Teaching and Learning Center
Upcoming Events
Grade Expectations: Mastering the Art of Efficient Grading
Mon 11/9 • 2PM - 3PM PST RSVP
Grading doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In this workshop, explore practical strategies you can use to provide student feedback while streamlining the grading process. Learn how rubrics can speed up grading, and preview various BruinLearn tools and features that can provide efficient yet effective student feedback. By the end of the session, you’ll plan a sample activity or use case you can adapt for your own course. This workshop is part of the Teaching with Technology Pathway’s Discover track. For more information on the Teaching with Technology Pathway: https://teaching.ucla.edu/pedagogical-pathways/teaching-with-technology-pathway-program/
Tea with a Teaching Professor
Tue 11/10 • 9:30AM - 11AM PST RSVP
Powell 186
Join the Teaching and Learning Center for our inaugural Tea with a Teaching Professor event. This intimate gathering provides graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with an opportunity to have small-group conversations with some of UCLA’s leading teaching-focused faculty to expand their professional network and learn more about the teaching professor career path. Registration for this event is intentionally limited to help facilitate intimate dialogue. Each teaching professor in attendance will be seated with a maximum of 4-5 students/postdocs. While we cannot guarantee attendees will be matched with a professor in their field, you can expect plenty of time to ask questions and network with instructors and peers over light refreshments. Register by November 2 to secure your spot. In the event that registration fills, we will start a wait list.
10 + 10 Pop-Up Series: What UCLA Seniors Tell Us About AI and Learning
Tue 11/10 • 10AM - 10:20AM PST RSVP
Explore findings from the 2026 UCLA Senior Survey on how students are using AI in their coursework, how they perceive its benefits and challenges for learning, and the guidance they receive on AI use. We’ll highlight key patterns in students’ experiences and consider what they may mean for teaching practices, assessment, and supporting students’ effective use of AI. Presenter: Wonki Lee, Associate Director of Educational Assessment Services & Initiatives at UCLA Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) Keywords: ucla senior survey, AI use, students experiences on AI, student feedback Each academic quarter, the educational designers and developers of the UCLA Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) offer via Zoom a weekly series of seven pop-up sessions - each just 10 minutes in length - on focused, specific topics related to course design, teaching, learning, and learning assessment. The additional “+10” in the series title refers to an optional 10 minutes that follow each presentation for Q&A and discussion. These 10 + 10 sessions will take place at 10am (PT) every Tuesday in the quarter, from Week 2 through Week 8. These sessions are open to all UCLA instructors—including faculty, lecturers, instructors of record, graduate student instructors, and postdoctoral scholars. Please direct any inquiries to instructorsupport@teaching.ucla.edu.
Grade Expectations: Mastering the Art of Efficient Grading
Thu 11/12 • 11AM - 12PM PST RSVP
Grading doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In this workshop, explore practical strategies you can use to provide student feedback while streamlining the grading process. Learn how rubrics can speed up grading, and preview various BruinLearn tools and features that can provide efficient yet effective student feedback. By the end of the session, you’ll select personalized strategies to make grading more manageable and sustainable. This workshop is part of the Teaching with Technology Pathway’s Discover track. For more information on the Teaching with Technology Pathway: https://teaching.ucla.edu/pedagogical-pathways/teaching-with-technology-pathway-program/
Accessible Media 101
Thu 11/12 • 12:30PM - 1:30PM PST RSVP
This workshop is only open to instructors. This workshop will explain which accessibility modalities are required for which type of media. Participants will explore how to identify common accessibility barriers in media, and utilize strategies for addressing them. This workshop is part of the Discover Track of the Digital Accessibility Pathway (https://teaching.ucla.edu/pedagogical-pathways/digital-accessibility-pathway-program/).
10 + 10 Pop-Up Series: Syllabus Tune-Up: Three Things to Check
Tue 11/17 • 10AM - 10:20AM PST RSVP
The syllabus is an essential part of instruction that communicates the objectives, expectations, and structure of a course. Is it clear? Is it welcoming? Is it accessible? Leave with practical ideas you can apply to your next syllabus. Presenter: Sammy Solis, Assistant Director for Teaching Development at the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) Keywords: syllabus, student belonging, expectations, course objective, clear learning goals Each academic quarter, the educational designers and developers of the UCLA Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) offer via Zoom a weekly series of seven pop-up sessions - each just 10 minutes in length - on focused, specific topics related to course design, teaching, learning, and learning assessment. The additional “+10” in the series title refers to an optional 10 minutes that follow each presentation for Q&A and discussion. These 10 + 10 sessions will take place at 10am (PT) every Tuesday in the quarter, from Week 2 through Week 8. These sessions are open to all UCLA instructors—including faculty, lecturers, instructors of record, graduate student instructors, and postdoctoral scholars. Please direct any inquiries to instructorsupport@teaching.ucla.edu.
Designing Assignments for Ethical and Critical AI Engagement
Wed 11/18 • 2:30PM - 4PM PST RSVP
Powell Library Room 190
This interactive workshop invites you to reflect on your professional and instructional values, using the Live Your Values card deck to consider ethical AI use in your discipline. You will then revise an existing assignment that can support students in developing their own values, revising your learning objectives to foster students’ caring, curiosity, and community. This workshop is part of the AI and Teaching Pathway’s Discover track (more information on the AI and Teaching with Technology Pathway). https://teaching.ucla.edu/pedagogical-pathways/teaching-with-technology-pathway-program/
Bring Your Own Syllabus: Peer Review Session
Thu 11/19 • 3PM - 5PM PST RSVP
Powell Library, room 190
This co-working peer review session will cover syllabus design best practices. Participants will look at example syllabi, consider best practices for student-centered, inclusive, and digitally accessible design, and peer review each other’s materials. Light refreshments will be served. This session is open to all instructors, including faculty, TAs, and postdocs. Please contact gspse@teaching.ucla.edu if you have any questions.
Putting AI in Its Place in Teaching Writing
Mon 11/30 • 10AM - 11AM PST RSVP
Powell 186
Writing-intensive courses across the curriculum—which are highly exposed to AI misuse—present special challenges and opportunities for transformation in the age of AI. To succeed in today’s AI-integrated workplaces, students need advanced writing, reading and editing skills. This seminar will introduce a human-centered, award-winning curricular model, PAIRR (Peer and AI Review + Reflection), which is designed to build critical AI literacy while simultaneously improving equity in writing support for students. Findings from the PAIRR project— tested with thousands of community college, CSU and UC Davis students in 2025-2027—will also be shared during this seminar. Presenter Bio: Marit J. MacArthur teaches writing and serves as AI & Emerging Technology coordinator for UC Davis’s Writing Center. She is a PI for the PAIRR (Peer and AI Review + Reflection) project and co-investigator with the Center for AI and Experimental Futures (CAIEF). Marit’s work on AI and writing—which builds on her NEH-funded interdisciplinary research in voice studies—has appeared in AI & Society, Computers and Composition, Inside Higher Ed, Bad Ideas about AI and Writing, and Frontiers in Communication. She is a GenAI and Writing in Higher Ed series editor for Critical AI and pedagogy lead for the UC Humanities Research Institute AI Lab.
Practice & Play with EdTech: Exploring Productivity Potentials with Google Gemini
Wed 12/2 • 3:30PM - 5PM PST RSVP
Powell 186
This session is open to all instructors, TAs, and postdocs. The Practice and Play with EdTech series offers instructors a hands-on opportunity to explore teaching tools and strategies with TLC staff. This session will explore how to leverage AI to support aspects of their teaching workflow — from brainstorming lesson plans to drafting assessments or developing grading strategies. Participants will experiment with Google Gemini and practice crafting prompts to support their courses. The session will also include time to critically assess AI-generated responses for accuracy, relevance, and bias.
Assessing Student Learning Throughout the Quarter
Mon 1/25 • 1PM - 2PM PST RSVP
Powell 186
In this workshop, participants will explore ways to assess student learning throughout the quarter to gauge student understanding and to provide students with meaningful opportunities to reflect on their learning. Participants will learn about strategies for gathering student feedback, as well as develop skills to analyze and interpret formative feedback data to identify student learning gaps, trends, and areas for improvement. This session is open to all instructors, TAs, and postdocs. This workshop is part of the "Teaching for Impact" Pathway’s Discover track. Please contact instructorsupport@teaching.ucla.edu if you have any questions.
Measurement and Modeling of Assessment Instrument Data from Chemistry Learning Environments
Wed 1/27 • 10AM - 11AM PST RSVP
Powell 186
Research in the Barbera Chemistry Education Research (CER) group focuses on the generation of high-quality data for supporting inferences regarding the impacts of educational practices. This is accomplished through 1) the development and psychometric evaluation of novel assessment instruments for use in higher education chemistry settings and 2) the modeling of these data in ways that are aligned with appropriate theoretical frameworks. This talk will provide an overview of the types of data modeled by the Barbera group when evaluating the impact of learning environments as well as the requirements for validity and reliability with respect to assessment instrument data. Data and analyses from a variety of assessment instruments and classroom-based projects will be presented. Bio: Jack is a Professor of Chemistry, Director of the CHemistry Instrument Review and Assessment Library (CHIRAL), and Editor-in-Chief of the Chemical Education Xchange (ChemEd X). His work seeks to better understand how educators define and measure student success in an academic setting. Since 2007, the Barbera group has developed a number of assessment tools to more effectively, and efficiently, gauge students’ content knowledge as well as factors important for student success including, engagement, motivation, mindset, identity, and self-efficacy.
Inclusive Teaching
Wed 2/3 • 1PM - 2PM PST RSVP
Powell 186
Participants will reflect on their educational experiences and positionality as instructors before practicing strategies to foster a supportive classroom environment. We will then explore transparent teaching methods designed to make the learning process more accessible for all students. This session is open to all instructors, TAs, and postdocs. This workshop is part of the “Teaching for Impact” Pathway Discover track. Please contact instructorsupport@teaching.ucla.edu if you have any questions.
Active Learning in Action
Thu 2/25 • 10AM - 11AM PST RSVP
Powell 186
Join us for a foundational pedagogical training on active learning, a tried-and-true approach to inclusively engaging students as agents in their learning. After reviewing the benefits and principles of active learning, we will explore classroom activities and active learning tools suitable for a range of disciplines, course sizes, and modalities. Following a demonstration of strategies such as in-class polling and think-pair-share, participants will complete an activity to discern active learning strategies suitable for their context and work to identify equity and accessibility considerations for classroom implementation. This workshop is part of the “Active Learning” and “Teaching for Impact” Pathway Discover tracks. This session is open to all instructors, TAs, and postdocs. Please contact instructorsupport@teaching.ucla.edu if you have any questions.