With the increase in online courses and general online correspondence, it is important that GAs and TAs know how to effectively communicate with students and instructors through email, forums, discussion boards, and more. In this workshop, you will learn how to effectively communicate with students and instructors online. From responding to emails to properly monitoring a Discussion Board, this workshop will provide you with techniques and tips to ensure your online communication adheres to the University of Windsor standards. You will be invited to participate in activities throughout the workshop, and feedback will be provided.

Have you ever experienced a lecture that was less than memorable, or received an explanation that left you confused? You are not alone! So, when you find yourself in a teaching position, plan to make your own explanations more effective. What is the best way to get your point across? Whether you are offering a three-hour lecture or simply answering questions in a tutorial, there are ways to make sure your explanations are as clear as possible to your learners. This session will demonstrate some of the reasons why explanations can fail, and introduce you to the components and processes that make an effective explanation.

You assess the work of your students with the key of a rubric. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of Bloom's Taxonomy, a dimension of Constructive Alignment, a dimension of Learner Engagement. You're moving into a land of both criteria and descriptors, of exemplars and performance. You've just crossed over into... the Feedback Zone.

How can you mark written assignments fairly and efficiently? Written assignments are found in all disciplines. What kind of comments can help students understand their grade and improve their work? This interactive workshop will teach you how to create practical grading guidelines that will help you develop a fair, consistent and efficient system of assessment. You will also learn how to generate appropriate comments to reflect the assigned grade, and support learning.

Found out you’re a GA? Not sure what to do on the first day? Have no fear, we’ll help you steer – and sort out what to say. In this session, we will go through the ins and outs of making a great first impression, while helping you navigate your students through all the important info you need to impart in the first class (note: lesson on limericks not included!) The first class is your chance to set the tone for the semester – you will set out your expectations with your students (for communication, behaviour in group work, etc.) and generally set the atmosphere of the classroom. You will also need to communicate the syllabus or other course materials in a way that will make your students actually sit up and pay attention. Most importantly, the first class is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the class, and they to you (and to each other!) You will leave this session with useful tips and tricks to engage your students with the course material, syllabus info and each other so that you will go into the first class confident and excited!

How do you create a positive space for learning? Is there a creative alternative to using lecture to get information across? Storytelling builds a community of learners and creatively eng ages people across disciplines. This interactive workshop will give you practice in techniques for using storytelling as an intentional teaching method for university level education.

As a GA/TA, sooner or later, you’ll realize that (some) students cheat. Aside from trying to proactively deal with cheating through education and other preventative means, the GA/TA job also involves keeping an eye out for cheating when it has occurred – whether it be during final exams or in students’ course assignments and papers. How can you spot academic dishonesty in student papers and other written assignments? What warning signs of potential plagiarism should you look out for? In an effort to facilitate the sharing of knowledge among GA/TAs, this workshop will provide participants with a collection of tips and techniques for identifying academic dishonesty in an interactive and participative way. Designed for both new and experienced GA/TAs, this session incorporates a “Spot the Plagiarism” exercise using a plagiarized paper to illustrate common (and less common) forms of academic dishonesty and hone participants’ “plagiarism detection” skills. Action steps for reporting and dealing with suspected cases of plagiarism will also be discussed.

Harness technology both inside and outside the classroom to help you with your work as a teaching assistant. For the technophobe to the technophile, there are many tools to help you organize, communicate, collect, curate and archive your work -- not to mention your life! This workshop will introduce you to a variety of tools that you can use to reach your students, enhance your lessons, and build a classroom that encourages learning through effective teaching. In this session, you will have a chance to try out a variety of applications and tools that you will be able to use in your next GA or TA position. Laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. are encouraged.

How can we make labs and tutorials more ACTIVE, *fun*, and effective for students and ourselves? This was the question most GAs and TAs wanted answered in a 2012 survey of the University of Windsor GA/TA Network. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to do this by sharing our experiences (as students and as GA/TAs), lessons learned, and best practices. We’ll engage in discussion and experience some teaching techniques that you can use as a GA/TA to facilitate your labs and tutorials.

Discussion can be a powerful way to teach and to learn, but it can also be intimidating to face a room full of faces and wonder, “What if no one wants to say anything?”, “How can I get them started?”, and “What do I do when they have nothing left to say?”. Using active, discussion-based methods, this workshop will introduce you to some techniques for setting a comfortable atmosphere, stimulating discussion through the use of questioning strategies, and dealing with that dreaded moment when discussion just fizzles out!

How can you mark written assignments fairly and efficiently? Written assignments are found in all disciplines. What kind of comments can help students understand their grade and improve their work? This interactive workshop will teach you how to create practical grading guidelines that will help you develop a fair, consistent and efficient system of assessment. You will also learn how to generate appropriate comments to reflect the assigned grade, and support learning.

Found out you’re a GA? Not sure what to do on the first day? Have no fear, we’ll help you steer – and sort out what to say. In this session, we will go through the ins and outs of making a great first impression, while helping you navigate your students through all the important info you need to impart in the first class (note: lesson on limericks not included!) The first class is your chance to set the tone for the semester – you will set out your expectations with your students (for communication, behaviour in group work, etc.) and generally set the atmosphere of the classroom. You will also need to communicate the syllabus or other course materials in a way that will make your students actually sit up and pay attention. Most importantly, the first class is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the class, and they to you (and to each other!) You will leave this session with useful tips and tricks to engage your students with the course material, syllabus info and each other so that you will go into the first class confident and excited!

Please register for your delicious FREE lunch! Please email Marilyn at ctlworkshops@uwindsor.ca by NOON on Wednesday, August 29th if you have any food allergies or special dietary requirements, to allow us to cater appropriately.

Lunch will be from 12:15 pm - 1:00 pm with all sessions to start promptly at 1:00pm.

How can we make labs and tutorials more ACTIVE, *fun*, and effective for students and ourselves? This was the question most GAs and TAs wanted answered in a 2012 survey of the University of Windsor GA/TA Network. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to do this by sharing our experiences (as students and as GA/TAs), lessons learned, and best practices. We’ll engage in discussion and experience some teaching techniques that you can use as a GA/TA to facilitate your labs and tutorials.

Discussion can be a powerful way to teach and to learn, but it can also be intimidating to face a room full of faces and wonder, “What if no one wants to say anything?”, “How can I get them started?”, and “What do I do when they have nothing left to say?”. Using active, discussion-based methods, this workshop will introduce you to some techniques for setting a comfortable atmosphere, stimulating discussion through the use of questioning strategies, and dealing with that dreaded moment when discussion just fizzles out!

Have you ever experienced a lecture that was less than memorable, or received an explanation that left you confused? You are not alone! So, when you find yourself in a teaching position, plan to make your own explanations more effective. What is the best way to get your point across? Whether you are offering a three-hour lecture or simply answering questions in a tutorial, there are ways to make sure your explanations are as clear as possible to your learners. This session will demonstrate some of the reasons why explanations can fail, and introduce you to the components and processes that make an effective explanation.

You assess the work of your students with the key of a rubric. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of Bloom's Taxonomy, a dimension of Constructive Alignment, a dimension of Learner Engagement. You're moving into a land of both criteria and descriptors, of exemplars and performance. You've just crossed over into... the Feedback Zone.

Are you considering going to graduate school? Are you already in graduate school and wondering what comes next? Are you questioning whether you are getting the most out of your academic experience? Come to our panel! We represent a range of disciplinary backgrounds and diverse academic experiences and will be sharing our own graduate school experiences and discussing how we are preparing for our future careers. Through sharing our stories we hope to provide you with insight on how to get what you want and need out of your graduate school experience. Start planning for what comes after graduate school now, so you don’t end up in debt, degree-less and overcome with self-loathing in six years! (Disclaimer: ok, so we can’t actually promise that we’ll help you avoid any of these things… but we’ll try to given reasonable advice). Come to our session and benefit from the lessons we’ve learned over the years. We promise that you will leave enlightened and amused by our thoughtful reflection and witty banter! (Note: we can’t actually promise this).

Zotero is software. It's free, open-source, easy to use and it's designed to help you collect, organize, cite and share your research sources. Zotero was developed by scholars for scholars and works especially well for those in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Zotero wants to be the iTunes of your research collection. This session will demonstrate what Zotero is capable of which includes being able to download a citation with a single click and the ability to drop and drag formatted citations right into a body of work. We will place Zotero in the spectrum of other citation management tools and other “apps for academics.”