The Office of Faculty Development (OFD) offers a range of programming during the academic year. Our programming covers topics related to scholarship, teaching, and faculty life at UMass Dartmouth as well as current topics in higher education.
All programs and events are held in the OFD suite on the second floor of Claire T. Carney Library (Room 212). We’re equipped for hybrid programming that allows for interactive virtual participation via Zoom. Every Friday, all faculty automatically receive a “Next Week @ the OFD” email digest that provides detailed descriptions and registration information for upcoming programs and events. If you are not receiving these emails, please contact Ellen Mandly at emandly@umassd.edu.
We strive to make our programming relevant and inclusive. If you have suggestions for future OFD programming, please email us at ofd@umassd.edu.
Workshops & dialogues
OFD workshops focus on both teaching and scholarship. Teaching workshops provide opportunities for evidence-based discussions of pedagogical theories, teaching and learning skills and techniques, implementation of instructional technologies, and modes of assessment across modalities (face-to-face, blended, and fully online). Workshops on scholarship offer insight into academic writing; strategies for the publication of scholarly monographs, edited volumes, and peer-reviewed journal articles; writing grant applications; and engaging in creative work.
Faculty reading groups
Reading groups draw faculty together from across disciplines for in-depth, engaging conversations about a topic and title drawn from current work in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Share your research
As part of its mission to promote the professional success of faculty at UMassD, the OFD’s “Share Your Research” series encourages faculty members to share work in progress with colleagues across disciplines. The form of presentation can range from the discussion of pre-circulated work in progress (i.e. article manuscript, book chapter, grant proposal, book proposal) to the formal presentation of a conference paper or poster. All sessions include the opportunity for discussion and feedback among participants.
Action dialogues
“Action dialogue” is a process of identifying inequities in organizational policies, structures, and cultures; mapping out resources and strategies to remedy those inequities; and taking concrete actions towards inclusion and the disruption of unjust practices.
Pilot dialogues
The OFD is introducing a pilot dialogue series on teaching & learning articles; selected chapters; public lectures or short videos that appear to be gaining a great deal of traffic in key journals or other venues and/or engendering important discussion. Faculty will be invited to choose from a list of current and/or widely read articles selected by the OFD and lead an exploratory dialogue on an article and topic of their choosing. Pilot Dialogues are intended to spark interest about new ideas in teaching and learning as well as scholarship and research and ideally will lead to the development of future OFD programming.
Tour my course
Each semester, UMassD faculty members offer their colleagues a tour of their online and blended course sites. “Tour My Course” provides insight into key pedagogical techniques, course organization and communication, creation of online lectures and discussions, and modes of assessment within the MyCourses platform.
Annual conference
In cooperation with CITS Instructional Development, the Office of Online and Continuing Education, and the Provost’s Office, the OFD sponsors a day-long New Approaches to Teaching and Learning conference each January. The free conference, open to all UMassD faculty, features concurrent panels on pedagogical innovations by UMassD faculty, an invited keynote speaker, and the presentation of UMassD’s annual Provost’s Award for Teaching with Technology.