Week of October 25, 2016

We write feedback with the goal of improving student learning outcomes. In addition, we strive to direct students towards specific and achievable goals, enhance student-faculty communication, and reduce student anxiety and uncertainty about course objectives. 

But, how do you create such effective feedback, and how do you do so without spending an inordinate amount of time painstakingly writing it? Fortunately, Lane Sunwall--Ph.D. candidate in the History Department and Learning Technology Teaching Assistant at the College of Letters & Science Learning Support Services—has answers. He has put together a comprehensive guide that explains the essentials of great feedback and provides concrete tips for creating that feedback efficiently. Topics include:

• Building assignment parameters that facilitate better and more effective feedback.
• Employing rubrics to decrease the amount of time you spend writing out feedback.
• Maximizing the learning potential derived from your feedback.
• Creating feedback in a short amount of time that students can easily use to improve their work.
• Finding campus resources to help improve your feedback even more.

Visit Lane’s guide at: https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/feedback/

If you have more questions about how to improve your instruction, be sure to contact or stop by Learning Support Services.

Find more Graduate School Professional Development events here.

Careers & Financial

On the Academic Job Market: Composing the All-Important Cover Letter
Tuesday, October 25 | 3:00 - 4:30pm
6171 Helen C White

On the Academic Job Market: Writing Statements of Current and Future Research
Friday, October 28 | 1:30 - 3:00pm
6171 Helen C White

Writing Recommendation Letters
Wednesday, November 2 | 2:00 - 3:15pm
6176 Helen C White

Teaching

Understanding, Measuring, and Motivating Transfer of Learning
Thursday, October 27
Online

Active Teaching Lab: Online Rubrics 
Friday, October 28 | 8:30 - 9:30am
120 Middleton Building

Writing & Research

Introduction to Digital Humanities
Tuesday, October 25 | 4:00 - 5:00pm
231 Memorial

Research and Writing Literature Reviews in the Sciences
Tuesday, November 1 | 12:00 - 1:30pm
105 Steenbock Library

Health Sciences IRB for Beginners Workshop
Tuesday, November 1 | 2:00 - 4:00pm
2121 Health Sciences Learning Center

Technology

Photoshop 2: Portrait Retouching and Color Correction
Tuesday, October 25 | 6:00 - 8:00pm
B1144A DeLuca Biochemistry Building

Excel 2: Data Visualization
Wednesday, October 26 | 6:00 - 8:00pm
B1144A DeLuca Biochemistry Building

Advanced PubMed
Wednesday, October 26 | 12:00 - 1:00pm
3268 Health Sciences Learning Center

Communicating Your Message with PowerPoint: Livening Up Your Presentation
Thursday, October 27 | 3:30 - 5:00pm
6171 Helen C White

LaTeX
Tuesday, November 1 | 6:00 - 8:00pm
B207 Computer Sciences and Statistics

MATLAB 1
Wednesday, November 2 | 6:00 - 8:00pm
3218 Sewell Social Sciences

Excel 3: Macros and VBA
Wednesday, November 2 | 6:00 - 8:00pm
B1144A DeLuca Biochemistry Building

For more technology courses from Software Training for Students (STS) click here.

Special Events & Conferences

The Willis L. Jones Leadership Center at the Wisconsin Union invites participants to learn to connect with others to foster positive change and contribute to our global society through team development, validation, and allyship. Lunch will be provided.

Important Reminder: Preventing Sexual Violence at UW-Madison

A safe work and academic environment is essential to our campus culture and to your success as a graduate student. To that end, all graduate students are expected to complete the online program, "Preventing Sexual Violence at UW-Madison", before enrolling in spring semester courses. The deadline for completion is November 1, 2016. To access the program, log on to Learn@UW. Click on the link for "Preventing Sexual Violence at UW-Madison" in the Course Dashboard.

Graduate Student Survivor Support Group

Starting on November 1st through December 13th, University Health Services (UHS) End Violence on Campus (EVOC) will offer a confidential, drop-in group for UW-Madison graduate and professional students who have been harmed by stalking, sexual harassment, intimate partner/domestic violence, and/or sexual assault. All genders are welcome. The Graduate Student Survivor Support Group will be held on Tuesdays from 6:00-7:30pm in 319 Educational Sciences. Students can contact EVOC (evoc@uhs.wisc.edu or 265-5600, option 3) for more information.

Designed for graduate students and postdocs, Scientific Teaching Fellows gain special insight into the needs of first-year biology students as they spend a semester developing instructional materials for a first-year course and then teach the course the following semester. Applications are due on November 18, 2016. For more information, see the WISCIENCE website.

In order to recognize excellence on the part of campus TAs, the Graduate School, with administrative and financial assistance from the College of Letters and Sciences, sponsors four categories of awards for teaching assistants across the UW-Madison campus. Each department may nominate up to three TAs per year for a $500 award and public recognition of the contributions that outstanding TAs make to their departments and to the campus at large. Descriptions of the awards, eligibility criteria, a list of required nomination materials, and a copy of the nomination form can be found here. The applications are due on November 19, 2016.

Please note: Some graduate students may be ineligible to hold graduate assistantship appointments. Be sure to check with your graduate program coordinator about your eligibility before applying.

Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin 101: Our History in Objects

Project Assistant (hourly), Center for Patient Partnerships

Program Assistant, UW Intensive Chinese Language Program in Tianjin, China

Fellowships & Grants

Center for Engaged Scholarship (CES) Dissertation Fellowships
Application Due December 15, 2016

PhD students in the social sciences whose work has the potential to contribute to making US society less unequal, more democratic, and more environmentally sustainable are invited to apply to the Center for Engaged Scholarship's Dissertation Fellowship. Applications should have completed all requirements for the PhD degree except for the writing of the dissertation, which they should complete during the fellowship year.

Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
Application Due January 18, 2017

Applications are now being accepted for the prestigious Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. This program provides up to four years of financial support for students pursuing doctoral degrees in fields of study that utilize high-performance computing to solve complex problems in science and engineering.