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Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed a restful spring break.

Our April DOLCE takes place this coming Friday at noon via Zoom, and I hope you can join us for an opportunity to hear presentations from faculty in Psychology and Computer Science. Dr. Cam Hostinar will be speaking on “Promoting Student Engagement in Large Courses,” while Matthew Buttner will be speaking about “Insisting Students Plan for Success.”

As UC Davis wraps up another successful winter term and looks ahead to spring, the staff at Academic Technology Services (ATS) invites instructional teams to join its quarterly Ed Tech Week of live webinars and curated resources intended to streamline setting up instructional technologies and learning activities for upcoming courses.

In addition to asynchronous resources like knowledge base guides and recorded webinars, this spring’s Ed Tech Week includes three live webinars during the first week of the term (click each title to RSVP):

Creating opportunities for students to engage during learning activities can be challenging, especially in lecture settings where large audiences and limited instructor time can leave learners feeling anonymous and disconnected. Research tells us that students benefit from actively participating in their learning, but engineering those behaviors into lesson plans often demands new practices or tools to overcome the tendency toward passive, less engaged learning.

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Thanks to all of you who attended our March 3rd DOLCE about teaching with ChatGPT, with presentations from Andrea Ross and Lisa Sperber, both from the University Writing Program. We very much appreciated their thoughtful approaches to this new tool.

Enjoy this short preview, and review the full recording.

Dear Faculty Colleagues,
 
We are excited to announce that on Friday, March 3rd at noon via Zoom, the ATS March DOLCE (Discussing Online Learning and Collaborative Education) will be featuring ChatGPT presentations from two of our faculty colleagues from the University Writing Program: Andrea Ross and Lisa Sperber. You are invited to join us.
 

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Thanks to all of you who attended our February 3rd DOLCE about flipping a class using instructional videos. This DOLCE featured Professor Joseph Biello from the UC Davis Department of Mathematics.

Enjoy this short preview, and review the full recording.

Please plan to join us every first and third Friday of the month at noon (via Zoom) for forums like this one.

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Before the pandemic made Zoom ubiquitous and home-recorded instructional videos commonplace, our colleague from Mathematics, Joseph Biello, had started sharing what he calls “really clear videos” in his Math 21D: Vector Analysis class, and then using class time to engage with students and solve math problems requested by the students. 

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Thanks to all of you who attended our January 20th Faculty Forum about ChatGPT and how it might impact our teaching and our students’ learning.

Enjoy this short preview, and review the full recording.

Please plan to join us every first and third Friday of the month at noon (via Zoom) for forums like this one.

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

[Please join us this Friday, January 20th for a noon Zoom Faculty Forum on ChatGPT and other AI concerns.]

Many educators were convinced that the introduction of the calculator, the grammar checker, and the online translator would all weaken our students’ self-reliance and problem-solving skills. Since these and other disruptive technologies were introduced, innovative educators have harnessed these technologies as we taught students how to apply higher order thinking skills to ever more demanding and inspiring intellectual challenges. 

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

With winter instruction beginning next week, you’re likely busily preparing the lessons, assignments, and assessments that will help students achieve the learning outcomes of your classes. Whether you’re new to teaching or a classroom veteran, Academic Technology Services stands ready to help you set up content and tools for your courses, including by assisting with developing Canvas materials, producing instructional media, introducing you to new teaching technologies, and more.