Effective & Efficient Faculty
COURSES
Online professional development courses are a great way to build your institution’s capacity to support diverse faculty, diverse students, and inclusive teaching. They allow members of your campus community to engage in professional development that will move your institutional diversity and teaching goals forward in a compressed yet effective time format. [Individual, small group, and institutional pricing available.]
Effective & Efficient Faculty online professional development courses are:
-
Informed by research
-
Based on efficient (rather than time intensive) evidence-based practices
-
Conducted in an interactive manner
-
Planned as hands-on working sessions
-
Designed with outcomes in mind such that participants will work on a plan for next steps
​​
​
Courses for Faculty
​
Faculty might need or want to teach topics that are marginalized, controversial, or otherwise new scholarly perspectives for students. Yet, many faculty are unsure of how to teach these topics in general and additionally fear that they could create a hostile learning environment for diverse students. Diverse faculty might be more likely to teach topics student perceive as difficult. As such, participants will learn how to lay an evidence-based foundation for teaching difficult or controversial topics. At the end, participants will have a detailed strategy for choosing, planning and teaching these topics that is suited for their teaching style, discipline, campus, and students.
Preparing for Difficult or Controversial Classroom Topics
Diverse faculty are more likely to use innovative teaching methods. Additionally, their diverse statuses can have an impact on both classroom dynamics and student course evaluations. In light of these unique contexts, participants will learn about research on diverse faculty’s classroom methods and teaching. They will also learn the best practices for documenting their teaching effectiveness. This is done in an interactive format such that participants can practice implementing these strategies. At the end, participants will have an individualized plan to document their teaching effectiveness.
Documenting Teaching Effectiveness for Student Learning, Tenure, and Promotion
Teaching in No Time (TINT): Preparing for a Stress-Free Semester
(across delivery modalities - F2F, hybrid, online, synch live & remote, etc)
It can be difficult for faculty to find the time to both learn about and incorporate teaching practices for diverse students. This can be especially difficult for diverse faculty who have more diversity service requests, new course preparations, service courses, etc. To increase the likelihood that best practices are in place, faculty need “space” in their teaching time and energy. In an interactive format, faculty will learn how to teach effectively--no matter the modality--with less time and stress via using efficient evidence-based teaching practices. Participants can revise or plan a new course. At the end, participants will have weekly course topics, a framework for weekly lesson plans, course assignments ideas, grading strategies, and supports for student for the term.
Teaching Excellence: Developing Effective Practices for Inclusive Classrooms
Inclusive teaching is important to the retention and success of all students but especially for diverse students. Participants will learn about the research basis for inclusive teaching. In an interactive manner, participants will engage and begin to apply the main components of inclusive teaching to their own practice. At the end, participants will know what they can immediately do to improve their inclusive teaching and/or have a plan for future improvements. [Level 1: Foundations of Inclusive Teaching; Level 2: Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills]
Developing Effective Strategies for Classroom Disruptions & Incivility
Student incivility and inappropriate disruptions can derail faculty effectiveness and student learning-- especially for diverse faculty and students. In an interactive format, participants will learn about diverse faculty & students’ experiences with classroom incivility and other disruptions to their learning. They will also learn about the potential consequences for diverse students of unchecked classroom incivilities. Most importantly, participants will learn about and practice strategies they can use to address student classroom incivility. At the end, each participant will have an individual plan to address potential classroom incivilities.
Courses for Administrators
What Course Evaluations Do & Don't Say about Teaching Effectiveness
Student course evaluations are the most common measure of teaching effectiveness in faculty reviews on college campuses. However, most people do not truly understand them. In an interactive format, participants will learn about the research on the strengths and limitations of course evaluations. At the end, participants will have a few ideas on how to improve their use of course evaluations on campus.
Best Practices: How to Evaluate Teaching Excellence for Tenure and Promotion Reviews
In tenure and promotion reviews, student course evaluations are frequently the only or most weighted measure of teaching quality. Participants will learn how and why this common practice runs counter to research findings and the guidance provided by course evaluation developers and higher education associations. At the end, participants will know the evidence-backed process for evaluating teaching effectiveness for tenure and promotion.
