Services and Programs
Consultations
CITL offers one-on-one and group consultations on a wide range of pedagogical practices with the goal of having faculty who are excited to teach and whose students are excited to learn. For example, CITL can support you in:
- thinking through a redesign or design of a course or syllabus
- identifying teaching strategies aligned with your teaching and learning goals
- generating creative ideas for assignments, projects, and classroom activities
- developing assessments and rubrics to measure and provide feedback on learning.
CITL’s goal is to tailor each consultation to meet your needs. Whether you want to learn more about a core area of inclusive pedagogy, discuss a teaching challenge, or share a classroom victory, we want to talk with you!
Course Observations
We are also happy to arrange for a classroom observation – we use a collaborative observation model where we first meet with you to discuss your pedagogy and what you want the focus of the observation to be, then attend your class, and then meet with you to share our feedback and reflections. All class observations are confidential and formative. We anticipate being able to support 10 course observations each semester.
Group Instructional Feedback Technique (GIFT)
Are you looking for a way to gather meaningful and honest feedback from your students?
Approaching midterm is a great time to find out from your students how the class is going so far. The Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning can perform a non-evaluative midterm focus group for you as a neutral third party, collecting anonymous feedback and reporting it back to you. This technique, called Group Instructional Feedback Technique (GIFT), has been empirically tied to higher student satisfaction. In about 20-30 minutes of class time, students are encouraged to create constructive feedback using open ended questions in small groups and then in a full class discussion, facilitated by CITL staff. Discussions and analyzed feedback are kept confidential between the instructor and the CITL facilitator. There are numerous benefits to the GIFT process including enhancing the positive experiences of students in your class by helping all students feel heard, receiving constructive suggestions mid-semester allows time for educator adaptation, instead of waiting until the end of the semester, improvements in faculty and student communication, and examining your teaching through the student lens is an important reflective practice. We anticipate being able to support up to 15-20 GIFTs each semester.
Communities of Practice
A community of practice provides educators with opportunities to engage and discuss teaching and learning with other educators on campus in an intimate and relatively informal setting. Communities of Practice meet periodically throughout the academic year and are dedicated to exploring a specific dimension or element of teaching and learning. They are facilitated by CITL staff or Faculty Fellows and tend to evolve into mutually supportive forums where colleagues can troubleshoot, brainstorm, commiserate, and learn from each other.
Fall 2023 Communities of Practice
- New Faculty 1st Fridays 12-1 pm
- Staff Educators last Wednesdays 12-1pm
- Ungrading 1st Wednesdays 4-5 pm
- Writing to Learn last Thursdays 4-5 pm
On the Menu: Workshop Series
This workshop series held the last weekday of each month during the academic year is designed to provide educators with appetizing opportunities to learn about innovations and effective practices and discover concrete strategies for teaching success. Food will be provided for all those hungry for knowledge!
Upcoming workshops (all 12-1 pm, go through the line in Commons and charge CITL):
- Fri, Sept 29 Writing to Learn
- Tue, Oct 31 Accessibility Isn’t Scary
- Thu, Nov 30 Ethical Pedagogy
- Fri, Dec 8 Scratch and Learn: Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique
- Wed, Jan 31 Give me a Break: Punctuated Lectures
- Thu, Feb 29 Engaging with Challenging Conversations in the Classroom
- Fri, Mar 29 Student Evaluations of Teaching
- Tue, Apr 30 Course Design for Next Year
Guilt-free Book Club
Each semester, CITL will pick a book for our our Guilt-free Book Club. Our philosophy is that it’s easier to read the books if they are sitting beside you. When you register for a book club, you will receive a free, no-strings attached, copy of our pick. The entire book club strives to be guilt-free in every way possible. You can register for a copy of the book and never attend any discussion sessions. You don’t have to have read to attend a discussion session. You are welcome to join in at any time— arriving late, leaving early, or missing a session is perfectly OK! Our goal is to provide a guilt-free way to motivate your thinking about teaching and connect with other pedagogically-inclined colleagues.
Book club meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month with two possible times to attend: 8 am or 4 pm. All meetings are held in the CITL Lounge (Dana 216) with coffee, tea, and light snacks.
Fall 2022 – Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom by Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy
Winter 2023 – Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It by James M. Lang (Campus vote pick)
Short Term 2023 – The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students by Anthony Abraham Jack
Fall 2023 – Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers by Jessamyn Neuhaus (Campus vote pick)