Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning

Stearns Center Events Calendar

Welcome to our events calendar page! Please bookmark this page to learn more about upcoming events and changes to events listed below.  Also, don’t forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up with all SC events and support resources! Email us at stearns@gmu.edu to sign up.

Some of the events that we offer are part of specific programs at the Stearns Center. Those will be designated as follows:
  • Continuing Professional Development (CPD) – CPD Workshops and Webinars help faculty to document their teaching over time. For more information on CPD credentials, click this link.
  • Inclusive Teaching Credential (AIEM-Teach) – AIEM-Teach is a credential that individual faculty can earn to demonstrate their commitment to the institution’s initiatives and goals around inclusive teaching and support learning and success for all students. For more information on Inclusive Teaching credentials, click this link.
  • Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) – Faculty Learning Communities and Webinars focus on writing and faculty development. Visit WAC’s website for more information.
  • Digital Learning (DL) – Digital Learning is our team dedicated to online teaching and learning. Webinars blend information with a Q&A period. They are recorded for future viewing. Recording links will be published on our Trainings page.
    • In collaboration with Learning Support Services at ITS, our Instructional Design team also offers a plethora of Canvas resources in their ID Village. Additionally, Canvas recordings are archived by topic inside Growing with Canvas. If you need to connect with an instructional designer, schedule an appointment with the team.

Spring 2025

January

Wednesday, January 15 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: (Re)Designing Syllabi for Inclusive Classrooms that Support Learners & Instructors | CPD Level 1 Design / AIEM-Teach Level 1 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Are you ready to align your courses with university commitments to inclusive teaching? Or are you developing a new course or submitting an existing one for the new university-wide tags (like Mason Core)? In this workshop, we will work to advance our understanding of inclusive course design and how to improve syllabi to be more inclusive for everyone in the space (including instructors!). During the session, we will have specific discussion time to focus on connecting these ideas with your course and your discipline. At the end of the workshop, participants will leave with a greater understanding of the potential considerations for designing and redesigning inclusive course syllabi and aligning with broader institutional initiatives and expectations. 

Please reach out to Dr. Rachel Yoho (ryoho@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Friday, January 17 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: An Introduction to the Writing-intensive Course | CPD Level 1 Design / WAC | Facilitator: Thomas Polk | Register here.

Are you new to teaching a WI course or want a refresher on some of the basics? This workshop will focus on writing-intensive course design and help faculty prepare for the WI enhancements process. Join WAC staff to learn more about the WI learning outcomes and get a strong start to the semester.

Please email Thomas Polk (tpolk2@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Wednesdays January 29- February 26, 2025 | 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | via Zoom | Mini Course: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Inspired Pedagogies | CPD Level 2 | Facilitator: Laina Lockett | Register here.

By now you’ve probably heard of ChatGPT or one of the other various new large language models (LLMs) that have taken the world by storm. But do you know how to deal with the ever-evolving artificial intelligence technology as it relates to your teaching? In this mini course you will be exposed to the basics of redesigning your course as it relates to learning outcomes and instructional activities. We will also explore how to get feedback from students regarding the changes that you make. (This is the same program as the Mini Course offered August 12-16, 2024 & September 3-October 29, 2024.)

Please email Laina Lockett (llocket@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Friday, January 31 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: Providing Effective & Sustainable Feedback | CPD Level 1 Assess / WAC | Facilitator(s): Thomas Polk | Register here.

Want to develop a more sustainable plan for providing feedback? This workshop will help faculty increase student engagement with and the impact of their feedback. Participants will first learn more about how students revise before exploring some strategies for providing feedback to support more substantive student revision. The workshop will close by offering faculty some time to implement one of the strategies into their courses.

Please email Thomas Polk (tpolk2@gmu.edu) with any questions.

February

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | 10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. | Hybrid: Innovation 427 & Zoom | AI Test Kitchen: AI Literacy | Facilitator: Laina Lockett | Register here.

Whether you have spent a lot of time trying out generative AI tools like ChatGPT, or you haven’t touched it yet, join us for our test kitchen! Come try out different prompts and chat about the day’s AI topic: AI Literacy. You will get to try out various prompts that test out your AI literacy skills and join colleagues with thinking about how AI literacy is an important consideration in our teaching. This session is based on the book Teaching with AI by Bowen and Watson.

Please email Laina Lockett (llocket@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Friday, February 7 | 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: Surviving to Thriving: Incorporating Trauma-Informed Instructional Practices | AIEM-Teach Level 2 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Whether individual or collective, trauma can have a significant impact on lives and how students (and instructors) show up and are able to engage in the classroom.  In this workshop, we will explore the concept of trauma and how it applies to the classroom, recognize a few common trauma responses, investigate several educational best practices, expand our thinking with resilient pedagogy, and begin to apply these concepts to our own teaching.  Together we will move beyond minimum legal requirements or accommodations to design and implement evidence-based instructional strategies in university education.

Please reach out to Rachel Yoho (ryoho@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Monday, February 10 | 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | via Zoom | Course Proposal Workshop: Successfully (Re-)Designing and Proposing a Mason Core Course | Facilitators: Rachel Yoho, Shelley Reid, and Laura Poms | Register here.

The Mason Core Committee is seeking course proposals for courses in the revised Global Contexts category and the new Just Societies flag, as well as the Mason Apex category.  Faculty interested in proposing a course for QEP-Community Engaged Learning status are also welcome!   
Join us for a review of the new learning outcomes, a guide to the proposal process, and the opportunity to compose a first draft of your proposal and get some early feedback. Come on your own or bring colleagues who will help design or teach the course.    

See more about Mason Core courses or contact Mason Core for more information (masoncor@gmu.edu). 

Please reach out to Rachel Yoho (ryoho@gmu.edu) with any questions about the workshop.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | 12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. | Hybrid: Innovation 427 & Zoom | AI Test Kitchen: Reimagining Creativity | Facilitator: Laina Lockett | Register here.

Whether you are a newbie or an AI Pro, come join us for our second test kitchen of the semester. This session we will test out different prompts and chat about the day’s AI topic: Reimagining Creativity. You will get to try out various prompts that test the creativity of different AI tools and join colleagues with thinking about how creativity may (or may not) evolve when using AI tools with our students. This session is based on the book Teaching with AI by Bowen and Watson. Feel free to bring your lunch to the session!

Please email Laina Lockett (llocket@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Friday, February 21 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Zoom | Cluster: High Impact Practices (HIPs) Part 1 | CPD Level 1 Required and Design | Crystal Anderson | Register here

Are you interested in developing learning experiences where students can apply their skills and competencies in and beyond the classrooms? In this first of a two-part series, you will participate in two workshops. Fundamentals of Effective Teaching (Required) explains the critical elements of teaching today’s students.  High-Impact Practices (HIPs) and Applied Learning (Design) shows you how to use transparent assignment design for courses with internships, undergraduate research and project-based learning. By completing Part 1 and Part 2, you can earn a CPD Level 1 Teaching Essentials Credential as part of Stearns Center’s Continuing Professional Development program. If you complete the Mason Core Enhancement with Part 2, you can earn the Level 1: Certified Mason Core Instructor Certification.

Please email Crystal Anderson (cander8@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Friday, February 21 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: Supporting First Generation College Students | AIEM-Teach Level 2 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Did you know that 20-30% of Mason students are considered first generation college students?  These students come from a variety of backgrounds, identities, and experiences.  Supporting first generation college students in the classroom is a way to create more inclusive learning spaces and broaden participation – and retention – in higher education.  Integrating these strategies is also an impactful way to support all students, even if they are not the specific audience of being the first generation to college.  In this workshop, we will define what it means to be “first gen,” discuss some common obstacles to success in higher education, explore approaches that can be used in the classroom and overall course design, and identify one or more applicable strategies that we might apply in our own teaching.  

Please reach out to Rachel Yoho (ryoho@gmu.edu) with any questions.

Monday, February 24 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: Supporting Student Learning through Self-Awareness and Reflection to Navigate a Complex, Global Society | AIEM-Teach Level 2 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Are you interested in incorporating techniques to help students develop their own self-awareness and navigate a complex, global society in your field, discipline, and course?  Or are you (re-)developing a course for one of the new Mason Core designations of Just Societies or Global Contexts?  This workshop is designed to support your teaching around helping students develop their self-awareness, particularly related to your discipline.  This workshop includes the concepts of positionality and intersectionality broadly, but particularly for the new Core areas. At the end of the workshop, we will have explored the concepts and applied them to potential activities and assignments in our courses. 

Please reach out to Rachel Yoho (ryoho@gmu.edu) with any questions.

March

Monday, March 24 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: Fostering Engagement and Belonging with Inclusive Classroom Techniques | CPD Level 1 EngageAIEM-Teach Level 1 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Are you ready to integrate inclusive teaching throughout your instructional spaces? Would you like to explore techniques and build tangible plans for your classes? This is where that journey begins. In this workshop, we will explore some of the definitions and terms often found in conversations about creating more inclusive classrooms. We will work together to advance our individual abilities in broadly inclusive teaching and learning to support all students. At the end of the workshop, we will have developed familiarity with concepts and terminology, explored deliberately inclusive classroom activities, and set one or two manageable goals for our classes.

Monday, March 24 | 2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: Preparing Your Course and Yourself for Difficult Classroom Discussions & Situations | AIEM-Teach Level 1 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Do you have strategies to prepare yourself and your students to handle difficult conversations? This could be when you are having difficult conversations about topics like race, sexuality, religion, politics, or similar. These situations also could result from a discussion comment that makes a student or group uncomfortable or might even be about grades. In this workshop, we will discuss how to design (or redesign) your course and prepare yourself to facilitate important or “hot topic” conversations in the classroom.  Background information on how to design the course and prepare for facilitating important conversations in the classroom will be provided.  This workshop is applicable to instructors across all disciplines for facilitating important conversations, whether or not their designed course topics include socially pressing issues. This workshop is part of a two-part series for Mason faculty to engage in anti-racist and inclusive education across all disciplines.

Friday, March 28 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: How to Handle Difficult Classroom Discussions and Situations in the Moment | AIEM-Teach Level 1 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Are you prepared to handle difficult discussions and charged situations in the classroom in the moment? Do you usually think of things later that you wish you would have said or done?  In this workshop, we will prepare and practice how to handle important and potentially tense classroom conversations in the moment.  Our focus will be on how to support everyone in the classroom – including yourself – during tense times.  We will discuss and practice several teaching approaches.  This workshop is applicable to instructors across all disciplines for facilitating important conversations, whether or not their designed course topics include socially pressing issues (like race, gender, religion, politics).  Please note, this is the second in a two-part workshop series on important conversations.  However, participants are welcome and encouraged to attend this session even if they were not able to attend part one.

Friday, March 28 | 2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | via Zoom | Workshop: Helping Students Learn in Difficult Classroom Conversations and Situations | AIEM-Teach Level 2 | Facilitator: Rachel Yoho | Register here.

Are you ready to take your next steps in engaging successfully in difficult classroom conversations and situations?  In this leveled-up workshop, we will explore the elements of free speech in an educational context, investigate types of disruptions and situationally appropriate teaching responses, and analyze scenarios with colleagues.  This workshop is applicable to instructors across all disciplines for facilitating important conversations, whether or not their designed course topics include socially pressing issues (like race, gender, religion, politics).  Please note, this is the third in a four-part workshop series on important conversations.  Participants are encouraged – but not required – to engage with parts 1 and 2 before joining this session.