March

Spring UPTLC virtual presentation 2,

Tuesday March 16, 2021 at 3:30 PM via zoom
Each workshop consists of two consecutive presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

From Classroom to Resume – Skills that Count by Geralyn Narkiewicz, LSSU Career Services
Abstract: 
It is not unusual to read business reports or survey results that indicate recent college graduates are lacking in key employability skills. What skills are employers looking for? Are students truly lacking these skills or are they just not connecting the dots between their learning and the skills they are developing? In this presentation, we will discuss the 8 career competencies identified by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Participants will share and discuss ideas for increasing student awareness and understanding of the skills they are developing through their college coursework.

WRITE-D: Applying Write-on-Site to Graduate Work in the Disciplines by Co-presenters: Andrew Fiss, MTU Humanities Department; Sarah Isaacson, Will Cantrell, and Pushpalatha Muthy, MTU Graduate School
Abstract:
 While writing is a necessity in graduate programs throughout the disciplines, many find it difficult to address. At this session, we will introduce “write-in-department” groups: groups that provide a regular space and time for writing together within a department. Acknowledging the uses of such groups in undergraduate instruction, write-on-site groups have been implemented successfully at the graduate level at Michigan Technological University. Session leaders will discuss the application of this model to groups in Physics, Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Biological Sciences. Attendees will be asked to participate in a short exercise of writing and reflection as a way of exploring the benefits of this approach. Graduate write-in-department groups provide an opportunity for discipline-specific discussions of writing over the duration of the graduate program. In contrast to the “dissertation boot camp” model, the WRITE-D model engages students with disciplinary writing throughout. As needed, faculty share knowledge about rules, norms, and processes, especially having to do with publications, proposals, and fellowships in the field. More broadly, write-in-department groups provide a social network for working through writing — one located within the department, with involvement of department faculty and facilitated by graduate student peers. Overall, the WRITE-D program uses graduate write-in-department groups as a way to help students generate better writing, more effectively.

To register for other UPTLC presentations, use these links:

Tuesday, February 16 at 3:30 PM 

Tuesday, April 13 at 3:30 PM

CTL Instructional Award: Large classroom teaching to Kette Thomas

Tuesdays, March 30. 2021 at 3:30PM

The 2020-2021 CTL instructional Award for large class teaching will be presented via a zoom session on. Dr Thomas will give a presentation titled Empathic Instruction: The Power and Limits of Making it Personal. To register for this event, please use this link.

Abstract: Professionalism suggests disciplined, objective, and impersonal communication between the vendor and his client. Conventional business practitioners might frame their organizations around bureaucratic ideals, delivering their products and services mechanically and “without prejudice.” This presents the appearance of equitable distribution and management of goods and services. A University setting, however, is more complicated than a conventional business model automatizing its products. University educators require an approach that acknowledges the very personal nature of learning. Indeed, to open yourself up to education is to make yourself vulnerable. This vulnerability is not weakness but, rather, a tool that can guide the learner to new areas of knowledge acquisition. But inappropriately applied, vulnerability in the classroom can also act as an impediment. Educators are, therefore, charged with negotiating the power and limits of intellectual vulnerability. In this lecture, we will look at the uses of empathy during instruction and how they can both accentuate and obstruct the learning process.