ENROLL NOW: UNI STU 390X: Developing Teaching Excellence

By the end of the course, you will:

• Engage with teaching research and apply evidence-based strategies across disciplines.
• Design inclusive, student-centered learning experiences using Universal Design for Learning (UDL), active learning, and equity-minded practices.
• Create a complete, ready-to-teach course syllabus with aligned learning outcomes, assessments, and activities.
• Improve your teaching through peer observation and feedback, and reflect on your growth as an educator.
• Build connections in a multidisciplinary teaching community that supports collaboration and ongoing professional development.

Alex Bower (he/him/his) earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from UC Irvine in 2022, where he studied a range of topics in cognitive science including how people arrive at “aha!” moments, to how we understand and evaluate bias toward artificial intelligence (AI). 

As DTEI’s Educational Development Specialist for Graduate Students & Postdocs, he leads many programs and courses, including the Pedagogical Scholars Program, DTEI Summer Graduate Scholars Program, Summer Teaching Apprenticeship Program, the Certificate in Teaching Excellence, and UNI STU 390X. Alex’s teaching approach emphasizes community building, collaborative learning, and mentorship. He finds continual inspiration in the creativity, care, and dedication of his graduate student partners, including his Educational Development Graduate Scholars.

Outside of academia, Alex is a retro video game streamer and enthusiast. He has also taught and performed improvisational and sketch comedy for over a decade, including with house teams at The Pack Theater and The Second City, Hollywood.

👤Alex’s mentoring was one of the main aspects that contributed to my success in this course. He did an amazing job structuring the lectures and providing a concrete curriculum that it was easy to digest and comprehend! Alex is one of the best professors I have EVER had and is a real benefit to the DTEI program!!!!

👤The collaborative environment was awesome! I really enjoyed how engaged the students were. I think this was in large part due to Alex setting up a warm and welcoming classroom. Everyone seemed free to speak their mind and it led to some helpful discussions when interpreting new pedagogical ideas. 

👤[The readings] were extremely interesting. They challenged my preexisting views of effective pedagogy… Alex did a great job making the course engaging and I always really enjoyed coming to class and hanging out with my desk cluster.

👤I enjoyed how Dr. Bower would use think-pair-share as an activity for students to share lived experiences to address questions and struggles in regards to teaching and applying course materials to their everyday experiences. Dr. Bower would share his personal experiences of how to address and resolve issues around teaching and pedagogy.

👤The class did not feel like a typical lecture class. There was ample time to share ideas out to a larger community and plenty of opportunities for active learning.

👤Almost all of the content in this course was new to me, or at a minimum, I hadn’t revisited in at least four years since TAPDP. It was stimulating to not only read academic papers and hear your point of view, but also think about our own experiences and build a syllabus ourselves. While I’m not used to educational research, it helped me gain valuable tools in my teaching career and forced me to think critically in a subject outside of my own discipline.