Descriptions, Objectives, and Tracks

(Each track will be offered on Tuesday and Wednesday)

Track I: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the UMUC Context

The scholarship of teaching and learning (known as SOTL) is an approach to promote inquiry and reflection by faculty on their teaching practices, focusing on evidence of student learning and engagement, and sharing the results with colleagues in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

The scholarship of teaching and learning has two aspects--scholarly teaching, that is, teaching that is informed by research-based knowledge about what has proved effective in teaching and learning, and the scholarship process-- that is, conducting research into teaching and learning. While the emphasis at UMUC is on the former, both of these aspects are grounded in the practice of collegial sharing and the UMUC context includes the added factor of online education.
In addition to exploring some relevant SOTL literature on teaching and learning online, we will also learn about the current findings from research taking place at UMUC through the Office of Evaluation and Assessment. Finally, we will be exploring how we can become more scholarly teachers in our own disciplines.

Track II. Communicating Academic Standards through Assessment

At UMUC, there is a liberal measure of standardization that manifests itself in such practices as common syllabi and learning objectives, common final exams, course modules, or rubrics to promote consistency in grading.  Academic standards and academic rigor, and appropriate assessment techniques are ideally defined according to the different levels of courses, vary by disciplines, and provided with diverse methods for measuring student learning. This track will consider the design of assignments and exams (whether unique or standardized for a program or course), providing feedback to students in ways that reinforce standards (including the use of technology to deliver feedback in new formats), and consistency in grading.