Jumpstart your plans for a Teaching-as-Research (TAR) project in this 6-week flipped course designed to guide participants through developing a research question, identifying project methods and outcomes, and more. Each week, students will watch videos, read articles, and complete assignments on their own time; in weekly sessions, students will refine their work with peer review, work through sticking points with instructors, and build community to sustain their work. Throughout the course, students will also be expected to meet occasionally with a local TAR contact (typically the person at your CIRTL member institution who mentors TAR students and/or runs your institution’s TAR program) to refine key components of your TAR project plan. By the end of the course, students will present a TAR project plan and be well-positioned to implement their project in the coming academic year.

What is Teaching-as-Research?

Teaching-as-Research (TAR) takes a deliberate and systematic approach towards investigating, reflecting on, and improving one’s own teaching. The TAR process follows an inquiry cycle that consists of the following stages: identifying of a challenge within the context of teaching and learning, delving into the relevant scientific literature, designing a project to elucidate why the challenge occurs or designing a teaching intervention to address the challenge, implementing the project, collecting data, analyzing the data, drawing conclusions, and reflecting on the experience. TAR is a proactive and dynamic approach towards improving your teaching and document your teaching effectiveness. A TAR experience will provide a substantial example of your reflective, professional practice applicable to a range of career outcomes.

Instructors

Sophia Abbott, The University of Rhode Island
Jessica Maher, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Course Schedule

This 6-week course has weekly online sessions on Tuesdays at 7-8:30pm Gulf / 11am-12:30pm Eastern / 10-11:30am Central / 8-9:30am Pacific/Arizona from June 16th to July 21st.

Workload

Your instructors estimate students will need to spend 6-8 hours per week on work outside of class sessions including: watching videos, reading articles, completing assignments, meeting with your local TAR contact, and reviewing peer group work so that you can provide in-session feedback.

Registration and Enrollment

This course is limited to 25 students. Registration opens on Monday, May 11th at 10am CT. All applications will be reviewed and enrollment will be based on eligibility. This course builds on a foundational understanding of teaching and learning, and interested participants will need to share their teaching and/or teaching development experience in a brief course application. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority.

Accessibility

If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact David Larson (dlarson23@wisc.edu) to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience.

About CIRTL Programming

CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.

This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate level:

• • Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
  • Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
  • Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.