Teaching circles and book clubs are small communities of like-minded educators who meet monthly throughout a semester or academic year to focus on a specific teaching-related issue. Led by UATA’s Faculty Teaching Fellows, these groups offer the opportunity to connect and engage with faculty members across campus with similar interests and goals. Open to all full- and part-time faculty. Books will be provided. Check out the options for Fall 2025 and sign up today!
Spring 2026 Teaching Circle and Book Club Descriptions
I Never Thought of It That Way Book Club
Facilitator – Maura Mills, Joe A. Chambliss Endowed Business Professor, Department of Management
Description, Location, and Schedule
- Description – I Never Thought of It That Way, by Monica Guzman, offers provocative considerations about how we can work, relate, and communicate more effectively with others who may think differently or hold different perspectives from our own. As such, the insights offered in the book stand to hold great value across various domains and times, but particularly in education.
The book offers multifaceted value for educators, including its reflection on institutional values of critical thinking, curiosity, personal responsibility, and well-rounded perspective. To this end, the insights offered throughout the book hold great pedagogical value, and the potential to open important, generative conversations that stand to improve how we navigate our classrooms and the myriad individuals who walk through our doors. - Location – Hewson Hall 2002
- Time Frame – Spring 2026 Academic Term
- Spring 2026 Meeting Dates
- Friday, January 23, 9-10 a.m.
- Friday, February 27, 9-10 a.m.
- Friday, March 27, 9-10 a.m.
- Friday, April 24, 9-10 a.m.
Elevating the Online Classroom
Facilitator – Lori Greene, Senior Instructor, Human Nutrition, Hospitality and Sport Management
Description, Location, and Schedule
- Description – Elevating the Online Classroom is a Teaching Circle designed for those instructors wanting to enhance their online teaching practices. Over the course of three sessions, participants will explore key areas essential to online course success: 1) building meaningful connections in the online classroom, 2) creating engaging video content, and 3) designing effective assessments with timely, actionable feedback. The primary goal is to foster a supportive space where faculty can share strategies, reflect on experiences, and apply best practices to improve student engagement and learning outcomes in online courses. The circle will promote innovation, confidence, and community among instructors teaching online courses.
- Location – Online (Zoom link shared with participants prior to meetings)
- Time Frame – Spring 2026 Academic Term
- Spring 2026 Meeting Dates
- Tuesday, February 3, 2-3 p.m.
- Tuesday, March 3, 2-3 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 7, 2-3 p.m.
Paperless Pedagogy: Creative Alternatives to Traditional Assignments
Facilitator – Tara Mock, Assistant Professor, Honors College
Description, Location, and Schedule
- Description – This Teaching Circle invites faculty to reimagine student assignments through the “UnEssay,” an approach to assessment that prioritizes curiosity and creative thinking over rigid academic formats. Instead of submitting term papers, students might produce podcasts, zines, timelines, performances, visual essays, or speculative artifacts (among other examples), all projects that maintain the rigor of critical analysis while allowing for deeper engagement through inventive expression that helps connect academic work to real-world contexts. Participants will explore UnEssay pedagogy, review assignment examples, and develop a creative assignment tailored to their own course goals.
The purpose of this circle is to support faculty in designing assignments that:- Encourage students to express their understanding of course material in creative and meaningful ways
- Promote intellectual exploration, originality, and ownership of work
- Maintain academic rigor while expanding the formats through which learning is assessed
- Spark greater engagement for both students and instructors
- Location – Online (Zoom link shared with participants prior to meetings)
- Time frame – Spring 2026 academic term
- Spring 2026 Meeting dates
- Tuesday, January 26, 12-1 p.m.
- Tuesday, February 24, 12-1 p.m.
- Tuesday, March 31, 12-1 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 24, 12-1 p.m.
The Teaching Collective: A Wellness Approach to Work-Life
Facilitator – Abby Horton, Assistant Professor, Capstone College of Nursing
Description, Location, and Schedule
- Description – This teaching circle offers a monthly space for faculty to connect, reflect and share strategies for fostering personal wellness and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Each session will center around a specific theme, such as setting boundaries, managing stress, sustaining energy or aligning personal values with professional goals. Through guided discussion and peer support, participants will explore practical tools to help them thrive both personally and professionally.
- Location – 1332 University Hall
- Time frame – Full academic year
- Fall 2025 meeting dates
- Sept. 11, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
- Oct. 9, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
- Nov. 13, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
- Dec. 4, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
The Opposite of Cheating Book Club
Facilitator – Jessica Kidd, Associate Professor, Department of English
Description, Location, and Schedule
- Description – This book club intends to spur conversation about effective teaching in the face of the daunting academic integrity challenges posed by generative AI. This group will meet monthly throughout the 2025-2026 academic year to discuss the newly published book The Opposite of Cheating.This book is written by two of the foremost experts on academic integrity and “presents a positive, forward-looking, research-backed vision for what classroom integrity can look like in the GenAI era, both in cyberspace and on campus. Accordingly, the book outlines workable measures teachers can use to better understand why students cheat and to prevent cheating while aiming to enhance learning and integrity” (www.oupress.com).
- Location – 1332 University Hall
- Time frame – Full academic year
- Fall 2025 meeting dates
- Sept. 10, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
- Oct. 8, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
- Nov. 12, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
- Dec. 3, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
The Spark of Learning Book Club/Teaching Circle
Facilitator – Isabelle Drewelow, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Classics
Description, Location, and Schedule
- Description – This book club/teaching circle focuses on creating a collaborative space for interdisciplinary dialogue about the emotional dimensions of teaching and learning. Through reading and discussion, faculty will reflect on what makes learning experiences meaningful, memorable and grounded in personal growth. This group will meet for eight sessions over the 2025–2026 academic year. Sessions 1 through 6 will discuss The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom With the Science of Emotionby Sarah Rose Cavanagh, with one chapter explored in each session. In Session 7, participants will brainstorm and propose classroom-based activities designed to foster interest and enjoyment in learning. In Session 8, the group will focus on developing assignments that build student confidence and curiosity and elicit feelings of pride in their work.
- Location – 2008 University Hall
- Time frame – Full academic year
- Fall 2025 meeting dates
- Sept. 24, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
- Oct. 22, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
- Nov. 12, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
- Dec. 3, 9:30-10:30 a.m.