Sept. 13th, Issue 11, Fall 2023
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| | News from Moody College'sCenter for Advancing Teaching Excellence
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Welcome back! We are excited to join Dean Cassandre Alvarado in welcoming Moody’s largest first-generation class on record! With new students comes the need to ensure we are equipped to effectively include everyone in our teaching practices – and CATE is here to help! In this issue, we share some of the diverse insights that Moody faculty and staff picked up over their summer travels and shine a spotlight on the Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research, housed in Moody’s own Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. From introducing the use of Ally in Canvas to training Undergraduate Learning Assistants to support faculty, CATE is dedicated to ensuring Moody classrooms provide innovative and inclusive experiences for all students.
We wish you a new academic year full of outstanding teaching opportunities that speak to each student’s unique needs. Please do not hesitate to call on CATE for all your teaching support needs this fall.
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How can I make my course resources more accessible?
As you begin to offer resources in your course, be sure to take advantage of the Ally tool in Canvas to assist with making the material accessible for all students. With a few clicks, the Ally tool creates an array of formats that support individual learner needs.
Ally Tips
- Check accessibility before uploading. Use accessibility tools in word processing and slide presentation platforms to create accessible resources at the source.
- Delete all old files that will not be used.
- Use the Ally Course Accessibility Report to determine the easiest items to remediate. Start with the easy items.
Resources
Please reach out to the CATE team at MoodyCATE@austin.utexas.edu to get started or address any snags to improve accessibility in your courses.
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How authentic and engaging is your course?
Will the presence of a supportive cohort and knowledgeable coaches help you overcome hesitation to take instructional risks?
Would $1,500 encourage you to step up your game?
...then we have a place for you to explore and discover project-based learning (PBL)!
Reserve your information session spot to hear more about the first cohort of a project-based learning (PBL) training and curriculum development cohort. RSVP here to attend information sessions.
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Monthly Canvas Workshops
The CATE team will be hosting open workshop time on timely topics on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of each month. The CATE team is available between 12:00pm-12:45pm in the Collaboration Hub (CMA 5.102). Please join us for the following scheduled times/topics:
- September 5th and 6th - Using the Ally Tool to Increase Course Accessibility
- October 3rd and 4th - Updating Rubrics for Writing Assignments with AI in Mind
- November 7th and 8th - Crafting Surveys for Student Feedback Using Instapoll
See you there!
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CATE Fall 2023 Teaching Exchange Speaker Series
The CATE Fall 2023 Teaching Exchange Speaker Series begins with a discussion on the topic of expanding content by incorporating a variety of perspectives from around the globe. Associate Professor, Ben Bays, will share his journey through Europe this summer to experience cultural approaches to cartooning. After the presentation, the floor will be open to discussion of teaching ideas. Bring your lunch and light refreshments will be provided. Join us for the conversation to spark creative instructional approach ideas.
When: Thursday, September 21, from 12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
Where: LBJ Conference Room, CMA 5.136
RSVP here
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ULA Program Update
The Undergraduate Learning Assistant (ULA) program partners experienced students with faculty to assist in teaching tasks, such as office hours, testing new assignments, and providing near-peer support.
The CATE Team recently led a two-day ULA training to prepare ULAs for the semester. The training included understanding the ULA role, hearing from experienced ULAs, exploring empathy when working with peers, and role-playing to prepare for challenges. ULAs also practiced introducing themselves to the class to establish their credibility from day 1.
ULAs learned skills of an effective learning leader to support fellow students. With ULAs, faculty, and students all working together, we are set for a successful and enjoyable academic term ahead!
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Faculty Summer Travels and Diverse Teaching Perspectives
Stacey Sowards, Professor, Communication Studies
“This summer I went to Tubingen, Germany for the Rhetoric Society of Europe conference, as well as to Innsbruck and Rome. As part of my editorship for the Quarterly Journal of Speech, I wanted to reach out to scholars in Europe to expand the global outreach of the journal. I also recently visited Mexico City for the Feria Internacional de Libro Universitarias y Universitarios. I think the most important aspect related to teaching is understanding how scholars teach from different perspectives. Many of our international colleagues think about rhetoric, rhetorical theory, argumentation, and rhetorical method in very different ways than scholars do in the US. Such experiences also remind us that we all have different perspectives and life experiences that shape how we interact with the world, and that's a really important life lesson to share with students."
Benjamin Bays, Associate Professor of Instruction, Radio Television Film
“If there is a collection of comics in Western Europe, I went there this summer. I traveled around Europe and found the epicenters of comics in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. I talked to all the artists, writers, publishers, journalists, and critics in these spaces and can now bring something special back to my classroom! Doing so adds so much depth to the student experience because we can now have conversations connecting all of mass media – and thus everything in Moody – to the legacy of print, as well as explore all the different histories of print, each with their own regional flavors.”
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The Inaugural Recipients of the Faculty Development Award have been announced! Congratulations to all of our wonderful Moody faculty and staff members!
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“I loved being compelled to apply some of the short film lessons I propound in the classroom, and see how they hold up.”
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“While one class teaches you how to do animation, another class will teach you about theories of representation or the cultural spaces surrounding animation. These are currently two different conversations, but I want to have both with my students.”
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“Teaching students how to produce impactful and accessible materials that will go on to educate others about environmental history is one way that I contribute to the larger environmental movement.”
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“The more outside projects that I do, the more experience I have to bring back to our students. Staying an active journalist is the key to my success in the classroom.”
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"The work in the Blank Center is life changing. Faculty make sure students have a comprehensive knowledge of past treatments, theoretical frameworks and, most importantly, the lived experiences of people who stutter. I have experienced the life changing effect first hand, the focus on communication effectiveness, resiliency, advocacy."
Jack Rodreguiz, Graduate Student
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