Teaching & Learning Center

TLC Bi-Weekly Newsletter for Tuesday, October 5th 2021

Good morning, K-State!

We are seven weeks into the Fall 2021 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

This week, our highlighted teacher is Lisa Rubin. Her teaching philosophy is as follows: “I am a very practical person so I seek to teach so students can apply what they learn to activities that will benefit them as they prepare for their careers in higher education. I start with foundations before going to current literature and topics, so for example, in my Current Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics course, we start with the history of college sports in the 1800s before we ever get to what is going on today, as everything happening now is a result of the past. My courses provide students opportunities for networking and professional development as they pursue graduate education to advance their careers.”

HT Lisa Rubin

Click here to see a video of Lisa describing her teaching.

Programs & Events

The theme for our Professional Development Series this year is also “Mindful Returns.”

Events will occur on Wednesdays at 12 noon via Zoom: https://ksu.zoom.us/j/91689499348. We hope to see you there.

  • On Wednesday, October 6th (TOMORROW), Be Stoney will lead a Need-To-Know event on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.

  • On Wednesday, October 13th, Jason Bergtold, Andrew Barkley, Kimberly Williams, and Lisa Rubin will lead an event entitled, “How Do I Engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning? A Discussion with Teaching Scholars and their Experiences.” Click here to see the promotional video for this event.

PD Jason Bergtold

Videos Resources to Support Excellent Teaching

As you progress into the Fall 2021 semester, we would like to remind you of several video resources as part of Dr. Don Saucier’s Youtube channel, Engage the Sage:

  • As we approach the middle of the semester, there are several things we can do optimize our classes moving forward. Check out our “Five Things to Do Mid Semester” video for these tips.

  • Creating asynchronous course content is difficult, especially in terms of engaging both yourself and your students. Our “Lecturing Into the Void” video offers tips to improve engagement and learning in asynchronous videos.

  • We are in the application phase for many schools and jobs!
    • This means students are requesting (and we are receiving requests to write) letters of recommendation. Our “Requesting a Letter of Recommendation” video provides tips for how students should do this, including who to ask and when.
    • This also means students are writing personal statements (a.k.a. “statements of purpose” or “personal mission statements”). In our “Writing Excellent Personal Statements” video, we go over some of the do’s and don’ts for this important application document.

Social Media

To stay in touch with new resources and events, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and 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 Gonzalez headshot don saucier solo

Tanya González Don Saucier

Interim Director of the TLC Associate Director of the TLC