Learning Communities

Do you want to learn more about how artificial intelligence is shaping teaching and learning? This beginner-friendly learning community will introduce several AI-based tools, including TerpAI. You will have the opportunity to try out tools, ask questions, and consider the possibilities and challenges they create. 

We will explore practical ways AI can support your course planning and assignment design, and consider questions that many instructors are raising about student learning, critical thinking, ethical concerns, and environmental impacts. No prior experience with AI is needed. This is a space for curiosity, reflection, discussion, and skill building. 

By actively participating in this learning community, you will earn the GenAI-Informed Pedagogy Practitioner meta-credential from the TLTC Teaching Academy. All UMD instructors are welcome.

We will meet 6 times on Wednesdays (9/9, 9/23, 10/7, 10/21, 11/4, 11/18) from 2:00-3:15pm in ESJ 1103. Meetings will be in-person with the option to join virtually occasionally as needed.
 

Coordinated by Mona Thompson, TLTC

Register here for the AI Playground Learning Community.

Questions or accessibility needs? Contact Mona at mona1@umd.edu.

Do you want to learn more about how artificial intelligence is shaping teaching and learning? This beginner-friendly learning community will introduce several AI-based tools, including TerpAI. You will have the opportunity to try out tools, ask questions, and consider the possibilities and challenges they create. 

Are you curious about infusing a global dimension into your course or leading a program abroad? This learning community, co-led with Office of International Affairs (OIA), facilitates collaborative brainstorming and allows faculty to workshop ideas to develop or enhance global learning experiences. In a space designed for curiosity, reflection, discussion and skill building, faculty will explore global learning modalities and learning outcomes; learn pedagogical tools and practices that elevate international connections, perspectives, projects and activities; engage with best practices in building and sustaining international partnerships; and articulate the importance of a global mindset and perspectives to UMD students. Faculty will come away with actionable steps to create syllabi and assignments with global learning outcomes, to design a Global Classrooms Course or Study Abroad Program, or to approach international partnerships. No prior experience with global programming is necessary, all UMD instructors are welcome.

This Learning Community will meet on 3 Mondays (9/28, 10/26, and 11/30) from 10:00-11:15am in ESJ 1103. Meetings will be in person with the option to call in virtually as needed.

Coordinated by Cassady Cundari, TLTC, and Taylor Woodman, Office of International Affairs. 

Register here for the Global Learning Faculty Learning Community.

Questions or accessibility needs? Contact Cassady at ccundari@umd.edu.

Are you a graduate student or postdoc who is teaching or preparing to teach? Connect with your peers in this informal book club! In this community, we will read "Teaching Matters: A Guide for Graduate Students'' by Aeron Haynie and Stephanie Spong and have informal conversations about topics from the book. We will discuss designing courses, creating a welcoming classroom community, navigating classroom challenges, cultivating well-being, and more!

You will receive a free copy of the book as part of your participation in this learning community. Please register as early as you can to guarantee your spot.

This book club will meet on Wednesdays every other week (9/16, 9/30, 10/14, 10/28, 11/11, and 12/2) from 2:00-3:30pm in ESJ 1103. Meetings will be in person with the option to call in virtually as needed.

Coordinated by Ginny Hutcheson, TLTC 

Register here for the Grad Student Book Club.

Questions or accessibility needs? Contact Ginny Hutcheson at ghutches@umd.edu.

Want to be a more confident teacher? Develop skills that help you react on the fly to what’s happening in real time in your classroom? Better connect with students? Introduce a sense of camaraderie and even playfulness to your classroom? Join us to learn what improv can teach us about teaching. 

Each week we’ll explore different tools from the world of improvisational theater using practical exercises and discussion in a zero-judgment environment.

What you stand to gain: 1) Greater confidence, efficacy, and authenticity in teaching 2) Heightening your social-emotional awareness within the classroom 3) Identifying opportunities for you and your students to “go off script.”

We’ll meet in person in ESJ 0201 on the following Thursdays from from 1:00–3:00 pm: 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8,10/22, 10/29

This learning community is great for you if you:

• Want to freshen up your classroom game and/or strengthen your “stage presence”
• Are open-minded, curious, and want to expand your experience and teaching toolkit
• Are interested in these skills for learning environments beyond the classroom, such as mentoring, advising, community engagement, service-learning, etc.
• Are able to attend at least 5 of the 6 meetings

Instructors of all experience levels are welcome to join, including graduate teaching assistants. The cohort size will be small by design, so please register early to guarantee your spot.

Register here for the Improv Your Teaching learning community.

Facilitated by Christine Alexander (A. James Clark School of Engineering), Mira Azarm (Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship), and Aner Tal (Arts and Humanities)

Curious but not sure this is for you? Talk to us! Contact Mona Thompson (mona1@umd.edu) with questions and/or accessibility needs.

FACILITATOR BIOS 

Christine Alexander (A. James Clark School of Engineering) is a Lecturer and professional development provider in the Science, Technology, and Society program (STS) where she teaches ENES200: Technology and Consequences: Engineering, Ethics, and Humanity, as well as courses for students in the STS College Park Scholars program. She came to improv as a theater major in undergrad and subsequently worked as a Teaching Artist in schools, museums, and theaters in the DMV. Christine trained in applied improvisation for educational contexts for 7 years (Smithsonian Associates) and in Gestalt Theatre for educators for two years (Gestalt Theatre Association). Practicing improv has made Christine’s teaching more responsive to the students she works with and has inspired her to create interactive and playful learning experiences in her classes.

Mira Azarm (Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship) is a designer, maker, improviser, and educator. As an Innovation Instigator and Relational Experience Designer, she provokes learners into becoming creative problem-solvers (for full dramatic effect, read this sentence out loud in iambic pentameter). She specializes in teaching how to build at low resolution, collaborate radically, lean into wild ideas, and most of all, engage across disciplines and perspectives in meaningful ways. In addition to teaching, she designs artifacts to communicate concepts and tools; co-creates programs, classes, curriculum, and workshops; and prototypes ways to weave innovation into the cultural thread of the institutions she works in. She recently completed a certificate in Experience Design through Odyssey Works, and is learning and performing long-form improv in the Washington, DC area. She’s a world-recognized leader of repurposed craft and building materials, leading to her designation as the Mayor of Toilet Tube Town. This makes her a triple threat: she can build real things with scrappy materials, pretend to build things with imaginary materials, or do some combination thereof. 

https://innovation.umd.edu/directory/mira-azarm

Aner Tal (Arts and Humanities) is a Visiting Professor teaching Behavioral Economics and Tech Entrepreneurship. He’s been improvising since 2009, learning improv from a wide variety of schools across the multiverse. He had absolutely no interest in theater or improv when he discovered it by accident (sort of like fire, but in a random workshop). He’s found improv to be extremely helpful to his teaching, helping him improve his stage presence and confidently navigate unscripted lectures that very much respond to what is happening in the classroom on any particular day.

What do your grading practices communicate about what you value? Join colleagues from across campus for a faculty learning community exploring how we can better align grading with learning. Together, we'll examine alternative grading philosophies and practical strategies for alternative assessment to reflect on what it really means for students to learn in our disciplines. Whether you're interested in making one small change or rethinking your entire grading system, this community will provide a supportive space to clarify your values, learn from others' experiences, and develop a realistic plan that fits your teaching context. Through discussion, reflection, and shared classroom experiences, we'll explore ways to make grading more meaningful for both our students and ourselves.

This learning will meet on 6 Thursdays (9/17, 10/1, 10/8, 10/29, 11/12, and 12/3) from 12:30-1:30pm in ESJ 1103. Meetings will be in person with the option to call in virtually as needed.
 

Coordinated by Emily Berman, TLTC 

Register here for the Rethinking Grading Learning Community.

Questions or accessibility needs? Contact Emily at eberman4@umd.edu

How can small shifts in your teaching make a transformative difference for first-generation college students?

At the University of Maryland, roughly 20% of our students identify as first-generation (neither parent/guardian holds a bachelor's degree). Join this collaborative, discussion-based learning community to explore first-gen student experiences at UMD and gain practical strategies to foster their success in your classroom. We’ll cover topics like who our first-gen Terps are, and how the "hidden curriculum" impacts their academic journey. 

You’ll leave with fresh insights, actionable teaching strategies, and a supportive community of peers. All UMD instructors are welcome!

This Learning Community will meet on 5 Mondays (9/14, 10/5, 10/26, 11/16, and 12/7) from 1:00-2:30pm in ESJ 1103. Meetings will be in person with the option to call in virtually as needed.
Coordinated by Dawn Simounet, TLTC.
 

Coordinated by Dawn Simounet, TLTC 

Register here for the Supporting First-Generation Student Success Learning Community.

Questions or accessibility needs? Contact Dawn at simounet@umd.edu

How can we intentionally design learning experiences that motivate students to engage? This learning community will examine theories of motivation and their implications for teaching and course design. We will explore how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation influence engagement, examine recent scholarship on motivation, engagement, and generative AI, and consider what these findings mean for today's classrooms. Each session will focus on applying theories and research to assignments, classroom activities, and teaching practices, with time to discuss successes, challenges, and ideas with colleagues.

We will meet on Wednesdays for six weeks (10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4, 11/11, 11/18) from 11am - 12:15pm in ESJ 1103. Meetings will be in-person with the option to join virtually as needed.

Coordinated by Louisa Nkrumah, TLTC 

Register here for the Motivational Design for Learning community.

Questions or accessibility needs? Contact Louisa Nkrumah at lnkrumah@umd.edu.