Programs
In addition to faculty-initiated workshops (updated regularly on the Events page), the Center hosts a number of on-going programs:
Advising Workshops
CTL in the Department
CTL Reads
Inclusive Pedagogy Teaching Circles
One-on-one Consultations
Student Teaching Consultant Program
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.
CTL Visits Program
Could your course benefit by inviting a Reed colleague to give a class lecture or facilitate a class discussion? If so, the CTL invites you to apply for funds from the CTL Visits Program.
Underlying the CTL Visits Program is a desire for multidisciplinarity to thrive at Reed, a belief that faculty can learn by watching their colleagues, and an understanding that students learn when exposed to different approaches.
Hence, the CTL Visits Program encourages you to invite a colleague to lead your class for a day. Any member of the Reed faculty is eligible to visit, and any course taught at Reed can request a visitor. For courses that are already multidisciplinary in nature (e.g. HUM 110, ES 200, etc), the visitor must be a faculty member who has not staffed the course in question during the past 4 years.
Inviting faculty must be present at the class the visitor leads. After the class, the host faculty will fill out a short (2-3 paragraph) review of the class that includes:
- A summary of the class in terms of what happened.
- How the students benefited from your guest.
- What the host learned from their colleague in terms of their expertise and/or pedagogical approach.
To apply for these funds, fill out this short application form. These funds are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis, and are limited in number each semester, so apply early.
After your colleague has visited your course, fill out this report form. Once the host has completed the report, your visiting faculty member will be compensated $200.
Faculty are limited to one $200 honorarium per semester, and courses are limited to one paid visitor a semester. For courses with multiple sections, each section is eligible for one visitor during the semester, although priority is given to different courses.
CTL Reads
Each semester, the CTL hosts CTL Reads, a reading group focusing on thought-provoking texts about teaching and learning. The group will meet three times in a semester to consider, critique, and discuss the chosen text. 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.
In Fall 2023, we will be reading Michelle Miller, Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World (2022). Miller raises questions about how emerging technologies change how we learn, and how they change what it means to learn, and asks whether and how we might cultivate student memory in a time when it seems that technology can remember things for us. While Miller’s book was written before the emergence of Chat GPT and does not address artificial intelligence directly, her questions and proposed solutions are all the more relevant with these new technologies. In our last discussion, we’ll think about whether and how to extend her questions to our contemporary moment.
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, LGBTQIA+ 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.
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.
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.