Center for Teaching & Learning

Laura Almstead, PhD

Department: Plant Biology; Nutrition & Food Sciences
Modalities: Remote, mixed

Teaching Interests:

• Lab curriculum development
• Integration of hands-on acitivites and problem-solving exercises
• Promoting student engagement in large (especially introductory) courses
• Using food as a mechanism to teach basic scientific concepts

Areas of Expertise:

• Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TiLT)
• Designing engaging assessments
• Course/assignment design to promote academic integrity
• Large enrollment classes
• Labs – curriculum development; transitioning in-person labs to online format
• iClickers
• Teams (basics)
• Blackboard – rubrics, assignments, tests and surveys, journals; basic organization and grade center management

Please contact by email to request a consult: Laura.Almstead@uvm.edu

Allison Anacker, PhD

Department: Psychological Science, Undergraduate Neuroscience Program
Modalities: In-person, remote, mixed (in-person/remote), hybrid

Teaching Interests:

• Major course reworks and backward design
• Student engagement techniques
• Effective use of TAs

Areas of Expertise:

• Active learning
• Choice-based course design
• Peer interactions
• Reading and discussion of primary research literature
• Lab courses, first year courses, intro survey courses, upper level deep content courses
• Teams
• Screencast-O-Matic
• iClickers

Please contact by email to request a consult: allison.anacker@uvm.edu

Kelly Mancini Becker, EdD

Department: Elementary Education

Modalities: In-person, mixed

Teaching Interests:

• Integrating the Arts across the curriculum to boost learning and engagement
• Integrating movement and hands-on activities in classes
• Promoting student engagement

Areas of Expertise:

• Curriculum development
• Teams (basics)
• Blackboard – rubrics, assignments, tests and surveys, journals; basic organization and grade center management
• Using technology to increase engagement
• Active learning

Please contact by email to request a consult: kelly.becker@uvm.edu

Mary C. Burke, PhD

Department: Sociology; Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
Modalities: Remote, online, in-person

Teaching Interests:

• Critical and feminist pedagogies
• Intersectionality
• Decolonizing curriculum
• Student engagement
• Transformative learning
• Active learning
• Discussion-based learning
• Writing to learn
• Alternatives to traditional paper assignments

Areas of Expertise:

• Large enrollment courses
• Seminars and discussion-based courses
• Small and large group discussions
• In-class writing
• Teams
• Screencast-O-Matic
• Blackboard

Please contact by email to request a consult: mary.burke@uvm.edu

Eva Cosoroaba, PhD

Department: Electrical and Biomedical Engineering
Modalities: Online, mixed, in-person

Teaching Interests:

• Active Learning
• Specifications Grading
• Increasing learning while reducing cheating
• Teaching engineering with diversity in mind

Areas of Expertise:

• Backwards Course Design
• Labs
• Lecture with Active Learning
• Teams
• Blackboard

Please contact by email to request a consult: ecosoroa@uvm.edu

Laura Hill, PhD

Department: Plant Biology and Integrated Biological Sciences

Teaching Interests:

• Backwards design
• Learning outcomes development and assessment
• Assignments for critical thinking skills
• Contemplative pedagogy
• Strategies for engagement in large-enrollment classes (e.g., peer instruction and Just-in-Time teaching)
• Sustainability (SU) general education course development

Dr. Hill’s main focus as a CTL faculty associate this year is to lead the first cohort of the interdisciplinary Contemplative Faculty Learning Community. This forum of scholars is engaged in a yearlong exploration of contemplative teaching and learning and pedagogical approaches to classroom practices. Contemplative pedagogies may be used to shift the focus of teaching and learning that connect students to their lived, embodied experience of their unique learning process. Learn more about the contemplative learning community.

Vic Izzo, PhD

Department: Plant & Soil Science
Modalities: Online, hybrid, in-person

Teaching Interests:

• Co-production of Knowledge
• Co-learning Environments
• Active Learning
• Student engagement
• Discussion-based pedagogies
• Student Learning Communities
• Undergraduate Research Communities
• Fellowship-style Curriculum Development
• Sustainable Leadership Strategies

Areas of Expertise:

• Large format classes
• Alternative assessments
• Reflection Exercises
• Camtasia and Screencast-O-Matic
• Audio editing
• Field Labs
• Service-Learning
• Blackboard: Basic organization, Assessments, Rubrics, and Grade Center

Please contact by email to request a consult: vizzo@uvm.edu

Laura Marthaler, MS

Department: Mathematics & Statistics

Modalities: Remote, in-person

Teaching Interests:

• Increasing student engagement
• Improving assessment techniques to discourage cheating, encourage learning, and decrease student stress
• Improving course organization and structure

Areas of Expertise:

• Technologies to supplement and improve in-person courses
• Course and/or assignment design to promote academic integrity
• MS Teams
• Blackboard
• Gradescope

Please contact by email to request a consult: Laura.Marthaler@uvm.edu

Lizzy Pope, PhD

Department: Nutrition and Food Sciences
Modalities: Remote, in-person

Teaching Interests:

• Increasing student engagement and motivation
• Varieties of assessment techniques
• How to integrate more creativity and humanity into teaching

Areas of Expertise:

• Teaching large enrollment and mid-size courses
• Active/creative learning
• iClickers
• Teams
• Final Cut Pro X
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning projects
• Specifications and choice-based grading
• Transparent assignment design

Please contact by email to request a consult: efpope@uvm.edu

Cynthia Reyes, PhD

Department: Education, Education for Cultural & Linguistic Diversity (ECLD) Minor
Modalities: Remote, in-person

Teaching Interests:

• D1 (race & racism) in course
• curriculum development
• Reflection & pedagogy
• Sociocultural literacy theories
• Multiliteracies

Areas of Expertise:

• Mentoring and supporting international students and English learners
• Community-engaged research
• Ethical research in qualitative studies
• Humanizing methodologies and working with non-dominant communities
• U.S. Educational Policy & English learners
• Multicultural pedagogy

Please contact by email to request a consult: creyes@uvm.edu