Self-Directed e-Learning

e-Modules

• *NEW* Tutorial Strategies: Active Learning in Math

  The purpose of this module is to explore new strategies, resources, and tools for supporting active learning in tutorial settings. Lessons in this e-module will help enhance your strategies for leading effective, inclusive, and purposeful discussion-based tutorials in face-to-face, online, or blended contexts. This module is part of the Modern TA series of e-learning resources. It develops research-based strategies for how student-centered teaching approaches and digital technologies can be leveraged to enhance tutorials and support student learning.

  Topics include:

  • Strategies for active learning
  • Starting and supporting student discussions
  • Integrating video podcasts into lectures
  • Question-posing techniques
  • Using online tools in blended and online learning
• *NEW* Tutorial Strategies: Teaching with Dynamic Visualization

  The purpose of this module is to develop ideas and strategies for teaching with Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS). Lessons explore how DGS can help students tackle and make sense of challenging concepts, relationships, and proof. Explore ways technology can shift how we think about, enact, and communicate learning opportunities for our students, with a special focus on the affordances of interaction and visualization. This module is part of the Modern TA series of e-learning resources. It develops research-based strategies for how student-centered teaching approaches and digital technologies can be leveraged to enhance tutorials and support student learning.

  Topics include:

  • Supporting learning through visualization and visual reasoning
  • Tips for choosing and integrating Dynamic Geometry Software in lectures
  • Learning actively with Dynamic Geometry Software
  • Strategies for responding to student questions and emails with DGS
• *NEW* Tutorial Strategies: Teaching with Python

  The purpose of this module is to explore and develop strategies that TA’s can use to teach math concepts through computational modeling with Python. Increase fluency with using technology to foster student thinking, reasoning, and active learning. Extend understanding of the educational benefits of integrating multiple representations through computational modeling. This module is part of the Modern TA series of e-learning resources. It develops research-based strategies for how student-centered teaching approaches and digital technologies can be leveraged to enhance tutorials and support student learning.

  Topics include:

  • Tips for integrating and presenting code in lectures
  • Strategies for delivering accessible lectures
  • Learning actively with computational modeling
  • Developing graphical intuition for computation-based problems
  • Strategies for responding to student questions and emails with Python
• Introduction to Literature Reviews

  The purpose of this e-module is to help develop familiarity and critical understanding of different types of literature reviews. The e-module explores how review articles are structured and developed, and it lays a foundation for developing your own literature reviewing skills.

  Topics include:

  • Understanding the purposes of conducting a literature review;
  • Distinguishing between types of literature reviews;
  • Understanding the structure and approaches of literature reviews;
  • Developing skills in critically reading and analyzing literature reviews;
  • Gaining familiarity with written conventions and styles of literature reviews;
  • Situating ideas within your field and area.
• Developing an Annotated Bibliography

  The purpose of this e-module is to help develop familiarity and critical understanding of different types of annotated bibliographies. The e-module explores the purposes, content, and structure of an annotated bibliography, and it guides you through creating your own annotated bibliography in support of a literature review for your final paper, major project or thesis.

  Topics include:

  • Understanding the purposes of conducting an annotated bibliography;
  • Distinguishing between types of annotated bibliographies;
  • Understanding the structure and content of annotated bibliographies;
  • Developing skills in sourcing, reviewing, and annotating literature;
  • Situating ideas within your field and area.
• Core Skills for Actionable Professional Communication

  This set of five e-modules are designed to teach core professional communication concepts, writing strategies and social media literacy. Each e-module in this set is self-contained and can be explored independently of the others. This set of e-resources includes a variety of business communication case studies, which Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows can leverage to develop transferable communication skills for their professional needs.

  Modules Include:

  • Guiding the Reader
  • Strategies and Patterns
  • Rhetoric and Persuasion
  • Presentations and Collaboration
  • Research Skills and Media Literacy

e-Courses

• *NEW* Inclusive and Experiential Pedagogies for Undergraduate Mathematics and Computer Science

  The purpose of this course is to support instructors as they develop and enhance inclusive teaching practices in undergraduate mathematics and computer sciences. This course examines how to develop and enhance inclusive teaching in mathematics and computer sciences through the incorporation of Experiential Learning (EL) practices. Inclusive teaching practices strive to cultivate equitable and accessible learning environments where students feel valued, supported, and a sense of belonging. In mathematics and computer sciences, inclusive teaching goes hand-in-hand with opportunities for students to experience real mathematics and computer programming in pursuit of solutions to real problems that are meaningful to them.

  Module 1: Experiential Learning with Computational Modeling

  Topics include:

  • What is Experiential Learning?
  • Why is EL important?
  • Experiencing EL through Computational Modeling
  • Applying ideas to practice

  Module 2: Enhancing EL in the Classroom: Case Studies

  Topics include:

  • Addressing coding apprehension
  • Embracing diversity in STEM
  • Supporting student engagement
  • Handling difficult conversations
• The Modern TA: New Approaches for Mathematics Tutorials

  The Modern TA is a self-paced and flexible e-course is designed for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows who are looking to enhance their teaching practice with new techniques. It provides a holistic and in-depth experience through a combination of inquiry-based explorations, online applets, dynamic and computational modeling, video podcasts, and interactive simulations.

  This e-course includes a set of two interactive online modules, a supplementary workbook and resource guide, and multiple pathways for differentiated learning experiences. Content focuses on common topics and student challenges that arise in undergraduate linear algebra and calculus.

  Learning Outcomes:

  1. Develop fluency in the purposeful uses of different digital technologies for representing and communicating mathematics in undergraduate education.
  2. Enhance pedagogical approaches for fostering rich mathematical experiences through the uses of interactive digital technologies and question-posing techniques. 
  3. Build capacity for enacting inclusive pedagogies that incorporate digital technologies into online, blended or in-person undergraduate mathematics learning environments.

  Topics include:

  • Best practices for integrating  video podcasts into lectures
  • Access and accessibility issues
  • Leading effective tutorials in-person and online
  • Leveraging technology to support and advance student thinking
  • Responding to student questions and emails using technology
  • Dynamic Geometry Software as a teaching aid
  • Teaching Computational Modeling with Python 
• Conducting Program Evaluations in Workplaces and Communities

  This e-course consists of three modules with relevant content, engaging learning activities, and practical takeaways. It focuses on the knowledge, skills, and tools required to lead successful program evaluations and encourage evidence-based practice within workplaces and communities. Throughout this course, you will have the opportunity to draw connections between the lessons, your skills, and your experiences in research.

  Learning Outcomes:

  1. Describe program evaluation and communicate its value to stakeholders and employers.
  2. Identify and use common evaluation tools.
  3. Use case studies to apply your learning to practice scenarios.
  4. Consider contextual factors that impact the implementation and use of evaluations.
• Fostering Inclusivity in Workplaces and Communities

  This e-course consists of three modules with relevant content, engaging learning activities, and practical takeaways. It focuses on community building, intercultural communication, and equity knowledge and skills to promote inclusive workplaces and communities. This e-course supports you in identifying the skills you gained during your graduate program that can support you in fostering an inclusive workplace after graduation. Throughout the course, you will reflect on your positionality within the many dimensions of inclusivity and use that knowledge to adapt your approaches to creating inclusive workplaces and communities.

  Learning Outcomes:

  1. Identify the skills and competencies that you have and need in order to engaging diverse perspectives and foster inclusivity.
  2. Confidently articulate your role in fostering inclusivity in application documents for your preferred jobs, and in the jobs themselves.
  3. Identify theories (and practices) of change that that suit your identities and values and that you can use.
  4. Use your skill sets to set yourself apart as an employee, team member, and a leader whose efforts in creating inclusive workplaces are actionable and sustainable.
• Cultivating Wellbeing in Workplaces and Communities

  This e-course consists of three modules with relevant content, engaging learning activities, and practical takeaways. It focuses on personal and collective wellness skills to promote healthy and resilient workplaces and communities. This course provides you with a broad range of mental health literacy skills to apply in the workplace and other community settings.

  Learning Outcomes:

  1. Contribute to decreasing the stigma associated with mental health and mental illness by building your vocabulary and challenging misconceptions.
  2. Take an anti-oppressive approach to analyzing and proposing solutions for mental health disparities in the workplace and other communities.
  3. Build your personal and professional network to support your wellbeing at work.
  4. Customize the strategies you use to stay well, respond to challenges, and recover from setbacks at work.
  5. Articulate how you identify and personally contribute to healthy workplace cultures.

   Topics include:

  • Foundations and key concepts related to mental health and wellbeing
  • Develop and customize strategies to respond to stress, burnout, procrastination, and imposter syndrome at work
  • Practice workplace sills for cultivating wellbeing
  • Develop understanding of high-impact work wellness practices at multiple levels of an organization