This year’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Fellows Program Showcase was nothing short of outstanding. You won’t want to miss the below takeaways and to access the recording!
Examples of CTL Fellows’ 22-23 Action Plans
Highlights from this year’s CTL Fellows include CTL Fellows organizing/facilitating 31 teaching and learning events, such as informal coffee hours, workshops, etc.; 75 one-on-one individual teaching consultations, including piloting a peer mentoring program; DEI development work; collaborative strategic teaching and learning planning with college administration; college-wide teaching and learning needs assessments; development of student feedback evaluations and more!
Supporting Faculty in Teaching is Supporting Student Success
In her welcome, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Senior Vice Provost, Alix Gitelman, nicely connected the importance and impact of CTL Fellows’ efforts to student success. She stated, “The key piece to student success is student learning. This is where our faculty come in and help guide our students in learning in the classrooms and outside the classrooms.” She then expressed gratitude to the CTL Fellows for their work in elevating teaching and learning within the program and the colleges.
“The key piece to student success is student learning. This is where our faculty come in and help guide our students in learning in the classrooms and outside the classrooms.”
— Alix Gitelman, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Senior Vice Provost
CTL Fellows Cultivate Cultures of Teaching and Learning within Colleges
A recurring theme throughout the Showcase, and echoed in the program goals, is the concept of cultivating cultures of teaching and learning within the colleges.
College of Engineering (COE), Adam Lambert and Shane Brown planned successful teaching and learning breakfast/lunch events. Lambert explained, “It was awesome! We had real-time discussions around teaching myths. For example, some people say, ‘You can’t do active learning in a big classroom.’ We had a panel of people who do active learning in large enrollment classes come and say, ‘This is how I do it and what works well.’ We then asked questions and considered what might work in our own classes. We ran out of time to get through all the materials we planned because it was going so well. It was energetic and attendance exceeded our expectations!”
“It was awesome! We had real-time discussions around teaching myths… We ran out of time to get through all the materials because it was going so well.”
— Adam Lambert, COE
Samantha McGee and Paula Weiss in the College of Science (COS) explained how they mindfully used informal bimonthly faculty coffee hours to plan workshops. Faculty informally discussed successes and challenges in the classroom in the coffee hours; they helped each other grow as educators. Topics often depended on the needs of the folks in attendance on that day. This enabled us to build community and be responsive to needs in real-time. Coffee hour informal discussions then informed the professional development workshops.
“Topics often depended on the needs of the folks in attendance on that day. This enabled us to build community and be responsive to needs in real-time.”
— Samantha McGee and Paula Weiss, COS
Demian Hommel in the Earth, Ocean, Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) conducted one-on-one consultations and reflected, “These one-on-one sessions are where I think the most benefit and connections happen.” In addition, he planned and delivered a Bootcamp session on cognition and learning. He expressed, ”Culturally, we benefit from talking about these issues collectively, not just from a top-down approach, but also on a peer-to-peer basis.” When considering a vision for the future, Hommel asked some useful questions such as: “How do we develop this culture of information sharing and exchange in CEOAS?” Such questions apply to all colleges.
“Culturally, we benefit from talking about these issues collectively, not just from a top-down approach, but also on a peer-to-peer basis.”
— Demian Hommel, CEOAS
Benefits of Multiple Years of Collaboration with the CTL Fellows Program
David Engel and Scott Geddes, who have served as CTL Fellows and in the OSU-Cascades Faculty Success Center for the past three years, spoke to the benefits of collaborating with the CTL Fellows program over time. Engel explained, “We have seen the Faculty Support Center, which is only three years old, grow in its impact and ability to provide support mechanisms academically, pedagogically, professionally to our faculty.” Geddes showcased how they have built a substantial Canvas site that continues to grow. He pointed out that a strength of the program is that each college gets to develop and focus on their own strengths and work toward goals that are useful to them.
“We have seen the Faculty Support Center grow in its impact and ability to provide support mechanisms academically, pedagogically, professionally to our faculty… A strength of the CTL Fellows program is that each college gets to develop and focus on their own strengths and work toward goals that are useful to them.”
— David Engel and Scott Geddes
Importance of Collaborations & Strategic Planning: College Administrators, Faculty, Centralized Support Units
Shane Brown, in the COE, touched on one of the cornerstones of the CTL Fellows Program: collaborations between college administration, teaching faculty, and centralized teaching support units. He shared, “Our vision for the future is to continue to develop our goals with college leadership because we want to do things that are possible, that meet the bigger vision, that meet the bigger affordances.” One of the effective methods of this type of planning has been teaching needs assessments conducted by CTL Fellows with the support of college administrators, where questions such as the following can be asked: Where are we? Where do we want to be? How are we going to get there and where will we place resources/incentives to do so? Hommel conducted a needs assessment in CEOAS this year and Lambert last year in COE. “The needs assessments moving forward are going to be essential,” reflected Hommel. A barrier reported by faculty to participating in professional development is finding time. This and discussion of incentives were segues into discussion between CTL Fellows, faculty, and administration present.
“Our vision for the future is to continue to develop our goals with college leadership because we want to do things that are possible, that meet the bigger vision, that meet the bigger affordances.”
— Shane Brown, COE
Showcase Recording
Watch the full showcase accessible here, gain an overview of CTL Fellows’ efforts, impact, and visions of teaching and learning in their colleges.
- Welcome: Alix Gitleman, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Senior Vice Provost
- Program Overview: Cheridy Aduviri, CTL Fellows Program Assistant Director (min.1:13)
- COE: Shane Brown and Adam Lambert (min 7:23)
- COS: Samantha McGee and Paula Weiss (min.14:30)
- Cascades: David Engel and Scott Geddes (min. 21:10)
- CEOAS: Demian Hommel (min. 27:18)
- Regan Gurung, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of Center for Teaching and Learning (min. 35:50)
- Closing: Cheridy Aduviri (min. 37:48)
(Discussion section may be granted access upon request.)
“Thank you to all the CTL Fellows for their hard work this year! You are amazing and make me happy to show up. Thank you to all the college administration, our program partners, and those supporting teaching and learning at OSU!”
— Cheridy Aduviri, CTL Fellows Program Assistant Director
