Professors of UNIV 101 gathered for an Inspiring Teaching Workshop hosted by Undergraduate Education on Sept. 27, 2024. The event, “One Month Down, Now What? Next Steps in UNIV 101,” focused on helping professors continue to find success in teaching the UNIV 101 course during the fall semester.
Maria Summers, assistant director of General Education and coordinator of UNIV 101: BYU Foundations for Student Success, and Jonathan Sandberg, Undergraduate Education associate dean over UNIV 101, provided instruction at the event.
Summers’ training focused on how faculty can help students understand the covenant community of BYU. She presented tips for UNIV 101 professors to assist students to have meaningful interactions with each other in the classroom and asked professors to share any strategies for helping students feel involved and excited for the class.
“Students learn when they do things with the material, when they interact in different ways. Giving them the opportunity to talk and discuss and share their ideas is a great way to get them involved,” Summers said.
Summers prepared an activity for the professors to engage with each other at their tables and to stand up and talk with other people around the room. Summers encouraged professors to use a similar practice to help students learn from each other during class time and gave instructors the opportunity to discuss how they would use these activities and what they would do differently based on their students’ needs.
Sandberg’s training reminded professors to keep their UNIV 101 students as the main focus of the course.
“As long as you keep that in mind, you won’t get too far off course. We’ll course correct, we’ll get better, we’ll refine, but we’ll never get too far off course,” Sandberg said.
Sandberg asked several instructors to share inspiring moments from their experiences teaching UNIV 101 thus far. Professors shared stories, photos, paintings, and poems their students created to show the impact of the UNIV 101 experience. These student examples highlighted how the UNIV 101 course is helping students feel closer to Christ, their classmates, and the BYU mission.
Richard Gill, UNIV 101 professor and dean of Undergraduate Education, shared stories of how students are experiencing UNIV 101 and what they are gaining from the course.
“Our hope is that the things that are happening in University 101 are leavening [students’] experiences in other places,” Gill said.
Sandberg highlighted the importance of fostering a covenant community within UNIV 101 courses. He encouraged professors to help students focus not only on what they can gain from the course, but also on how they can each contribute to the class.
Click the links below to view Summers’ and Sandberg’s slides from the workshop.
Jonathan Sandberg's slides
Maria Summer's slides