LAS Teaching Excellence Resources

UIC - UH & ARC Buildings with Sun

Develop Your Teaching Practice and Promote Student Success!

  • Build Build your Blackboard Site and Syllabus as Accessible Resources for ALL your Students.

  • Adopt Adopt Inclusive Teaching Strategies, a Growth Mindset, and Support Sense of Belonging.

  • Engage Engage in a Communication Plan with Students that Promotes Connection and Academic Success.

  • Leverage Leverage your research experience, resulting in research-informed and research-engaged teaching.

  • Design Design Transparent Course Objectives, Learning Outcomes, and Assessments .

  • Reinforce Reinforce the competencies gained in your course and their relevance to academic and career success.

LAS Syllabus Policies & Expectations Heading link

UIC requires that all courses have a syllabus. 

Syllabi from the 0 to the 500 level, including independent studies and guided research courses, must comply with the UIC Syllabus Policy.

The resources below have been created to facilitate compliance.

LAS-Specific Competencies Heading link

Academic transferable skills gained through a liberal arts and sciences education.

This LAS EPC-endorsed competencies document outlines transferable skills that we can reasonably assume UIC LAS students will have developed or mastered upon graduation, regardless of major.

Faculty should consider consistently presenting these competencies as part of their courses’ learning objectives and reinforce them throughout the semester. Departments may consider using this resource when detailing the academic profile of their majors, minors, and certificates.

LAS Writing in the Discipline Major Requirement: Guidelines Heading link

Students must complete at least one course in their LAS major that emphasizes skills in writing in the discipline. Each major must have at least one credit-bearing course at the 200 level or above designated to satisfy the Writing-in-the-Discipline requirement.

For current LAS Guidelines go here.

LAS Guide to Student Drop-In Hours Heading link

LAS GUIDE for transforming your traditional office hours into Drop-In Hours.

Unlike the traditional framework for office hours, Drop-In Hours are designed to encourage and facilitate student communication with faculty. Research documents how quality interactions with faculty positively affect grades, persistence, and retention.

The goal is to promote help-seeking behaviors, timely academic support, encourage a growth mindset, and increase sense of belonging in your classroom.

Connect with students and help them succeed in your course and at UIC!

LAS General Education Resources Website Heading link

Faculty and Teaching Assistants are pivotal in promoting the value of the Gen Ed Core, strengthening students’ appreciation of and engagement with the topics examined and work assigned. Faculty should explicitly connect the dots for students between the learning objectives of the Gen Ed Category(ies) approved for the course and the specific content of their course.

For helpful resources and tips, see our LAS General Education Resources website.

Campus Instructional Design and Technology Support Services Heading link

UIC provides numerous services to support course design, the technologies required for on-campus, hybrid, and asynchronous online instruction, and the implementation of open education resources.

Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence (CATE) Heading link

Additional Inclusive Teaching and Learning Resources Heading link

These resources explain inclusive, growth mindset, and transparent frameworks for your courses.  The focus is on cognitive and non-cognitive student academic success and sense of belonging strategies.

Dean of Students: Services and Forms Heading link

Student Support Resources Heading link

Students often need support. UIC has ample mechanisms, services, and centers to support academic success and personal wellbeing.  LAS has curated some of the most important categories and sites for you.

Student Support Resources