MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2013 Activities by Sponsor - Teaching and Learning Lab

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DUET Seminar - Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society

Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab

Jan/29 Tue 04:00PM-05:00PM 4-231

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab

In today's rapidly-changing society, people must continually come up with creative solutions to unexpected problems. More than ever before, success is based not on what you know, but on your ability to think and act creatively. In short, we are living in the Creative Society. But there is a problem. Most activities in children's lives, whether it's lessons in the classroom or games in the living room, are not designed to help children develop as creative thinkers.

In this presentation, Professor Resnick will discuss new technologies and activities designed specifically to help children learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively, so that they are prepared for life in the Creative Society. I will focus particularly on Scratch, a programming language and online community that enables young people (ages 8 and up) to create their own interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations -- and share their creations with one another online (http://scratch.mit.edu). In the process, children develop skills and ways of thinking that are essential for becoming active participants in the Creative Society.

 

 

Sponsor(s): Teaching and Learning Lab
Contact: Leann Dobranski, 5-122, 617 253-3371, LEANN@MIT.EDU


How to Speak

Professor Patrick Winston, Dept. of EECS, Ford Professor of Engineering/ MacVicar Faculty Fellow

Feb/01 Fri 11:00AM-12:00PM 10-250

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

You can improve your speaking ability in critical situations by observing a few heuristic rules. Professor Winston's collection of rules is presented along with examples of their application not only in lectures, but also in job talks, thesis defenses, and oral examinations.

Sponsor(s): Teaching and Learning Lab
Contact: Leann Dobranski, 5-122, x3-3371, leann@mit.edu


Integrating Communication Instruction in CI Subjects: A Writing Across the Curriculum IAP Workshop

Louise Harrison Lepera and Dr. Jessie Stickgold-Sarah, Lecturers, Writing Across the Curriculum

Jan/28 Mon 10:00AM-11:30AM 12-134

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

Instructors of CI subjects often ask how they can more effectively connect writing and speaking instruction with the course content, so that communication assignments are not just additional requirements, but instead help students more deeply engage with the concepts of the course.  How can we design instructional and assignment sequences that are organic to each subject, and that help students approach writing and speaking as the space for developing conceptual thinking?  Working with some examples from CI-M and CI-H classes, we'll explore how instructors can break down assignments to demystify research, writing, and presentation in their fields.  Improved sequencing will help students experience a more productive writing experience.

Bring examples of assignments from your classes to share.

All WAC workshops are open to faculty and teaching assistants who are interested in integrating writing and speaking into their subjects.

Sponsor(s): Teaching and Learning Lab, Comparative Media Studies
Contact: Ashley Caval, 12-117, 617 253-0650, ACAVAL@MIT.EDU


Oral Presentations and the Academic Conversation: A Writing Across the Curriculum IAP Workshop

Atissa Banuazizi and Nora Jackson, Lecturers, Writing Across the Curriculum

Jan/31 Thu 10:00AM-11:30AM 12-134

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

This interactive workshop is geared to instructors across the disciplines who are interested in integrating oral presentation into their classes.  We will discuss effective strategies to teach the oral component in CI classes as an act of critical thinking.  Together, we will define goals for a variety of speaking genres in science and humanities classes.  Participants will collaborate in sharing good practices from their own experience.  Finally, we will explore some practical templates to teach oral presentation that encourage students to practice the following skills: (1) communicating complex ideas in accessible language; (2) creating presentations that clearly define goals and argument or hypothesis; (3) organizing presentations in the service of developing ideas in the broader context of the field.

All WAC workshops are open to faculty and teaching assistants who are interested in integrating writing and speaking into their subjects.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies, Teaching and Learning Lab
Contact: Ashley Caval, 12-117, 617 253-0650, ACAVAL@MIT.EDU


Powerful Feedback: Strategies for Responding to Student Writing: A Writing Across the Curriculum IAP Workshop

Dr. Karen Boiko and Susan Carlisle, Lecturers, Writing Across the Curriculum

Jan/29 Tue 10:00AM-11:30AM 12-134

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

What kind of feedback will help students understand how to revise their essays, reports or articles, or to write their next assignment more effectively?  This workshop will help faculty and TA's to articulate their criteria for student writing and to develop powerful feedback practices, from written comments to ribrucs to peer review to individual conferences.  By considering feedback in relation to other forms of instruction, participants will learn to provide the kinds of comments and strategies that will help students understand how to improve their skills as writers.

All WAC workshops are open to faculty and teaching assistants who are interested in integrating writing and speaking into their subjects.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies, Teaching and Learning Lab
Contact: Ashley Caval, 12-117, 617 253-0650, ACAVAL@MIT.EDU


(CANCELED) RESCHEDULED to 2/15/13 Structuring Your Scientific Paper

Dr. Jean-luc Doumont,

Jan/30 Wed 02:00PM-04:00PM Rescheduled for 2/15/13 in 32-123

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Papers are one of the few deliverables of the work of researchers. Well-designed, they efficiently allow each reader to learn only what he or she needs to. Poorly designed, by contrast, they confuse readers, fail to prompt decisions, or remain unread. Based on Dr Doumont's book Trees, Maps, and Theorems, about “effective communication for rational minds”, the lecture shows how to structure scientific papers, theses, and technical reports effectively at all levels to get the readers' attention, facilitate navigation, and, in this way, get the message across optimally.

Sponsor(s): Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE), Teaching and Learning Lab, Sloan School of Management
Contact: Leann Dobranski, 5-122, x3-3371, leann@mit.edu


Teaching Students to Write with (and Cite) Sources: A Writing Across the Curriculum IAP Workshop

Dr. Suzanne Lane, Acting Director, Writing Across the Curriculum

Jan/30 Wed 10:00AM-11:30AM 12-134

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)

Using evidence and writing with sources are central features of academic work.  Students often struggle with these aspects of academic writing; they find the differing requirements for source use, the practices of citation, and the relationships between claim and evidence hard to navigate as they move from one discipline to another throughout their undergraduate career.  Drawing from recent research in writing pedagogy, this workshop will discuss how to teach students to write with sources in ways that help them both to understand the methods of argument in different disciplines, and to better understand the requirements of academic integrity.

All WAC workshops are open to faculty and teaching assistants who are interested in integrating writing and speaking into their subjects.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies, Teaching and Learning Lab
Contact: Ashley Caval, 12-117, 617 253-0650, ACAVAL@MIT.EDU


(CANCELED) Tech's Top Teachers Talk Turkey

Facilitated by: Lori Breslow, Teaching & Learning Lab

Jan/28 Mon 12:00PM-01:00PM 4-231

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Join us for a session in which some of MIT's best teachers — both faculty and teaching assistants — talk about how to teach well. This is a panel discussion at which questions are strongly encouraged.

Sponsor(s): Teaching and Learning Lab
Contact: Leann Dobranski, 5-122, x3-3371, leann@mit.edu