Advanced Topics in Teaching

Advanced Topics in Teaching (ATT) workshops are interdisciplinary opportunities for graduate students looking to acquire new pedagogical frameworks and to innovate their teaching. Topics will vary from semester to semester and cover a range of approaches and theories about teaching and learning.

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Advanced Topics in Teaching

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Teaching Development Program logoAdvanced Topics in Teaching sessions count towards completion of CTL’s Teaching Development Program (TDP) for graduate students.

Current Semester

Spring 2024

Learning to Observe: Effective Teaching Observations

Tuesday, March 5, 2023, 1:10 PM – 2:40 PM | Register
212 Butler Library

Observing faculty or peers teaching can be a powerful way to expand your awareness of teaching techniques, train your attention on student learning, and generate reflection about your own instructional approaches. But how can you ensure that an observation leads to all these benefits? This workshop will provide participants with a model for conducting online or in-person observations of teaching that focus on learning objectives, student engagement, and insights about the observer’s own teaching development. While the session will be immediately useful to participants completing the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program, it is open to all interested graduate students and postdocs.

Syllabus from Scratch

Thursday, April 4, 1:10 PM – 2:40 PM | Register
212 Butler Library

Are you drafting a syllabus? Whether the syllabus is for the Teaching Scholars program, the academic job market, or a dream course in the future, join us to begin designing an effective, student-centered syllabus from scratch. During this workshop, participants will learn about the elements of an effective syllabus, define course learning goals, and discuss assessments that can promote student learning, engagement, and inclusion in their course.

Past Programs

Fall 2023

Learning to Observe: Effective Teaching Observations

Friday, October 20, 2023, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM 
212 Butler Library

Observing faculty or peers teaching can be a powerful way to expand your awareness of teaching techniques, train your attention on student learning, and generate reflection about your own instructional approaches. But how can you ensure that an observation leads to all these benefits? This workshop will provide participants with a model for conducting online or in-person observations of teaching that focus on learning objectives, student engagement, and insights about the observer’s own teaching development. While the session will be immediately useful to participants completing the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program (see bit.ly/ctl-tdp), it is open to all interested graduate students and postdocs.

Syllabus from Scratch

Tuesday, December 12, 2023, 2:10 PM – 4:00 PM |
212 Butler Library

Are you drafting a syllabus? Whether the syllabus is for the Teaching Scholars program, the academic job market, or a dream course in the future, join us to begin designing an effective, student-centered syllabus from scratch. During this workshop, participants will learn about the elements of an effective syllabus, define course learning goals, and discuss assessments that can promote student learning, engagement, and inclusion in their course.

Spring 2023

Making It Hard to Cheat

Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM  
212 Butler Library

Technology has become a ubiquitous component of the higher education landscape, but there are still vocal debates about when we should use technology and why. So how can technology impact learning? During this Advanced Topics in Teaching session we will engage some of the literature examining technology’s role in supporting students’ learning and consider how technology can support and impede our desires to develop accessible learning experiences for our students. Participants will leave with considerations for choosing digital tools and engaging them intentionally and accessibly.

This in-person session will be led by Ian Althouse, Senior Assistant Director of Graduate Student Programs and Services

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Learning to Observe: Effective Teaching Observations

Friday, March 3, 2023, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM  
212 Butler Library

Observing faculty or peers teaching can be a powerful way to expand your awareness of teaching techniques, train your attention on student learning, and generate reflection about your own instructional approaches. But how can you ensure that an observation leads to all these benefits? This workshop will provide participants with a model for conducting online or in-person observations of teaching that focus on learning objectives, student engagement, and insights about the observer’s own teaching development. While the session will be immediately useful to participants completing the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program (see bit.ly/ctl-tdp), it is open to all interested graduate students and postdocs.

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Teaching Through Discussion

Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM  
212 Butler Library

Preparing to teach a discussion-heavy course next fall? Discussion can take many forms, whether it’s asking students to synthesize conceptual knowledge, providing them with an opportunity to practice making arguments, or probing them for where they are in their learning, discussions serve a variety of pedagogical needs.

This workshop will explore how to teach through discussion and use students’ contributions to gauge their understanding, curiosities, and challenges in the classroom and will focus on the following questions: How can we prioritize goals for a discussion? How can we make our expectations transparent to students and prepare them for discussion? And how can we assess whether or not our goals for discussion were met?

By the end of the session, participants should be able to:

  • Identify and prioritize learning goals for discussion
  • Create a plan for preparing students for discussion
  • Develop an assessment strategy to determine whether discussion goals were met

This in-person session will be led by Ian Althouse, Senior Assistant Director of Graduate Student Programs and Services

Fall 2022

Inclusive Teaching 1: Establishing Course Climate

Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Register
212 Butler Library

This is the first session in CTL’s five-part series exploring the principles and frameworks of inclusive teaching through guided debrief discussions based on the CTL’s MOOC “Inclusive Teaching: Supporting All Students in the College Classroom.” Graduate students and postdocs can register for any or all individual sessions in this series, or apply by Oct. 3 to participate in this program on the seminar level. Learn more about seminar participation here.

Prior to this session, participants are expected to have completed Module 1 in the MOOC (approximately 45 minutes). If you have not had a chance to complete the Overview of Inclusive Teaching Module, we recommend reviewing its content as well.

During this session we will reflect on the considerations for establishing and supporting an inclusive course climate and its impacts on student learning offered in the online module and debrief our own experiences or plans for enacting such ideas in the classroom. By the end of the session, participants should be able to:

  • Identify elements of inclusive and dis-inclusive course climates
  • Describe how course climate impacts student learning

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How Can Technology Impact Learning?

Thursday, October 20, 2022, 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM | Register
212 Butler Library

Technology has become a ubiquitous component of the higher education landscape, but there are still vocal debates about when we should use technology and why. So how can technology impact learning? During this Advanced Topics in Teaching session we will engage some of the literature examining technology’s role in supporting students’ learning and consider how technology can support and impede our desires to develop accessible learning experiences for our students. Participants will leave with considerations for choosing digital tools and engaging them intentionally and accessibly.

This in-person session will be led by Ian Althouse, Senior Assistant Director of Graduate Student Programs and Services

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Inclusive Teaching 2: Setting Explicit Expectations

Wednesday, October 26, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Register
212 Butler Library

This is the second session in CTL’s five-part series exploring the principles and frameworks of inclusive teaching through guided debrief discussions based on the CTL’s MOOC “Inclusive Teaching: Supporting All Students in the College Classroom.” Graduate students and postdocs can register for any or all individual sessions in this series, or apply by Oct. 3 to participate in this program on the seminar level. Learn more about seminar participation here.

Prior to this session, participants are expected to have completed Module 2 in CTL’s MOOC (approximately 45 minutes). If you have not had a chance to complete the Overview of Inclusive Teaching Module, we recommend reviewing its content as well.

During this session we will reflect on the considerations for setting up clear expectations and cycles of feedback for motivation offered in the online module and debrief our own experiences or plans for enacting such ideas in the classroom. By the end of the session, participants should be able to:

  • Describe or explain why setting clear and equitable expectations is necessary for all students to succeed in a course
  • Recognize how your cultural frame of reference shapes expectations of student behavior and performance in the classroom

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Inclusive Teaching 3: Inclusive Course Content

Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Register
212 Butler Library

This is the third session in CTL’s five-part series exploring the principles and frameworks of inclusive teaching through guided debrief discussions based on the CTL’s MOOC “Inclusive Teaching: Supporting All Students in the College Classroom.” Graduate students and postdocs can register for any or all individual sessions in this series, or apply by Oct. 3 to participate in this program on the seminar level. Learn more about seminar participation here.

Prior to this session, participants are expected to have completed Module 3 in CTL’s MOOC (approximately 45 minutes). If you have not had a chance to complete the Overview of Inclusive Teaching Module, we recommend reviewing its content as well.

During this session we will reflect on the considerations for reflecting diversity through content, scholarly voices of interrogation, and student perspectives offered in the online module and debrief our own experiences or plans for enacting such ideas in the classroom. By the end of the session, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the value of including diverse perspectives (sources, voices, representation, disciplines) in course content
  • Identify strategies to include diverse perspectives into the curriculum and classroom

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Inclusive Teaching 4: Designing Courses for Accessibility

Wednesday, November 9, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Register
212 Butler Library

This is the fourth session in CTL’s five-part series exploring the principles and frameworks of inclusive teaching through guided debrief discussions based on the CTL’s MOOC “Inclusive Teaching: Supporting All Students in the College Classroom.” Graduate students and postdocs can register for any or all individual sessions in this series, or apply by Oct. 3 to participate in this program on the seminar level. Learn more about seminar participation here.

Prior to this session, participants are expected to have completed Module 4 in CTL’s MOOC (approximately 45 minutes). If you have not had a chance to complete the Overview of Inclusive Teaching Module, we recommend reviewing its content as well.

During this session we will reflect on the considerations for reflecting upon accessibility of course elements using lenses of Universal Design offered in the online module and debrief our own experiences or plans for enacting such ideas in the classroom.  By the end of the session, participants should be able to:

  • Describe key components of Universal Design for Learning
  • Identify ways to incorporate multiple modes of representation, action and expressions, and engagement into course design
  • Reflect upon accessibility of course elements and identify areas of growth using lenses of Universal Design and inclusive teaching

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Inclusive Teaching 5: Cultivating Critical Self-Reflection

Wednesday, November 16, 2022, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Register
212 Butler Library

This is the final session of CTL’s five-part series exploring the principles and frameworks of inclusive teaching through guided debrief discussions based on the CTL’s MOOC “Inclusive Teaching: Supporting All Students in the College Classroom.” Graduate students and postdocs can register for any or all individual sessions in this series, or apply by Oct. 3 to participate in this program on the seminar level. Learn more about seminar participation here.

Prior to this session, participants are expected to have completed Module 5 in CTL’s MOOC (approximately 45 minutes). If you have not had a chance to complete the Overview of Inclusive Teaching Module, we recommend reviewing its content as well.

During this session we will reflect on the considerations for establishing a critically reflective practice and routine for self-reflection offered in the online module and debrief our own experiences or plans for enacting such ideas in the classroom. By the end of the session, participants should be able to:

  • Identify ways to engage in self-reflection about inclusive teaching practices
  • Develop a plan to solicit multiple forms of feedback about your inclusive teaching practices

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Spring 2022

Illuminating the Learning Process

Wednesday, February 23, 2022, 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM PM  | Register
203 Butler Library

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Helping your students consider and adapt their learning processes is an essential part of helping them build expertise. However, many of these metacognitive skills (the abilities students use to monitor their own learning and progress) can be difficult for instructors, as experts, to illuminate for novices. In this workshop, we define some key terms and strategies in metacognition that you may want to develop with your students. We will then discuss several specific approaches that you can use to help scaffold these learning processes for your students and help develop important metacognitive abilities as your students learn discipline-specific skills.

This IN-PERSON session will be facilitated by Chris Chen, Senior Assistant Director at CTL, and counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP).

 

Making It Hard to Cheat

Thursday, February 17, 2022, 2:10 PM – 3:40 PM  | Register
203 Butler Library (In-person workshop)

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

How can we design courses and assignments that discourage or make it difficult to cheat? Although cheating will continue to be a persistent problem, research suggests that there are predictable conditions that can induce cheating. At this session, we’ll explore the research on cheating in higher education and use it to devise strategies to reduce cheating and even improve students’ overall performance in our courses by fostering their own intrinsic motivations to learn deeply in our classes.
 
This IN-PERSON workshop will be facilitated by Ian Althouse, Senior Assistant Director at CTL. .
Fall 2021

Learning by Observing: Effective Teaching Observations

Friday, October 1, 2021, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Online via Zoom

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Observing faculty or peers teaching can be a powerful way to expand your awareness of teaching techniques, train your attention on student learning, and generate reflection about your own instructional approaches. But how can you ensure that an observation leads to all these benefits? This workshop will provide participants with a model for conducting online or in-person observations of teaching that focus on learning objectives, student engagement, and insights about the observer’s own teaching development. While the session will be immediately useful to participants completing the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program (see bit.ly/ctl-tdp), it is open to all interested graduate students and postdocs.

This session was co-facilitated by Senior Graduate Student Teaching Consultants at the CTL and counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP).

 

Online Tools, In-Person Contexts

Tuesday, October 12, 2021, 2:40 PM – 3:55 PM
212 Butler Library and online (HyFlex workshop)

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

During the 2020-21 academic year, instructors and students were exposed to online teaching and learning practices fit adapted to the needs of learning during a global pandemic. From this experience, what might we learn about effective activities and strategies that worked for online and remote learning that could be adapted for the in-person classroom? This HyFlex session will give participants an option as to how they would like to engage in the topic and experience tools presented throughout the session, and provide a venue in which we might answer the question as to what online tools fit our in-person contexts.

This workshop was facilitated by Chris Chen, Senior Assistant Director at CTL.

 

Making It Hard to Cheat

 

Thursday, October 14, 2021, 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM
203 Butler Library (In-person workshop)

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

How can we design courses and assignments that discourage or make it difficult to cheat? Although cheating will continue to be a persistent problem, research suggests that there are predictable conditions that can induce cheating. At this session, we’ll explore the research on cheating in higher education and use it to devise strategies to reduce cheating and even improve students’ overall performance in our courses by fostering their own intrinsic motivations to learn deeply in our classes.
 
This workshop was facilitated by Ian Althouse, Senior Assistant Director at CTL. .
 

 

HyFlex Practice Session

Tuesday, October 26, 2021, 2:40 PM – 3:55 PM
212 Butler Library and online (HyFlex workshop)

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

HyFlex (hybrid flexible) courses make class meetings and materials available multi-modally so that students can access them online or in-person, during or after class sessions. A key part of being able to teach HyFlex is the ability to teach to a group of student distributed geographically–some physically in the classroom and others tuning in synchronously online–a tricky skill to develop especially if one has never experienced HyFlex as a student. In this practice session, you will have the opportunity to experience interacting within a HyFlex environment. Participants will be given the option to attend in-person or online; during the session they will experience discussion between modalities, and identify practices to try whenever they have an opportunity to teach in a HyFlex mode.

 
This workshop was facilitated by Chris Chen, Senior Assistant Director at CTL.
 
Spring 2021

Learning by Observing: Effective Teaching Observations

Friday, February 19, 2021, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM  

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Observing faculty or peers teaching can be a powerful way to expand your awareness of teaching techniques, train your attention on student learning, and generate reflection about your own instructional approaches. But how can you ensure that an observation leads to all these benefits? This workshop will provide participants with a model for conducting online or in-person observations of teaching that focus on learning objectives, student engagement, and insights about the observer’s own teaching development. While the session will be immediately useful to participants completing the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program (see bit.ly/ctl-tdp), it is open to all interested graduate students and postdocs. This session will be facilitated by Mary Catherine Stoumbos and Zachary Domach, Senior Teaching Consultants at the CTL.
 

Designing and Using Effective Rubrics

Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM  

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Considering ways to make your assessments more equitable and streamline the grading process? This session will introduce rubrics as a tool for equitable and efficient assessment. Participants will learn to apply an inclusive teaching lens to assessment design and feedback delivery through the development of rubrics. Participants will explore three types of rubrics and try their hand at developing an inclusive rubric for assessing student participation—an area often assessed, but at risk of being inconsistent or following opaque criteria. This workshop is facilitated by Caitlin DeClercq, Center for Teaching and Learning.
 

Identifying and Engaging Students’ Prior Knowledge

Wednesday, April 7, 2021, 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM | Register

This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

One of the truths of how people learn is that all learning builds on prior knowledge. What might this mean for instructors teaching foundational courses in their discipline—or for instructors teaching in interdisciplinary settings? How might this practice support or challenge efforts to achieve learning objectives, and/or to foster an inclusive course climate? At times, instructors may choose to deliberately design learning experiences that extend, amplify, or resonate with the experiences, values, or knowledge students bring into the classroom. Yet at other times, instructors may seek to challenge these ideas in service of course learning objectives. This workshop is facilitated by Caitlin DeClercq, Center for Teaching and Learning.

 
 
Fall 2020

Learning by Observing: The Art of an Effective Teaching Observation

Monday, October 26, 2020 2:40 PM – 3:55 PM
This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Observing faculty or peers teaching can be a powerful way to expand your awareness of teaching techniques, train your attention on student learning, and generate reflection about your own instructional approaches. But how can you ensure that an observation leads to all these benefits? This workshop will provide participants with a model for conducting online or in-person observations of teaching that focus on learning objectives, student engagement, and insights about the observer’s own teaching development. While the session will be immediately useful to participants completing the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program (see bit.ly/ctl-tdp), it is open to all interested graduate students and postdocs. This session will be facilitated by Zachary Domach, Senior Teaching Consultant at the CTL.
Spring 2020

Introduction to Research Mentorship

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 2:40 PM – 3:55 PM

The first few meetings with a research mentee are an important time to share expectations and align goals. In this session, for graduate students who are or will mentor other researchers, we will consider parallels to other forms of instruction, and develop structures that help set the terms of a successful research mentorship. By the end of the session, you will come away with a specific approach for having these necessary conversations with your research mentee, through the structure of a mentor-mentee contract. This approach will be develop during the session through discussions with participants on how to handle difficult situations and how these cases inform on which expectations are important for us, as research mentors, to align with our mentee. This session will be facilitated by Chris Chen, Senior Assistant Director at the CTL.

Learning by Observing: The Art of an Effective Teaching Observation

Friday, February 14, 2020, 12:10 PM – 1:25 PM  
This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Observing faculty or peers teaching can be a powerful way to expand your awareness of teaching techniques, train your attention on student learning, and generate reflection about your own instructional approaches. But how can you ensure that an observation leads to all these benefits? This workshop will provide participants with a model for conducting observations of teaching that focuses on instructional intention, student engagement, and insights about the observer’s own teaching development. While the session will be immediately useful to participants completing the Advanced Track of CTL’s Teaching Development Program (see bit.ly/ctl-tdp), it is open to all interested graduate students and postdocs. This session will be facilitated by Zachary Domach, 2019-20 Senior Teaching Consultant at the CTL. Lunch will be available to all registered participants.

Case-based Instruction in Science and Engineering

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 12:10 PM – 1:40 PM
This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

 

Fall 2019

Designing and Using Effective Rubrics

Tuesday, October 8, 2019 10:10 AM – 11:40 AM
This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Considering ways to make your assessments more equitable and streamline the grading process? This session will introduce rubrics as a tool for equitable and efficient assessment. Participants will learn to apply an inclusive teaching lens to assessment design and feedback delivery through the development of rubrics. Participants will explore three types of rubrics and try their hand at developing an inclusive rubric for assessing student participation—an area often assessed, but at risk of being inconsistent or following opaque criteria. This workshop is facilitated by Ian Althouse, Center for Teaching and Learning. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: – Apply an inclusive teaching lens to assessment design and feedback delivery – Define characteristics and qualities of inclusive and effective rubrics – Distinguish the uses of three types of rubrics – Develop an inclusive rubric and consider how to mobilize it effectively

Hacking Common Classroom Environments and Challenges

Thursday, October 24, 2019 12:10 PM – 1:25 PM
This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Though the quality and suitability of the spaces in which we are assigned to teach can feel beyond our control, even the most limiting classrooms can be re-imagined and re-purposed through a range of creative “hacks”–low-or no-cost spatial, pedagogical, and/or reflective interventions–that foster a positive classroom climate and support active learning. This session will begin with a brief overview of the behavioral and symbolic implications of common classroom configurations at Columbia. From there, participants will learn about three types of “hacks” and then will be presented with case studies representing common classroom challenges (e.g., immovable furniture, insufficient resources, undesirable ambient conditions) culled from examples given by graduate students instructors. By the end of the session, participants will walk away with a robust toolkit of strategies to employ in a range of classroom and other campus environments.

How Can Technology Impact Learning?

Tuesday, November 12, 2019 12:10 PM – 1:25 PM
This session counts as a pedagogy workshop for the Teaching Development Program (TDP)

Technology has become a ubiquitous component of the higher education landscape, but there are still vocal debates about when we should use technology and why. So how can technology impact learning? During this Advanced Topics in Teaching session we will engage some of the literature examining technology’s role in supporting students’ learning and consider how technology can support and impede our desires to develop accessible learning experiences for our students. Participants will leave with considerations for choosing digital tools and engaging them intentionally and accessibly.

Fall 2018

Illuminating Learning Processes

Helping your students consider and adapt their learning processes is an essential part of helping them build expertise. However, many of these metacognitive skills can be difficult for instructors, as experts, to illuminate for novices. In this workshop, we define some key terms and strategies in metacognition that you may want to develop with your students. We will then discuss specific approaches – such as process worksheets and assignment wrappers – that you can use to help scaffold these learning processes for your students and help develop important metacognitive abilities while learning discipline-specific skills. Moderate level session; comfort with learning objectives and active learning approaches recommended.  

Teaching through Discussion

Instructors often rely on discussions to gauge students’ understanding, curiosities, and challenges in the classroom. Whether it’s by asking students to synthesize conceptual knowledge, providing them with an opportunity to practice making arguments, or probing them for where they are in their learning, instructors use discussions to serve a variety of pedagogical needs. This workshop will explore how to teach through discussion by focusing on the following questions: How can we prioritize goals for a discussion? How can we make our expectations transparent to students and prepare them for discussion? And how can we assess whether or not our goals for discussion were met?  

Spring 2018

Syllabus from Scratch

Drafting a syllabus for the first time? This two-part series will introduce you to the key elements of an effective syllabus and help you define learning goals and assessment methods that will promote student learning in your course. You will have the opportunity to get feedback from CTL staff and peers on a draft of your syllabus and take away tools for continued revision and development of your syllabus. Check for upcoming workshops.

Visual Thinking Strategies: Teaching With Objects

In our classrooms, we often strive to engage students with objects, artworks, manuscripts, or visualized data analyses. Introducing students to these primary sources, however, demands that students practice strategies for careful visual analysis. Register here.

Presenting Your Expertise

Whether you are interviewing for an academic job or giving a talk at a conference, being able to present your teaching and research with clarity and conviction is an essential skill. This session connects you to the elements of effective public speaking and presentation visuals. Learn strategies for preparing a presentation and practice your “elevator pitch” as a way to gain confidence in your presentation style beyond this workshop. Register here.

Contact

Any questions? Email CTLgrads@columbia.edu.

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The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning provides an array of support for graduate students in both their current and future teaching responsibilities.