Past CIRTL Workshops

Explore past workshop topics and descriptions for online events that Cornell community members and alumni have access to through the CIRTL Network. We have grouped these past events by overall themes. Recent dates they have been offered are listed for informational purposes. Links take you to a description of the workshop on the CIRTL Network website.

The Academic Job Search

Learn how to navigate the academic job market and uncover a wide range of tools and resources available to academics on the job hunt in this two-part online workshop.

  • Fall 2018

LinkedIn for Academics

  • Fall 2021

Preparing Your Teaching Demo for a Job Interview

Get an introduction to how you can prepare for a teaching demonstration – questions to anticipate, and strategies to navigate what you can’t anticipate – in this one-session workshop.

  • Fall 2024; Summer 2024, 2023; Spring 2024

Developing a CV or Resume

Draft and refine your own resume and CV in this two-part online workshop.

  • Summer 2018, 2017

Writing an Effective Teaching Philosophy Statement

Draft a peer-reviewed teaching philosophy statement that reflects your teaching beliefs and experiences in this interactive two-part online workshop. Participants will be expected to draft (or revise an existing draft of) a teaching philosophy statement, and provide feedback on a peer’s draft in between sessions.

  • Fall 2024, 2022, 2017, 2016; Spring 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018

Writing a Diversity Statement

Learn strategies for highlighting initiatives you have led or participated in that focus on underrepresented students, working towards equity, and/or enhancing diversity, in this two-part workshop.

  • Spring 2020, Spring 2019

Writing an Effective Graduate Research Fellowship Program Proposal

Get a guided introduction to the application process for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program in this unique 3-part workshop that blends recorded lectures with a synchronous online session to bring participants together from all across the country.

  • Fall 2018

Getting the Job: How to Frame and Sell Your Teaching as Research Experience in Your Job Search

Practice specific ways you can turn your Teaching as Research (TAR) project into an asset in the job hunt in this two-part online workshop designed for students who have completed a TAR project.

  • Fall 2018

Caring for Yourself as an Instructor: Applying Rest in the Classroom

Develop strategies for self-care as an instructor in this one-part workshop. Working off of Tricia Hersey’s (2022) Rest is Resistance framework, we will explore Hersey’s “Rest” component to identify tools for self-care, rest, and protection as an instructor existing and working in academic spaces.

  • Spring 2024

I Completed My Individual Development Plan… Now What?

Practice navigating the challenging conversations you might have with a mentor or advisor when pursuing your individual development plan.

  • Spring 2019

Creating and Owning Your Individual Development Plan

Craft a robust IDP draft and action plan by learning the components of successful, sustainable plans in this two-part online workshop.

  • Fall 2018, 2017

Developing Work-Life Resilience

Incorporate work-life balance into your professional development with concrete tips.

  • Fall 2016

Disrupting Bullying in Graduate School: Strategies and Interventions

  • Summer 2022

Finding Your Teaching Mentor

  • Fall 2022

Overcoming Imposter Phenomena and Building Resiliency as Graduate Students

Explore a new framework that builds upon research on imposter phenomena, adapting to change, and building resiliency.

  • Fall 2024

Understanding Levers of Change in Academia

  • Fall 2021

Exploring Diversity in Implicit Leadership Theories and Their Role in Inclusive Teaching and Learning

Learn about implicit leadership theories (ILT) in this two-part workshop designed to help grad students and postdocs understand your own perceptions of leadership, and how those perceptions impact how you teach, how you work within departments, how you mentor, and more.

  • Summer 2021

Developing Equity-Minded Mentors among Faculty and Researchers

Explore and discuss what mentoring is, and review and apply several tools that enable an individual to employ an equity-minded approach to mentoring.

  • Spring 2020

Faculty Advising in a Community College Setting

Learn how to advise effectively, and explore the different advising roles faculty play depending on institutional type.

  • Spring 2019

Creating Effective Learning Communities

Understand what makes for a successful learning community and develop strategies you can apply to your own communities in this two-part online workshop.

  • Fall 2018

Navigating the Academic Hand-off: Graduate Students and Postdocs as Scientific Trainers

Sharing scientific knowledge is a common but often overlooked part of work for advanced graduate students responsible for training junior colleagues just starting in their graduate programs. Explore the challenges of this part of your work in this one-part online workshop about identifying complex but fundamental concepts in your academic work and developing training procedures around them.

  • Summer 2024

Managing Difficult Conversations Through the Lens of Social Identity

Learn various strategies to foster inclusive teaching and research environments.

  • Spring 2017

Becoming an Anti-Racist Educator

Discuss possible solutions to the challenges of bringing anti-racist teaching into a STEM community and classroom in this three-session online workshop. The first session will emphasize the importance of self-reflection and identity. In the second session, participants will discuss and practice ways to address bias and interrupt microaggressions that may occur, as well as ways to implement anti-racist teaching. The final session will focus on the challenges of leading online workshops on these topics. Enrollment limit: 20 participants

  • Spring 2021

Bring an Inclusive Mindset to Your Teaching

Learn about inclusive teaching approaches that build upon inclusive design frameworks, case studies, and educational research in this one-session workshop. Cap: 40.

  • Fall 2021, 2020, 2017

CARE for Inclusion and Equity in Learning Environments

Learn evidence-based strategies for promoting inclusion and equity in both in-person and online/remote learning in this one-session workshop. Cap: None.

  • Summer 2022

Considering the Whole Self in Teaching and Learning: Mental and Physical Wellbeing in the Classroom

It is no secret that stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges are prevalent in higher education. In this two-part workshop, participants will explore the relationships between mental and emotional health, the human body, and learning. Learn how to create learning objectives and design assessments that consider and support the whole student. Enrollment limit: 40 participants

  • Spring 2021

Ethical Dilemmas in Inclusive Teaching: Difficult Dynamics in the Lab

  • Fall 2022

Fostering a Growth Mindset and Developing a Sense of Belonging in Your Students

Learn from social and educational psychology about how instructors can foster growth mindsets in their students, and how that in turn can foster greater student motivation, achievement, and belonging.

  • Fall 2024

Getting Started with Universal Design for Learning

Explore the basic principles of Universal Design for Learning and apply them to resources or practices you use in your own teaching in this two-part workshop.

  • Fall 2023, Fall 2022

Creating Effective and Inclusive Learning Experiences for Neurodiverse Students

Learn about neurodiversity in teaching and learning and develop strategies to create an effective and inclusive learning environment.

  • Fall 2024

Supporting Neurodivergent Students

Learn about common forms of neurodiversity, the obstacles that neurodiverse students might encounter in academia, and teaching strategies to overcome those obstacles in this two-part workshop.

  • Fall 2023, Fall 2022

Moving Forward Together: The interdependence of instructor and student motivation

Explore trauma-informed strategies that motivate learning and teaching, and reflect on the interdependence of student and teacher well-being as you refine your teaching philosophy in this one-part online workshop.

  • Summer 2024

Trauma-Responsive Teaching

Learn general principles and practices associated with trauma-responsive teaching in this one-session workshop. Participants will learn what trauma-responsive teaching is, understand how trauma affects learning and classroom behavior, and explore teaching techniques that you can bring back to your own classrooms. Unlimited enrollment.

  • Spring 2021

Universal Design for Learning: Reaching and Teaching Diverse Learners

Learn how Universal Design can strengthen your instruction for all students.

  • November 2016

Where to begin? Developing an Action Plan for Aligned and Inclusive Lessons

Discuss the foundation to strong lesson planning with an emphasis on inclusivity and alignment in this one-session workshop. Cap: 50.

Quick Take: How to Plan a Single Class Session

Get an overview of key lesson-planning topics – like backwards design, learning objectives, assessment, and more – in this one-part online workshop designed for grad students and postdocs who have had some teaching or TAing experience.

  • Summer 2024

A Student-Centered Approach for Reducing Plagiarism

Consider how student-centered, accessible, and contextual course design can reduce students’ propensity to cheat and improve learning for all.

  • Fall 2024

Teaching with Transparency: Evidence-Based Approaches to Foster Student Motivation and Engagement

Learn how adding transparency into your teaching can strengthen active learning, assignments, and assessment in this one-part workshop.

  • Fall 2023

From Student to Expert: Breaking Down Disciplinary Tasks in the Classroom

Why are certain tasks harder to teach than others? What makes these tasks easy for us as experts while stumping our students? By applying methods from David Pace’s Decoding the Disciplines, we will work together to break down (or “decode”) such tasks and learn how to model them for our students. Enrollment limit: 20 participants

  • Spring 2021

Reducing Math Anxiety Among Your Students

Gain a better understanding of the psychological and cognitive basis for math anxiety, and learn instructional strategies to minimize math anxiety for your students in this one-session workshop. Cap: 40.

  • Fall 2020

How People Learn

Study the seminal work on the process of learning, “How People Learn,” as well as the follow-up book, “How People Learn II,” through this six-week, online, synchronous series.

  • Summer 2019

Understanding and Implementing Metacognition in the Classroom

Dive into “metacognition” – or thinking about one’s own thinking – and how it impacts your students’ learning in this two-part online workshop facilitated by doctoral students from Columbia University.

  • Fall 2018

How to Break Through Students’ Misconceptions of Science

Explore ways to counteract common misconceptions among STEM learners.

  • Spring 2017

The Unique Challenges of Engaging and Teaching First-Year Students

Learn approaches you can use as a TA or instructor to improve your teaching in first-year classes.

  • Spring 2017

Integrating Effective Teaching and Assessment Practices in Biology Lab Courses through Case Studies

Prepare lesson plans for biology labs that pull from case studies and promote active learning in this three-part workshop.

  • Spring 2019

Five Things To Do on the First and Last Day of Class

  • Fall 2017

Integrating Civic Learning into the STEM Classroom

Civic learning intentionally prepares students for informed and engaged participation in their communities. Learn how to develop civic learning assignments and learning goals in this workshop.

  • Fall 2017

Introduction to STEM Project Based Learning

In project-based learning, students investigate relevant, complex scientific situations to learn new concepts. Learn how to design project-based learning activities in this workshop.

  • Fall 2017

Re-Imagining Data: Using arts-based methods for new perspectives in research, teaching and learning

Explore the creative potential of new ways of reading and analyzing text in this two-part workshop on arts-based research (ABR). Through the ABR approach of “poetic inquiry,” participants will learn new methods for reading, assessing, and analyzing journal articles, research, and other written materials in a variety of scientific disciplines.

  • Spring 2024

Teaching Citational Practice: A Critical Feminist Approach

  • Fall 2021

Getting Ready to Teach in the American Classroom: Building Rapport and Effective Communication Skills

Develop and practice your own strategies for effective communication with students in this case-study-based online workshop.

  • Spring 2019, 2018; Fall 2018

Getting Ready to Teach in the American Classroom: Cross-Cultural Analysis

Learn how to work with undergraduate students in this workshop designed for international teaching assistants.

  • Spring 2018

Creating Accessible Teaching and Research Documents in STEM

Understand why document accessibility matters and explore the LaTeX software for mathematical equations in this two-part workshop that combines accessibility fundamentals with technical training and is presented by Cornell University teaching fellows.

  • Fall 2023

Teaching with Technology

Become familiar with a variety of digital tools designed to enhance student learning in this one-part online workshop.

  • Spring 2019

Leveraging Open Source Principles and Resources for Teaching and Learning in STEM

Learn the advantages and disadvantages of open source educational materials and sample two platforms with hands-on activities.

  • Fall 2017

Level Up: Designing a Game-Based Learning Environment

  • Summer 2017

Creating Video Snip Modules for Active Teaching and Learning

Develop basic skills for editing videos down to easily digestible clips for class lectures.

  • Spring 2017

Science Communication for Any Audience

Explore key concepts and strategies in written and oral science communication in this three-part workshop.

  • Spring 2019

Finding and Evaluating Educational Literature

Learn how to find and critically evaluate literature for educational research.

  • Fall 2017

Qualitative Research Primer: Using Narrative Data in Your Teaching as Research Project

Get an introduction to analyzing narrative data (intended especially for students pursuing a TAR project).

  • Fall 2017

Using Teaching as Research to Advance Equitable Educational Experiences

A two-part workshop that invites participants to consider how they might use CIRTL’s “Teaching as Research” framework to advance equitable educational experiences.

  • Summer 2023

See Also:

Current CIRTL Network Workshops