Dear graduate employees,
We hope you are enjoying an excellent term. This edition of Graduate Employee Teaching News brings you updates on teaching-related services, resources, and upcoming events to support your success in the classroom.
Sincerely,
The Teaching Engagement Program and UO Online
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Cultivating Community
TEP’s Building Community resource includes tips on how to develop interpersonal connections among students and with the instructor. It features brief how-tos on getting to know your students, developing a Canvas welcome module, and leading effective classroom discussions. You’ll also find links to resources that acknowledge heightened concerns over events outside of class, including the Teaching in Turbulent Times Toolkit, Trauma-Informed Pedagogy resource, and our page on Inclusive Teaching. For instructors with high-enrollment courses, check out our guide to cooperative base groups with examples courtesy of Dr. Camisha Russell.
What strategies have you used or heard about to cultivate community? Please send your ideas to tep@uoregon.edu from your UO email address with the subject line “Community.” Submissions received by March 15, 2025, will be entered into a prize drawing for a $10 coffee card.
Got a tip to share? Email tep@uoregon.edu with your questions or suggested topics.
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Graduate Employee Teaching Support
GEs are essential to UO’s teaching culture. Find workshops, teaching development programs, tailored support, and awards all in one place on TEP’s GE Teaching Support page.
Student Engagement Techniques
Check out our new page with a range of activities to boost student engagement, provide feedback, and prepare for assessments—with ideas for both in-person and online courses.
Term Resources: Spring 2025
Find tools to update your syllabus, prep your Canvas site, check new policies, and keep abreast of key spring term dates.
Student-Facing UO Policies Webpage
UO instructional policies are now featured on a student-facing webpage, linked from every Canvas course. Instructors can point students to this page instead of copying policies into their syllabi. We encourage graduate instructors to show the page to their students at the beginning of each course and highlight key policies and resources.
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International GE Success: Designing Effective Lesson Plans
Wednesday, April 2, from 2-3:30 p.m. in Knight Library Dream Lab 122
Refreshments served
Practice designing lesson plans that work for you and your students while continuing to build community with other international GE instructors.
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Graduate Teaching Excellence Award
The Graduate Teaching Excellence Award submission deadline is April 11. This award recognizes outstanding teaching by experienced graduate employees (GEs) who have demonstrated a commitment to developing their instructional skills. Applicants must be nominated by their home department, which may have earlier internal pre-application deadlines. Check with your department about their process for approving a nominee.
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Teaching with AI Reading Group
Thursdays from 11 a.m. to noon on Zoom
Faculty and graduate students are invited to join this space for conversation and idea-sharing around how AI might support our students’ critical thinking skills and information literacy.
Neurodivergent Instructors and Staff Affinity Group
First Monday of the month from 10-11 a.m. on Zoom
This recurring affinity-group discussion is a space for neurodivergent instructors and staff (and those who hold identities within the umbrella of neurodivergence, like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, bipolar, etc.) to connect in ways that feel positive, and to share community, resources, strategies, questions, and scholarship around both neurodivergence and other things that matter to you.
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We welcome your input to keep this newsletter informative and meaningful, so please send your ideas, resources, and suggestions our way. You can reach us at tep@uoregon.edu.
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