Teaching Sparks Overview

Ignite Your Teaching in Just 30 Minutes

Teaching Sparks are dynamic, focused 30-minute sessions designed to quickly ignite new ideas and enhance your teaching practice. Each Spark dives deep into one specific, high-impact teaching strategy or technique that you can implement immediately in your classroom.

Think of Teaching Sparks as your professional development espresso shot—concentrated, energizing, and designed to deliver maximum impact in minimal time. Whether you’re looking to refresh familiar strategies, discover new approaches, or adapt techniques across different learning environments, these sessions provide the perfect blend of expert guidance and peer collaboration.

What Makes Teaching Sparks Special?

Laser-Focused Learning – Each session tackles one specific practice, giving you deep, actionable insights rather than surface-level overviews

Quick Implementation – Walk away with strategies you can use in your very next class

Interactive Experience – Move beyond passive listening to active participation, idea-sharing, and collaborative problem-solving

Practical Application – Explore real tools, resources, and templates that work across different class sizes and learning modalities

Peer-Powered – Learn not just from instructors, but from the collective wisdom and experiences of fellow educators

Adaptable Strategies – Discover how to scale and modify techniques whether you’re teaching 15 students or 150, in-person or online

Perfect For Busy Educators

Teaching Sparks sessions encourage active participation, resource sharing, and the kind of authentic educator-to-educator exchange that sparks innovation in your teaching practice. Come ready to share your own “go-to” strategies while discovering new ones that will energize both you and your students.

Upcoming Sessions

Simple Syllabus Open Office Hours 

Day: Friday, March 13, 2026

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT

Join: https://ufl.zoom.us/j/94702653538?pwd=40pX8efDOoMpNss2NuGSlTbUEFjzkY.1 (log in with your .UFL account/Gatorlink)

Add to Outlook calendar

Do you need help creating your Simple Syllabus for the Summer or Fall semester? Join Maria Leite and Lupita Eyde-Tucker during open office hours to get clear answers to your specific questions about the Simple Syllabus.

The first 15 minutes of the session will be a brief walkthrough of the tool and how to get started. Then, we will spend the rest of the hour answering your questions.

Syllabi posting is governed by Florida Statute 1004.085Florida Board of Governors’ Regulation 8.003, and UF Syllabus Policy.  The UF deadlines to publish your syllabus for upcoming semesters are:

  • Summer A/C 2026 Courses: March 27, 2026
  • Summer B 2026 Courses: May 15, 2026
  • Fall 2026 Courses: July 06, 2026
  • Spring 2027 Courses: November 27, 2026

We look forward to helping you complete this important task!