Academic Freedom:
From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right

A FACULTY WORKSHOP WITH

David M. Rabban
Distinguished Teaching Professor and
Regents Chair in Law
University of Texas at Austin

Wednesday, September 16, 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
SIPA II 103

RSVP

Copies of Prof. Rabban's book will be available for signing courtesy of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Sponsored by: FIU College of Law, Faculty Senate Academic Freedom Committee, Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and UFF-FIU.

Syllabus Design
 

We will explore student-centered syllabus design strategies that help communicate clear expectations, foster student engagement, and support success from day one. We will also explore how to use the Simple Syllabus platform to communicate the essential information while creating a strong foundation that can be refined as course plans take shape.

Facilitated by Rocio Benabentos & Leanne Wells, Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Senior Director for Teaching and Learning Success, Office of Faculty Leadership and Success

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Syllabus and Course Design or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: How Learning Works

Teaching in the Age of AI: Fundamentals
 

Tackle the practical application of integrating AI into your courses. Generative AI and Large Language Models have the power to redefine our teaching work in the classroom. In these three half-day workshops, participants will leverage them to enhance their teaching and learning practices. In particular, this workshop will address:

• Redesigning our lessons using AI,
• Creating AI-enhanced assignments and assessments,
  
• Teaching students how to use AI ethically, and
  
• Addressing academic integrity concerns.

Facilitated by Gáramis Campusano, EdTech Specialist, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Syllabus and Course Design or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: Backward Course Design

Enhancing Student Learning Opportunities with Google's Gemini Notebook
 

Google's Gemini Notebook is a powerful tool for enhancing student learning opportunities. Whether you want to create a podcast from student notes or flashcards from course resources, Gemini Notebook offers a variety of options that can help students with knowledge acquisition, comprehension, and practice. By leveraging Generative AI, Gemini Notebook stands out as a via Zoom notebook with seemingly no limit. Learn more about what this incredible tool can do for you and your students by attending this workshop.

Facilitated by Jennifer Gebelein, Director of AI Integration and Faculty Success, Office of Faculty Leadership and Success

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Assessing Student Learning or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: 

Mindful Mondays
 

Experience the power of mindfulness meditation with Mindful Mondays! In short, rejuvenating lunchtime sessions, you'll explore techniques that cultivate presence, awareness, and resilience. Each session features a brief introduction, a guided meditation, and Q&A. Many find that meditating with others enhances their practice, so we hope you'll take a meditation break with us. Whether you're just starting out or have been meditating for years, you'll acquire practical tools to integrate mindfulness into both your work and personal life.

Facilitated by Michael Creeden, Teaching Professor and Associate Chair, Department of English

AI Advanced Series - Beyond the Textbook: Creating Interactive Student Models with Generative AI
 

Static reading materials can only take learning so far. In this hands-on workshop, discover how to use generative AI as a personal design assistant to build highly interactive learning models, custom resource portals, and dynamic lessons for your students. You do not need any prior coding or technical experience. You will learn how to prompt AI tools to generate clean HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that your students can simply download and run locally on their own devices. This approach bypasses the need for complex web hosting platforms, making it immediately applicable to any discipline. The facilitator will showcase real-world examples utilized in undergraduate courses to inspire your own custom creations.

Facilitated by Edward Duran, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: How Learning Works

Creating Assessments with AI
 

Discover how to design engaging, authentic assessments that leverage generative AI tools to enhance creativity and critical thinking. This workshop explores practical strategies for using AI to develop assignments, assessments, and feedback that promote deeper learning. Participants will examine examples of AI-supported assessment designs across disciplines and discuss ways to align them with course learning outcomes. You’ll leave with adaptable ideas and tools to thoughtfully integrate AI into your assessment practices.

Facilitated by Gáramis Campusano, EdTech Specialist, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Syllabus and Course Design or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: How Learning Works

Designing Student Learning Outcomes That Drive Learning
 

Take your Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) to the next level. In this active workshop, you’ll transform existing objectives into clear, powerful outcomes that guide lesson design, assessment, and student learning. Leave with SLOs that make expectations transparent, strengthen alignment between teaching and assessment, and help students understand not just what they are learning, but how and why.

Facilitated by Eric Simon, Associate Director of Hybrid & Faculty Development Support Programs, and Carlos Viera, Associate Director of Outcomes and Innovation in Teaching & Learning, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Syllabus and Course Design or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: Backward Course Design

Canvas: Elements of Teaching - Modules and Sequencing
 

This workshop series introduces faculty to the effective and flexible ways you can use Canvas to support teaching, learning, and student success. Participants will explore practical strategies for communicating with students, organizing course content, designing assessments, and providing meaningful feedback using Canvas tools. This workshop series will highlight approaches that promote clarity, engagement, accessibility, and transparency, while giving faculty time to reflect on and refine their own courses. Through guided demonstrations, hands-on activities, and collaborative discussions, faculty will leave with updated Canvas course components and ideas they can adapt and use right away.

This Canvas workshop will focus on the following topic:

• How to Use Modules to Keep My Students on Track throughout the Semester

Facilitated by Eric Simon, Associate Director of Hybrid & Faculty Development Support Programs, and Gáramis Campusano, EdTech Specialist, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Syllabus and Course Design or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: Teaching with Canvas

Creating an AI Agent
 

Have Generative AI work for you by creating AI agents that can automate processes and become indispensable tools in your day-to-day work. In this workshop, you will learn about what AI agents are, how they function, and how you can create them quickly. You will discover how to deploy them in the places where they make sense so that you can increase your productivity.

Facilitated by Edward Duran, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: How Learning Works

Groupwork That Works: Designing Tasks and Teams for Real Learning
 

Design groupwork that actually works. In this active workshop, you’ll create a group-worthy project or activity and learn simple strategies for forming, structuring, and coaching student groups. Leave with a ready-to-use task and tools to boost engagement, accountability, and learning.

Groupwork That Works will focus on the following topics:

• Day 1 - Group Worthiness, Student Learning Outcomes, Defining and Assigning Student Roles, and Creating a Prompt.
• Day 2 - Peer Content Review; Rubric; Self, Peer, and Group Assessment.

Facilitated by Eric Simon, Associate Director of Hybrid & Faculty Development Support Programs, and Helen Urpi Wagner Coello, Assistant Director of STEM Teaching Practice & Gateway Initiatives

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Syllabus and Course Design or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: How Learning Works

Canvas: Elements of Teaching - Universal Design for Learning and Accessibility
 

This workshop series introduces faculty to the effective and flexible ways you can use Canvas to support teaching, learning, and student success. Participants will explore practical strategies for communicating with students, organizing course content, designing assessments, and providing meaningful feedback using Canvas tools. This workshop series will highlight approaches that promote clarity, engagement, accessibility, and transparency, while giving faculty time to reflect on and refine their own courses. Through guided demonstrations, hands-on activities, and collaborative discussions, faculty will leave with updated Canvas course components and ideas they can adapt and use right away.

This Canvas workshop will focus on the following topic:

• How to Ensure that Materials, Assignments, and Assessments Are Accessible for Students

Facilitated by Eric Simon & Gáramis Campusano, Associate Director of Hybrid & Faculty Development Support Programs, EdTech Specialist, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Syllabus and Course Design or Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: Teaching with Canvas

Google Gemini Gems: Overview, Best Practices, and Creating AI Agents in Your Courses
 

Discover how to design, build, and deploy your own custom AI teaching and learning assistants. In this hands-on, pedagogy-first workshop, you will learn how to leverage Gemini's new "Gems" feature to foster deep student engagement through interactive scaffolding, active retrieval, and Socratic tutoring. We will guide you step-by-step through the creator workspace, sharing a simple prompt blueprint that transforms AI from a low-effort homework generator into a highly supportive, personalized cognitive coach for your students. Whether you want to build a via Zoom lab assistant, a simulated roleplay partner, or a rubric-aligned drafting coach, you will leave this session with a fully functional, syllabus-ready custom AI agent designed to elevate active learning in your courses.

Facilitated by Jennifer Gebelein, Director of AI Integration and Faculty Success, Office of Faculty Leadership and Success

Fulfills TA Certificate Category: Elective
Fulfills Foundations of Teaching Pathway Category: How Learning Works

On-Demand Workshops
in the Teaching Fundamentals & Innovations Hub!
 

The Hub provides self-paced trainings on high-impact, research-based skills and strategies for enhancing student learning and teaching effectiveness. With busy schedules in mind, this training hub allows you to select brief workshops of interest that can be accessed at any time from anywhere!

Current workshops in the Hub:

• Classroom Assessment Techniques: What are Students Really Understanding?
• The Science of Learning: Enhancing Student Learning and Motivation
• What is Learning, and How to Facilitate It
• From Challenges to Connection: An Introduction to Mindful Communication
• Obtaining Course Feedback with Microsoft Forms
• Bigger Classes, Bigger Connection: Real Engagement in a World of Distractions
• Giving Meaningful Feedback in Large Classes