TLC Bi-Weekly Newsletter for Tuesday, March 22nd, 2022

Good morning, K-State!

We are now in the ninth week of the Spring 2022 semester, and the Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) would like to remind you of our commitment to support your efforts in teaching, mentoring, and advising. We are excited to announce the various priorities, events, and resources that are designed to advance teaching and learning at K-State. This video explains what the TLC can do for you.

TLC Highlighted Teacher

Our highlighted teacher this week is Nate Birkhead, whose teaching philosophy is as follows: “Every year in my classes, I have the privilege of teaching the American political system to future teachers, doctors, farmers, social workers, lawyers, and many more. I recognize while not everyone shares my passion for understanding the political system, what I try do is share my enthusiasm for how the political system influences all of us, and why that matters – even if we do not particularly like ‘politics.’ I always want students to be able to connect concepts in class to real-world scenarios, and work to understand the complex relationships that help explain what they encounter in real life.”

Click here to see a video of Nate discussing his teaching.

First Annual Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) Showcase

We are excited to announce our first Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Showcase on Monday, May 9^th in Hale Library, Room 181. The goal of this showcase is for K-Staters to share ideas and/or research pertaining to teaching and learning. Poster and oral presentation options are available. If you are interested in participating, please fill out this Qualtrics survey: https://kstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_37VjbD8GCGTtAV0

Programs & Events

The theme for our Professional Development Series this year is “Mindful Returns.” The events in our PD Series are free and no registration is required. Events occur on Wednesdays at 12 noon via Zoom: https://ksu.zoom.us/j/91689499348. We hope to see you there.

• On Wednesday, March 23^rd (TOMORROW), Kodee Walls and her team will lead a professional development event entitled, “Allyship and Antiracism.” Click here to see the promotional video for this event.

• On Wednesday, March 30^th, Greg Eislein and Chris Bowman will lead a professional development entitled, “Practicing Gratitude: A Student Well-Being Workshop.” We hope to see you there!

Engage the Sage Videos to Support Excellent Teaching

As we begin the Spring 2022 semester, we would like to remind you of several video resources as part of Dr. Don Saucier’s YouTube channel, Engage the Sage:

• We often provide tips on what to do in your classes, but our most recent video, “50 Ways to Disengage Your Students”, gives examples of what NOT to do in class.

• Empathy is an important part of teaching and learning. Don’s “Empathetic Course Design Perspective” provides practical advice on how you can infuse empathy into your “Syllabus Statements”, “Zoom Approach”, “Course Structure and Policies”, and “Assignments & Assessments”.

Social Media

To stay in touch with new resources and events, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. To let us know how your semester is going, please use the hashtag #ITeachAtKState when you post about your teaching, mentoring, and advising activities.

Thank you for all you do for your colleagues and our students. And thank you for advancing K-State’s teaching and learning mission with energy and optimism. We look forward to partnering with you this academic year.

Sincerely,

Tanya González Don Saucier

Interim Director of the TLC Associate Director of the TLC