This Week for Graduate Students: Teachers’ Lounge: Cognitive Overload for Instructors Teaching Online

Featured Offerings

Teachers’ Lounge: Cognitive Overload for Instructors Teaching Online

Teachers’ Lounges are a series of informal discussions for graduate students about teaching practices and the culture of learning at Columbia. Since many classes have shifted online this semester, Teachers’ Lounges are linking theories and models of online instruction to insights derived from working in digital learning spaces with Columbia students.

In this session, we will consider the often competing demands on attention faced by instructors in the online environment and their impact on instructional efficacy and authority. What are some common distractions and areas of overload that hamper desired instructional attention? What can instructors do to incorporate new technologies and pedagogical approaches, while at the same time minimizing the cognitive load associated with each? Join us to share tactics and gain inspiration.

Date: Thursday, November 19
Time: 12:10–1:25 PM
Location: via Zoom

Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning Podcast: Episode 3

Carl Wieman, Nobel laureate and Professor of Physics and Education at Stanford University, has dedicated much of his career to addressing the problems and challenges of how universities teach science.

In our newest episode of the Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning podcast, Wieman imparts the “aha!” moment that motivated his transition from physics research to science education research. Wieman shares dead ideas that he encounters routinely in science teaching, including those that are magnified by the shift to remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Call for Submissions: Voices of Hybrid and Online Teaching and Learning

Columbia graduate students are invited to submit their perspectives and experiences on hybrid/HyFlex or online teaching and learning during the pandemic. Submissions can be text-based, audio, or short video recordings. The CTL would like to highlight the amazing work that instructors and students are doing to adapt and succeed during this unprecedented academic year. We hope that by sharing our experiences with one another, we may be informed and inspired in our own practice. 

The CTL will feature submissions on the CTL website, spotlight in weekly newsletters and social media campaigns, and showcase during the 2021 Celebration of Teaching and Learning. We invite a first round of submissions now through November 20, 2020, though submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis throughout the academic year.

Teaching Observations

Are you looking for confidential feedback on your teaching? It’s not too late to request a teaching observation! The CTL offers formative observations with trained peer consultants who can help you think through your course goals, your teaching observation experience, and your future teaching. CTL Teaching Observations are confidential and evidence-based, developed to support you in your teaching practices.

CTL Teaching Observations count towards completion of the Teaching Development Program for graduate students.

Teaching Conference Support

Current Columbia doctoral students are invited to apply for funds to help defray expenses associated with attending a conference or training focused on teaching practices in higher education. Approved applicants will receive up to $750. 

This support is is being sponsored by the GSAS Office of the Dean, funded by the Office of the Provost, and administered by CTL.