Infrastructure

Berkeley Home Page:

Teaching Resources webpage
The Council of Academic Partners coordinated the revision of the campus's Teaching Resources home page which is directly linked to the Berkeley home page.

Calendar of events and activities related to teaching
(in the planning stages)

Campuswide Support Programs:

Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
The Division of Undergraduate Education provides campuswide leadership for undergraduate education and administers faculty and student programs that support and assess excellence in teaching and learning.

Berkeley Language Center
The BLC is a comprehensive discipline-specific program that fosters the intellectual and professional development of foreign language instructors.

American Cultures Center
The American Cultures Center provides support for the campuswide American Cultures requirement and for faculty developing and teaching those courses.

Educational Technology Services
ETS enhances teaching by providing technological education and support to faculty and general assignment classrooms.

Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Teaching and Resource Center
The GSI Teaching and Resource Center provides comprehensive support and training for graduate students serving as Graduate Student Instructors.

Teaching Library
The Teaching Library provides support, workshops, and training to assist faculty in using library resources and integrating these resources into their teaching.

Office of Educational Development
OED provides individual teaching consultations, mini-grants, award programs, and publications to promote good teaching on campus.

Service-Learning Research and Development Center
The Center promotes the integration of service-learning into the Berkeley curriculum.

Townsend Center for the Humanities
The Townsend Center offers programs and services to promote research, teaching, and discussion throughout the humanities.

Center for Science and Engineering Information Literacy
The Center for Science and Engineering Information Literacy (CSEIL) provides a focus for Berkeley's science and engineering librarians to work collaboratively to support the teaching and research goals of faculty and students.

Formal Collaborations:

Council of Academic Partners (CAP)
CAP is a collaboration of campus units that encourage, support, and enhance excellence in teaching.

Council of Undergraduate Deans
The Council promotes communication and collaboration among deans of undergraduate programs.

e-Berkeley Initiative
e-Berkeley is the Chancellor's initiative to use the Web to transform the way the campus operates, from day-to-day functions to its central mission of teaching and research.

Key Academic Senate Committees:

Committee on Teaching
Promotes good teaching, evaluates candidates for the Distinguished Teaching Awards, and offers educational grants.

Committee on Educational Policy
Considers policy matters affecting the educational mission of the campus, including allocation of resources and establishment or disestablishment of educational units.

Committee on Courses of Instruction
Approves new courses and modification in existing courses; considers requests for variances in course and graduation requirements.

Committee on the Library
Advises the Chancellor regarding administration of the Library.

Committee on Computing and Communication
Advises the Chancellor and the Academic Senate on all matters relating to utilization and integration of computers, information systems, and electronic communications facilities into academic programs, including policy matters pertaining to computer and communications facilities.

Graduate Council
Exercises administrative and coordinating functions in the Graduate Division.

Advisory Committees:

Advisory Committee on Graduate Student Instructor Affairs

Educational Technology Committee

Campus Committee on Classroom Policy and Management

Faculty Policy Committee on Service-Learning

Berkeley Language Center Advisory Committee

Educational Policy Subcommittee on the American Cultures Requirement

Academic Accommodations Policy Board

Recent Revisions to Institutional Policies:

Revision to the faculty bio-bibliography [pdf]
Changes in the faculty bio-bibliography recognizing what faculty do related to teaching; pending approval

Policies related to Special Studies courses
Changes concerning student-initiated 98 and 198 courses.

Graduate Council Policy on Appointments and Mentoring of Graduate Student Instructors [pdf]
Changes related to faculty supervision and preparation of GSIs.

Facilities

Campus Committee on Classroom Policy and Management
The Campus Committee on Classroom Policy and Management recommends policy with respect to the distribution, design, renovation, use, and management of the campus's general assignment classrooms.

Description of campus classrooms
This website describes the size and features of all general assignment classrooms on campus.

This website describes the technological capabilities of campus classrooms.

Pedagogical Development

Orientation Programs:

New GSI orientation
This program, held at the beginning of fall and spring semesters, orients new GSIs to teaching.

New faculty orientation (No website available.)
This program, held in fall for new faculty and sponsored by the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Faculty Welfare, addresses such topics as characteristics of students, teaching and learning, the Academic Senate, research, and career development.

Mentoring Programs:

Service-Learning Research and Development Center Junior Faculty Mentorship Program
This program links junior with senior faculty to help them tie service-learning to their scholarly work.

Departmental mentoring programs (No website available.)
Informal mentoring programs exist within some departments.

Summer Institutes:

American Cultures Summer Seminar
Instructors receive fellowships to attend a two-week summer seminar in which they design, discuss, and present their American Cultures courses.

Faculty Technology Program (FTP)
Faculty learn about pedagogical uses of technology and attend hands-on sessions in a week-long program.

Mellon Faculty Institute on Undergraduate Research
Debuting Summer 2003, the three-week Institute provides fellowships for instructors to integrate undergraduate research assignments into their courses.

Summer Institute for Academic and Professional Development [pdf]
(Preparing Future Faculty)
New in summer 2003, this six-week institute offers GSIs opportunities to discuss teaching topics and issues in preparing for academic careers.

Courses:

300-level pedagogy courses for GSIs (No website available.)
These courses, sponsored by individual departments, focus on pedagogical issues for GSIs.

Craft of Facilitating for Undergraduate Student Course Facilitators
This course, sponsored by the Student Learning Center, provides training for undergraduates facilitating special studies (98/198) courses.

Course on ethics (No website available.)
An online short course, provisionally entitled "Professional Ethics and Standards in Teaching," will be required of all new GSIs facilitating special studies courses as of fall semester 2004.

Workshops:

Pedagogical Workshops for GSIs
Pedagogical workshops focus on teaching issues of particular interest to GSIs and are offered 5-6 times throughout the semester.

Workshops for Faculty Mentors of GSIs
These programs, facilitated by faculty and GSIs, assist faculty in their mentorship of GSIs.

Know Your Library Workshops
Undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, and members of the public are invited to workshops that cover essentials about using the library, the web, and related software.

Educational Technology Services Training Workshops
Educational Technology Services offers workshops and custom training on using technology for teaching.

Service-Learning Faculty Development Workshops
These workshops provide forums for the discussion of service-learning and its surrounding issues.

Colloquia and Seminars:

Freshman Seminar Colloquium (No website available.)
Instructors who teach Freshman Seminars are convened twice per semester to discuss issues ranging from the logistics of enrolling students in courses to pedagogical issues such as engaging students in discussion.

Annual Faculty Seminar on Working with Graduate Student Instructors
This is a three-afternoon seminar for a small group of faculty focusing on how to teach effectively with GSIs and how to enhance faculty-GSI collaboration.

Letters and Science Colloquia
Once or twice each semester, these colloquia provide opportunities to learn about and discuss the overarching issues affecting teaching and learning at UC Berkeley.

Center for the Studies of Higher Education seminars
The Center brings campus and national experts in higher education issues to give talks to the Berkeley community.

Berkeley Language Center Lecture Series
Prominent scholars in applied linguistics and second-language acquisition speak on various topics to Berkeley foreign language instructors.

Individual Consultations:

Office of Educational Development
OED offers individual consultations for ladder-rank faculty and lecturers.

GSI Teaching and Resource Center
The Center offers individual consultations for Graduate Student Instructors and departments.

Library Liaisons by Academic Department/Program
Library staff are assigned to work closely with specific program areas to inform their services and facilitate assistance.

Selected Online Resources

General Publications:

Faculty Guide to Campus Life
This web-based guide covers a range of topics of interest to faculty and other members of the campus community

College of Letters and Science Faculty Help Desk
This site provides quick, reliable answers to faculty questions about teaching at Berkeley. Some of the policies cited are specific to L&S, others are campuswide.

A Berkeley Compendium of Suggestions for Teaching with Excellence
This web-based guide provides tips for good teaching.

Tools for Teaching (selected chapters)
This book gives instructors a range of tools to improve their teaching.

What Good Teachers Say About Teaching: Essays From Berkeley
Recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Award write about their teaching.

Award-Winning Teaching Ideas for GSIs
Graduate students who have received the Outstanding GSI Award describe a problem they have identified in teaching and how they solved it.

Specific Topics:

Encouraging Student Writing [pdf]
This booklet offers tips on integrating writing into discipline-specific courses.

Teaching Students with Disabilities
This online guide offers resources for instructors teaching students with disabilities.

Test Proctoring Assistance for Students with Disabilities
The campus offers proctoring for students with disabilities who need exam accommodations such as extended time or a separate room.

Library Resources for Classroom Instructors
This list of library resources was compiled to assist instructors.

Effective Assignments Using Library Resources
This website contains tips on integrating library research into course assignments.

Service-Learning Courses
This website lists all service-learning courses currently being offered on campus.

Teaching and Technology:

Profiles on How Faculty Use Technology
Educational Technology Services has gathered examples of instructors who have used technology to solve a logistical problem or add a new dimension to their teaching.

CourseWeb
This secure website generates a basic webpage for every course on campus.

teach-net (listserv)
Teach-net is a moderated electronic mail forum for exchanging information, advice, tips, and general talk concerning teaching at Berkeley.

Evaluation of Teaching

Examples of Formative Efforts:

Individual faculty and GSI evaluation activities (No website available.)
For example, in Biology 1B GSIs are evaluated mid-semester by their students.

Videotaping
Videotaping allows faculty to view and listen to the class as students do, check the accuracy of their perceptions of how well they teach, and identify those techniques that work and those that need revamping.

"Class representative" program at Haas School of Business
A student is elected by each class to solicit feedback on the course and discuss it with the professor.

Examples of Summative Efforts:

Assessment of teaching effectiveness for pay and promotion (No website available.)
For example the English Department assigns two ad hoc committees for faculty promotion cases: one to examine teaching and one to examine research.

Student evaluations of teaching
Some departments make student evaluations public. For example, Haas and EECS.

Common evaluation question for all student evaluations
The campus requires that all departments include an overall assessment of teaching.

Campus Awards

For Graduate Student Instructors:

GSI Teaching and Resource Center Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award
This award is given annually to GSIs who demonstrate excellence in teaching.

GSI Teaching and Resource Center Teaching Effectiveness Award
The Teaching Effectiveness Award recognizes and rewards GSIs who devise solutions to teaching or learning problems they have identified in their classes.

For Faculty:

Committee on Teaching Distinguished Teaching Award
The DTA is awarded annually to ladder-rank faculty and lecturers who demonstrate teaching excellence.

Committee on Teaching Educational Initiatives Award
The EIA is presented annually to a department or unit on the Berkeley campus in recognition of distinctive contributions to undergraduate education.

GSI Teaching and Resource Center Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs
This award recognizes faculty for excellence in working with their GSIs.

Chancellor's Faculty Award for Service-Learning
This award recognizes faculty members who have provided opportunities for student service in the community.

Departmental and college awards:

Some colleges and departments also offer awards. For example, the College of Natural Resources Distinguished Teaching Award acknowledges the efforts of faculty members in the College who have excelled in undergraduate teaching and made significant contributions to the teaching mission of the College. The College of Letters & Science offers faculty awards for Distinguished Research Mentoring of Undergraduates and Distinguished Faculty Advising of Undergraduates. The Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching is given annually to a faculty member in the physical sciences who has demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching, including curriculum development.

Campus Fellowships for Faculty

Presidential Chair Fellows Program
This new faculty development offers Senate faculty a unique opportunity to simultaneously improve their teaching and enhance their career development. The Fellows program selects ten to twelve faculty members for participation in a one-year series of workshops and seminars focused on teaching and learning.

Berkeley Language Center Fellows Program
The BLC fellows program funds lecturers to develop research projects to enhance language teaching on campus.

Campus Grants

For GSIs:

GSI Teaching and Resource Center Course Improvement Grants
Course Improvement Grants provide funding for GSIs who wish to increase their teaching effectiveness (e.g., providing stipends for guest speakers, renting or purchasing films and videos, and funding museum or theater tickets).

GSI Teaching and Resource Center Departmental Grants
GSI Departmental Grants are available to provide support for departmental programs that prepare GSIs for teaching (e.g., to establish or enhance 300-level pedagogy seminars, to support a video consultation program for GSI teaching development, or to prepare or revise handbooks and other pedagogical materials).

For Faculty:

Office of Educational Development Instructional Mini-Grants
Instructional Minigrants provide rapid access to modest funds (up to $1,000) for small-scale projects to improve existing courses, develop new courses, evaluate instruction, and assess curricular needs.

Office of Educational Development Classroom Technology Grants
Classroom Technology Grants (up to $3,500) are designed to help faculty introduce new instructional technologies into the classroom; projects might include creating multimedia instructional materials and developing and monitoring electronic information servers for courses.

Service-Learning Center Grants
Instructional minigrants are available to faculty for the development of service-learning courses. Grants of up to $2,500 each are available to support courses that incorporate service-learning.