Teaching Circles

What is a Teaching Circle?

At UCCS, Teaching Circles are groups of 4-8 faculty members who meet at least two times during the semester to discuss readings and activities related to their teaching.

Would you like to join a Teaching Circle?

• A copy of the book is provided.
• Mark your calendar and be available for sessions.
• Prepare for meetings by reading the chapters selected by the Team Lead.
• During each meeting, the Teaching Circles will discuss the readings and share strategies and activities to integrate into courses.
• You can choose to join us in the Faculty Resource Center’s Web Conference Room, Columbine Hall 203B or attend virtually through a Zoom meeting link.

What is the Spring 2022 Schedule?

Exploring/Adopting Reacting to the Past (RTTP) Pedagogy: Immersive Role-Playing for Higher Education

Tuesdays, February 1 and 15 and March 1 and 15 from 9:45 am – 11:00 am

An experience based on Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College

As an expansion of the recent system-wide Minds on Fire Reading group, this teaching circle involves game immersion, instructor and game development resource exploration, and RTTP framework application to gamify your course. Join Angie Dodson, FRC Instructional Designer in this transformative experience.

Engaging Students without Distraction

Thursdays, February 10 and 24 and March 10 and 17 from 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm

Facilitated by Julie Albertson and Lynnane George, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences

This Teaching Circle will explore James Lang’s Distracted to discover teaching practices that cultivate student attention and structure the classroom as a distraction-free zone. Participating faculty will take away multiple teaching strategies to take back to the classroom to engage students. A free copy of the book, Distracted, will be provided to all participants who sign up by February 1, 2022.

High Impact Educational Practices in Teaching

Wednesdays, March 30, April 6, and April 13

Interested in exploring how to implement a High Impact Educational Practice into your teaching? This Teaching Circle will examine courses using the High Impact Educational Practices on campus. Take it to the next level and implement one of the ideas into a course you teach. This Teaching Circle, facilitated by Sharon Stevens, FRC Faculty Development Coordinator, includes a deeper dive into the following practices:

Session 1: High Impact Educational Practices in Teaching and Writing-Intensive Courses

Wednesday, March 30, 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm

Kacey Ross, Director of Writing Across the Curriculum and Interim Director of First-Year Rhetoric & Writing

This session will provide an overview of the high impact educational practices in teaching and offer high impact educational practices in teaching writing-intensive courses.

Session 2: Collaborative Assignments and Projects

Wednesday, April 6, 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm

Phillip Haisley, Senior Instructor and Director, Writing Portfolio Assessment and Tracy Gonzalez-Padron, Director, Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at UCCS and Professor, Marketing & International Business

This session will focus on high impact teaching strategies for implementing collaborative assignments and projects in different courses.

Session 3: First-Year Experiences

Wednesday, April 13, 12:15 – 1:30 PM

Sarah Long, Assistant Director, Gateway Program Seminar and Ellen Burkart, Interim Senior Executive Director for Student Support and Retention, Office of First Year Experience

This session will focus on high impact teaching strategies for teaching first-year students.

Register for any or all of these events.

Last updated November 29, 2021
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