Faculty Instructional Support and Development
The Office of Faculty Instructional Support and Development (FISD) envisions a university where UT educators have the knowledge, resources, and confidence to create student-centered learning experiences that enable all students to grow throughout their education into meaningful participants in their communities.
FISD serves the University of Texas at Austin by:
- Coordinating teaching support and mentorship for new and early-career faculty across campus
- Collecting and developing resources on effective teaching with local, national, and international educational development partners
- Supporting faculty in their teaching at all stages in their careers with programs aligned with institutional priorities reflected in standards for promotion and tenure
- Promoting excellence and innovation in teaching through peer mentorship and communities of practice like the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, Provost's Teaching Fellows, and Longhorn Teaching Fellows
FISD is committed to assisting instructors at all stages of their careers in their pursuit of improved teaching effectiveness and professional development. Please view our full catalog of teaching resource websites and program offerings from the drop-down menus above or browse our tailored topics below.
Looking for Something Else?
Check out our cross-campus partners for resources on:
Working with and Mentoring Graduate Students
A.I. Use and Policy Guidance
Disability Services and Student Wellbeing
Resources Curated For Your Needs
Explore the resources below to kickstart your teaching prep and enhance your pedagogy.
Quick Resources
Two Minute Teaching Tips
Short videos by UT faculty offering quick ways to engage students and promote an effective classroom learning community.
Start your Semester Strong
Strategies for setting the right tone for the semester on your first class day.
Teaching Large Classes
How to build active learning into large lectures where you won't be able to reach every student on personal level.
Managing the Learning Environment
Help your students enter your classroom ready to learn by accounting for the other physical, mental, and cultural spaces they inhabit.
Refreshing and Revising Your Existing Courses
Seek Feedback on Teaching
Even the best teaching gets better with feedback. Required Course Instructor Surveys at the end of the term are good for making changes for the next time you teach, but there are several other things you can do while a course is ongoing.
Experiential Learning
Make your course activities resonate with students by placing them in a real-world context.
Essentials of Learning
Review some of the most important aspects of the science of learning that can help you design effective learning experiences for your students.
New Instructor Resources
Syllabus
Design the gateway to your course to be engaging and meaningful, while also relaying all the necessary aspects of University policy and policies for your course.
Learning Outcomes
Effective syllabi clarify for students what they will learn from a course. This helps them plan their schedules and reflect on the progress they are making toward those goals.
Teaching Online or Hybrid
Take advantage of the different teaching modalities you are assigned to use to help boost learning, improve retention, and improve course accessibility.
Course Design Canvas Course
Enroll in this UT Canvas course for asynchronous teaching development modules and resources for writing learning outcomes, crafting assessments, and all aspects of course design.
Do More with Your Pedagogy
Get an ACUE Credential
Learn about the Effective Teaching Certification pathway courses UT is offering and how to access the ACUE Commons collection of Quick study courses, teaching resources, and online community to support your professional development.
Join a Community of Practice (coming soon!)
Communities of practice on teaching are facilitated around campus by Teaching Fellows and other faculty who gather people together regularly to discuss instructional best practices, share ideas for addressing challenges, and cultivate a strong community of fellow instructors.
Apply to be a Provost's Teaching Fellow or Longhorn Teaching Fellow (coming soon!)
These two university-wide interdisciplinary cohorts of instructors work to support their colleagues and develop new solutions to teaching challenges.
Develop a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) project (coming soon!)
Study the effectiveness of your teaching methods with the help of this resource.
Attend the UT teaching and learning conference (coming soon!)
The first UT conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning will be held in April 2027.