Faculty Designed Programs or Groups

The Center for Teaching Excellence invites proposals for faculty-designed programs.  If you have an idea for a reading group, a working group, a speaker to invite, a Teaching Roundtable, a Faculty Learning Community, etc, submit a proposal to the CTE Director that includes the following:

• A detailed explanation of the group, program, or event.  Please include the learning objectives or goals.

• The format of your group: How many times will you meet? What will you do at meetings (please provide a preliminary schedule of discussion points, topics, or issues to be discussed or work you will accomplish at each meeting)?  What teaching materials, report, or product will the group produce by the end of the semester?

• A product or deliverable that will result from your work (e.g., new or revised teaching materials, a report, a guidebook that can be shared with colleagues facing similar challenges, etc.)

• A preliminary budget (before submitting your proposal, please work with the CTE Director to develop a budget that is appropriate and commensurate with other CTE groups)

• The semester in which you'd like your event/program to take place (Fall, Spring, or Summer)

• If the group is already formed, a list of faculty interested in participating.  If you would like to extend an open call, a draft of the call for applications

• Any other information that will help the CTE make a decision

  

Here are some sample formats you might model your group after:

Teaching Roundtables:

...wherein groups of four faculty visit—in round-robin fashion—each  others’ classes and then meet on at least four additional occasions to talk about their class visits and about effective pedagogy. 

In past years, Teaching Roundtable groups have been formed around subjects (e.g., teaching issues of death and life, teaching methods courses), pedagogical style (e.g., planning field trips/field experiences, designing effective labs), or by cohort (e.g., early career teaching).

Reading groups:

...wherein groups of faculty meet periodically throughout the semester to discuss readings that pertain to a pedagogical topic they wish to discuss.

Currently or in past years, Reading groups have been formed to read The Teacher's Body: Embodiment, Authority and Identity in the Academy and Presumed Incompetent: The Intersectiosn of Race and Class for Women in Academia and to read pedagogical scholarship on diversity in Higher Ed.

Working groups:

...wherein groups of faculty meet periodically throughout the semester or in a concentrated all-day workshop to work on a pedagogical project.  

Currently or in past years, faculty have met to create teaching manuals/guidelines, to redesign major or cluster curricula, or to coordinate linkages between courses.

Linked courses:

...wherein groups of faculty coordinate their class readings, lectures, fieldtrips, assignments, etc.

Thematic groups:

...wherein groups of faculty meet periodically throughout the semester to discuss intersecting areas of research or teaching interests.  These faculty sometimes aim to broaden their scholarly understanding, to supplement their teaching materials with sources from other disciplines, to link their courses (sharing lectures or coordinating field trips together), etc.

Speaker or consultant:

...wherein groups of faculty sponsor a guest speaker or consultant to address a pedagogical topic or issue relevant to an interdisciplinary audience or specific to their discipline.

 

Here’s what faculty have to say about Faculty Designed Programs:

“I enjoyed hearing about each participant’s teaching strategies and appreciated their suggestions on how to rework my own courses to become a more effective teacher."

“It’s always so helpful to build collegiality around solutions to common teaching issues.  I always appreciate CTE groups."

“A critical space for faculty!  We need more time and opportunities like this to build an Oxy community where rich dialogue can grow." 

“The reading group was an ideal way to deepen my relationships with colleagues, to learn together about our shared experiences, and to come up with ideas for institutional change at Oxy."

"In our meetings, we had excellent discussions related to all aspects of bringing technology into the classroom, from surveying tools, to assignment design, to assessment.  I thoroughly enjoyed the insightful conversations we had.  It was helpful to hear what approaches and what types of projects other group members had used, both as examples to follow and potential pitfalls, both of which are important considerations when designing and introducing a new assignment."

"Linking my class with two colleagues' classes was exceedingly valuable.  Our objective was to broaden the scope of our individual classes by bringing in perspectives, expertise, and material from other disciplines. I hoped students would be excited to learn the different ways they can approach their study of the ancient world whether that be through theatrical, historical, literary, political, or gender considerations. By linking courses, we were able to provide students access to material we wouldn’t have delved into on our own. I was pleased on the effect the collaboration had on the students too: they saw a physical manifestation of different disciplinary perspectives and different scholarly approaches.  I was happy with the pluralizing, widening effect of combining courses. Several of my students took up paper topics more closely aligned with my colleagues—on that basis alone, I would say that the collaboration worked.  That said, a more exciting product was the sense of intellectual community, both among the faculty and the students, this collaboration produced."