you wherever you are – and whether you teach online, in the classroom or in a hybrid environment – as an active learning instructor.
Participant Time: 12 hours over 3 weeks
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework alignment: (1) Instructional Strategies (2) Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Outcomes:
- Describe the purpose of active learning and its relationship to formative assessment and checks for understanding.
- Determine the most challenging concepts in your course.
- Design, within your comfort and skill set, an active learning experience(s) that meets content and student needs.
- Apply classroom management techniques to active learning strategies.
Classroom Climate
Consider classroom techniques that create a positive and productive classroom climate and contribute to student motivation, satisfaction, and achievement. This course introduces you to research on the importance of student sense of belonging in higher ed. You will practice setting course norms, hear from students about their experience at CSU, and examine researched techniques to increase students’ sense of belonging.
Participant time: 12 hours over 3 weeks
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment (1) Classroom Climate (2) Student Motivation
Outcomes:
- Integrate techniques that create a positive and inclusive classroom climate for all students.
- Provide multiple opportunities for all students to engage with the instructor and with one another.
- Establish classroom norms and expectations for all classroom interactions.
- Integrate at least one technique into your class that lets students—all students—know they belong.
Creating Assignments
Examine assignments and major assessments to ensure alignment between student learning outcomes. You will explore the components of clear and transparent assignment directions, how to chunk assignments into manageable pieces, and how to scaffold concepts. This course introduces you to the value of curating resources for your students and developing a variety of assignment types to reach all learners.
Participant time: 12 hours over three weeks.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness
Framework Alignment: (1) Curriculum and Curricular Alignment (2) Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Outcomes:
- Create assignments that align with learning outcomes for your course.
- Provide clear and transparent directions on assignments.
- Use a variety of assignments to reach all learners.
- Scaffold assignments to check for student understanding and support student success OR
- Add resources and reflections to assignments to support student success.
First Four Weeks
Use research-based instructional techniques and low- to medium-stakes assessments to prepare students for success during the first four weeks of your course. Approaches include establishing a positive and inclusive classroom climate, priming students’ interest in course subject matter, promoting an effective learning environment, and preparing students to succeed on high-stakes assignments.
Participant time: 12 hours over three weeks.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Classroom Climate (2) Feedback and Assessment
Outcomes:
- Apply Institutional Research data and recommendations to decisions about how you will teach your course during the first four weeks.
- Plan, implement, and reflect on at least one content-related FFW strategy on the first day of class.
- Plan, implement, and reflect on at least one group-building activity during the first week of class to help create and foster a community of learners.
- Create and administer low-stakes assessment(s) during the first four weeks of class.
- Identify CSU resources that support student success in the first four weeks.
- Assess and activate prior knowledge of your students.
Inclusive Pedagogy
Engage in self-reflection to consider your own lived experiences and how you use those as a lens to make decisions regarding all aspects of your teaching: your class climate, your instructional practices, and what you inherently believe about your students. In this course, you will consider your students’ diverse strengths and how to leverage those to develop an inclusive classroom. You will review your current curriculum and look for opportunities to incorporate inclusive practices that heighten students’ sense of belonging which, ultimately, contributes to their level of success.
Participant time: 12 hours over 3 weeks
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Inclusive Pedagogy (2) Classroom Climate
Outcomes:
- Define inclusive pedagogy.
- Determine the most challenging concepts in your course.
- Begin to recognize implicit bias of classroom interactions, bring this awareness to students, and take action to mitigate microaggressions.
- Incorporate inclusive pedagogy into planning and instruction.
- Identify available resources to continue self-inquiry into inclusive excellence.
- Foster a classroom climate of positive, inclusive and supportive relationships.
Rubrics to Support Student Success
Rubrics are a tool for assessing student performance on assignments, papers, and projects. This course will prepare you to design an analytic rubric for one of your assignments. Additionally, we’ll examine rubrics for a wide set of purposes in your course. When rubrics are used as a teaching tool, they can help to improve student performance. Rubrics provide: 1) instructor expectations, 2) opportunities for feedback and self-reflection, and 3) improved communication between students and instructors.
Participant time: 12 hours over 3 weeks
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework alignment (1) Feedback and Assessment (2) Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Outcomes:
- Design a rubric that aligns with an assignment (and outcomes) in a course that you teach.
- Design a rubric that uses specific, leveled criteria and student-friendly language.
- Use a rubric for fair and consistent grading.
- Use a rubric as a learning tool to support student success.
Learning Outcomes and Course Alignment
Write measurable learning outcomes and align them with your course content and assessments following the principles of backward design. You’ll establish the level of proficiency your students should achieve and then work backward to develop individual units/lessons with short-term outcomes that lead to course outcomes. You will also consider how to engage students at deeper levels of thinking and identify outcome measures (what students are doing/producing) that determine success.
Participant time: 12 hours over 3 weeks
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework alignment (1) Curriculum and Curricular Alignment (2) Feedback and Assessment
Outcomes:
- Write learning outcomes that are measurable.
- Write learning outcomes that require critical-thinking abilities appropriate to the course level.
- Include learning outcomes that require connections to a broader purpose, industry, future learning, or a transferable skill.
- Use learning outcomes to create aligned content, activities, and assessments (formative and summative).
Planning an Effective Class Session
Consider practices fundamental to an effective class session: learning outcome alignment, instructional strategies, formative assessments, and language you use to communicate with students. You will develop a plan for a class session that promotes critical thinking, self-directed learning, and student engagement for all learners. You will also receive several class-session templates to use in future planning.
Participant time: 12 hours over 3 weeks
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework alignment (1) Feedback and Assessment (2) Instructional Strategies
Outcomes:
- Articulate the purpose of formative assessment as a fundamental teaching strategy to develop student mastery.
- Use language and tools that promote self-directed learning.
- Implement instructional strategies and checks for understanding that engage students in learning.
- Align instructional strategies, class activities, and formative assessment (checks for understanding) with learning outcomes to plan a class session.
Rethink the Syllabus
View your syllabus through multiple lenses to create a document that gives students the information they need to be successful in your course. Your syllabus is often the first point of contact between you and your students. Word choice, formatting, and visual appeal all contribute to students’ perception of your course and their sense of belonging. Rethinking your syllabus gives you an opportunity to apply research-based techniques to your syllabus design, including a course map that guides instruction and learning.
Participant time: 12 hours over 3 weeks
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework alignment (1) Curriculum and Curricular Alignment (2) Classroom Climate
Outcomes:
- Design a syllabus that illustrates the connections among learning outcomes, course content, and assessments.
- Design a syllabus that explicitly signals your commitment to inclusivity.
- Design a syllabus that sets your intended tone for the course.
- Determine syllabus content and order of content based on your goals, ideals, and enthusiasm for the discipline.
- Incorporate the use of your syllabus throughout the course.
Student Motivation
Research on learning consistently identifies motivation as a key factor in student success. Help students make connections between course subject matter and their lived experience, prompt them to make connections across topics, and convey your belief in their capacity to succeed. Emphasis is placed on helping students develop a growth mindset and self-efficacy and applying evidence-based motivation techniques to your teaching.
Participant time: 12 hours over three weeks.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Student Motivation (2) Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Outcomes:
- Apply researched motivation techniques to your course.
- Identify supports for students for main course content.
- Promote growth mindset and self-efficacy during instruction.
- Integrate at least one new motivation technique into your course.
Teaching Online: Facilitation and Engagement
Incorporate research-based practices designed to foster a supportive online classroom community, engage students, and develop feedback and assessment strategies, with attention to doing so effectively in both small and large-enrollment sections.
Participant time: 12 hours over three weeks.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Classroom Climate (2) Instructional Strategies (3) Feedback and Assessment
Outcomes:
- Create a positive and inclusive classroom climate online.
- Interact with students online in ways that encourage them to engage with the material, with each other, and with you.
- Select online assessment strategies and methods of providing feedback appropriate for small-, medium-, or large- enrollment courses.
Critical Thinking
Instructors consistently identify critical thinking as an essential outcome for students. This course will help you capitalize on your students’ current critical thinking skills and scaffold critical thinking with supportive activities and feedback. You will consider content that is typically difficult for students and design appropriately leveled activities for them to practice critical thinking in a supportive environment.
Participant time: 12 hours over three weeks.
Delivery Method: Asynchronous with due dates
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Curriculum and Curricular Alignment (2) Feedback and Assessment
Outcomes:
- Define critical thinking relative to your field and your students.
- Compare the level of critical thinking students practice in your course with the level of critical thinking required for the summative assessments for your course.
- Scaffold essential concepts and align them with appropriate activities so that students can practice critical thinking necessary for your course.
- Connect students’ existing critical thinking skills to those skills needed in your course/field.
- Use formative assessments to inform students of their current ability to think critically.
- Reframe course outcomes as questions to tap into students’ curiosity and motivate them to think critically.
Peer Observation
What is the Teaching Squares Peer Observation Program? (Information Session)
The TILT-sponsored Teaching Squares offers teaching faculty an opportunity to observe colleagues in action and reflect on their own teaching practices. A teaching square is a group of four instructors who agree to observe each other a few times during a semester, using an agreed upon set of observation norms. Participants are coached in setting a personal teaching goal using the Teaching Effectiveness Framework and then observe others to give feedback and reflect on their own practice. The program is designed to be a non-evaluative, supportive and growth-based process. Teaching Squares are available for faculty teaching residential, hybrid, and online courses. Attend this informational session to see if Teaching Squares is a good fit for you!
Teaching Squares: (Residential/Hybrid Faculty / Online Faculty)
The TILT-sponsored Teaching Squares peer observation program allows faculty, instructors, and GTAs to observe each other, learn from each other, and support each other in their quest to become better teachers. It is designed to be a non-evaluative, supportive and growth-based process. Participants are coached in setting a personal teaching goal using the Teaching Effectiveness Framework and then observe others to give feedback and reflect on their own practice. This session is required for instructors participating in the Teaching Squares cohort.
Participant time: 16 hours over 15 weeks
Delivery Method: F2F or virtual depending on mode of instruction
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: Instructor choice
Outcomes:
- Explain the Teaching Square philosophy of support and respect
- Begin to form connections with other instructors
- Choose a growth area from the CSU Teaching Effectiveness Framework
- Observe and give feedback to other instructors
Workshops and Seminars
Student Engagement in Online and Hybrid Learning
Student engagement involves the frequency and level of student participation in the class. We generally talk about three types of engagement: student-to-student, student-to-content and student-to-instructor. In this 90-minute workshop, participants will develop a plan to engage students in their online or hybrid course.
Participant time: 90-minute workshop
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Classroom Climate (2) Inclusive Pedagogy
Outcomes:
- Structure their online course for consistency and clarity
- Create an instructor presence in their online course
- Foster student-to-student engagement in their online course
- Integrate at least three best practices for students to engage with course content.
An Introduction to Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the cornerstone to content mastery and ultimately student success. In this workshop participants will align essential course concepts with instructional strategies and Bloom’s Taxonomy so that student thinking can move from identification and description to application and analysis. Prior to the workshop, you will be asked to identify 3 – 5 course concepts that are essential to student learning in your course. Bring these essential course concepts and your syllabus to the workshop.
Participant time: 90-minute workshop
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Curriculum and Curricular Alignment (2) Feedback & Assessment
Outcomes:
- Determine the level of learning students need to demonstrate knowledge or mastery of essential concepts in your course
- Align outcomes/essential concepts with appropriate activities, checks for understanding, and assessments so that students will reach the necessary level of mastery
Formative Assessment as a Tool for Scaffolding, Active Learning, and Giving Feedback
Frequent formative assessments and low stakes assignments inform instructors and students of how much, and the extent to which, content or skills are mastered. Teaching strategies can then be adjusted to meet students’ needs. This workshop will introduce you to a variety of formative assessment strategies that can provide students within the moment feedback.
Participant time: 120-minute workshop
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Feedback and Assessment (2) Instructional Strategies
Outcomes:
- Define the difference between formative and summative assessments and their purposes
- Align formative assessment strategies with course outcomes and essential skills
- Learn a variety of formative assessment techniques
- Identify opportunities to incorporate feedback as a regular component of the student experience
Introduction to the Teaching Effectiveness Framework and Toolkit
Join TILT for a tour of the Teaching Effectiveness Framework developed to guide faculty and departments in the process of defining, enhancing, and evaluating teaching effectiveness at CSU. After extensive research into best practices in teaching and learning, along with feedback from CSU faculty and leadership, TILT has identified 7 domains for effective teaching and, therefore, student learning. The team has developed a process for departments and faculty to set a teaching goal and evaluate goal achievement. The tools can be modified by departments or individuals to meet their needs as they grow their teaching practice.
Participant time: 60-minute workshop
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: Not eligible for Teaching Effectiveness Initiative program
Outcomes:
- Define effective teaching
- Describe the Teaching Effectiveness Framework
- Connect growth in teaching to annual review
- Identify tools that can be used to improve teaching
A Vision, A Goal, and A Plan: Improve Your Teaching Effectiveness
Teaching is a complex, often overwhelming endeavor that no two instructors approach in the same manner. With myriad research, resources, and opinions on effective teaching – where do you begin? The Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF) organizes evidence-based teaching practices into seven interdependent domains to help instructors identify strengths and focus efforts to grow their teaching practice. This workshop can help take this challenging thing called teaching and make it more manageable.
Part 1 (90 minutes) begins with a visioning process to help you define success for your students and align your vision with a domain of the Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF). From there, you can more easily set a teaching goal and create action steps to carry out your goal.
Part 2 (90 minutes) digs deeper into your focus domain of the TEF and the specific teaching practices you will integrate into your course. You will also consider types of evidence that will gauge success of newly integrated teaching practices.
*Need to set a goal for annual review? This process can also help faculty interested in setting a goal for annual review.The TEF Developing and Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness Toolkit provides supervisors and instructors a common language and tools that can be used for annual review. The toolkit includes goal setting forms and suggestions for evidence that can be modified to meet instructors’ individual needs for annual review.
Participant time: 180 minutes
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: Not eligible for Teaching Effectiveness Initiative program
Outcomes:
- Recognize the benefits of the seven Teaching Effectiveness Framework domains, their independence, interdependence
- Identify teaching strengths related to a teaching domain
- Analyze your current teaching practices and how they align with your vision for students
- Create a personalized action plan of research-based teaching practices to incorporate into your teaching
Collecting Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness
The Teaching Effectiveness Framework Toolkit includes a recommended process for departments and faculty to set teaching goals and evaluate goal achievement for annual review. The Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF) provides instructors with evidence-based teaching practices to help identify strengths and grow their teaching practice. The TEF provides supervisors and instructors a common language to discuss teaching. The TEF Toolkit includes goal setting forms, suggestions for evidence that demonstrates teaching effectiveness, and other tools that can be modified to meet department and/or instructors’ individual needs for annual review. This workshop focuses on collecting evidence of teaching effectiveness. It would be helpful (but is not required) for attendees to have participated in A Vision, A Goal, A Plan: Improving Your Teaching Effectiveness and have a teaching domain and goal in mind as they participate in the workshop.
Participant time: 60 minutes
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: Not eligible for Teaching Effectiveness Initiative program
Outcomes:
- Align evidence of teaching effectiveness with a TEF domain
- Utilize the TILT goal setting tools and suggested evidence in annual review.
Annual Review Guidance for Committees and Chairs/Heads
The Teaching Effectiveness Framework Toolkit includes a recommended process for departments and faculty to set teaching goals and evaluate goal achievement for annual review. The Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF) provides instructors with evidence-based teaching practices to help identify strengths and grow their teaching practice. It also provides supervisors and instructors a common language to discuss teaching. The TEF Toolkit includes goal setting forms, suggestions for evidence that demonstrate teaching effectiveness, and other tools that can be modified to meet department and/or instructors’ individual needs for annual review. Join TILT in a walk-through of the TEF Toolkit and recommended process for developing and evaluating teaching effectiveness.
Participant time: 60 minutes
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: Not eligible for Teaching Effectiveness Initiative program
Outcome:
- Apply the TEF Toolkit and TILT recommended process to annual review of teaching effectiveness.
Inclusive Pedagogy is Fundamental to Good Teaching
Inclusive Pedagogy is a student centered teaching approach that considers all students’ backgrounds, experiences, and learning variabilities in the planning and implementation of student engagement activities, equitable access to content, mutual respect, and a more robust learning experience for all learners. This workshop will model inclusive teaching strategies and help faculty integrate equitable practices into their classroom.
Participant time: 60 Minutes
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: Inclusive Pedagogy
Outcomes:
- Review your syllabus through an inclusive, student-centered lens
- Recognize the syllabus as the foundation for inclusive teaching
- Identify one domain of the Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF) to focus your inclusive pedagogy efforts this semester
- Identify inclusive teaching practices to implement this semester
Teaching Effectiveness Initiative: Post Implementation Reflection Workshop
Have you completed professional development (PD) since summer 2019? You may be able to use these experiences towards earning a Teaching Effectiveness Framework (TEF) domain in the Teaching Effective Initiative (TEI)!
The TEI is a new CSU effort that provides recognition to faculty invested in growing their teaching practice by attending PD, implementing evidence based teaching practices, and reflecting on the impact to students. During this session we will provide a brief overview of the TEI and then use the remaining time for faculty to work on completing a TEI Post Implementation Reflection Form. TILT Instructional Designers will be on hand to assist with questions and brainstorming.
If you would like to complete a Post Implementation Reflection form during the session, bring the following to the workshop:
- A list of the PD experiences you have participated in since summer 2019,
- Notes and/or other associated material that you may need to complete the Post Implementation Reflection Form, and
- Laptop or other device.
Participant time: 60 Minutes
Delivery Method: F2F or video meeting
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: Inclusive Pedagogy
Outcomes:
- Give students more agency in a time effective manner
- Move beyond quizzes and exams to foster more critical and creative thinking
- Apply techniques to any course in any content
Creating a Teaching Persona for Online Learning Environments
Video Dr. Hailey Otis
The Latin word “persona” most directly translates to “mask.” What kind of mask should we wear while teaching? Should we wear a mask while teaching? How much of our teaching persona should be our authentic personality and how much of it should be a mask? How do we develop a teaching style that works for us as instructors and is also conducive to student learning? These questions are particularly salient for Graduate Teaching Assistants who may not be much older than their students and/or may not perceive themselves as having much more experience than their students. Together, we will explore what it means to put on a mask and to embrace a persona that strikes the right balance between your authentic self and the masked authority figure needed to effectively manage a classroom.
Participant time: 30 Minute video + discussion questions
Delivery Method: Asynchronous Video
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Instructional Strategies (2) Classroom Climate
Outcomes:
- Define Teaching Persona.
- Develop intentional strategies for student inclusion.
Creating a Learner-Centered Syllabus - Video Dr. Hailey Otis
Traditional approaches to syllabus construction treat the syllabus as a “contract” between student and instructor and, as such, often take on a punitive tone, communicating to students the negative consequences of their poor behavior/performance in class. More recently, there has been a turn to “learner-centered” syllabi, which, instead of focusing on punishment and what not to do, present students with a roadmap for success in a given course. This workshop will focus on how to build a learner-centered syllabus that puts students and their needs/perspectives/success at the center of the document, positions students and the instructor as part of a partnership and offers opportunities for shared decision-making between students and instructor.
Participant time: 30 Minute video + discussion questions
Delivery Method: Asynchronous Video
Teaching Effectiveness Framework Alignment: (1) Curriculum/Curricular Alignment (2) Classroom Climate
Outcomes:
- Examine the differences between a “traditional” syllabus and a “learner-centered” syllabus.
- Develop a syllabus that maps the way to student success.