Teaching and Learning Encore Performances

The UW–Madison Teaching and Learning Encore Performances showcase some of the most outstanding teaching and learning presentations and workshops that have been offered across campus. The Encore Performances mainly feature UW–Madison faculty, staff and students, and address a variety of topics, practices and strategies for improving teaching and learning. Let the shows begin!

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2007 Teaching and Learning Symposium: Enriching Learning for All
May 30-June 1, 2007

Communities and Community: Creating an Inclusive Teaching Environment and a Living Curriculum

Speaker, Victoria Robinson, American Cultures Center, University of California, Berkeley

The American Cultures program at UC Berkeley grew out of student body concerns that the existing university canon did not contain the learning tools needed for students to fully engage in civil society. What developed was a program that articulates multicultural scholarship within the undergraduate curriculum. What are these challenges and how is Berkeley addressing them? How does such a campus organize coherent pedagogical models for such a curriculum—models that "scaffold" student learning—enabling all students and disadvantaging none?

Teaching and Learning 21st Century Citizenship: Engaging Community and Difference

Katherine Cramer Walsh, Political Science and Wisconsin Survey Center

As a political scientist, Walsh explains, “my job in the undergraduate classroom is not to train students to be political scientists, but to help them develop into good citizens.” How does she strive for this in medium-sized lecture courses and in a service-learning seminar on civic engagement? In this session, she outlines ways for individuals to engage in the surrounding community and to be challenged by the differences present there, in our classroom, and on our campus. She discusses what has worked and what has not, and considers the implications of these strategies for the future of our campus life and for undergraduate learning across disciplines.

What's Unique about the UW-Madison Educational Experience and How the Heck Do We Get More Students to Take Advantage of It?

Aaron Brower, Facilitator, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning
Victoria Robinson, Panelist, American Cultures Center, University of California, Berkeley
Aaron Brower presents a brief overview of the "Wisconsin Experience" as a conceptualization of what makes UW–Madison's educational experience unique. Participants engaged in a "reverse panel discussion" (something unique to UW–Madison!) to share with each other and all of the plenary speakers their ideas on special educational experiences available at UW–Madison and how to get more students to take advantage of them.

2006 Teaching and Learning Symposium: Reconsidering Learning Styles and Strategies (May 17–18, 2006)

The annual Teaching and Learning Symposium provides an opportunity for faculty, staff and teaching assistants to explore themes of mutual interest, share best practices and design solutions. This year’s symposium theme highlights the importance of identifying and understanding variation in the way people learn in order to design the best strategies and contexts for successful learning. We are pleased to present the four plenary sessions from this year’s symposium.

Welcome and Introduction

Virginia Sapiro, Associate Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning

The Prejudice Paradox: Striving for Inclusiveness and Fairness in Our Classrooms

Jo Handlesman, Professor, Plant Pathology and Director, Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching, and Co-Director, Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI)

Students have diverse cognitive, communication and social styles. All of these contribute to the challenges of reaching people with different learning styles in large classes. As we seek teaching methods that will include women and minorities in our classrooms, our choices can be informed by the research on learning styles, and race and gender. Other research shows the danger of making broad generalizations about groups and how these generalizations can negatively affect our interactions with our students and their ability to learn. So where is the balance? When do generalizations become bias?

What’s All the Buzz About Informal Learning Spaces?

Kenneth Frazier, Director, University Libraries, Facilitator

Kathy Christoph, Director, Academic Technology, Division of Information Technology

Mark Guthier, Director, Wisconsin Union

Kevin Helmkamp, Associate Dean, Residence Life, University Housing

Informal learning spaces powerfully influence the academic success of students and the campus climate. What design considerations must be taken into account to create the architectural spaces that encourage collaboration, appear welcoming, and foster a sense of academic community? These members of a recently-formed group studying the campus-wide “learning environments” discuss their ideas and plans for creating informal learning spaces that “work.” The discussion focuses on spaces that are designed to extend the learning and research beyond classrooms and departmental offices.

Closing the Loop: Strategies for Implementing Change in Your Classroom

John DeLamater, Professor, Sociology

Changing your teaching can be thought of as a cyclic process represented as a loop. It begins with a willingness to change which leads to seeking out new information or experiences. We each have ideas and the question becomes, Now what? What do I do next? What can I do to facilitate the implementation of these changes in my classroom? Several specific strategies for implementing changes, and assessing those changes, were addressed in the session.

The Art of Storytelling in the Classroom

Mark Louden, Professor, German and Jewish Studies

Harold Scheub, Professor, African Languages and Literature

Storytelling is often a compelling and effective way to reach students. The presenters discuss what makes for effective storytelling — what works in the classroom and what doesn’t. As the presenters “model” storytelling within the context of their topic and discipline, you’ll be invited to think about how you might use stories in your own teaching.

2005 Encore Performances

“Are Clickers Worth It?”

(co-sponsored with the Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning)

Understand how personal response systems, whether a hand-held remote (clicker) or simple index cards, can be effective tools for engaging students with course material and increasing student participation in class.

Index card “clickers” (Part 1), Gary Roberts, Bacteriology
Index card “clickers” (Part 2), Gary Roberts
Hand-held remote clickers (Part 1), Tom Sharkey, Institute for Cross College Biology
Hand-held remote clickers (Part 2), Tom Sharkey
Debate and discussion

“Explore Instructional Materials Development Course”