Interface Teaching Conference 2022

Reinventing Connections

April 13, 2022 1 PM – 4 PM EDT

April 14, 2022 1 PM – 4 PM EDT

Online

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Overview

The Interface Teaching Conference provides faculty, staff, TAs, GAs, and post-docs with new strategies for great teaching and learning through interactive breakout sessions. This year’s theme is Reinventing Connections. The last two years have inspired new ways to teach, learn, and connect. New technologies, innovative strategies, and creative teaching practices have allowed faculty and students to build and foster connections and keep learning! Let’s celebrate these successes and reconnect with one another.

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Tentative Agenda: April 13, 2022 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT

1:00-1:05pm	Welcome Location: Zoom Dr. Marsha McGriff, Chief Diversity Officer
1:05 - 1:35pm	Faculty Learning Community Deliverables Location: Zoom UF’s Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are peer-led groups of faculty who engage in a year-long collaboration structured to provide encouragement, support, and reflection while actively developing teaching resources. Adding AI to Your Courses The “Adding AI to Your Course” faculty learning community has spent the last year and half learning about AI and creating a resource for faculty. The resource includes chapters to help faculty add AI to their courses. Chapters include “What is AI?”, “Historical Philosophical Perspectives”, “Ethics” and many others. The resource is available to be viewed and used by all. Submissions for this resource will be ongoing. Show Description Show less Formative Assessment Rubric for Peer Evaluation of Teaching (FARPET) In this session, we will discuss FARPET, an instrument created for peer evaluation of teaching. It was originally developed for use in veterinary medical education, and in 2021, the instrument and training materials were shared via the UF FLC to include educators from several other disciplines. The FLC facilitated many discussions about its utility in various situations and guided the development of materials to launch the instrument for use within a number of departments at UF this semester. During this rollout, will meet regularly to share observations and fine-tune FARPET to improve the educator and department experience. Next goals include development of an instrument for use in evaluation of clinical and apprenticeship-style teaching. Show Description Show less
1:45 - 2:30pm	Breakout Sessions A Cross-Cultural Communication Differences: Pragmatics and Speech Acts of High- and Low-Context Cultures Dr. Marina Klimenko & Gaillot Jr Andre Location: Zoom Human language communication can be achieved through vocal (systematic and meaningful arrangement of symbols) and non-vocal modalities, such as face, hands, and body posture (in face-to-face communication) (e.g., Holler & Levinson, 2019). Pragmatics and speech acts refer to “how” the intentions of utterances and non-vocal communication acts are achieved. Research suggests that cultural differences influence pragmatics and speech acts; misapplication of communication rules of a given culture may influence how the speaker is perceived (e.g., as rude, incompetent). For example, students from a non-Western culture or non-native speakers of English may be misunderstood and/or may misinterpret instructor’s intentions due to cultural differences in the usage of pragmatics and speech acts. Awareness and competence in pragmatic communication for instructors of large and multicultural classrooms is important for effective delivery of instructions. Outline (.docx) Show Description Show less Creating Authentic Assessments Dr. Diba Mani Location: Zoom Especially given the adaptation that has ensued given the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors and students have been exposed to new technologies and strategies. As with innovative teaching practices, there are different methods by which instructors can assess student learning. By evaluating what it is you'd like or need to evaluate as instructor, creative assignments and assessments that extend beyond exams or even research papers are possible. This session will provide some suggestions for creative methods to assess student learning, which often serve as more accurate reflections of the critical thinking and problem-solving skills students should be developing. Outline (.docx) Show Description Show less Meet students where they are: Using intersectionality as a framework for teaching and learning Dr. Erica McCray Location: Zoom Intersectionality is often used to simply describe having multiple identity markers. However, its Black feminist theory progenitors offered it as a way to understand how the combining or layering of marginalized identities (e.g., race, gender, dis/ability) influence life experiences. In this session, the presenter will offer intersectionality as a framework for more nuanced planning, engaging, and assessing instruction. Examples and specific strategies will be provided. Show Description Show less
2:40 - 3:25pm	Breakout Sessions B Incorporating Transferable Skills into Undergraduate Courses Dr. Anthony Auletta Location: Zoom In order for students to be competitive and successful in their future careers, it is important that they cultivate a suite of transferable skills– including effective communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creative problem solving. Although such skills are widely recognized as being valuable, it can sometimes be difficult for us as instructors to incorporate them into our courses in a meaningful way. In this workshop, I will share some concrete strategies for building transferable skills that I've developed for ENY 2890 (Insect Research), a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) that I teach in the Entomology & Nematology Department. One area of focus will be the Science Across Borders interview project, which connects students with scientists from around the globe and challenges them to consider the benefits, challenges, and opportunities associated with international collaboration. In doing so, this project helps students practice cross-cultural communication, active listening, professional networking, writing, self-reflection, and more. We will also explore other strategies, and there will be time for workshop participants to share their own experiences and approaches as well. Although the examples presented in this workshop are drawn from STEM courses, these techniques are easily adaptable to other disciplines. Outline (.pdf) \| Handout (.pdf) Show Description Show less Increasing Students' Engagement and Diversification of STEM Instructional Teams with Learning Assistants Dr. Sujata Krishna & Dr. May Mansy Location: Zoom We will present our joint work across 3 UF Learning Assistant (LA) programs – Physics, Biology and Biomedical Engineering. We will describe how, in the wake of Spring 2020, we came together with faculty from the UF School of Education to address inclusion in our LA-assisted classrooms. In order to achieve it, we soon realized the need to train the LAs in diversity, equity and inclusion. We will talk about the outcomes from surveys conducted in these courses and interviews with underrepresented minority students in the courses, LAs and black faculty. We additionally received feedback and advice from our advisory board to help us hone-in on the learning objectives of our LA training. The outcome of this work is a booklet of 4 lesson plans, “Cultivating Equity”, that we have piloted in our classrooms. Outline (.docx) \| Handout (.docx) Show Description Show less Using Student Development Theories to Support Students Dr. Cliff Haynes Location: Zoom The use of some foundational student development theories can assist faculty in providing supportive environments where students feel they matter. Outline (.docx) \| Handout (.docx) Show Description Show less Exploring Virtual Exchange From STEM to the Humanities Dr. Crystal Marull, Dr. Erika Brooke, Dr. Elizabeth Wood, Megan Mocko & Natalie Asorey Location: Zoom Virtual exchange allows students to have sustained online intercultural interaction while collaborating with partners from other cultures or geographical locations. Join us as we explore the benefits and challenges of virtual exchange, and learn how it can serve as an integral part of the learning experience. Show Description Show less
3:35 - 4:00pm	Faculty Learning Community Deliverables Location: Zoom UF’s Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are peer-led groups of faculty who engage in a year-long collaboration structured to provide encouragement, support, and reflection while actively developing teaching resources. Affordable Access for Student Success The first-ever cohort of the Affordable Access for Student Success Learning Community consists of 5 instructors who are committed to the development of free and open course materials. Join us as participants share the open educational resources they created and their experiences with the FLC model. Show Description Show less

Tentative Agenda: April 14, 2022 1:00 PM-4:00 PM EDT

1:00 - 1:05pm	Welcome Location: Zoom Nicholas Suriel
1:05 - 1:50pm	Keynote Location: Zoom Dr. Michelle Pacansky-Brock Finding Ourselves Through Identity-rich Online Teaching Teaching is hard work, and the uncertainties of the pandemic have made it even harder. For many faculty, however, teaching online has opened new opportunities for connecting with students and becoming a more authentic teacher. This presentation will examine cultural constructs that influence how you approach your classes, relate to your students, and care for yourself. Together, we will explore alternative ways to find your whole self in your teaching in any modality. Show Description Show less
2:00 - 2:30pm	Resource Fair Location: Zoom Learn about resources across campus that help realize innovative teaching practices discussed in the breakout sessions. Meet colleagues from the different offices and centers on campus that support your teaching practices.
2:40 - 3:25pm	Breakout Sessions C Course Design with Students in Mind: Humanizing and Culturally Relevant Syllabi Development Dr. Taryrn Brown & Domenic Durante Location: Zoom What if a course syllabus could transform into a content experience that students really wanted to look at and engage with, as opposed to resource we dictated they "must read." In this session, participants will explore strategies for humanizing course design through culturally relevant syllabi development. Humanizing and culturally relevant course design aims to create equitable learning experiences for all students and promote student success by centering the cultural capital that the learners and instructors bring into the online classroom. Additionally, humanizing and culturally relevant design helps to: Better meet the needs of underserved and underrepresented learners Increase learner persistence and retention Create rich, holistic learning environments Engage students in dynamic and culturally-relevant ways Allow students “voice and choice” in achieving learning objectives Outline (.pdf) \| Handout (.pdf) Show Description Show less Effective Mentoring of Students Dr. Samira Daroub Location: Zoom In this session focused on effective mentoring, Dr. Daroub will present practices of effective communication and aligning expectations with students. The session is interactive sharing ideas, best practices, and case study discussion focused on aligning expectations between mentors and mentees. Outline (.docx) \| Handout (.docx) Show Description Show less Rethinking Online Participation Grades: Aligning with Professional Competencies Dr. Alyson Adams & Dr. Trevor Hershberger Location: Zoom In this session we will present an alternative to the way we often assign participation grades in an online course. Rather than counting posts, replies, word counts, timeliness, etc., we described the professional behaviors we expected to see and aligned those with professional competencies for Teacher Leadership, as espoused by our professional educational organizations. We will share how we selected competencies, how we designed self-assessment tasks for reflecting on performance and competencies, and how our students responded. Show Description Show less Ensuring Student Success with Honorlock Kimberly Pulda Location: Zoom Join Jose as he shares best practices that you, as an instructor, can implement to set your students up for success as they prepare to use Honorlock for their final exams. He’ll touch on the student testing experience, key information you should include or exclude from your exam guidelines, as well as provide key tips and resources you can share with your students. Outline (.pdf) \| Handout (.pdf) Show Description Show less
3:35 - 4:00pm	Awards, Raffle & Wrap-Up Location: Zoom Join the Center for Teaching Excellence in congratulating the Rising Star Award winners and Exemplary Online Award winners.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Michelle Pacansky-Brock
Faculty Mentor for the California Community Colleges CVC-OEI/@ONE

Dr. Michelle Pacansky-Brock is a noted leader in higher education with expertise in online teaching, course design, and faculty development. Michelle’s work has helped online instructors across the nation understand how to craft relevant, humanized online learning experiences that support the diverse needs of college students. In her current role as Faculty Mentor for the California Community Colleges CVC-OEI/@ONE, she coordinates professional development in support of quality online teaching and learning and is leading an intersegmental California Learning Lab grant project that will examine the impact of humanized online instruction on diverse students in undergraduate online STEM courses in California. Connect with Michelle on Twitter @brocansky.