Programs
In addition to faculty-initiated workshops (updated regularly on the Events page), the Center hosts a number of on-going programs:
Advising Workshops
Coffee Talk
CTL in the Department
CTL Reads
Faculty Peer Observation and Feedback Program (FPOF)
FPOF Pool
Inclusive Pedagogy Teaching Circles
Inclusive Practices Workshops
One-on-one Consultations
Student Teaching Consultant Program
Videotaping and Consultation
Advising Workshops
The CTL hosts monthly workshops for new advisers; all faculty are welcome. Since advising is a crucial part of our teaching, and one key way in which we interact with our students, these workshops focus on providing advisers with information about the resources that are available to support our students. The fall 2022 schedule can be found here.
CTL Reads
Each semester, the CTL hosts CTL Reads, a reading group focusing on recent thought-provoking texts about teaching and learning. The group meets three times in the semester. At the end of the semester, there will be a workshop for sharing concrete ideas and suggestions based on the group’s reading and conversations. This fall, CTL Reads will be discussing Susan Hrach, Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning. Hrach asks us to move away from the paradigm of thinking of students as ‘brains on sticks’ and instead to consider how our students’ embodiment – their physical presence, their movements, and their positions in space – might influence their learning experience. This reading group will discuss if and how we might consider space and movement in our teaching, and reflect on embodied pedagogy. Sign up here.
Inclusive Pedagogy Teaching Circles
Are you looking to deepen your engagement with inclusive practices and talk with other faculty about how to facilitate a classroom environment where all students feel empowered to succeed? In this yearlong program, faculty participants will meet five times in the fall semester to discuss scholarship on the best practices in inclusive pedagogy and reflect on our own teaching. In the spring, participants will observe each other’s classes in pairs to learn from one another and to think about how to put into practice our discussions from the fall; faculty partners will provide feedback and support rather than evaluation. Faculty will receive a token stipend for participation in this program. If you are interested in participating in the program, please contact the CTL Director: reedctl@reed.edu.
Inclusive Practices Workshops
(in collaboration with the Office of Institutional Diversity)
This is a series of ongoing workshops designed to provide information, tools, and practical tactics for faculty and staff to work most effectively with students from a broad range of backgrounds and identity groups. Workshops topics include: students of color, international students, first generation college students, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students with disabilities, LGBQ students, transgender and gender nonconforming students, introverts, students experiencing emotional and mental health issues, students who practice a religious or spiritual tradition, creating inclusive classrooms, and inclusive advising.
Faculty Peer Observation and Feedback Program (FPOF)
Interested in improving your teaching in the context of an on-going, mutual observation and feedback relationship with a colleague and a larger group of colleagues involved in the same activity?
This program supports faculty to serve as peer-observers, feedback-providers and mentors. It combines this one-on-one peer-mentoring with group reflection in a structured, on-going format.
How it works: Faculty members sign up and identify a faculty partner. Over the course of the semester, partners will engage in four to six observation and feedback sessions. The CTL will provide coffee cards at the Paradox for feedback sessions (or post-feedback sessions, if you like). The entire group meets three times during the semester to discuss what we hope to learn, how we go about it, and what we are learning. The aim of this program is to help faculty improve our teaching. In this spirit, participants are asked not to write letters of evaluation for each other that draw directly from experience in the Faculty Peer Observation and Feedback (FPOF) program.
FPOF Pool
Interested in sitting in on a colleague's class to see how they facilitate discussion, flip the classroom, or try - and don't always succeed - to activate learning? Want to expand your repertoire, gain perspective, be inspired, or just mix things up a bit? Not quite ready to commit to a full semester of FPOF? The FPOF Pool is made up of colleauges who have participated in one of the CTL programs involving classroom observations (the Student Teaching Consultant Program or Faculty Peer Observation and Feedback Program) and are willing to have colleagues observe their teaching on a one-off basis. The idea is not that they are any more expert in teaching than you, but that they are comfortable being observed and reflecting on it afterwards.
To participate, view the list of FPOF Poolers. Contact potential partners directly. You may want to find someone from another discipline, or who is newer to teaching than you. Ideally, you meet before observing to learn something about your partner's objectives for the class and again, afterwards, to reflect on what you gained from the experience. Note: the idea is not to supply them with feedback so much as to provide you, the observer, with new perspective and ideas.
Student Teaching Consultant Program
Faculty members participating in the Student Consultant program work with a student who observes one of their courses throughout the semester. Student Consultants provide an opportunity for faculty to reflect on their pedagogy, receive feedback from a student not in their course, and work collaboratively to meet teaching goals. Together, the faculty member and Student Consultant develop areas to focus on throughout the semester. The Student Consultant attends class throughout the semester, takes detailed observation notes, and meets weekly with their faculty partner to communicate their candid and confidential observations.
Faculty who have participated in the Student Consultant program have found the experience to be extremely positive as a way to reflect on their teaching practice and to gain consistent feedback from the perspective of a student. Faculty members can work either with a student they identify or with a student who has applied during the CTL’s open application period.
Videotaping and Consultation
In conjuction with the Office of Instructional Technology, the CTL provides the opportunity for you to videotape one or more of your class sessions. Video is a particularly effective way to put yourself in the shoes of your students and reflect on your teaching. It can be difficult to imagine how students experience your class in the moment. Watching a video of your class allows you to see things that may have been invisible to you at the time. Using the videos to reflect on your teaching with a trusted colleague such as a mentor, a FPOF Pooler, or the director of the CTL can help improve your teaching, bolster confidence, and expand your repertoire.
To participate, contact the Director of the CTL (reedctl@reed.edu). After an initial consultation with the director, you will meet with Trina Marmarelli in the Office of Instructional Technology for a brief tutorial on how to use the video equipment. Once you've recorded a number of class sessions, select a few clips to share with the director of the CTL or other colleagues as grounds for reflection. You may have a particular issue in mind. Or, you may be interested in getting a new angle on your teaching. In either case, you may want to use the FPOF observation guide to help structure your reflection.
Coffee Talk
You and a colleague want to talk about teaching over coffee? The CTL offers free Paradox coffee cards for the occassion. Contact the Director of the CTL to receive coffee cards.
One-on-One Consultations
The Director of the CTL is available for confidential, one-on-one teaching consultations. These may involve anything from classroom observations to syllabus assessment, problem-shooting, to student evaluation debriefs. Contact the Director of the CTL directly to arrange consultations.
CTL in the Department
Bring the Director of the CTL to a department meeting to share latest research on a topic of interest or a few quick teaching tips as a spur for a departmental conversation about teaching. Contact the Director of the CTL to arrange a visit.