UB’s Graduate School of Education has partnered with GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Center of Buffalo to provide UB students with in-classroom experience teaching students with disabilities. UB students were photographed at the center working with clients in July 2021. GSE professor Claire Cameron is working with the program.

CATT News & Updates

Featuring teaching tips and stories highlighting teaching and assessment innovations happening around UB.

Latest News & Updates

  • Generative AI Survey for UB Instructors
    9/12/24
    As the integration of artificial intelligence in education continues to evolve, we are seeking the input of instructors at UB to better understand how these tools are being utilized.
  • Introducing the Instructional Innovation and Transformation Team
    9/3/24
    The Office of Curriculum, Assessment, and Teaching Transformation (CATT) is excited to announce the launch of our Instructional Innovation and Transformation team. This new initiative, led by Dr. Mara Huber, represents a significant step forward in our ongoing commitment to advancing teaching and learning at UB.

Latest Podcast Episode

  • Bridging Classroom and Career with Experiential Projects | Ep. 6
    9/26/24
    Can experiential learning be the key to unlocking students' career potential? This episode, featuring Dr. Mara Huber, the newly appointed Senior Director for Instructional Innovation and Transformation in the University of Buffalo's Office of Curriculum Assessment and Teaching Transformation (CATT), aims to answer that question with a resounding yes.

Past Updates

  • Bridging Assessment and Instruction
    9/8/21
    In these past few weeks following our recent merger between the Office of Educational Effectiveness and the Center for Educational Innovation, I have been thinking hard about how to most effectively communicate what it is about our new office that will allow us to better serve the university.
  • Connecting with Students Through Story
    2/3/21
    Story is one of those elements encountered around every corner, embedded into our lives so deeply that we may not always notice it. It powers every successful advertising campaign and drives our purchasing habits, inspires dinner table conversation as well as the subsequent family arguments, and designs the visuals that flood our sub-conscience as we close our eyes each night.
  • Design with Accessibility in Mind
    1/21/21
    If 2020 has taught us anything, we’ve learned to be flexible, to roll with the punches and to realize that at any point in time, our lives can be upended. As teachers, we have found the move to teaching online has brought along with it many conundrums, from the more obvious concerns about having the right technology, stable internet connectivity, and scheduling to a range of issues that stem from simply not being together in the classroom.
  • The Ever Dreaded Discussion Board – Out of the Box Activities and How to Handle the Workload
    12/17/20
    A great conversation on the use (or overuse) of Discussion Boards emerged from CATT’s Design and Build Academy. The questions and concerns raised in class by the faculty ranged from how to effectively use Discussion Boards and over usage of Discussion Boards in online learning, to how to effectively manage Discussion Boards when they become overwhelming and do Discussion Boards really engage students. Below are some resources, tips and tricks to master the online staple, Discussion Boards.
  • Feeling Isolated? Strategies to Create and Foster Community in Your Online Course
    12/10/20
    A typical semester is grueling. An atypical semester during an ongoing pandemic is even more so. While I’ve appreciated the short commute to my “home office” and replacing the early morning coffeemaker conversations with family breakfasts, it’s exhausting being on hours of daily Zoom calls. Working in isolation is a daily challenge that we are all experiencing, especially our students.
  • Do You Hear What I Hear? Improving Audio in Your Videos
    12/3/20
    In my previous blog post, I made my case for improving the quality of our online educational videos. I know you read it, and in fact have probably committed it verbatim to memory. So now that we’re in agreement that it is highly beneficial to take production values into account when producing our online videos, let’s get started.