RTL aims to provide the campus community with events that bring together faculty, researchers, graduate student instructors, and service providers to inspire and support experimentation, connect people, and share ideas.
January 2025
| bCourses (Canvas) Basics & New Features: Teaching with bCourses Survival Guide | Jan 13 |
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| Join us for an introduction to bCourses, perfect for beginners or those needing a refresher. Learn essential features like Pages, Modules, Assignments, and Announcements to organize and manage your courses. |
| Navigating AI in Course Design: Early Steps and Reflections | Jan 13 |
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| Join this session to explore how an instructional designer used AI for practical course design, including creating images, extracting course intros, and developing podcasts. Learn about the tools and artifacts that support novice to low-intermediate AI users. |
| Understanding and Responding to Generative AI in Teaching and Learning | Jan 14 |
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| Join this session to explore practical ways to address generative AI in your class. Learn how to discuss its opportunities, challenges, and academic integrity concerns while engaging students in conversations about its role in learning. |
| Setting the Stage: Fostering Student Engagement Throughout the Semester | Jan 15 |
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| Join us to kick off the semester with dynamic teaching strategies. Learn tools to create an active learning environment from day one, including peer discussions and questioning techniques. Discover practical methods to make your classroom a dynamic, interactive experience. |
| New in Poll Everywhere: Course Management Interface | Jan 16 |
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| Join this session to explore Poll Everywhere's new "Course Management" interface. Discover how it simplifies organizing activities, tracking participation, and syncing results with the bCourses gradebook to streamline your polling workflow. |
| Teaching Inclusively From Day One | Jan 17 |
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| Join this session to explore practical strategies for creating an inclusive learning environment using Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Learn how to apply inclusive teaching practices to engage diverse learners and ensure your course is accessible to all students from the start. |
| Using Peerceptiv Peer Review to Increase Collaboration and Engagement | Jan 22 |
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| Join us to explore Peerceptiv, a peer collaboration tool now available to all UC Berkeley instructors as a pilot. Learn how it enhances student engagement, integrates with bCourses, and helps you set up peer review assignments. |
| Spark Talk: Strategies for Building a Sense of Belonging in the Classroom | Jan 24 |
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| Join this session to explore a theory for measuring classroom experiences to foster student belonging. Learn how tools like surveys and early climate indicators can help create equitable, supportive spaces that empower students to co-create inclusive learning environments. |
| Assignments and Grading: Build Your Gradebook in bCourses | Jan 28 |
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| Join us to learn how to effectively set up and manage your Gradebook in bCourses. Discover how to weight grades, configure Grade Posting Policy, create and manage Assignment Groups, apply grading rules, and set up assignments with associated Gradebook columns. |
February 2025
| How AI Literacy Can and Will Impact Academic Integrity | Feb 4 |
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| Join this session to explore how fostering AI literacy and clearly communicating the purpose of assignments can reduce academic integrity concerns. Learn strategies to engage students by connecting assessments to their goals and experiences, while promoting critical understanding of generative AI’s workings and impact. |
| Spark Talk: Crafting Equitable Assessments with Student Diversity in Mind | Feb 6 |
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| Join this session to explore a case study on designing assignments that support diverse student skills and needs. Learn how scaffolding assessments with practice, feedback, and revision helps students demonstrate their learning effectively. |
| Typology of Active Learning: A Framework for Selecting Active Learning Techniques | Feb 11 |
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| Join this session to explore a practical typology of active learning techniques, from simple to complex. Discover strategies to align with your teaching goals, enhance student engagement, and support underrepresented students, whether you're new to active learning or seeking fresh ideas. |
| AI Angst? Uncovering Student and Instructor Narratives in Higher Ed | Feb 26 |
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| Join this session to hear from UC Berkeley and UC Davis researchers on how faculty narratives about generative AI may differ from student experiences. Learn how data can help reconcile these perspectives and inform decision-making on AI policies and learning opportunities. |
March 2025
| Active Learning in Large Classes: What’s Possible? | Mar 6 |
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| Join us to explore the challenges and opportunities of implementing active learning in large, introductory lecture settings. Learn strategies for incorporating active learning and techniques to engage large groups of students, helping them understand and embrace these methods. |
| Using the New iClicker AI Question Generator | Mar 11 |
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| Join this session to explore iClicker’s AI Question Creator, a new tool that generates discipline-specific questions to enhance student engagement and classroom discussions. The session includes a 30-minute presentation and a 30-minute Q&A to share ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback to the iClicker team. |
| Spark Talk: Addressing Social Comparison to Improve Student Engagement | Mar 18 |
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| Join this session to explore how fear of negative evaluation impacts student participation, particularly for LGBTQ+ and women/nonbinary students in large science courses. Learn how addressing social comparison can help create inclusive environments. |
April 2025
| The AI-Engaged Classroom - Teaching & Learning Journal Club | Apr 9 |
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| Join this session for an informal journal club exploring Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning (Bowen & Watson, 2024). We’ll discuss strategies for designing assignments that account for GenAI while emphasizing human effort and process-based learning. |