Campus Gems
Signature Courses are unique to The University of Texas at Austin and should similarly highlight resources unique to this large research campus. The collections, tools, and artifacts at this Research I university can complement and enrich your course while making tangible connections for your students to your course content.
Need ideas on which gems to incorporate in your class? Below are just some of the gems of campus, along with the appropriate contact for setting up an organized visit or individual course experience. If you know of a campus gem that should be added here, please contact the First-Year Experience Office.
Art Galleries at Black Studies
Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) at the University of Texas is the sole on-campus entity dedicated to showcasing the art of Africa and the African Diaspora at UT. As a preeminent cultural asset of Black Studies, it is a center for teaching, learning, and scholarship. As such, AGBS serves as a forum for the creative and critical expression of artists, curators, and historians. AGBS includes two principal galleries—Christian-Green Gallery and Idea Lab.
Please contact Joy Scanlon if you are interested in scheduling a tour of either of Christian-Green Gallery or Idea Lab. Information about AGBS’ current exhibitions can be found at galleriesatut.org/art.
Blanton Museum of Art
Whether you would like to schedule an introductory class visit, design an in-depth class experience based on a particular exhibition, or if you have an uncommon and innovative idea for collaboration, the staff at the Blanton Museum of Art can work closely with you to build strong and creative connections between your curriculum and original works of art. Download this handout for ideas, examples, and information about Blanton tours. Please allow three weeks advance notice for guided visits, and two business days for self-guided visits. Museum admission is free for current UT students, faculty, and staff. Faculty members may schedule a class visit online.
View an overview of the Blanton’s digital resources for university audiences.
Brackenridge Field Laboratory
Contact: Rob Plowes
The Brackenridge Field Laboratory (BFL) is an 82-acre biological research site that is part of an almost 400-acre tract of land originally donated to the university in 1910 by George W. Brackenridge, a former University of Texas regent. BFL is noteworthy as an urban biodiversity hotspot within easy reach of main campus. Many high-profile research activities explore relationships between organisms and their environments. BFL is a favorite spot for students to acquire hands-on experiences in ecological and environmental classes, and several Freshman Research Initiatives conduct fieldwork at the site. BFL contains immense biodiversity in its many habitats which include a native bluestem prairie, old pasture land and quarries, Colorado River frontage, fern-studded streambanks, and juniper woodlands. This diversity has produced records of thousands of species including at least 163 species of birds, 20 mammals, 373 species of plants, 68 species of ants, 1200 species of moths and butterflies, and 200 species of native bees. In the 1980’s a mountain lion was even spotted at BFL. Additionally, several species new to science have been discovered here and were named from specimens first collected on the site.
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
Hamman Gem and Mineral Gallery
Contact: Kenny Befus, Curator of Gems and Minerals – Jackson School of Geosciences
The Hamman Gem and Mineral Gallery is a brand new resource on campus. Think of it as an art gallery, but one that displays the university’s finest mineral specimens and beautiful gemstones. Currently the gallery is open for visitors from 1 to 4 PM on week days, staffed by a cadre of undergraduate Geoscience majors. We can accommodate scheduled visits at other times as well. The gallery presents educational opportunities for a variety of topics, across many disciplines. Foremost opportunities include the exploration of beauty-color-light in the natural world, order and chemistry, and the ever-growing conflict between society’s need for mineral resources and our responsibility towards our planet and all of its inhabitants. Please contact Kenny Befus to schedule a tour!
Harry Ransom Center
Contact: Andrea Gustafson, Head of Instructional Services
The Harry Ransom Center (HRC) will work with you to create an instructional session that meets your goals for your students. Ransom Center educators can teach sessions introducing your students to online research and the role of archives or create a collaborative teaching session with primary sources linked to your syllabus. They can provide you with digital surrogates, design an asynchronous lesson, or teach collaboratively with you. Have questions? Send them an email. Want to request a class session? Complete this form.
The HRC also houses a massive online catalog of digitized material from the Ransom Center’s collections. The content represented here touches all of their major collecting areas and is an easy-to-navigate introduction to the center’s holdings.
Landmarks
Contact: Catherine Whited, Landmarks Education Coordinator
Established in 2008, Landmarks is the public art program of The University of Texas at Austin. Founding director Andrée Bober leads the development of the collection and oversees a vibrant range of programs that support scholarship and learning. Its collection of more than forty modern and contemporary works includes commissions from some of the most admired and promising artists of our time. Believing that art fosters personal growth and human connection, Landmarks strives to provide experiences for all people. By creating opportunities for meaningful engagement with public art, the program reflects the communities it serves and celebrates our differences. Landmarks inspires thought and growth by making great art free and accessible to all.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
Contact: Sheila Mehta, Education Specialist
- The LBJ Presidential Library is a center for intellectual activity and community leadership while meeting the challenges of a changing world. Through public programs and exhibitions, the Library provides meaningful context to the vast and sweeping legislation passed during the Johnson Administration and illustrates how those laws impact us today. Displays of historical documents, photographs, videos, and audio recordings increase public awareness of the American experience. Found only at the LBJ Library – hundreds of hours of secret telephone recordings of Johnson conducting the business of his presidency.
Racial Geography Tour
With the new digital Racial Geography Tour, take a self-guided exploration across the Forty Acres with African & African Diaspora Studies professor Edmund T. Gordon. Learn how racism, patriarchy, and the militarist nationalism of the New South are embodied in campus architecture and landscaping.
Only virtual tours are available at this time.
Texas Performing Arts
Contact: Tim Rogers, Director of Education and Engagement
Texas Performing Arts provides engagement programs that connect UT faculty, students, touring artists, and the greater Central Texas community through a number of collaborations to contextualize the performing arts experience. Events include masterclasses, artist-directed symposia, workshops, post-performance Q&A’s, lectures, brown bag lunches, youth performances, and other events to offer insight on many different levels into skill, technique, and the creative process.
Texas Science & Natural History Museum
Texas Science & Natural History Museum
Contact: Laura Naski Keffer, Senior Administrative Associate
- Learn more about tour options
UT Campus Telescopes
UT Campus Telescopes and the Department of Astronomy’s Star Parties
Contact: Lara Eakins, Senior Program Coordinator
- Please contact Lara two weeks prior to a visit, if more than 15 people will be in attendance.
Visual Arts Center
Department of Astronomy’s Star Parties
Contact: Rachael Starbuck
- The Visual Arts Center (VAC) is a 13,000 square-foot gallery situated in the College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. Our mission is to provide a platform for artists, curators, and educators to experiment, test ideas, and take risks. Through our exhibitions and public programs, we aim to spark generative conversations about art and contemporary society. We believe art has the potential to unite, inform, and inspire us to take action toward creating a more just world. The VAC is always free and open to the public. You can find more information about the VAC’s exhibitions here.
Critical Thinking
As defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking (1987), critical thinking is “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” At its best, it “transcends subject matter divisions” by being interdisciplinary and multifaceted. In addition, critical thinking is often best prompted by real-life, hands on, experiential learning.
Students entering college are expected to think critically, understand non-linear assignments, and grapple with questions that may not have answers. Too often, however, first-year students have not been taught to think in these ways, and thus struggle to acclimate to their new learning environment. The Signature Courses were designed to address these issues and to turn high school students into successful college scholars.
The first in a series featuring the Signature Course Essential Elements, the following videos highlight Signature Course faculty members discussing how they teach critical thinking in their courses.
Michael Starbird
Chiu-Mi Lai
Juan Dominguez
Lori Holleran Steiker
Information Literacy
Signature Courses help students learn to critically examine valid sources of information. Most first-year students know how to get answers from the internet, but for many, the ability to find other types of resources and to process all of the information they find may be a skill that has yet to be honed. Signature Courses ensure that all first-year students receive instruction in basic research and information evaluation skills, otherwise known as information literacy skills, which serve them throughout their time at the university. Students will leave their Signature Courses as discerning research consumers.
Information Literacy Guide
Please bookmark the Information Literacy Guide, created specifically for Signature Course faculty.
Learning Outcomes
There are three learning outcomes for this component of the Signature Courses:
- Students will be able to evaluate sources of information based on criteria such as creation process, authority, currency, relevance, purpose, and perspective.
- Students will be able to describe a research strategy that includes choosing an appropriate source of information, type of information, and keywords.
- Students will be able to describe the idea that sources of information exist in conversation with each other.
Request a Class Session
Request a class session (including online sessions) or tailored assignments.
Librarians in the Teaching and Learning Services Department are excited to help incorporate information literacy into your Signature Course. Use the link above to schedule online research skills sessions (synchronous or asynchronous), consult on assignment design, or discuss other ways to incorporate research skills into your class.
Oral Communication
Employers increasingly cite effective communication skills as an essential attribute of the graduates they seek to hire. Direct instruction and practice of oral presentation skills early in a student’s college career can provide a solid foundation upon which to build competency in the classroom and beyond.
Oral presentations can be incorporated into your course in various ways and can be tailored to the content and needs of your course. Formats may include individual presentations, ‘elevator pitches,’ debates, small group presentations, speeches, and dramatic performances. In our observations of student oral presentations in Signature Courses, we found that the most successful presentations had many of the following qualities:
Explicit Instructions
Students performed best when given clear written expectations and grading criteria well in advance of the presentation date. We also saw much stronger presentations for courses in which the instructor had set aside class time to teach basic presentation skills to students. We hope you will consider discussing not only what you want students to present but how they should present.
Peer Evaluation
Many faculty members find it helpful for students to evaluate the oral presentations of their peers using a rubric. This helps students listen more closely to each speaker and gives them a better framework to plan their own presentations.
Structured Engagement
Q&A sessions following individual or group presentations require presenters to think on their feet and to demonstrate more advanced mastery of content. Encouraging or requiring non-presenting students to ask questions of the presenters can increase class participation and engagement with the topics. Q&A sessions pair effectively with use of peer evaluation rubrics.
Instant Feedback
Some instructors give brief, immediate feedback to presenters, typically highlighting one or two strengths of the presentation and one area for improvement. This can help push students to a higher level of professionalism as they know they will hear feedback in front of their classmates. This approach can also benefit students who have not yet presented by giving them a tangible sense of what is expected.
Rising to the Challenge
We see students perform best when given challenging, thoughtful assignments that require creativity and autonomy. The strongest presentations require students to analyze and synthesize information rather than simply summarize.