The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence has announced the University's 2015-2016 recipients of Teaching Circles funding. A Teaching Circle is a community of about three to six instructors who explore a specific topic or theme related to best practices in teaching and learning. Teaching Circle members experiment with new instructional approaches, engage in collaborative research, and participate in the scholarship of teaching and learning related to the group's specific topic.

Participants in UHD Teaching Circles enjoy opportunities to:

• experiment with new teaching and learning strategies;
• network and interact with colleagues who share an interest in a specific pedagogical question or issue;
• collaborate within and across disciplines;
• increase student learning and academic success;
• access resources and funding for teaching circle activities such as attending a webinar, purchasing materials, cost for a Quality Matters course review, etc.and
• receive a stipend upon completion of a preliminary report for professional development needs, such as travel to present findings.

This year's circle members and topics are listed below, with team leaders listed first.

Members of each circle will share additional information on their projects with the university community at a kick-off event to be held Thursday, Oct. 1, 2:30-4:30 p.m. in room A625. Faculty and staff are invited to attend by registering here. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information on Teaching Circles, including artifacts from last year's groups, visit the CTLE website.

2015-2016 Teaching Circles:

"Engaging Freshman Seminar Students Using Tablets"; Gabriela Bowden, Meghan Minard and Sanghamitra Saha

"Fostering Engagement in the Adjunct Classroom"; Stacie DeFreitas, Andrew Pavelich and Stephanie Babb

"Fostering Teamwork In Online Communication Courses"; Elizabeth Hatfield, Ashley Archiopoli Creshema Murray, and Lucas Logan

"Course Innovation in Online PSY 3320"; Susan Henney, Melissa Raymundo, Erlanger Turner, Kristen Capuozzo and Laura Spiller

"Fostering Engagement in Organic Chemistry"; Tyra Hessel, Robin Jose and Hamida Qavi

"Writing in the Disciplines: Developing Effective Writing Assignments"; Katharine Jager, Dagmar Scharold, Wanda Mullen, Heather Goltz, Stephanie Karras, Eszter Trufan and Claude Rubinson

"Dissemination of Transparency Methods in HIPS @ UHD"; Yuan Yuan Kang, Creshema Murray, John Kelly and Adriana Visbal

"Bringing Deliberative Dialogues to UHD Faculty Classrooms"; Windy Lawrence, Ashley Archiopoli, Raquel Chiquillo, Jonathan Chism, Beth Secor and Jerome Socolof

"Motivation and Learning Strategies in Freshman Barrier Courses"; Adriana Visbal, Lea Campbell, Eszter Trufan and Elizabeth Villegas

"Bringing Quality Matters to UHD Non-Majors' Online Biology Courses"; Mary Jo Parker, Rachael Hudspeth and Sanghamitra Saha