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Teaching Today’s UWGB Students: A Preview of CATL’s Spring 2025 Programming Series

Article by Kris Vespia, Director of the Center of the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL)

One of the comments I have heard the most since becoming CATL Director is some variation on the following: “I just don’t understand students today. They [fill in the blank].” Whether that sentence is completed with “don’t do their reading,” or “balance more than I ever had to,” instructors clearly have a sense that current students are walking a different path than they did in their college days.

CATL has decided to tackle this topic with a connected programming series this semester that will invite everyone to engage not only with the question of who our students are but also what strategies we can use to work with them more effectively. We have constructed a Canvas course of articles and other resources related to “Teaching Today’s UWGB Students,” and we will continue to update it during the term. We are also hosting three events related to this theme. First, on Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m., we will co-host, along with Student Access and Success, an online panel of secondary school educators from common feeder schools for UWGB. Teachers, student services personnel, and administrators will talk about what they see in today’s high school students and share strategies they find effective in working with them.

After spending time considering student characteristics in February, we will turn in March and April to consider evidence-based pedagogical strategies that research suggests are effective with a broad range of students. On Mar. 7 at 9 a.m., our own Dr. Amy Kabrhel and her brother, Dr. Steven Anschutz, who wrote his dissertation on the topic, will address “Growing Your Mindset,” and CATL will share some practical tips for integrating it into your teaching. On Apr. 4 at 9 a.m., we will welcome former Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars Co-Director, current River Falls’ CETL Director, and published author Dr. Cyndi Kernahan for a live online discussion of “Teaching with Transparency,” and how that can facilitate student engagement and learning.

We see these different events as inter-related, and we will offer the opportunity to earn a “Teaching Today’s Students” digital badge if you engage with all three topics by either attending each of the three synchronous events or by contributing to an asynchronous alternative in the Canvas course for any live presentations you miss. Note that we will also have a series of blogs on related topics throughout the semester, such as “Understanding Today’s UWGB Students” and “Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI).”

Please watch Teach Tuesday for upcoming blogs and look for Outlook invitations to the three events described above. We look forward to engaging with you.

CATL on the MOO-ve: Spring 2025 College Drop-In Hours

With CATL’s college drop-in hours, we are bringing our services directly to you. One of our instructional designers, instructional technologists, or our Canvas administrator will be holding drop-in hours for 2 hours per week in each of the four colleges on the Green Bay campus. In addition to these on-campus hours, we are also offering virtual drop-in hours on Zoom. No appointment needed!

College drop-in hours will run on the weekly schedule below throughout the spring semester. Please note that there will be no college drop-in hours during finals week, May 12-16.

College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) Drop-in Hours

Mondays, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. | Mary Ann Cofrin Hall B334 (Bridge room)

College of Science, Engineering, and Technology (CSET) Drop-in Hours

The location for CSET’s drop-in hours will alternate each week between Environmental Sciences 317 and Laboratory Sciences 468.

Mondays, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. | Environmental Sciences 317 or Laboratory Sciences 468

  • Jan. 27 | Environmental Sciences 317
  • Feb. 3 | Laboratory Sciences 468
  • Feb. 10 | Environmental Sciences 317
  • Feb. 17 | Environmental Sciences 317 – note the location change for this week
  • Feb. 24 | Environmental Sciences 317
  • Mar. 3 | Laboratory Sciences 468

Austin E. Cofrin School of Business (CSB) Drop-in Hours

Tuesdays, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. | Wood Hall 430

College of Health, Education, and Social Welfare (CHESW) Drop-in Hours

Wednesdays, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.| Rose Hall 305 (conference room)

Virtual Drop-in Hours

Thursdays, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. | Zoom link

Connect with CATL

In addition to the above dates and times, CATL is always available for consultations Monday – Friday, 7:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Whether you’re a new instructor looking to design your first course, a skilled instructor teaching in a new modality, experienced faculty looking for a refresh, or anything in between, CATL is here to help with instructional design consultations, a host of professional development programming, and technology consultations. Request a consultation.

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Spring 2025 Co-Writing Community (Tuesdays & Fridays 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.)

Tara DaPra, one of CATL’s Instructional Development Consultants, will lead another “Co-Writing Community” this semester. A co-writing community is a zero-obligation, zero-preparation, zero-outside work activity. Use this time to work on creative or scholarly projects that might otherwise get pushed aside by the demands of teaching. All faculty and staff are welcome!

The co-writing community will run throughout the spring semester via Zoom from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays & Fridays, starting on Jan. 28. Feel free to join early or late, weekly, or when your schedule allows! Simply drop in with this Zoom link which will be reused for each session.

Please email daprat@uwgb.edu with any questions.

Teaching with Technology Certificate and Course Enrollments (2024-25 AY)

CATL is continuing the “Teaching with Technology Certificate” program this year! Instructors interested in learning more about how to leverage Canvas and other tools for effective teaching, regardless of modality, are encouraged to participate and complete the full certificate.

The Teaching with Technology Certificate consists of three “Learning and Integrating Technology for Education” (LITE) courses that act as progressive steps in a sequence. Instructors will earn a digital badge after completing the first and second courses in the series, and the Teaching with Technology Certificate after completing the third course. Full-time instructors for the 2024-25 academic year will also earn stipends after completing the second and third courses in the sequence.*

Note: If you have already completed the Distance Education Certificate, this is not a new credential; it has simply been re-titled, so there is no need to re-enroll.

Course Availability, Deadlines, & Compensation

LITE 101: Course Modalities & Technologies

  • All full-time instructors are automatically enrolled in LITE 101: Course Modalities & Technologies. The course will remain open indefinitely, and there is no deadline for completion.
  • LITE 101 is not tied to a stipend.
  • All instructors working toward the Teaching with Technology Certificate who complete LITE 101: Course Modalities & Technologies will be able to enroll in LITE 201: Course Design the following semester.

If you are not a full-time instructor but would like to be added to the course, please email CATL@uwgb.edu.

LITE 201: Course Design

  • Registration for the Spring 2025 cohort of LITE 201 is now closed. Stay tuned for registration info next fall.
  • Full-time instructors who complete LITE 201 within the 2024-25 academic year will qualify for a $250 stipend.*
  • All instructors working toward the Teaching with Technology Certificate who complete LITE 201 will be able to enroll in LITE 301 the following semester/year.

LITE 301: Course Revisions

  • Registration for the Spring 2025 cohort of LITE 301 is now closed. Stay tuned for registration info next year.
  • Full-time instructors who complete LITE 301 within the 2024-25 academic year will qualify for a $250 stipend.*
  • All instructors who complete LITE 301 will receive the Teaching with Technology Certificate.

*Only full-time instructors for the 2024-25 AY are eligible for compensation. To receive compensation, participants must receive approval from their unit chair. Instructors that have already met their maximum overload payment for the contract period do not qualify for compensation.

If you have questions about these courses, please contact CATL at catl@uwgb.edu. If you have questions about compensation or the payment process, please contact Human Resources at hr@uwgb.edu.

Course Descriptions

The first course in the series is called LITE 101: Course Modalities & Technologies. This self-paced course includes information about the different course modalities offered at UW-Green Bay, as well as the technologies you might use for teaching in each one, including in-person teaching. This course also serves as the foundation of the Teaching with Technology Certificate series because it provides an overview of our specific distance education modalities and the technologies that will help you to be successful in them.

LITE 201: Course Design (formerly called Trail Guides) picks up where the first course leaves off. LITE 201 course centers on developing learning pathways for students. This self-paced course is for you if you would like to explore how to develop courses more systematically using evidence-based practices. Through LITE 201, you will develop two modules for a course in Canvas. LITE 201 is self-paced but offered on a semester basis.

In LITE 301: Course Revisions (formerly called Retreats), you will be encouraged to reflect on your own teaching practices. LITE 301 focuses on the process of using feedback, reflection, and scholarly teaching practices to refine classes. You will, for example, explore scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) literature relevant to issues in your course or to revisions or teaching innovations you are considering. You will also engage with several of your colleagues through synchronous and asynchronous activities designed to support your efforts in reflecting on and refining your teaching practices. LITE 301 is offered as a cohort-based, semester-long community of practice.

LITE 115 Course: Enhancing Course Videos with PlayPosit

Is there a teaching technology that you’ve heard CATL talk about but haven’t gotten the chance to try out yet? Want to learn a new tool alongside fellow instructors so you can swap ideas and tips? In addition to the three courses in the Teaching with Technology Certificate, CATL is offering supplemental professional development training courses that explore certain teaching tools and techniques in more depth!

Learning and Integrating Technology for Education (LITE) 115: Enhancing Course Videos with PlayPosit will equip you with the guidance you need to start building interactive videos, called “bulbs,” for your own courses. Work through each module at your own pace as you discover the basics of PlayPosit, build your first bulb, and finally implement PlayPosit bulbs in one of your courses. Participants will also learn how to monitor bulbs and use PlayPosit’s analytics to reveal data on student engagement and achievement that may be informative for planning future iterations of a course.

Prerequisites: None (though completion of LITE 101 is recommended)

When: Registration for the 2025 J-Term section of LITE 115 is now closed. Stay tuned for future opportunities to register.

Badges

Participants will earn a digital badge for completing each of the three modules in LITE 115 that you can include in your email signature or embed in online portfolios or resumes as evidence of your commitment to professional development! Participants will not be obligated to complete all three modules and may participate at whichever level fits their interest and capacity.

Questions?

If you have any questions about LITE 115 or PlayPosit in general, please contact CATL (CATL@uwgb.edu). You can also check out our blog resources on PlayPosit as well as a selection of step-by-step guides in the UWGB IT Knowledgebase.