This Week for Grad Students: Creative learning assignments: How to design, how to grade
New CTLgrads Learning Community
Look I Made You Some Content: Assigning and Evaluating Creative Assignments
Designed and run by Senior Lead Teaching Fellows Miriam Nielsen (Earth and Environmental Science) and Grant Woods (Music)
Breaking away from the classic exam or essay can be fun! And it doesn’t necessarily mean more work for the instructor or TAs. This learning community will focus on how to design assessments that invite and value student creativity. We’ll discuss what works, what doesn’t, how to connect students with available resources, and construct rubrics for evaluation. As part of this learning community, participants will have the opportunity to design their own creative assignments, and collaborate with other attendees to strategize methods of assessing those assignments.
This learning community is open to all interested graduate students. Participation in both sessions is recommended, though not required. Sessions count towards track completion in the Teaching Development Program.
Date: Thursday March 27 (Part 1) and Thursday April 3 (Part 2)
Time: 1:10 PM – 2:25 PM
Location: 212 Butler Library
Register: Register for Part 1, Register for Part 2
⭐️ Resource Spotlight ⭐️
New from CTL: Inspiring students to do the reading
Are your students skimming, skipping, or misunderstanding assigned reading? Is AI tempting them to bypass course reading altogether? This new resource from CTL presents strategies for instructors facing challenges with course reading assignments.
Access resource: Learning Through Reading: Strategies to Support Students’ Reading Practices
CTLgrads Journal Club
Online discussions designed and facilitated by CIRTL Fellows
Are you interested in creating an inclusive educational climate for all STEM learners? This informal discussion community is an opportunity to discuss resources and research on teaching and learning with fellow grad students and postdocs across the CIRTL Network. These sessions are designed by a Columbia graduate student to help you consider how you can use findings in education research–in your field and beyond–to inform your own teaching practices.
CTLgrads Journal Club sessions count towards track completion in the Teaching Development Program.
Date: Thursday March 27
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Online
Register: Register for March 27 session
Date: Thursday April 11
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Online
Register: Register for April 11 session
Graduate student-led events in departments
2024-25 Lead Teaching Fellows are running workshops and discussions in their departments all around Columbia. These are generally advertised locally. Below are upcoming events that are open to participants beyond the LTF’s home department.
LTF events count towards track completion in the Teaching Development Program.
Improvising in Science Classes
Rapport with our students is a key driver in their happiness, comfort, and presence in the course. It can be hard to read the classroom’s energy or know what energy we are presenting to the class. In this event, we will take lessons and activities from improvisation in the arts to learn how best to read the room, consider our presence in the classroom, and build rapport with our students.
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Max Lee (Astronomy). It is open to all interested graduate students in Arts and Sciences.
Date: Tuesday, March 25
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: 1402 Pupin Hall
Register: RSVP to max.e.lee@columbia.edu
“Oral Preparation”: Creating Rubrics for Participation in the Language Classroom
In the language classroom, a large part of the student’s grade is based on their participation and spoken performance in the language. In the Slavic Languages department, the Russian language program has an assessment category called “oral preparation,” which covers this nebulous area. Assigning a grade for this category is notoriously challenging, as there are no rubrics or written guidelines for assessment.
In this LTF workshop, we will discuss experiences and ideas about assessing students’ oral performance, with the aim of creating a rubric to propose to the Russian language program. Together, we will brainstorm: what should be assessed in the category of “oral preparation”? Accuracy? Complexity? Effort? Hopefully drawing on experiences from other language teachers, we will consider ways to standardize this grading process with a fair, inclusive, and measurable rubric.
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Myles Garbarini (Slavic Languages). It is open to graduate students from other departments, especially other language instructors or those who assess oral performance.
Date: Wednesday, March 26
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Location: 713 Hamilton Hall
Register: RSVP here
Teaching WITH ChatGPT: Using AI to Support Learning
Recently, instructors have been grappling with the introduction of generative AI in their classrooms. In this event, we will explore how we can use generative AI to support student’s learning. Are certain classes more suitable than others? And how do we help students to use AI effectively? The emphasis of this session will be on the exploration of how we can leverage AI as a tool for learning, rather than an obstacle.
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Margaux Wienk (Psychology). The workshop is open to all interested graduate students.
Date: Wednesday, March 26
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: 405 Schermerhorn
Register: RSVP here
Teaching Assistantship Roundtable
All of us graduate students, whether or not we’ve TA’d, have questions or answers about this experience. In this roundtable, we will come together from across departments and experience levels to discuss what works, what doesn’t, and, most importantly, how to get the most out of your TAing experience.
This event will be designed to be useful for all that attend – if you’ve never TA’d before you will learn what to expect and how to be best prepared; if you’re currently TAing you will be able to try out what you learn here in your TAship; and if you have more experience you will be able to impart your knowledge as a peer mentor.
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Ed Barry (Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology). Graduate students from any discipline are welcome.
Date: Thursday, March 27
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Location: TBA
Register: RSVP here
Integrating AI Tools in the Classroom: Enhancing Teaching and Learning
Discover how AI tools can enhance teaching and create more inclusive classrooms. Discuss practical ways to engage students in new, interactive ways. Learn how these tools can support backward design, aligning learning objectives with diverse student needs.
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Jan Picconi (Film, School of the Arts). It is open to all interested Columbia graduate students.
Date: Thursday, April 3
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: Online (Zoom)
Register: RSVP here
Assigning Work in the Era of Generative AI
How should we think about assigning work to our students in STEM when they have access to AI? Many of the issues with traditional assignments in the lecture – problem set model have been exacerbated in recent years with the growing use of generative AI tools which make it easier than ever for students to complete assignments without retaining the information we are trying to teach them.
Join us for a discussion about approach this problem and come up with example assignments that center student learning and attempt to avoid generative AI interference (or perhaps leveraging it to our advantage).
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Kiyan Tavangar (Astronomy). It is open to all graduate students who are teaching or preparing to teach in STEM.
Date: Tuesday, April 8
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 PM
Location: 1402 Pupin
Register: RSVP here
In Your Own Words: Disaggregate Instruction in STEM Higher Education
Science is more than a way of knowing—it’s also a language. In STEM education, concepts (e.g., gravity) are often bundled with technical language (e.g., free-fall, acceleration, vectors), which can overwhelm students—especially those from underrepresented cultural backgrounds. In Science in the City: Culturally Relevant STEM Education, Bryan A. Brown argues that transmitting science ideas separately from specialized language—the practice of disaggregate instruction—can improve learning outcomes.
In this workshop, we’ll explore the applications and limits of disaggregate instruction in university STEM classrooms. We’ll consider the role of language in accelerating science learning, and we’ll discuss practical teaching tactics to make science teaching more accessible without compromising accuracy.
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Sean Li (Physics). The workshop will focus on STEM higher education, though all Columbia community members are welcome.
Date: Wednesday, April 9
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 PM
Location: Center for Theoretical Physics, 8th Floor Pupin Hall
Register: RSVP here
Teaching in the Museum
This session will meet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to focus on strategies for teaching in the museum. We will discuss and practice ways to encourage students to engage with the unique pedagogical opportunities permitted by studying works of art in person. The 90-minute session will allow participants to share and design exercises for classes that take place in museums, and to practice leading those activities. We will also discuss logistics including moving through crowded spaces with large groups via accessible routes.
This workshop is led by Lead Teaching Fellow Julia Carabatsos (Art History and Archaeology). Graduate students from any discipline who are considering strategies for teaching in spaces beyond the classroom are welcome; RSVP required.
Date: Friday, April 11
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 PM
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Register: RSVP here
The CTL is here to help!
Office Hours
Drop by CTL’s Office Hours for graduate students to consult with us about any aspect of teaching, CTL fellowships and other offerings, job market preparation, or making progress in the Teaching Development Program. Learn more about office hours.
Consultations
Graduate students can now request consultations to get support for their teaching and learning needs. The CTL provides consultations on a range of topics, including syllabus design, creating and refining a teaching statement, integrating instructional technologies into class activities, and presentation practices. Learn more and request a consultation.