Drake Institute staff and leadership would like to recognize, and express our sincere thanks to, the outstanding group of educators from across the university who have served as academic year 2023-24 Institute Affiliates and Senior Affiliates. This year, representatives of 33 departments and offices across four campuses participated in the Institute Affiliates program, which identifies and brings together individuals from around the university who demonstrate a strong commitment to excellence in teaching and who provide dedicated support to enhancing student learning at Ohio State. Over this academic year, Affiliates have made significant contributions in support of university teaching initiatives, including:...
Ohio State faculty and instructors interested in learning how to design a student-centered global and intercultural learning experience with international partners are encouraged to apply for the 2024 Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)/Virtual Exchange Learning Community, which will take place throughout autumn semester.
A partnership between the Office of International Affairs and the Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning, the COIL learning community will support instructors in designing new global and intercultural student learning experiences in virtual modalities. COIL virtual exchange programs, which may be course-based or project-based, should connect Ohio State students with their peers at...
Are you an experienced Graduate Teaching Associate (GTA) at Ohio State who would like to share your knowledge with a new cohort of teaching associates?
Each year, the Drake Institute hires experienced Ohio State Graduate Teaching Associates to co-facilitate sessions at Graduate Teaching Orientation (GTO). This year, orientation will be held asynchronously during the week of August 12-16 with an in-person day of orientation activities on Thursday, August 15. Most facilitators will facilitate 3 sessions during orientation week. In addition, facilitators will be asked to assist with the asynchronous course by monitoring course discussion boards and marking...
Are you, or do you know, a graduate student who is teaching for the first time next fall?
Each year in August, 400-600 Graduate Teaching Associates (GTAs) across Ohio State attend Graduate Teaching Orientation. While some of these GTAs teach courses, others teach as lab or studio instructors, recitation leaders, or graders.
In past years, participants have shared that orientation eased their concerns about teaching for the first time, helped them feel part of Ohio State’s community of GTAs, and gave them valuable teaching strategies that they could immediately implement in their new roles....
The Drake Institute looks forward to partnering with the Academy of Teaching to host The Academy of Teaching 2024 Spring Conference on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Blackwell Inn.
This year’s theme is “Celebrating Creativity in the Classroom.” From designing entire courses and individual assignments to delivering content and assessing student work, teaching is inherently creative. Likewise, student learning is the embodiment of creative activity, seen in the wide range of thinking, actions, and products students generate during a given term. More than simply a strategy for staving off classroom...
As the influence of Generative AI on higher education and society grows, it is important for instructors to discuss its uses and limitations in their courses. A new Teaching and Learning Resource Center (TLRC) post, AI Teaching Strategies: Having Conversations with Students , offers suggestions for having productive conversations about AI with students. This guide provides helpful information regarding current AI-related concerns such as copyright, privacy and security. This post provides a variety of practical strategies for discussing AI, conversation starters, and class activities. Check out this valuable post as you plan to discuss AI with your students....
During Autumn Semester 2023 the Drake Institute launched a new community of practice (CoP) focused on generative AI (artificial intelligence) and its use in teaching and learning. The community is a collaboration with nearly 100 faculty and staff from a variety of administrative and academic units. The CoP focuses on sharing effective practices, creating new knowledge, and engaging in collective critical inquiry about the use of AI in teaching and learning.
To date, educational developers from the CoP have drafted a new Teaching and Learning Resource Center (TLRC) teaching topic, ...
Are you interested in sharing your creative teaching ideas and tips? Don’t miss the opportunity to submit your proposal for the Academy of Teaching Conference happening on May 7, 2024. This year's conference theme is "Celebrating Creativity in the Classroom". From designing entire courses and individual assignments to delivering content and assessing student work, teaching is inherently creative. Likewise, student learning is the embodiment of creative activity, seen in the wide range of thinking, actions, and products students generate during a given term. More than simply a strategy for staving off classroom boredom, creativity is essential to the kinds...
Midterm is here—and now is the best time to collect feedback on your teaching! Midterm feedback provides instructors with opportunities to discuss or clarify feedback with students and make adjustments prior to the end of the semester. A Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID), as a midterm feedback tool, can help any instructor at Ohio State improve their teaching. This includes graduate instructors who may be early in their teaching careers, or those who may be teaching lab or recitation sections rather than teaching their own course. During the SGID process, Drake Institute consultants come into the classroom to...
Whether working as graduate student instructors or TAs, preparing a teaching portfolio for the academic job market, or teaching post-graduation, most graduate students will need a toolkit of resources for building courses on their own. This semester in Graduate Teaching Toolkit, the Drake Institute's workshop series for graduate instructors, we'll explore each step of the course design process from writing course goals and assignments to choosing course content and classroom activities.
Along the way, we’ll consider some of the course design challenges commonly faced by graduate student instructors at Ohio State, including teaching a subject that they...
