News!

Mary Taylor Huber’s Workshop on SoTL has been rescheduled!

Mark your calendars now. This workshop, originally scheduled for this past February has just been rescheduled for Monday, Sept. 12. The workshop will begin at 5 p.m. and include a dinner. See the description of the original workshop archived below. More information and registration will be announced later. Watch this spot for details.

Video Camera Now Available for Check-out

The Center has purchased a Canon FS31 camcorder and a tripod for use by faculty to record a class session or a practice lecture. This camcorder employs a user-provided SD card for memory, or you can download the video directly to your Mac or PC from the camera’s smaller internal memory. Either way, you will own the video of your presentation. This camcorder is for “one time” use only, so it cannot normally be checked out for a longer period of time. Typically, the camcorder will be checked out for one class session on one day. If you have questions, or would like to come to the center to “play with the camcorder,” or would like to check out this camera to use in recording a class session, please contact Alan Childs or Simona Glaus for an appointment.

Classroom Visitation Program Announced

A classroom visitation program has been developed by CITLS and is now available for faculty to use. Any faculty member can request a classroom visitor by contacting Alan Childs, CITLS director. The initial list of topics for which visitors have volunteered is posted below. We hope that this list will expand as word of the program spreads. This program is strictly formative and for the personal benefit of the faculty member requesting the visit. No report of this visit will ever be made to anyone. Once a faculty member requests a visitor, the director will contact the volunteer and then arrange for contact with the requesting faculty member. Those two individuals then arrange the visit. If you would like a classroom visitor on a topic not listed, please contact Alan Childs and he will recruit one for you.

We are still looking for faculty and staff willing to serve as classroom visitors. If you are interested in being a classroom visitor on any of the topics listed below, or on another topic of your interest, please contact Alan Childs.

Classroom Visitation Topics

Large Class Lecture

Large Class Discussion

Small Class Lecture

Small Class Discussion

Using PowerPoint or Other Classroom Presentation Software

Laboratory Organization and Activities

Small Group Work

Problem-based Learning (PBL)

Workshop on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Postponed

Due to the illness of Dr. Mary Taylor Huber, this workshop was postponed from its original date. This workshop will now be delivered Sept. 12 or 19 at 5 p.m. Once we have fixed the date with Dr. Huber, an announcement will be sent to all faculty and those interested in attending will be able to re-register. If you have any questions, or suggestions for this workshop, please contact Alan Childs.

Dr. Mary Taylor Huber, senior scholar emerita and consulting scholar at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Stanford, Calif.,  and well-known author of a number of books and articles on teaching and scholarship, will present this workshop on how to think about, design, and conduct research on teaching and learning. Dinner will be provided. This workshop is for faculty in any discipline and with any level of experience in SoTL, especially if you have none at all. This workshop will help get you started. If you have any questions  please contact Simona Glaus or Alan Childs.

“What the Best College Teachers Do” 2011 Edition Announced

A three-day institute based on Ken Bain’s award-winning and bestselling book What the Best College Teachers Do (Harvard University Press, 2004), and featuring author Ken Bain from Montclair University and some of the subjects of the 15-year study of excellence in college education. What do the best teachers do to captivate and motivate students, to help them reach unusually high levels of accomplishment?  Participants in the 16th edition of this highly interactive summer institute will explore and use findings from a 15-year inquiry into the practices and insights of highly successful teachers. The program will emphasize both improving one’s teaching and developing ways to share insights with colleagues back home. The institute will be held in West Orange, N.J., June 22-24, 2011. For additional information and an application form, go to this link.