Sheridan Center Newsletter, January 2026

News from the Center

Teaching After a Tragedy

As the Brown community grieves the loss of life resulting from the tragic events of December 13, 2025, the Sheridan Center has compiled these resources for instructors. This page includes the slides and talking points shared with instructors by the Provost’s office on January 12th. As always, we welcome questions at sheridan_center@brown.edu.

Learning Technologies Updates for Spring 2026

Sheridan’s Learning Technologies team’s Updates for Spring 2026 article is now available at our Canvas Community site. This article highlights important Canvas changes and new learning technology tools implemented for the spring term, including two new tool pilots being offered and newly available opt-in AI features within Canvas. If you prefer to receive our updates article and other timely Canvas information via email regularly, please join our Canvas Community listserv.

Programs and Resources for New Instructors

Teaching Essentials

For Undergraduate TAs
Online and asynchronous
For Undergraduate TAs interested in creating an inviting learning environment, the UTA Orientation will be facilitated through Canvas and made available for students beginning January 16. It consists of four modules: reflecting on your teaching values; preparing to teach; different teaching contexts; and resources. We strongly suggest that students be compensated by their departments at the unit’s hourly pay rate. Students can fill out the UTAO google registration form; registration is required to be enrolled in the Canvas site, which will be updated weekly.

For Graduate TAs
Online and asynchronous
In this fully online, asynchronous, and self-paced program, Graduate Teaching Assistants engage in a reflective exploration of their own practices and beliefs about teaching. For more information and to register, visit our website. For questions, please contact Dr. Sara Misgen (sara_misgen@brown.edu).

Spring Programs

Assignment Design in the Age of AI

February 9-27
Asynchronous
Register here by February 4

The Sheridan Center invites faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and staff interested in assignment design to register for this Canvas mini-course on designing assignments in the age of AI. Over a three-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: understanding AI and your position; designing assignments to deter AI misuse; and integrating AI literacy Into assignments. Email kristi_kaeppel@brown.edu with any questions.

Fundamentals of Canvas Accessibility: Mini-Course

February 9-23
Asynchronous
Register here by February 5

Want to learn how to make your Canvas course accessible? Then enroll in Digital Learning and Design’s Fundamentals of Canvas Course Accessibility mini-course. This two-week, asynchronous course, which begins February 9, covers the seven pillars of digital accessibility. During this mini-course, there will be an opportunity to participate in an optional synchronous session hosted by DLD staff. This course is open to graduate students, post docs, faculty, and staff.

Teaching AI Ethics Through Project-Based Learning

Tuesday, February 10, 12:00 - 1:00 pm
Zoom
Register here

Dr. Emily Dux Speltz, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics & Technology and Director of the Virtual Communication Lab (VCL) in the Department of Humanities and Communication at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide, will share a hands-on, project-based approach for helping university students make thoughtful decisions about how to use generative AI ethically and when to avoid it. Participants will explore how structured projects can mitigate academic integrity concerns and promote ethical decision-making while also fostering the AI literacy students need for future professional contexts. Drawing on specific assignments from an asynchronous “Ethics and Artificial Intelligence” course, the session offers concrete design examples and practical strategies to help participants brainstorm and adapt similar approaches for their own teaching.

Graduate Writing Intensive with English Language Support: 2026 Spring Cohort

Register here

The Graduate Writing Across Disciplines Intensive offers both virtual workshops and a cohort-based writing community for multilingual graduate students. Registered cohort participants will join virtual workshops on core strategies for building academic writing knowledge and skills, in-person Writer’s Cafés, receive guided peer feedback, and engage in sustained work toward a personal milestone writing project key to their academic or professional path. Please complete this short form to express your interest. You will hear from English Language Support once registration is open at the beginning of the Spring semester. For any questions, please contact Dr. Joy Shuyuan Liu at joy_s_liu@brown.edu.

Graduate Writing Collective: Spring 2026

Multiple dates (see application for details)
In-person
Apply here by January 23

Are you a graduate student looking to elevate your scholarly writing, gain practical insights into the publication process, and submit a paper to a scholarly journal with the help of a supportive writing community? Meeting in-person seven times across the Spring semester, the interdisciplinary Graduate Writing Collective will explore key academic writing strategies including time management, clarifying arguments, making claims for significance, identifying appropriate journals for submission, working with editors, and writing query letters. With the support of a writing community, participants will revise their draft into a full journal manuscript and submit it for publication.

Space is limited; please apply here by January 23. Because the focus of this collective is revision, participants should have at least a nearly-full draft of a journal manuscript (or a course paper, conference paper, or dissertation chapter which can be revised into a journal manuscript) in hand by the first meeting, or have all data collected and be able to commit substantial time to writing. Participants must purchase or borrow Wendy Belcher's Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks (PDF copies of the worksheets will be provided to participants who borrow the book from the library). Please email Dr. Charlie Carroll 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 Spring 2026 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).

Spring Teaching and Learning Communities

Conversations on AI Policies and Academic Tasks

Select Fridays, 12:00 - 1:00 pm
Zoom
Register here

This faculty discussion group meets 3-4 times a semester on Fridays from 12 to 1pm on Zoom. Each conversation explores a different topic related to when and how faculty should develop policies on undergraduate and graduate student use of Gen AI tools for various academic tasks (e.g., writing, revision, reviewing, tutoring, research). If you would like to join these conversations, please complete this Google form. 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.

Spring Faculty and Staff Writing Group

Fridays beginning on February 6
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
Register here

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.

Decolonizing STEM Reading Group

Open to all members of the Brown community

To advance equity and inclusion in STEM, we need to focus on anti-racist and decolonized pedagogies to reach those students who are marginalized by systems of oppression. The goals for this reading group are to:

Begin to develop a theoretical foundation on how to decolonize STEM learning spaces
Integrate new decolonization concepts into current STEM programming and teaching

We will be reading Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Dr. Eve L. Ewing. There will be limited physical copies provided at no cost to participants through the Sheridan Center. No prior exposure is necessary to join.

Please sign up by January 28 so we can start at the beginning of February! We will read 2 chapters for each meeting. If you have any questions, please contact the group facilitator, Dr. Christina Smith at christina_smith2@brown.edu.

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 Invited Speaker

Dr. Chad Topaz
Thursday, April 2, 2026

We are excited to welcome Chad Topaz to campus on April 2nd as this year’s invited Problem-Solving Fellows speaker (details forthcoming). Dr. Topaz uses mathematics and data science to promote justice in education, the criminal legal system, the environment, media/culture, and more. He serves as Professor of Complex Systems at Williams College, Adjunct Professor of Applied Mathematics at University of Colorado Boulder, and co-founder of The QSIDE Institute. He recently visited Brown to work on improving the reliability of fingerprint analysis to help reduce false convictions. His first book, Unlocking Justice, will be released in May.

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

English Language Support: Self-Paced Modules for Academic and Professional Communication

A series of asynchronous modules is available for supporting international-identifying and multilingual learners’ academic and professional communication in the U.S.-specific context. These self-paced modules cover key communicative strategies, including effective email writing, professional communication for job search and networking, and navigating advisor-advisee interactions. Newly added to the series is a Critical AI Literacy module for multilingual academic writers, which introduces strategies and an Ethical–Effective–Efficient framework to help writers make informed decisions about whether, when, and how to use generative AI tools thoughtfully and responsibly while maintaining agency, voice, and learning goals.

Register to gain access to all modules using this Asynchronous English Language Support Request Form. Participants will be added to the English Language Resource Google Group and receive a link to the resource site. For questions, please contact Dr. Joy Liu at joy_s_liu@brown.edu.

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.