No images? Click here
Sheridan Newsletter
October 2025
News from the Center
Second Cohort Completes Bridge Scholars Program
Now in its second year, the Bridge Scholars Program proudly welcomed 24 trailblazing, first-generation students into an energizing six-week hybrid summer experience. This unique journey blended two for-credit courses with mentorship, leadership training, and powerful community-building opportunities.
From thought-provoking faculty panels and uplifting peer counseling to dynamic co-curricular programs, Scholars immersed themselves in spaces designed to sharpen their academic skills, expand their confidence, and spark meaningful connections. The program is more than a bridge into college, it’s a launchpad where students honor their identities, claim their belonging at Brown, and craft strategies for success that will carry them through their college years and beyond.
Conversations on AI Policies and Academic Tasks
Launching this fall, this faculty discussion group will explore issues related to undergraduate and graduate use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and other AI tools for academic tasks (e.g., revision, translation, summarization, brainstorming, exam preparation). Each conversation will invite faculty to share their thoughts, experiences, and strategies for establishing course policies and practices. After surveying the interests of the group, we will schedule guests who can provide insight and assistance. Possible topics include: What are appropriate and inappropriate uses of LLMs to help multilingual learners improve their academic writing? What are the limitations of AI detection tools and unintended consequences of relying on them? For instructors who incorporate AI tools into learning activities, how should they respond to students who do not want to use these tools? How can instructors create a learning environment where students share how they actually use AI tools? What kinds of AI tools and uses are helpful for students with disabilities?
If you would like to join these conversations, please complete this Google form. We will follow up with details on the meeting schedule. Hosted by Lisa Di Carlo, Associate Teaching Professor of Anthropology and Provost’s Faculty Teaching Fellow; and Eric Kaldor, Director of Assessment and Transformational Programs, Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.
Fall Programs
Assignment Design in the Age of AI
October 20 - November 3
Asynchronous
Register here by October 15
The Sheridan Center invites faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and staff interested in assignment design to register for a series of self-paced Canvas modules on designing assignments in the age of AI. Over a two-week period, participants can engage with the modules that align with their interests. The modules are run mostly asynchronously with two optional synchronous sessions for participants to ask questions and share ideas.
The modules cover the following topics: arguments for and against AI use in coursework, considerations for forming your position, designing assignments to mitigate misuse of AI, and thoughtfully integrating AI into assignments. Email kristi_kaeppel@brown.edu with any questions.
CIRTL Self-Paced Teaching & Learning Courses (2025-2026 Academic Year)
Develop your teaching & learning knowledge and skills in one of CIRTL’s nine self-paced, asynchronous courses designed for graduate students and postdocs. These courses are now open for registration for the Fall 2025 term. You can read detailed descriptions of this programming and register by visiting the CIRTL website. If you have any questions, please email Dr. Logan Gin (logan_gin@brown.edu).
Fall Teaching and Learning Communities
Fall Faculty and Staff Writing Group
Fridays beginning on September 12
Zoom; 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Register here
All Brown faculty and staff are invited to participate in the Sheridan Center’s Faculty and Staff Writing Group. Writing groups can be an invaluable source of motivation and accountability, and the group is a “guilt-free” opportunity that prioritizes spending time in community and goal-setting together. Please register to receive the Zoom link for the sessions. Registration questions can be directed to sheridan_center@brown.edu. All other inquiries can be directed to Annie Gjelsvik (Public Health; Provost’s Faculty Teaching Fellow) at annie_gjelsvik@brown.edu.
Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash
STEM Ed Fridays
Select Fridays, Noon - 1:00 pm
SciLi 720 and Zoom
Are you interested in discussing STEM education at Brown? STEM Ed Friday is a vibrant learning community where STEM instructors and staff members share ideas, experiences, and challenges related to STEM education.
Please register for an upcoming session:
Brown Learning Collaborative
The Brown Learning Collaborative provides opportunities for undergraduate fellows to collaborate with faculty and peer partners in key academic areas: Data Science, Problem Solving, and Writing.
Problem-Solving
Fellows
Improve Your Teaching with a Problem-Solving Fellow!
Are you a UTA, tutor, or professor who wants a student perspective on your teaching? Sign up for a Problem-Solving Fellow (PSF) Teaching Consultation! PSFs are undergraduate students trained to give feedback on any and all elements of teaching or assisting in teaching a course. If you are looking to increase the effectiveness of your assignments, lecturing, or general teaching strategies, consider reaching out! Each consultation is confidential, personalized, and led from a student-based perspective. Please fill out our interest form to get started. Questions? Please contact psf@brown.edu.
The PSFs are also working on projects related to faculty, staff, and advisor perceptions of S/NC; Brown STEM cultures from a student perspective; and making sense of new educational environments.
Asynchronous Resources and Programs
Teaching Metacognition
Based on Saundra McGuire’s book, Teach Yourself How to Learn, this Canvas Commons module can be added to any Brown course. The resource addresses these topics:
What is metacognition?
What is the difference between studying and learning?
How might your own study habits be setting you up for success, or holding you back?
What are proven systems, strategies, and mindsets to improve one's learning?
Faculty might also be interested in this Sheridan newsletter on Teaching Metacognition.
Creating a Teaching Portfolio
This online, self-paced Canvas workshop from the Sheridan Center guides participants through the process of writing a teaching statement and creating a teaching portfolio. For more information and to register, visit the Teaching Portfolio program website.
Designing and Teaching for Online
This online self-paced Canvas tutorial guides Brown instructors through the design or redesign of an online or hybrid course. There are three pathways (Developing an Online Course, Structuring an Online Course in Canvas, and Teaching an Online Course) that allow instructors to work through the sections at their own pace based on their own needs and interests. The tutorial can be accessed anytime with this direct link (you must be logged into your Brown Canvas account): Designing and Teaching for Online.
Planning Resource: Sheridan Calendars
Interested in knowing when Sheridan Center programs typically run during the year? Please see the calendars below.