Workshops and Professional Development

When Students Stop Watching and Start Doing

How one instructor redesigned a 3-hour evening class into an active learning space

Facilitators: Travis Linden Reid (ICS) & Fanny Tsai (DTEI)

How do you keep more than 100 students engaged in a 3-hour Monday evening class?

Travis Linden Reid, UCI Instructor in Informatics, redesigned his long block by replacing long lectures with quick cycles of “learn a little, do a little.” Students shift between short explanations, hands-on work, and small-group discussions to keep the room active.
Travis also uses an optional AI Reflection activity that helps students look critically at AI, whether they choose to use it or not.

Join us to see how small design tweaks can create an engaging, active learning space. RSVP here. 

Brown-bag style: bring your lunch; coffee and tea provided.

Designing for Clarity: Small Course Tweaks with Big Impacts

Facilitators: Janice Hansen (School of Education) & Fanny Tsai (DTEI)

When students feel a course has a clear structure with support for success, they can engage with confidence and take more intellectual risks. This starts with intentional course design.

Janice Hansen (School of Education) will share how she utilized an existing module structure with her own teaching rhythm to create a course flow that guides students toward increasingly complex learning goals. She uses a scaffolded learning cycle with consistent patterns to help students understand what’s happening, why it matters, and how each module fits into the broader conceptual themes of the course.

Her approach shows how small structural decisions can make learning more accessible, reduce unnecessary cognitive load, and encourage steady progress toward complex goals.

RSVP for this workshop here.

Course Design Essentials Program

Facilitators: Bob Pelayo & Geidy Mendez

The Course Design Essentials (CDE) Program supports graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and faculty in designing courses using evidence-based practices. In this certificate program, participants will practice backward, integrated course design by establishing goals for student learning and aligning assignments and assessments with these goals. Participants who complete all program requirements and attend all sessions, which are in person, will earn a Certificate in Course Design.

Visit the website for additional information, including registration information.

Perusall: Passive Reading to Active Dialogue

Maximizing Canvas Grades for Effective Grading Practices (DTEI and EEE’s Collaborative workshop)

Poll Everywhere: Igniting Classroom Engagement

Facilitators: Professor David Copp (Engineering), Kelsey Layos (OIT), Bo Choi (DTEI)

Join us to discover how Poll Everywhere can transform your classroom into an active learning environment. This workshop demonstrates how real-time polling and interactive activities boost student engagement and participation.

Professor David Copp, Associate Professor of Teaching in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, will share creative applications across disciplines and insights on its impact on student learning. Kelsey Layos from the Office of Information Technology will go over the basics of Poll Everywhere’s setup and key features. Leave ready to energize your classroom with practical, engaging activities.

Join us to expand your knowledge of Poll Everywhere and discover practical strategies to enhance classroom engagement and student success.

RSVP to this workshop on ZotSpot