The Center for Teaching Excellence celebrates its history of offering programs for faculty. Here is a list of programs and collaborations that have been sunsetted.
Faculty Learning Communities
A Faculty Learning Community (FLC) is a group of faculty (approximately 10) who engage in a structured, collaborative effort as an interdisciplinary, cohort-based community to achieve outcomes related to teaching and learning.
FLCs currently sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence are:
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), facilitated by Dr. Kelli Jo Kerry-Moran
The SoTL-FLC will meet monthly in spring 2016 and fall 2016 to support faculty in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a SoTL project. Monthly meetings include information and co-mentoring in the areas of research design, IRB protocols, individual questions and challenges, and presenting and publishing results.
- Undergraduate Research and SoTL, presentation by Hilliary Creely on April 22, 2016
An Introduction to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Keynote Address for the ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ Community
This keynote address was held on Friday, September 18, 2015 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm in the Delaware Room of the HUB.
This keynote address for university administrators, faculty and staff provided an overview of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) with the goal of raising awareness of and motivating interest in SoTL. Beth Dietz-Uhler and Catherine Bishop-Clark explored the various definitions of SoTL, the purpose and motivation for engaging in SoTL, and some practical and pedagogical issues. Drs. Uhler and Clark from Miami University (Oxford, OH) co-authored the book: Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Guide to the Process and How to Develop a Project from Start to Finish, which outlines the steps of SoTL research and gives examples of SoTL projects that employ these steps. Using their five step process laid the groundwork to develop a publishable SoTL project! This session was open to the entire university community and was followed by a Saturday workshop for faculty to create a SoTL project in their classroom.
Keynote: Introduction to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The Elephant in the Room Series
The Center for Teaching Excellence has partnered with Women's and Gender Studies to present the series. Learn more about the series including goals, faculty engagement and it's connection to university strategic initiatives.
The Elephant in the Room
Conversation and Action for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in the Classroom and Beyond
Fall Semester
- Wednesday, August 21, 2019: Susan Graham, ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ's Green Dot Workshop: “Are You Ready for Green Dot ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ?” 3:30-5:00 p.m., 113 Stouffer
- Wednesday, September 18, 2019: ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ's Safe Zone and LGBTQ Studies Workshop: “Beyond the Binary: Supporting a Trans Inclusive Classroom” 3:30-5:00 p.m., 114 HSS
- Wednesday, September 25, 2019: Griselda Wille, Lunch and Learn: “A Historical Overview of Immigration Reform in the U.S.” 12:15-2:00 p.m., Elkin Hall Great Room
- Thursday, October 3, 2019: Susan Graham and colleagues, Reflective Practice, ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ Workshop: (Faculty and Teaching Associates Only) “What to do?: Successful Strategies for Assisting At-Risk Students Using a Green Dot Bystander Intervention Framework” 12:30-2:00 p.m., 116 Ackerman
- Monday, October 7, 2019: Six O'Clock Series: “Holocaust Survivors Discuss Police and Bystanders in the Nazi Era” 6:00 p.m., HUB Ohio Room
- Wednesday, October 23, 2019: International Tea Time and Education Abroad Fair: Presented by the Office of International Education. Get your “passport” stamped, present at WGS office. 12:00-3:00 p.m., HSS Lobby
- Wednesday, October 30, 2019: Adam Jones, Michael Schwartz, & Nancy Pipkin Hutchinson, ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ Workshop: “Difficult Dialogues” 3:00-4:30 p.m., 114 HSS
Spring Semester
TBA
~Completion of four events earns a Certificate of Training in Diversity and Inclusion~
Organized by ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ's Women's and Gender Studies and the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Co-Sponsors
The Office of the Provost; College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Department of Theater and Dance; Department of Sociology.
Preparing Future Faculty
School of Graduate Studies and Research and the Center for Teaching Excellence Certificate in Preparing Future Faculty
Catalog Description
The Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) Certificate provided graduate students an opportunity to gain experience and skills necessary to teach at a college or university in their disciplines, while completing their graduate degree at ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ. The Certificate was provided through the Center for Teaching Excellence and the School of Graduate Studies and Research, though students must have received approval from their specific graduate program coordinators. Students must have completed core classes (nine credits) within their degree programs, completed an approved teaching class (three credits), and participated in activities specific to skill learning and teaching practice. This certificate provided interested students the exposure to faculty life in a protected educational context, and allowed them to make an informed decision about whether or not they want an academic career, while gaining the experience to be competitive if they choose to move forward into teaching.
Background
In fall 2016, the Center for Teaching Excellence began a PFF initiative with graduate students across campus. This initiative was led by John Lewis (RP co-director and criminology professor) and Stephanie Taylor-Davis (CTE director and food and nutrition professor) was mirrored after Duke University, considered to be the premier PFF program, and also drew upon the framework for the departmentally-based PFF program offered by ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ's Criminology Department. From 2016 to 2018, monthly workshops were held to provide students specific information and skills related to teaching at community colleges. These workshops provided interested students information that may not have been available in their degree program, though some graduate departments do offer a teaching course specific to their discipline. The goal of the CTE PFF program was to help ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ graduate students meets their needs to obtain skills to make them more competitive in their respected fields, as well as make them more informed instructors if employed to teach at a community college or university in the future. The CTE PFF program was expanded upon and formalized to become part of the ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ Preparing Future Faculty Certificate program (approved by University Senate on May 1, 2018), supported by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the School of Graduate Studies and Research. The PFF Certificate provides all interested graduate students the opportunity to document gained knowledge and skills to prepare for college teaching within their discipline. The first cohort of students was accepted into the program in fall 2018.
The role of the Center for Teaching Excellence in the Preparing Future Faculty Certificate program included:
- Monthly meetings to enhance understanding and competence in the major areas of faculty responsibility that emphasizes teaching with some programs on advising, scholarship, and service. Workshop Agenda
- CTE Advisory Board review and approval of course syllabi from different departments who want their course(s) included for the PFF teaching course requirement. Courses may be cross-listed with a GSR prefix course. Currently Approved Courses
- CTE Advisory Board reviewed applications and recommended candidates for admission to the PFF certificate program.
- CTE Advisory Board and CTE Reflective Practice Co-Directors provided feedback on one classroom teaching observation (in-person/face-to-face, via real-time audio-videoconference, or by reviewing a video recording) per PFF student.
PFF Teaching Observation Form
In this session, panelists discussed challenges facing the American University, the changing environment in higher education, socializing graduate students for teaching, and mistaken beliefs about learning to teach. Future discussion topics were solicited from the participants to be offered during the spring semester meetings as well as entertaining the changing of times and dates to meet the needs of the participants. A quick overview of an available, free-elective community college teaching class for all majors will be highlighted.
As tenured faculty members prepare for class, it is interesting to listen to their discussions about excitement for the start of a new semester, curiosity about how or whether new materials, a new text, or a new form of delivery will work for the students; and awe at their colleagues new ideas for teaching, scholarship, service, and advising. Their discussions suggest that they are calm and at peace with the concept of teaching because they understand the environment and have been through the process twice a year for more years than they care to remember. During this seminar, we will focus on whether these are the same emotional reactions and concerns found in new faculty members who are entering into the classroom for the first time. Our speakers shared their experiences about preparing for their first class, entering into the classroom, and their self-reflections at week 12 (November 7) of their first semester of teaching. Additionally, Racchini discussed teaching strategies for Developmental Studies classes.
What is a “Teaching Philosophy” and why is the department I am applying to want a copy? How long should it be? What should it contain? Why is it important? Your teaching philosophy is a self-reflection of your beliefs about how your teaching will enhance student learning. Enhancing student learning impacts student retention, student recruiting, and collegiality in the department. Your teaching philosophy also should discuss how your teaching and learning beliefs will be applied in the classroom. Teaching philosophies become important to search committees as it offers an unsolicited writing sample; but more importantly an insight into your attitudes, values, and beliefs about teaching and learning which will impact their students and the department should you be hired. ÃÜÌÒÊÓƵ has an excellent reputation for preparing future faculty and the speakers for this session have played an important role in maintaining that reputation.
Monday, April 17, 2017 3:30-5:00 p.m., Location: HUB, Allegheny Room