An overview of possible CPD activities
As a member of UM teaching staff with a UTQ and a teaching load of more than 160 hours per academic year (irrespective of individual FTE), you are encouraged to reflect upon your development wishes and needs, so that you can plan your CPD. To help you develop new knowledge and skills relating to your teaching, your faculty as well as various other UM departments, including EDLAB, offer a range of activities that may be relevant for you.
EDLAB activities will be listed on this page as they become available as well as on Facebook or LinkedIn. These are continually being updated, so please check back regularly. New activities will also be communicated via your faculty CPD coordinators and EDLAB’s open group on UM’s intranet UMployee. Activities and support for teaching staff available from other UM departments are also listed below.
In addition to taking part in formal training activities, you may want to develop your own activities with colleagues, or undertake CPD in a more informal manner. This is fine so long as it suits your development plan and is approved by your manager or faculty CPD coordinator. Your CPD should also be relevant to the teaching competences outlined in this document. Note that standard duties (staff meetings or compulsory training as part of a regular teaching role) are not considered as CPD.
Upcoming activities
Please note that the funding for EDLAB’s CPD activities only covers UM teaching staff with a UTQ and a teaching load of more than 160 hours per academic year. This is because teaching staff who have not yet completed their UTQ have the opportunity to develop by following this trajectory first within their faculties. All UM staff (those with teaching as well as non-teaching positions) are also able to follow courses offered by the UM Staff Career Centre. For more information about Continuing Professional Development and who it’s for, see https://edlab.nl/educational-services/cpd/
Workshop Stimulating Learning through Team-Based Assessment | 4 April 2023
One excellent way of stimulating CCCS learning through formative or summative assessments, is by using Team-Based Quizzes. These quizzes have been used during tutorials at FHML for a number of years where complex, real-life questions are first considered individually and then discussed further in groups. Finally, the quiz questions and answers are discussed with an expert, during which time students can delve deeper into the material and connections to other topics can be made. This method has been found to promote better interaction between the students as well as preparing students well for future assessments. If you want to learn more about this technique, then please sign up to this workshop where you will experience the 3 steps of this Team-Based Learning format yourselves.
Workshop Fostering Teacher Wellbeing through Nature Connectedness | 18 April 2023
Do you sometimes feel you need to stay optimistic for your students, but you are actually becoming increasingly cynical, frustrated, and weary? Do you feel responsible to stay constantly updated about the situation in the world in order to fulfil your academic job? In this workshop, we will explore different scientifically established pathways to conscious nature connectedness that will help you to get the best out of being in nature, in order to aid your well-being. After spending this guided break of three hours in the outdoors, you will feel refreshed, energized, and strengthened.
Workshop Series Fostering Sustainable Development in Education and Teaching | 20 April and 16 May 2023
During this first session the connection between global citizenship education (GCEd) and education for sustainable development (ESD) will become apparent and you will create personal learning goals about the subject which will be discussed further in the second session. Apart from that the second session will focus on ideas for implementing global citizenship education for sustainability accompanied by examples of how interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teaching and learning activities are embedded in curricula at various faculties (e.g., SBE, FSE, FPN, FASoS) and interdisciplinary programs (e.g., Minor Sustainability).
Workshop Stress & Anxiety among Students | 25 April 2023
In this workshop, you’ll get tools to deal with stress and to help prevent severe anxiety problems. Academic staff close to the students can have a significant impact on the well-being of students. At the end of this session, you will be able to:
◊ Get insight into the concepts of stress and anxiety, with their underlying processes and causes,
◊ Provide a listening ear and have a talk with the student about their struggle with stress or anxiety,
◊ Guide the student towards appropriate actions that prevent stress- and anxiety problems from worsening.
◊ Get insight into the concepts of stress and anxiety, with their underlying processes and causes,
◊ Provide a listening ear and have a talk with the student about their struggle with stress or anxiety,
◊ Guide the student towards appropriate actions that prevent stress- and anxiety problems from worsening.
Online Workshop Perfectionism among Students | 8 May 2023
While some students wear it like a badge of honor, perfectionism can be a burden for many of them. In this online workshop, you’ll gain a greater awareness of perfectionistic habits and recognize where these help or hinder your students. By creating an awareness of students’ habits and motivations, you can pave the way to help your students to find a better balance in life.
Orchestrating Feedback, online and offline | 11 May 2023
With Canvas and COVID, we have gained access to more online educational tools for feedback, both from teacher to student and between student peers. Sometimes these tools provide additional features that become valuable to the teaching process; sometimes, they create unforeseen glitches. This session aims to facilitate sharing problems and practices for designing feedback learning activities. Participants will be asked to share details about their specific course(s) purposes and strategies for using feedback and discuss successes and problems in using different tools – both online and offline. This workshop is intended to consider alternative approaches to problems involving educational technology.
Workshop series Grappling with Social Inequalities in the Classroom | 24 May and 14 June 2023
The recent global upsurge of social movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter has put issues of social inequality centre stage. There has been a trend at Dutch universities to make issues of diversity and inclusivity a more central focus in teaching and research. On the one hand, this climate of identity politics and political correctness may cause insecurity among university teachers with regard to their courses and participating students. On the other hand, we have a responsibility as teachers and educators to create an inclusive space that fosters learning and development for a diverse student body. We touch the lives of young people who are at the beginning of their careers and come from various backgrounds. In this training, we will examine our role as teachers and educators in a reflexive way. We will reflect on what we do and how we do it. How does our race, class, gender, sexuality and ability status affect our viewpoint on what we teach and how we teach it? How does our positionality, notwithstanding our good intentions, influence what and who we see and do not see in the classroom?
Read to succeed: Continuing Professional Development Book Club
EDLAB has a book group as part of our CPD offering. We already have over 20 active members! This activity is open to all UM teaching staff who are eligible for CPD. In a Canvas module, to which you will be added after registration, we discuss which source to read next and what structure the upcoming meeting(s) will have.
EDconsult: Request an Educational Consultation from EDLAB!
Do you struggle with the revision of your course book? Would you like to rethink your assessment practices but you don’t know where to start? Do you need input for better student guidance or advice on tutoring? EDLAB delivers individual consultations for UM teaching staff who want to improve their education, need some inspiration or are looking for a different perspective. Together with an EDLAB staff member you’ll reflect on your practice, receive feedback and get advice on how to move forward.
Open Call: Your educational expertise wanted!
Are you experienced in teaching at UM and are you always trying out new things in the classroom? Do you have experience designing education, coordinating courses and coaching students and fellow teachers? If so it may be good to know that we often look for knowledgeable teaching staff to share their insights with others during CPD activities.
Online CPD resources
Making information literacy part of academic skills development
Information is everywhere around us: from (digital) books and articles to social media notifications and videos. Students need the skills to navigate through such an information jungle. That’s why the University Library together with EDLAB, have created a framework to support you in developing your students’ information literacy skills during your courses. Check out out the resources available here.
Online Coaching Modules - UM Career Services and UM Psychologists
UM Career Services and UM Psychologists have designed and developed several online modules to support staff members in their coaching and/or supervising role such as mentors, coaches and tutors. These modules contain theory and coaching models. However, above all they contain many practical tips, tools and exercises to develop your most essential coaching skills and competences. The modules can be found in Canvas and are accessible to all UM employees via self-enroll.
Other sources of UM training and support
UM Career Services & UM Psychologists
Our UM Career Services & UM Psychologists offer online modules and face-to-face training for UM teaching staff, helping you to be a better coach to your students, be better able to advise your students in their employability or well-being options, and to be able to identify when students may need additional support.
The Language Centre
The UM Language Centre offers training for staff on delivering effective English-Medium Instruction (EMI). This focuses on how you can communicate more effectively with students from diverse backgrounds. This training gives teachers the chance to share experiences, discuss good practices and learn better communication strategies that are relevant for the UM’s international classroom.
Digital Exams: Ask-Me-Anything Sessions | Various dates
The AMA sessions are aimed at experienced users of TestVision, but anyone is welcome to join! Do you have specific or advanced questions on digital assessment and TestVision? Or did you take the workshop and have further questions? Then join the digital exams experts at the University Library via Zoom at an upcoming session.
Contact us!
If you’d like to share your experiences, questions, ideas or suggestions regarding CPD with us then please feel free to contact us directly via: edlab-edservices@maastrichtuniversity.nl
