January 2025

Connecting Educators: Introducing Bass Teaching Triangles for Collaborative Growth

The main goal of Bass Teaching Triangles is to promote collaborative learning by sharing teaching practices and gaining inspiration from colleagues, emphasizing a supportive environment focused on professional development. The program connects a group of three faculty members to visit each others' classrooms. Each Bass Teaching Triangle includes a Bass Fellow to highlight exceptional teaching strategies of individuals that have been recognized by the university. The group will discuss and reflect on teaching experiences and methodologies without the pressure of evaluation. The priority deadline to complete the interest form is Jan. 24.

Join a Community of Practice on Innovative Grading and Assessment

The Innovative Grading and Assessment Community of Practice (CoP) aims to bring together instructors who have used or are currently using innovative grading and assessment approaches to achieve two goals:

We invite instructors of any rank and any discipline to apply. Participants meeting the program expectations will receive a stipend of $4,000. 

All events are virtual and in Eastern time unless otherwise noted.

Getting Real with the Time You Have: Aligning Your Writing and Teaching

Friday, January 10  |  12:30 - 1:45 pm  |  Rubenstein Library 249 (Carpenter Board Room)

At the start of every semester, do you hope that, finally, this will be the one when you don't get overwhelmed by teaching? When you also make progress on your writing and research? When you make a realistic plan for how you will spend your time, and then actually stick to it? In this workshop led by Faculty Write director Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, we’ll discuss how you can optimize your time and promote student learning. Learn why it's hard to manage the time you spend on teaching, why you should, and how you can. Register Now >

Crafting the Writing Process

Tuesday, January 14  |  12 - 1 pm

Offered by the Thompson Writing Program

Left to their own devices, students often wait to begin writing assignments until they are nearly due-cheating themselves out of much the learning the assignment was designed to support. This session explores a range of options for staging the writing process in ways that can maximize learning, without overburdening the instructor. Register Now >

GenAI Fundamentals: A Beginner’s Guide to Generative AI & Prompting

Friday, January 17  |  12 - 1 pm

In this workshop we will trace the impact of generative AI in recent years and how to engage with it. We will review what generative AI means and discuss how natural language processing has created an AI accessible to all. Finally we will discuss the basics of how to use generative AI. This means how to create prompts that will get you the best results in your conversations with the AI. This will be an educational session and not hands-on instruction. Register Now >

Empathy in Instructional Design

Part of the Spring 2025 Pedagogies of Care series

Thursday, January 23  |  12 - 1 pm

In this session, Dr. Kisha Daniels will discuss how her experience as a Faculty-in-Residence has shifted her perspective on teaching. She will share how she approaches the instructional design of her courses to more fully incorporate her students and make her courses more relevant to their lives. She will also discuss how she has begun to think about new research directions that are inclusive of approaches such as co-designing courses with students. Register Now >

Bringing Your Personal Passions to Your Teaching and Research

Part of the Bass Society Seminar on Teaching Excellence series

Wednesday, January 29  |  12 - 1:15 pm  |  Bolton Family Tower Room

Featuring Bridgette Hard, Professor of the Practice of Psychology and Neuroscience and Mohamed Noor, Professor of Biology

The Bass Society Seminar on Teaching Excellence highlights successful teaching strategies through expert-led, interactive sessions. Bass Society of Fellows are Duke faculty who have each been recognized for excellence in teaching undergraduates and have a distinguished record of scholarship. A Bass Fellow leads each seminar session, outlining an aspect of their successful teaching strategies.

Space is limited, and registration is required. Junior faculty are encouraged to attend. Lunch is provided for registrants. Register Now >

Wooclap

Looking to boost student engagement in the classroom? Check out Wooclap, which can help you measure student understanding through interactive questionnaires, multimedia, whiteboards, and other collaborative activities. Learn how Colin Yuckman has used Wooclap in his courses >

Canvas

Cross-Listing: Combining sections of a course is called “cross-listing.” This is straightforward for instructors to do following this help guide.

NEW Sample Site: This Canvas sample site is designed to provide a simple structure for Duke instructors to quickly develop their course site while adopting best practices. 

Videos featuring LILE and our collaborators.

DKU's Annual Teaching and Learning Showcase: Authentic Learning for Future Success

BoulderTalks feat. Yakut Gazi: The Practical and Moral Imperative for At-Scale Learning

Pilot an AI-Powered Chatbot in Your Course

OIT is seeking faculty partners interested in piloting an AI Course Chatbot this semester. If you would like to build a chatbot specifically trained on content from your course (textbooks, PDFs, case studies, etc), email Michael Faber at maf13@duke.edu.

Duke to Enhance Online Security Measures

As online threats continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, Duke must continue to adapt its cybersecurity measures to protect users and keep their data safe. As a result, several changes will be implemented across Duke University, Duke Health, and Duke Kunshan in the next several months - including the phasing out of phone call and SMS authentication.

Every month we share the latest adventures of Lile the crocodile, LILE's unofficial mascot.

Though Lile has not yet gone on an adventure in 2025, they did accompany Vice Provost for Learning Innovation and Digital Education Yakut Gazi to Paris for the IEEE International Conference on IT in Higher Education and Training (ITHET) late last year. The theme for this year's conference was The Future of Education, Powered by IT and AI. Now that Lile is rested from the winter break, we are excited to see where they will go next!

Lile representing Duke at the Eiffel Tower (left) and the Arc de Triomphe (right).