CTL Annual Report 2011-2012

Center for Teaching and Learning 2011-2012 Annual Report

T

he 2011-2012 academic year was an energizing and exuberant one for the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). We continue to support the work of students and faculty using an empowering, enriching, and collaborative approach. This collaborative model is as diverse and rich as this institution we serve for it can be seen in a student-to-student model through programs like Teaching Fellows, Writing Fellows, Study Mentors, and Study Tables; a faculty-to-faculty model through programs like Faculty Grants for Teaching Innovation, Reading Groups, Course Design Workshops and Pedagogy Institutes, and what makes us unique, is that it can be seen in student-to-faculty and facultyto-student models through programs like the Senior Symposium, Teaching Fellow Liaisons, Disability Services, and Midterm Assessment Process. These, and the many other programs highlighted in this annual report, demonstrate the vibrant work of the CTL.

In addition to our ongoing programming, this year we have several exciting new initiatives. First, we welcomed the addition of Caitlin Caron ’08, MAT ’10 as our Coordinator of Writing Initiatives. Caitlin brings her experience as an educator and writer, and her undergraduate work as a Writing Colleague to this role. Second, the Teaching Fellows program has implemented a leadership component with the addition of the Lead Teaching Fellow position. This role is an opportunity for experienced Teaching Fellows to assist in the growth and development of the program. Third, this year the CTL collaborated with the Provost’s Office to pilot an Oral Assessment Project of 2012 Senior Symposium presenters. This project allowed faculty members to collaborate and dialogue about oral expression and presentation norms across and within disciplines. Lastly, the CTL also joined with the Provost’s Office to enhance support for academic self-study through the Departmental Assessment Initiative. Through this initiative, the CTL co-facilitated a semester-long, interdisciplinary learning group for interested department/program chairs.

The CTL promotes an active, engaged, and inclusive academic community for students and faculty through programs that cultivate authentic and meaningful collaboration. We look forward to the upcoming academic year and the exciting opportunities it will bring. This annual report provides an overview of the ways we support the work of both students and faculty. If you have any specific questions about these programs, please do no hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely, Susan M. Pliner, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment and CTL Director

Enrichment Programs For Students Teaching Fellows

Teaching Fellows Snapshot: During this past year, 718 unique students made 6,646 visits to the TFs.

In the 2011-2012 academic year, the TF program supported nine departments: Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Geoscience, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Sociology/Anthropology, and Spanish and Hispanic Studies. During this past year, 718 unique students made 6,646 visits to the TFs. Next year, French, Art History, and Architecture will join the program, while the department of Geoscience is leaving due to its curricular restructuring.

TEACHING FELLOWS Center for Teaching and Learning

Chemistry Chemistry Teaching Fellows are here to help!

What do Teaching Fellows do? » Act as learning facilitators in a collaborative atmosphere. » Offer support for multiple course levels. » Promote academic interaction between students and faculty. » Assist students in developing the skills to solve problems on their own.

• All students are welcome!

• Come by with questions, course material, and topics for discussion.

Katie Downey ’13

Fall 2012 Weekly Schedule (Napier 201)

Christine Ferry ’14

3-5 p.m. Deepak and Katie

Sun.

Melissa Mahajan ’15

6-8 p.m. Greg 6-9 p.m. Melissa 8-10 p.m. Christine

LEAD

The Teaching Fellows (TF) Program provides ongoing, quality-controlled, timely learning support linked to faculty teaching efforts. TFs are student peer-learning facilitators who are nominated by department faculty and trained by the CTL Assistant Director to facilitate conversation, ask challenging questions, suggest study strategies, provide feedback, and help students locate additional resources. The TFs use a collaborative inquiry model that allows students to learn from and with each other: they hold regular, group-oriented evening and Sunday hours throughout the semester and are available to all students.

9-10 p.m. Chris

Sam Schneider ’13

Mon.

6:30-10 p.m. Chris 7-10 p.m. Katie

7-8 p.m. Christine

Tues.

7-10 p.m. Sam 8-9 p.m. Katie 8-10 p.m. Deepak

Greg Shelkey ’14

Chris Troy ’15

Wed.

7-9 p.m. Deepak 9-10 p.m. Greg

6:30-8 p.m. Sam 7-8 p.m. Melissa

New in 2011-2012 is the Lead Teaching Fellows position. In this first year, four experienced TFs (two from Chemistry, one from Economics, and one from Spanish) were invited to take on a leadership role within the TF Program. Lead TFs not only model peer-learning facilitation by acting as TFs themselves, but also help expand oversight, support, and feedback for TFs, liaisons, and the Assistant Director; provide a new mentoring and leadership opportunity for academically talented students; and enhance assessment of TF training, experience and effectiveness. One Lead TF described her experience as both a TF and Lead TF: “Teaching Fellows has been such an important part of my time spent at HWS…I have learned so many leadership, communication, and organizational skills through both the Lead Teaching Fellow and Teaching Fellow program.”

Thurs.

Deepak Vallabhaneni ’15

8-10 p.m. Christine 8-10 p.m. Greg

The TF Program is much more than an excellent peer-tutoring program; it is adaptable to a department’s specific needs, enhances the flow of information among faculty and students, promotes intra-department teaching/learning conversation, impacts faculty teaching strategies, course design, and increases interactions with the CTL. In addition, it has increased direct learning support: from a one-to-one tutoring model averaging 22 students in 2004 and 179 students in 2006-2007 to this year’s TF attendance of 718 students. Equally important, Teaching Fellows have emerged as both a means for enhancing academic engagement and as visible symbols of that academic engagement. Please see graph below for more information on the ways in which the TF Program has grown.

Teaching Fellow Usage by Visits and Students, 2008-2012

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Writing Colleagues Writing Colleagues (WC) in the CTL support students at any stage of their writing process and support faculty goals for engaging students as writers through their course work and assignments. Writing Colleagues are supervised by the Coordinator of Writing Initiatives and these peer-writing facilitators help create a cultural expectation for comprehensive development of the abilities outlined in HWS curricular Goals 1 and 2. More specifically, WCs help students learn and develop their ideas; work with student writers by offering productive feedback, writing strategies, and brainstorming techniques across skill levels and disciplines; and provide support for English Language Learners and international students. In the 2011-2012 academic year, 106 unique students made 374 visits.

New this year we implemented a satisfaction survey to evaluate meeting effectiveness. Responses indicate that Writing Colleagues help students with grammar, restructuring, organization, clarity, concision, understanding essay assignments, and helping students identify and understand their own mistakes. Interestingly, students often indicated that sessions could have been more successful if they came to their meeting more prepared, having either written more of their essays or brought things like class readings or the essay prompt.

In the 2012-2013 academic year, we will begin using the name “CTL Writing Fellows� as a way to Writing Colleagues expand and enhance our model of writing support. Writing Fellows will be trained through the Snapshot: WRRH Writing Colleagues Program (like current CTL Writing Colleagues), but this subtle name 106 unique students change will allow CTL Writing Fellows to broaden the work they do to include small group, workshop, and other models of student writing support in addition to the traditional one-on-one model. made 374 visits.

This will reflect the depth and breadth of work that CTL Writing Colleagues do as different from the WRRH model, and will also help the CTL center its writing support more firmly in a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) model focused on working with students from all disciplines.

Study Mentors Study Mentors (SM) help students make the transition from high school to college and adjust to increased course workloads throughout students’ college careers. Trained via an apprenticeship model and supervised by the Coordinator of Student Services, SMs offer academic time management using the Big Picture and reading and note taking strategies, model confident academic engagement, and offer a student perspective that is real, responsive, and responsible.

Students may access SMs through the TutorTrac system and many are referred by the HWS Deans, Opportunity Programs, Athletics, Counseling Services, CTL staff, or faculty; these students often meet first with the Coordinator of Student Services, who can tailor-recommend a study mentor and offer oversight when warranted. In the 2011-2012 academic year, the SM program reached 83 students, and more than 224 visits (the majority of these held in the fall semester).

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Study Tables For individual courses in departments without Teaching Fellows, the CTL offers the Study Table (ST) program: a group session led by faculty-nominated student facilitators where, during regular hours each week, students can access small-group learning support. Once a table has been established, students may sign up via TutorTrac, allowing them to take control of their own learning.

For the 2011-2012 academic year, 34 study tables served classes ranging from Public Policy to Russian Area Studies, from Math to History; these STs saw a total of 414 visits by 133 students. As with the TF program, students from across academic abilities make use of STs. While STs can be responsive to student request, most are established well in advance (either at faculty request or through CTL outreach to courses known to generate tutoring demand); this allows the instructor to integrate the ST into the course, and also allows for more training of and support for ST student facilitators by CTL and faculty. Also, because establishing a ST for the first time involves a face-to-face conversation with CTL staff, the ST program enhances faculty teaching by providing opportunities for analysis of course design.

2011-2012 Summary of Peer-to-Peer Student Enrichment Programs Programs

Unique Students

Visits

Teaching Fellows

718

6646

Writing Colleagues

106

374

83

244

133

414

Study Mentors Study Tables (N = 34)

Senior Symposium Now in its fourth year, the Senior Symposium highlights the level of academic engagement and the significant critical thinking capacity of our HWS soon-to-be-graduates, as well as the complexity of their learning through their applied experiences.

This event is also an opportunity to draw the connection between students and faculty by highlighting the ways they collaborate in research, independent studies, Honors projects, and civic engagement work. Interested senior or Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) students submit an abstract of the academic or co-curricular work they would like to present and prepare a 10-minute presentation that they deliver to the HWS community.

Senior Symposium Snapshot: 78 seniors and eight MAT candidates presented work to approximately 352 HWS/ Geneva community members and 19 faculty moderated student panels.

In 2012, 86 students (eight of whom were MAT candidates) presented on a range of titles including “Beautiful Failures,” “Energy Security and Economic Crisis,” and “Linden Street Renewal: Finding the Heart of Geneva.” Student presenters enjoy the opportunity to see and hear the scholarship of their peers. One presenter commented, “I enjoyed the interaction between the four panelists during the session. This clearly reflected the interdisciplinary nature of this institution.”

Equally important, the Senior Symposium serves as an anchor for student skill development.

Abstract writing and presentation workshops help prepare seniors not only for the Symposium, but also for the challenges of a competitive job and graduate school market. In 2012, 40 students attended abstract writing workshops and 52 attended presentation workshops.

The Senior Symposium is also an opportunity to engage HWS faculty and staff. Faculty and staff serve as sponsors for the seniors, moderate panels, and facilitate abstract and presentation practice sessions. In 2012, 39

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Senior Symposium Snapshot: 46% of presenters attended abstract workshops and 60% of presenters attended presentation workshops

faculty/staff acted as sponsors, 19 acted as moderators during the event, and seven facilitated abstract and presentation workshops. Faculty report high satisfaction in moderating panels, making comments such as “the students presentations excellently represented each of their timely, complex, and fascinating research projects.”

Disability Services The CTL cultivates an inclusive and supportive learning community and values the diverse learning styles of our students. We are committed to providing students with disabilities full and meaningful access to college programs and activities and strive to provide individualized accommodations necessary for students to realize an equal opportunity to succeed.

The Coordinator of Disability Services seeks to promote academic achievement and to help students take full advantage of the academic opportunities available at HWS. The Coordinator works independently and in cooperation with other administrative offices and academic departments and programs to: • Identify and implement individualized accommodations while fostering the academic and personal development of students; • Ensure the appropriateness of accommodations in specific courses; • Further institutional understanding of students with disabilities; • Assist HWS to establish policies, procedures, and facilities that are in compliance with the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Coordinator reviews documentation materials to determine eligibility, evaluates requested accommodations, and negotiates with students based on their individualized accommodation plans for each semester. The Coordinator also meets individually with new students to discuss procedures and issues connected to a new learning environment, and helps them navigate a new academic culture. The Coordinator is also available to provide training to help students develop skills and to access the wide range of support services available at the CTL. In the 2011-2012 academic year, 206 students with documented disabilities were registered with Disability Services. Of those 206 students, 162 students actively received accommodations. See the chart for usage details of services specific to students with disabilities. Note: we do not separately track usage by students with disabilities of CTL programs that are available to all students.

2011-2012 Disability Services Student Usage Students with Disabilities

Registered (N = 206)

Active (N = 162)

Services

Number of Students

Number of Accommodations

113

503

Note taking

21

41

Housing

36

36

Dining

74

74

Testing

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Eye to Eye The Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Assessment acts as the advisor to this student club, a branch of the national Eye to Eye organization, which matches HWS and Geneva middle school students with learning disabilities in an arts-based mentorship program.

The chapter at HWS has been lauded for being one of the most vibrant and successful across the country and for our participation in disability awareness initiatives, like activities for Disability in the Arts Month. Having an Eye to Eye chapter on campus has created a connected and empowered community of students with LD/ADHD, which benefits the entire community with a visible diversity. To prepare for the role, Student Coordinators attended the Organizing Institute, held over four days in August on the Brown University campus where Eye to Eye was founded in 1998.

In the 2011-2012 academic year, co-coordinators Kevin Kent ’12 and Molly Troy ’12, 20 HWS mentors, and three junior mentors (who are graduates of the middle school Eye to Eye chapters and are now in high school) supported 15 Geneva middle school students. In addition, HWS hosted Camp Vision, a one-week camp for children ages 10-14 which works to improve the self-esteem, self-advocacy, and a sense of community. Camp Vision at HWS is one of only three Eye to Eye summer camps hosted across the country. Last summer, 12 campers, six mentors, and three junior mentors (graduates of camp vision) participated in Camp Vision at HWS. Time Management: The Big Picture The CTL highlights this particular tool because of its wide spread usage. The Big Picture is a semester-at-a-glance calendar that allows students to plot their assignment due dates. All first-year students receive both The Big Picture calendar and CTL four-color pens at the beginning of the academic year as a way to help them develop healthy time management and organization strategies for college. In addition, HWS athletic coaches, faculty, and upper class students request Big Picture calendars each semester. On average, the CTL distributes approximately 1,500 Big Pictures in print and electronically each semester.

First-Year Learning Tips In order to connect first-year students with the CTL and academic issues that emerge in the first year, the CTL and Deans Offices collaborated to develop a series of First-Year Learning Tips. Some of the titles include “Contacting and Meeting with Your Professor,” “Reading Your Syllabus,” “How to Avoid Procrastinating,” and “Managing Stress.” Since implementing this series in the fall of 2009, we have seen a dramatic increase of First-Year students utilizing the services of the CTL. In addition, upon faculty suggestion, we send these e-mails to all faculty teaching First-Year Seminars and First-Year Deans, so they can reinforce these strategies with their students.

HWS Honors Program Honors Snapshot: 67% of Honors candidates accessed CTL support for either their written thesis or oral defense.

The CTL helps prepare candidates in the Honors Program for both their Honors thesis and oral defense by helping them cultivate the writing and speaking skills they need to discuss their work across disciplines and with multiple audiences. To that end, we offer a Readers’ College course each semester, taught by the Writing and Teaching/Learning Specialist. These courses, the Fall semester’s “Generating a Thesis” and Spring semester’s “Countdown to a Thesis,” bring Honors students from across disciplines together for mutual support. In the spring semester, CTL oral preparation sessions attract both students and their advisors. In 2012, 46 students successfully completed the Honors Program, 31 of whom accessed CTL support.

Oral Communication The CTL provides support for students involved in oral presentation projects and academic fellowships. In the 2011-2012 academic year, the CTL collaborated with the Advisor for Health Professions and Fellowships, the Centennial Center for Leadership, the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, and other offices to prepare students applying for Fulbright, Marshall/Rhodes, Truman, and Luce fellowships, Teach for America, Peace Corps, Honors, Community-Based Research Projects, The Pitch entrepreneurial competition, and Masters of Arts in Teaching defenses.

Workshops

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The CTL provides workshops in response to specific requests. Regular writing workshops include Health Professions (medical school essays) and Intercultural Affairs (cover letters and graduate school essays), and source-use workshops in classes at faculty request (especially FSEM classes). In addition, the CTL provides in-class study skills workshops.

Enrichment Programs For Faculty Midterm Assessment Process (MAP) The Midterm Assessment Process (MAP) is an opportunity for faculty to get student feedback on a course while the course is in progress. The MAP is a confidential and voluntary service. Unlike the mandatory evaluations students fill out at the end of the semester, MAPs occur around the middle of the semester, to allow faculty to make meaningful changes during the semester.

A MAP is a small-group, consensus-based process designed to gather feedback on teaching and learning directly from students; the process asks students three questions: • “What is working well for your learning in this course?”

• “What is not working well for your learning in this course?”

• “What suggestions do you have for improving learning in this course?”

The MAP is a formative assessment method: the goal of the MAP is improvement in teaching and learning, and the information is shared only between the faculty teaching the course and the CTL consultant.

MAP Snapshot: CTL conducted 27 MAPs for 18 faculty resulting in 652 students providing feedback on their learning experience.

In the 2011-2012 academic year, the CTL conducted 27 MAPs for 18 faculty teaching in a wide range of disciplines, including Chemistry, Anthropology, Writing and Rhetoric and others. As a part of this process, 652 students provided feedback about their learning experience as a way to help faculty think more deeply and critically about the ways they are teaching their courses.

Syllabus and Course Design Workshops and Institutes Every August and January, the CTL, in conjunction with Learning Commons colleagues, offers a syllabus peerfeedback workshop for faculty. This past year, 23 faculty attended these workshops, which generated comments such as, “Our conversation about [in class] discussion was helpful, especially establishing expectations—something I’ll incorporate into my syllabus” and “The dialogue-based approach was a fine idea—I learned a lot from colleagues.”

Throughout the year, we also offer workshops and institutes on topics including critical pedagogy, effective design for first-year courses, and more. For Fall 2011, 30 faculty attended an institute “Creating and Sustaining Respectful Learning Environments” facilitated by Dr. Matt Ouellett from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Faculty who attended this session commented on the power of sharing ideas, questions, and strategies with colleagues from across disciplines. One faculty member mentioned, “Taking us out of our disciplines was very valuable [and] normalizing the challenges of the teaching process was very helpful.” In addition, 13 faculty attended a workshop with author Susan Scott ’67 titled, “Fierce Conversations.” Feedback from faculty attendees indicated high level of value in the dialogue generated by this conversation.

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Individual Consultation These consultations are available to all faculty and are used extensively by new and FirstYear Seminar faculty engaging in new pedagogical methods. In the 2011-2012 academic year, 74 unique faculty made use of this service. Consults are individualized based on faculty needs and cover a range of topics such as classroom management, assessing student learning, course evaluation review, rubric design, discussion facilitation, grading, tenure process, course design, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing in the Disciplines, and more.

Faculty use this service both formally and informally.

Individual Consultation Snapshot: 35% of faculty accessed CTL support to engage in new pedagogical methods.

Department Consultations The CTL offers consultations to academic departments on a range of issues and in any way they might request.

For example, in the 2011-2012 academic year, we consulted with the Economics department to help revise their classroom assessment process, the Media and Society department to assist them in developing their own classroom observation process, the French department to assist in defining curricular assessment goals, and Latin American Studies to formulate learning goals. In total this year, the CTL consulted with 17 unique departments.

Department Assessment Initiative This year, the CTL joined with the Provost’s office to enhance support for academic self-study. We facilitated a semester-long, interdisciplinary learning group for department/program chairs (Asian Studies, Geoscience, Sociology/Anthropology, Political Science, Chemistry, and Psychology), offered department-based diagnostics and individualized consultations, and helped develop the Provost’s stipend program. Among the departments and programs that have used the department assessment initiative are International Relations, German, Math, Latin American Studies, and Economics.

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) In the Spring of 2012, the Writing and Teaching/Learning Specialist held a series of lunches with faculty to generate discussion and promote involvement around WAC. In addition, because the Coordinator of Writing Initiatives in CTL, the Writing Colleagues Program Coordinator, and Director of the Writing Colleagues Program (primary writing support personnel) were all new in the 2011-2012 academic year, these lunches were an opportunity for these three new writing support personnel to connect with a variety of faculty across disciplines. In total, 14 faculty attended these lunches.

First-Year Seminar (FSEM) Support The CTL provides outreach to the FSEM program by providing support for teaching writing in FSEMs, working with individual faculty, facilitating small group discussions and workshops, and developing collaborative initiatives with the Deans, Provost’s Office, and the Learning Commons pedagogy offices (the Library and the Digital Learning Center). These increased outreach efforts help to link CTL services to FSEM courses.

In addition, since 2010, our Writing and Teaching/Learning Specialist has held the position of Assistant Director of the First-Year Seminar Program. This closer collaboration with the FSEM Program Director and the Provost’s Office has lead to a shift in programming efforts to establish a 31 faculty teaching more cohesive “writing instructive” definition for FSEM courses and to provide more course design FSEMs in Fall 2012 attended the FSEM resources for FSEM faculty. The CTL and Provost’s Office gift all faculty teaching FSEMs the Pedagogy Day with the resource text Elements of Teaching Writing. In May 2012, 31-faculty teaching FSEMs in the fall 2012 potential to impact 364 semester attended the FSEM Pedagogy Day, aimed at designing courses that meet incoming firstFY students year students’ needs. This represents the potential to impact 364 First-Year students. Faculty who attended commented, “The foci [reading, writing, discussion] was helpful, and synthesizing other ideas into new lessons really helped me see ways of using those foci.” And, “Designing specific strategies to accomplish the general goals was useful—I learned new ways to approach free and low-stakes writing and build on it.”

FSEM Support Snapshot:

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In her role as Assistant Director of the FSEM Program, the Writing and Teaching/Learning Specialist hosted a series of lunches during the Spring 2011 semester for faculty who would be teaching FSEMs in the Fall 2012.

The purpose of these lunches was to engage faculty who would be teaching an FSEM for the first time with both experienced FSEM faculty and the available support staff, including CTL staff, Reference Librarians, Writing Colleagues Program Coordinator and Director, and Digital Learning experts. In total, 23 faculty and nine staff members attended these lunches.

Faculty Grants for Teaching Innovation Each semester, CTL invites faculty to submit proposals for projects that enhance teaching and learning through an innovative or methodological design; projects are selected based on potential impact on practice. Each semester, grantees meet regularly for mutual project support and to discuss and implement student-learning assessment.

These interdisciplinary faculty discussions provide a significant learning opportunity. Faculty feedback consistently articulates the value of interdisciplinary discussions as having a positive impact on their own learning. In the 2011-2012 academic year, the following faculty received Innovation Grants for courses which enrolled a total of 50 students: • Donna Davenport, Professor of Dance “The Arts and Human Development: Developing Insights into Self and Other through Service Learning” • Jessica Hayes-Conroy, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies “Food, Feminism, and Health: Community-Based Research” • Eric Klaus, Associate Professor of German “Intercultural Learning: Lernkrimis and Culture” • Justin Miller, Associate Professor of Chemistry “Bonding with Food: The Chemistry of Food Preparation” • Lisa Patti, Visiting Assistant Professor of Media and Society “Console-Based Gaming Laboratory” (Deferred to Fall 2012) In the Spring 2012, the Fall 2012 Innovation Grant cohort was selected. The Fall 2012 faculty cohort include: • Jamie Bodenlos, Assistant Professor of Psychology “The Scientist-Practitioner in the Real World” • James Capreedy, Assistant Professor of Classics “‘Mapping Antiquity’: A Collaborative Mapping Tool of Antiquity for Mobile Devices” • Hannah Dickinson and Maggie Werner, Assistant Professors of Writing and Rhetoric “Comic Conversations: Multimodal Scholar Dialogue in Inquiry-Based Research” • Linda Robertson, Professor of Media and Society “Introduction to Making Social Documentaries” • Lisa Patti, Visiting Assistant Professor of Media and Society “Console-Based Gaming Laboratory” (Continued from Spring 2012) Faculty Reading Groups Each semester, the CTL, in combination with faculty suggestion, chooses a text for collective discussion. In 2011-2012, faculty discussed Susan Scott’s ’67 Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success in Work and Life, One Conversation at a time in the Fall in preparation for her October campus visit. In the Spring, faculty discussed Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. Both of these books were also read in staff book groups. This past year, 32 faculty members participated in these reading groups. In the fall 2012, Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success will be the faculty selection.

Senior Symposium Oral Communication Assessment Project In collaboration with the Provost’s Office, the CTL has piloted an oral skills assessment project using Senior Symposium presentations. Faculty gave HWS seniors’ oral expression overall rates of “good,” but the 22 faculty members involved in the project found themselves surprised by their difficulty in coming to consensus in defining “good” oral presentation. The rich discussions across disciplines about what constitutes good oral skills benefits faculty discussions about the curriculum.

New Faculty Orientation In August 2011, the CTL collaborated with the Provost’s Office to welcome 32 new faculty members to campus.

Staff of the CTL attended New Faculty Orientation and conducted two workshop sessions, “Syllabus Feedback” and “Classroom Discussion as Pedagogy.”

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Lilly Conference for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education This year the Provost’s Office funded faculty and CTL staff to attend the Lilly East Conference on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. In an effort to engage first-year faculty in a conversation around teaching and learning, four members of the CTL staff and eight faculty, who had just completed their first year of teaching at HWS, gathered several times before and during the conference to discuss innovative teaching and learning practices based on their own experiences both in the classroom and at the conference. The Lilly Conference faculty attendees were: • • • • • • • •

Christopher Annear, Anthropology Brien Ashdown, Psychology Hannah Dickinson, Writing and Rhetoric Kendralin Freeman, Sociology Nicholas Metz, Geoscience Mark Olivieri, Music David Slade, Chemistry Kristin Slade, Chemistry

2011-2012 Summary of Faculty Enrichment Programs Faculty Enrichment Book Groups Grants

Number of Participants 32 5

Mid-Term Evaluations

27

Workshops

80

FSEM Pedagogy Day

31

Lilly Conference

8

Unique Faculty Consultations

74

Unique Department Consultations

17

Assessment Series with Department Chairs (4 sessions) Senior Symposium Oral Communication Assessment Project (4 sessions)

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Other Collaborations And Campus Service Fellowships One of our oldest collaborations involves the Advisor for Health Professions and Fellowships; we regularly offer workshops and one-on-one writing support. This year, we worked with both the Centennial Center for Leadership and the Fellowships Advisor to begin outreach to first-year students likely to be future candidates for Fellowships.

Summer Institute Each July-August, the HEOP program brings approximately 25 students to campus for the Summer Institute preparatory program, and CTL staff regularly teach in this program. We find that the personal connection encourages these students and their peers to make use of CTL support. We also maintain regular contact with the Opportunities Program Director.

In the summer of 2011, staff of the CTL taught two courses. The Coordinator of Student Services taught a study skills class titled “Study Strategies for College Success” and the Writing and Teaching/Learning Specialist

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taught a class titled “Introduction to College Writing.” In addition, the Coordinator of Writing Initiatives provided support for the writing course. These interactions before the academic year foster important connections to the CTL. Writing Table Founded originally by the Writing and Rhetoric Department (WRRH) and co-run in 2011-2012 by CTL’s Coordinator of Writing Initiatives and the WRRH’s Writing Colleagues Coordinator, the Writing Table (WT) is a drop-in writing assistance service for all students. To help attract traditionally under-represented and first-generation students, the WT historically has been housed at the Office of Intercultural Affairs.

Athletics The Coordinator of Student Services and Coordinator of Disability Services conduct fall semester workshops focused on the college transition and incorporating CTL Study Mentors and Writing Colleagues for the Hobart Athletics department to build on CTL’s existing support for student athletes. In the Fall 2011, approximately 120 first-year Hobart athletes attended a session on using The Big Picture and organizational strategies facilitated by CTL staff, which resulted in 50 first-year athletes making 386 visits to various CTL services.

Back on Track (Hobart Dean’s Office) In the Spring of 2012, the Assistant Director and the Coordinator of Writing Initiatives held two separate sessions for the Hobart Dean’s Back-on-Track students. The CTL sessions were designed to give these 15 Hobart firstyear students skills and strategies related to time management, organization, and writing.

Additional Contributions Courses Taught

Campus Service

Generating a Thesis Readers College Countdown to a Thesis Readers College Public Speaking Readers College WRRH 200, Writers Seminar 2 Study Strategies for College Success, Summer Institute Introduction to College Writing, Summer Institute SJSP 100, Foundations of Social Justice EDUC 083, Teaching Elementary Mathematics

Service Learning Advisory Committee (SLAC) Commission on Inclusive Excellence (CIE) Academic Administration Committee (AAC) Provost Search Committee Middle States Working Groups Geneva 2020 Admissions Open House panels National Scholarship Committee Learning Management System Advisory Group Faculty Advisor for William Smith Cross Country Advisor for William Smith Club Rugby

Conferences and Foundation Presentations Teaching with Technology Symposium at Ithaca College Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Conference College Composition and Communication Conference (CCCC) National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE) Research and Scholarly Publications

Advisory and Review Work Finger Lakes Faculty Development Network (FLFDN) Reviewer, Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Conference International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL) Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education To Improve the Academy

1 peer-reviewed journal article 2 book chapters

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Staff CAITLIN CARON, Coordinator of Writing Initiatives, supervises the CTL Writing Colleagues; provides direct writing support to students; partners with faculty to provide writing support in courses; identifies and develops writing initiatives; collaborates with WRRH and the Writing Colleagues program; and, teaches in the Summer Institute.

SUSAN HESS, Writing and Teaching/Learning Specialist and Assistant Director of the First-Year Seminar Program, provides writing and teaching consultation to faculty; offers in-class workshops to complement instruction; develops programming to support Honors students including teaching Readers Colleges “Generating a Thesis” and “Countdown to a Thesis”; provides assessment support to faculty and departments; and, teaches in the FirstYear Seminar Program and in the Summer Institute.

SUSAN PLINER, Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment & CTL Director, manages initiatives across the CTL; represents the CTL on issues of teaching, learning, and faculty development; provides consultation to faculty and departments; and is an Assistant Professor in the Education Department and Social Justice Studies Program.

RUTH SHIELDS, Assistant Director, directs the Teaching Fellow Program; oversees the oral communication programs; collaborates with faculty, deans, and staff to support student learning; oversees the Senior Symposium; and assists in the daily operations of the CTL office.

DAVID SILVER, Coordinator of Disability Services, oversees all aspects of disability services; provides direct support to students with disabilities; provides information and support to faculty accommodating students with disabilities; develops and manages documentation guidelines, processes, and review; and collaborates with offices across campus on disability related issues.

EVELYN SPERRY, Administrative Assistant, provides general support for all CTL activities, staff, and events.

SAM VANN, Coordinator of Student Services, directs the Study Mentor and Study Table programs; manages office scheduling and data software; provides support to faculty; acts as a liaison to athletic departments; accommodates students with disabilities testing needs; provides direct learning and study support to students; and teaches in the Summer Institute.

Center for Teaching and Learning Rosensweig Learning Commons Warren Hunting Smith Library Phone: (315) 781-3351 Fax: (315) 781-3862 E-mail: ctl@hws.edu http://www.hws.edu/academics/ctl/index.aspx

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