CTE In The News

Programs like UVA Acts bring to life higher education troubles and tensions through original sketches. These performances strive to educate, entertain—and transform.

In his Virginia Politics and Policy course, Batten Professor Andy Pennock asks his students to choose policy problems facing the Commonwealth that they’d like to see solved. Then, the class works together to both determine relevant readings and invite guests to speak on the issues they’ve selected. Pennock designed the class through UVA’s Center for Teaching Excellence, using a model called "open inquiry."

In partnership with PhD Plus, we are looking for a CTE Intern to further our goal of developing graduate students’ teaching skills and thereby empowering them to be more effective TAs and instructors and preparing them for successful faculty careers.

The CTE is pleased to welcome Rose Buckelew to our team! An Assistant Professor, General Faculty in the Department of Sociology, she was selected as one of our CTE Faculty Fellows. Learn more about Rose, her interests, and how she hopes to continue sharing her expertise and passion for improving teaching and learning with fellow instructors.

In Fall 2020, many instructors took advantage of UVA's new or recently expanded technologies to improve assessment and evaluation processes and increase student engagement and collaboration.

In the face of educational inequities exacerbated by COVID-19, how can instructors harness their grading practices to support equitable outcomes and deep learning for all students?

We offer a sampling of strategies that you, your colleagues, or your program can employ to prepare and engage students before, during, and after the 2020 US presidential election.

What and why to teach are more important considerations than how to teach if we are to offer an education that truly matters at this distinct historical juncture, writes Andrew Kaufman.

The Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Design & Technology in the College of Arts & Sciences have invested considerable time and resources this summer to ensure the highest-quality learning experiences possible under the circumstances.

Under Holmes, the Center for Teaching Excellence established Thrive grants for faculty adding experiential learning to existing syllabi.

Learn more about CTE resources that will help you prepare to teach this fall, regardless of instructional modality.

With c3Design, the learning happens at a distance, is spread out over several weeks, and is less dependent on individual schedules. The current pandemic makes c3Design a perfect alternative to our Course Design Institute.

In early March my university administration informed me that I had a week to transition my University of Virginia course Books Behind Bars online.

Ahead of the first days of virtual classes, CTE Director Michael Palmer shares some advice for instructors on communicating with students and making adjustments, big and small.

As UVA faculty shift all spring semester courses from the classroom to virtual delivery, the A&S Learning Design & Technology team, alongside other partners like the Center for Teaching Excellence, is working to ensure instructors have the tools and support they need to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Since the fund's creation in 2017, approximately 100 professorships have been endowed through the partnership of donors and UVA, including at entities like the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Astronomy graduate student Yiqing Song shares her experience in the PhD Plus Liaisons Program, where she has co-developed and co-facilitated a workshop for Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) in the STEM fields.

Physics graduate student Sharon Philip shares her experience in the PhD Plus Liaisons Program, where she is making efforts to not only encourage active communication between graduate students and the administration, but also bridge the gap between TAs and students in STEM disciplines.

"One of the things that I've always enjoyed doing as a teacher … was figuring out how to make literature exciting to everyone—not just students and fellow academics—but how to take the beauty and the power of literature and share it with many others outside of the academy." The CTE's Assistant Director of Community-Engaged Learning Initiatives Andrew Kaufman shares how he got involved in this work and the impact he hopes to have in his new position.

Curry graduate student Christian West shares his experience in the PhD Plus Liaisons Program under the mentorship of CTE Assistant Director Adriana Streifer.

Facilitated theater is a new problem-solving technique that the University currently uses to indirectly address potential discrimination through performances. UVA's own group, UVA Acts, is expanding the type of issues that the Center for Teaching Excellence is tackling.

Curry Associate Professor Karen Inkelas, CTE Assistant Director of STEM Education Initiatives Lindsay Wheeler, and SEAS' Instructional Technologies Coordinator Michael Redwine built and are piloting a new observational tool designed to identify what makes a class session engaging and effective.

UVA Vice President and Provost Liz Magill urged graduate students to take advantage of opportunities offered by the Center for Teaching Excellence.

SEAS Educational Strategies Coordinator Michael Redwine, Education Associate Professor Karen Inkelas, and CTE Assistant Director Lindsay Wheeler are developing a “suite of digital tools designed to improve college teaching and student learning.”

UVA Nursing Professor Tomeka Dowling shares her story of recognizing a powerful teaching moment last fall, originally recounted at the CTE's Celebration of Teaching Excellence on May 15.

University of Virginia faculty members in STEM disciplines will have the opportunity to enlist more support for using active-learning methods in their large introductory classes–with the help of undergraduate students.

The CTE's Lindsay Wheeler and Hannah Sturtevant are interviewed about their research, which explores the barriers to using innovative teaching practices. Wheeler and Sturtevant explain their findings and possible solutions.

The University of Virginia has expanded its commitment to the Bicentennial Professors Fund to further strengthen efforts to attract and retain the best and the brightest faculty members across every discipline.

It’s likely that Ken Elzinga has impacted more students than any professor in University of Virginia history.