Lead TA Institute

Office of Instructional Consultation

About Us 

We enable excellence in teaching and learning at UCSB.

At the Office of Instructional Consultation (OIC), we provide pedagogical training, advice, resources, and confidential consultations for UCSB faculty and graduate students. Our team’s collective expertise in pedagogy for higher education helps us be responsive to UCSB’s evolving instructional landscape.

OIC manages grant programs for faculty to assist with developing innovative teaching and course materials. We also support academic departments with faculty development in teaching, TA training, and course evaluations. 

Our department has three areas that work hand-in-hand: Faculty Pedagogical Support, the TA Development Program, and Course Evaluations

Teaching Workshops for Faculty and TAs 

Make an appointment    New to teaching at UCSB?   Apply for a grant!

Our Specialties

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Course Design

Course Planning - Get advice on your syllabus, goals, assessments, policies, and timing.

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Teaching Strategies

Engaging Students in Classes - Learn how to increase student engagement, set up group work, teach large classes, and much more!

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Online and Hybrid Courses

Online and Hybrid Courses - Bring your online and hybrid course ideas, and our experts will help you bring them to fruition.

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Educational Technology

Educational Technology - Come discuss educational technologies that can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your course.

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student studying with their laptops

Course Evaluations - Work with us to explore ways of getting, and acting on, useful feedback from students about your course.

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Teaching Assistant Training

TA Training - Join our TA workshops and certificate programs to improve your teaching skills.

Test Scanning: Multiple Choice and Short Answer Exams

Instructional Development strongly encourages faculty who want to conduct in-person multiple choice and/or short answer exams to use GradeScope. You'll create your exam as usual, download the Gradescope bubble sheet template and print it along with the exam to distribute to students. You’ll be able to scan students’ tests and bubble sheets using any scanner (in your department or in 1124 Kerr Hall - email id-test-scoring@ucsb.edu to make an appointment), and then upload it to Gradescope’s online interface for automatic scoring. After scoring, Gradescope produces analysis and allows for regrading, commenting, and one click posting of scores to the Canvas gradebook.

Our partners


OIC has a long history of collaboration within the campus and the UC System on all aspects of teaching and learning. Our on-campus partners include CITRAL, the Library, Collaborate, Summer Sessions, Graduate Division, and the Testing Center. Our system-wide collaborators include the Educational Technology Leadership Committee (ETLC), The Instructional Design and Faculty Support (IDFS) working group, and the UC Centers for Teaching and Learning (UCTLC).