Workshops are under way to help instructors learn how to use the new technology and tools they’ll encounter in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building when renovations are completed this fall.
Faculty, adjuncts, and graduate teaching assistants are encouraged to sign up for one of several workshops, which will continue through the end of the month. Additional sessions will be scheduled in May and during the summer. Topics include how to use and reconfigure the flexible classrooms and facilitating group-based learning.
Instructors who participate in one or more of the workshops will have priority in HSS classroom scheduling for the fall and the following spring. HSS will get upgraded technology, such as wall-mounted interactive white boards, increased wireless capacity, and high-definition video capability.
To register for a workshop or for more information on the sessions, visit http://utk.edu/go/d6.
The goal is to “encourage teaching styles that are more interactive and collaborative,” said Stan Guffey, a faculty scholar at the Tennessee Teaching and Learning Center. The center is leading the workshops.
The center also offers confidential consultations and class observations on request and is developing an online library of active and collaborative learning resources.
Guffey said the Teaching and Learning Center will host a mid-term session in the fall so instructors who have been using the HSS technology and classrooms will talk about their experiences and share ideas on successful practices and difficulties.