Time to Read: 3 minutes
SIT is a sell-out! If you’re joining us, we’ve got some highlights to share. If you have a ticket but can’t use it because your plans have changed, please make sure to return it so that we can get some of your colleagues off the waitlist and into a seat.
This year’s SIT has something for everyone!
Our Themes
1. Learning Experiences for All
Have you ever heard of Universal Design for Learning (UDL?) If you haven’t, SIT is a great opportunity to learn more, with our expert keynote speaker Thomas J. Tobin. His book, Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone, is an essential introduction to the topic. His keynote address and breakout workshop (which he’s shared with us early as a sneak peek!) are going to be highly engaging, and offer plenty of strategies to ensure that all students have equitable learning experiences in your classes.
2. Evidence-based Teaching
When something in your teaching works really well (or maybe not so well) we know you want to know why. This year we have multiple instructor-driven sessions about their own teaching research, application of evidence-based approaches, and theory-driven pedagogies. For a deep-dive on cognition and learning, you won’t want to miss Michelle Miller’s special breakout workshop: Focus, Remember, Think: Resources for Putting Cognitive Principles into Practice.
3. Authentic Student Work
Our students do amazing work in our classes, but creating assignments that truly represent our fields and disciplines can be challenging. If you are struggling with how to select and design authentic experiences for your students, check out our sessions on using special collections in your courses, and designing honors add-on sessions. Want to see how your colleagues have been innovating in their courses and creating authentic assignments? Stay for the poster session and ask them directly!
What’s new this year?
1. Bigger Resource Fair
We’ve had resource fairs in the past, but never like this! UD has existing relationships with vendors that we want all instructors to know about, and we are delighted to have sponsorship from some of these partners, including iClicker, SAGE publications and DELL. You’ll definitely want to stop by the DELL display where you can enter to win a laptop! So grab some UD Creamery ice cream, circulate around the cafe area, and get some new ideas for your teaching.
2. Mini-sessions
Do you know what digital scholarship is? Or how to check that students are adept at process thinking? Do you need a quick idea for a reflective writing exercise? Stop by our “mini-sessions,” which are short, quick-fire presentations that will pump up your energy after lunch and spark some interesting conversations that you can continue in the poster and resource sessions.
3. More collaboration
This year’s schedule is FULL of Instructors Panels and collaborative sessions led by instructors across UD. We’re thrilled to have so many instructors working together to put on sessions this year. You’ll hear about what it is like to conduct peer-observations about teaching, how instructors in the AA program are learning more about student needs and study skills, how instructors are designing online courses, and much more — all from groups of 3 or more presenters. These panel-driven sessions give attendees the opportunity to see multiple disciplinary perspectives on teaching, and help everyone get to know colleagues outside of their home departments.
It’s a CELEBRATION!
As another academic year comes to a close, we want you to celebrate what you have done to advance student learning here at UD. So join your colleagues at the end of Day 1 for a cocktail reception and toast to your successes. This year, we’ll have a very special raffle that you won’t want to miss. And throughout the event, keep an eye on the video boards downstairs as we scroll through some of the amazing achievements of this past year. Have you or a colleague who won an award or other major recognition teaching this year? We’d love to feature them on the screens in the lobby! Email CTAL-info@udel.edu and let us know.
