The CFE Showcase on Teaching will return for its 10th event March 20 and 21. Held approximately every year and a half since 2010, the showcase celebrates teaching at Carolina by helping instructors learn from each other and connect with colleagues across disciplines.
This year’s showcase will be virtual via Zoom on March 20 and then in-person at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on March 21. This is the second year the showcase will be both in-person and virtual. The team debuted the format for the 2023 showcase, calling it “the best of both worlds” for attendees.
“By offering some virtual sessions and a full in-person day, we hope to accommodate most instructors’ schedules and give them several options of when they may be able to attend,” said Thao Nghi Tu, planning committee member and ITS Educational Technologies staffer.
The showcase is open to UNC-Chapel Hill instructors and to faculty, staff and students with instructional support roles. The showcase is free to attend, but registration is required. In-person attendees on March 21 at the Student Union will receive breakfast, lunch, refreshments and will be eligible for a prize drawing.
ITS Educational Technologies (EdTech), the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) and the Office of Arts and Sciences Information Services (OASIS) are co-sponsoring the event. Planning committee members include EdTech’s Tu and Bob Henshaw, and Emily Boehm, Marissa Stewart, Kayla Shearer, Catherine Gihlstorf and Taylor Dockery from the CFE.
For more information and to register, visit CFE Showcase on Teaching.
Showcase presents unique opportunity
“The showcase gives instructors a unique opportunity to connect and collaborate with colleagues,” Tu said. “The showcase not only celebrates teaching at UNC by highlighting the creative teaching methods our instructors are using, but it provides an opportunity to get so many of them together in one place. Some may realize they are using similar teaching strategies and end up teaming up on projects, which we love to see,” she added.
In addition to connecting with colleagues, attendees will have the opportunity to learn from keynote speaker Kevin Gannon, Director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence and Professor of History at Queens University Charlotte. Gannon’s keynote, (Re)Connecting with Students, will challenge assumptions about students, talk about their mental health needs, the effects of the pandemic and how to actually motivate them to learn.
Throughout the event, Tu said, you’ll hear instructors actively engaging, asking questions, and bouncing ideas off one another. “By attending the showcase, instructors will gain insights into innovative teaching strategies being used by their UNC colleagues that they can incorporate into their own teaching, which can also spark potential collaborations between faculty across campus.”
Format and venue increase convenience
Attendance has been strong at past events, whether in-person or virtual. The previous showcase in 2023 drew a few hundred attendees altogether for the virtual and in-person conference days.
In addition to offering both virtual and in-person options, the organizing committee has made some tweaks to make it more convenient for faculty to attend. “With the new location at the Student Union this year, we’re hoping the closer proximity to academic buildings will allow more instructors to stop by as they have time in between teaching and throughout their day,” Tu said. “We’ll also provide a designated quiet working area to make it more convenient for those who need to get some work done between sessions instead of potentially heading back to their offices.”