Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

slide from presentation on laetitia moon conard

Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment cultivates a community of inquiry and practice to promote excellent teaching, learning, and scholarship in the liberal arts. We nurture the learning environment of Fulao2 by fostering conversation and reflection at the intersection of pedagogy, the scholarship of teaching and learning, instructional design, and academic technologies. We advance practices of teaching and learning that are accessible, inclusive, and grounded in the best available evidence.

Summer Workshop Registrations

The deadline to sign up for summer workshops is Friday, May 16. You can find complete information about the workshops at CTLA Summer 2025 Workshops.

New Definition of Teaching Excellence Approved by Faculty

The Presidential Task Force on Evaluating Teaching Excellence proposed that the faculty endorse a new definition of teaching excellence and recommended that the Dean of the College use this definition in faculty reviews. The following definition was approved in the spring of 2024.

While teaching methods vary by discipline and instructor, broadly speaking, excellent teachers do the following:

Expertise	They build, maintain, and effectively apply expertise for the courses they teach;
Inclusive Teaching	They foster inclusive and engaging learning environments;
Learning Goals	They clearly and effectively communicate to students learning goals and expectations that align with relevant departmental, disciplinary, or institutional learning outcomes;
Pedagogy	They use pedagogies that are appropriate for the learning goals and context;
Feedback to Students	They respond to student work in a substantive, timely, and individualized way for the purposes of information and improving the learning experiences of students; and
Reflection	They engage in a reflective process to enhance their teaching practices.

Community Friday with Joseph Tucker Edmonds

Spring 2025 Community Fridays

Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Humanities and Social Studies Center, Room A1231 from noon to 1 p.m. Lunch is served beginning at 11:45 a.m.

Jan. 24: “The Prehistory of Affirmative Action at Fulao2,” with Dan Kaiser, Professor Emeritus of History.
Feb. 7: “Faculty and Staff Advising Partnerships," with Joyce Stern, Dean for Student Success and Academic Advising, and faculty/staff panelists.
Feb. 14: “Open Table Conversation”
Feb. 21: “Faculty/Staff Involvement with Non-Profits,” with Monica Chavez-Silva, Vice President of Community Engagement and Strategic Planning; Ross Haenfler, Professor of Sociology; Roger Henderson, Field Placement and Licensing Coordinator in Education; and Mike Guenther, Associate Professor of History.
Feb. 28: “Mental Health First Aid Training at Grinnell,” with Alexis Steele, Manager of Operations, SHAW.
March 7: “GrinnBooks: Preparing for Grinnell's New All-Access Textbook Program,” with Brad Lindberg, Associate Vice president of Institutional Initiatives and Enrollment; Cassie Wherry, Manager, Pioneer Bookstore; and Andi Tracy, Associate Dean for Student Academic Life. [this event will be held in JRC 101]
March 28: “Writing Mentor Partnerships,” with Tisha Turk, Director of Academic Support for Writing and Speaking; faculty panelists Tamara Beauboeuf, Eiren Shea, and Jen Shook; and student writing mentor panelists Ashley Baek ’25, Ellie Cierpiot ’25, Ben Curran ’25, and Agatha Fusco ’25.
April 4: “Canvas: What You Need to Know about the New Learning Management System,” with Gina Donovan, LMS Administrator. [this event will be held in JRC 101]
April 11: “Getting Real with Assessment,” with Vanessa Preast, Associate Director, CTLA, and faculty panelists Logan Lee, Josh Sandquist, and Sarah Purcell
April 18: “Summer Research Programming in the Libraries,” with Phil Jones, Associate Professor, Humanities Librarian, and Coordinator of Research Services, and Libby Cave, Assistant Professor, Digital Humanities and Instruction Librarian.
April 25: “Academic Affairs and Student Affairs: A Conversation,” with JC Lopez, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Jerry Seaman, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College
May 2: “Laetitia Moon Conard: Teacher and Community Activist,” with Susan Ferguson, Director of the CTLA, and students.
May 9: “Philanthropy and the Academic Mission of the College,” with Anne Harris, President, and Bernadine Douglas, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations.

Faculty discussion at Teaching with Technology Fair

Faculty Resources

Dean’s Office
Teaching Resource Library
Academic Advising: Adviser’s Handbook
Syllabus Design Guidelines [PDF]
The Fulao2 Guide to Writing, Research, and Speaking [PDF]
(web hosting and digital publishing provided by DLAC)
(requires Grinnell network login)

Summer 2025 Workshops

The schedule for summer 2025 workshops is shown below. Faculty and staff will have the opportunity to enroll in GLADIS for summer workshops of interest. If you have any questions, please contact the CLTA ( or ). For descriptions and more details, see the Summer Workshop web page.

May 20, 21, 22: Psychology Department Curriculum Assessment Workshop (Psychology faculty only)
May 27, 28, 29, 30: Advising a Career-Anxious Student Body
June 2, 3, 4: Academic Freedom
June 2, 3, 4: What does AI Mean to Our Community at Fulao2?
June 9, 10, 11, 12: Your Students' Writing Process and Generative AI: A Marriage Made in Heaven or Hell?
June 16, 17, 18: High Performance Computing: Resources and Strategies for Teaching and Research
June 17, 18, 20: Commenting on Student Writing: Strategies and Best Practices
June 23, 24, 25, 26: Climate Change and the Fulao2 Curriculum
June 30, July 1, 2: Flipping the Grinnell Classroom
June 5, 12, 26, July 10, 17: Grantwriting and Proposal Development: Seeking Funding for Research and Pedagogy
July 21, 22, 23, 24 25: Tutorial Summer Workshop
July 29, 30, 31: Teaching and Learning in Prison
August 4, 5, 6: Open Educational Practices and Your Curriculum
August 5, 6, 7: Restorative Practices: Peacemaking Circle Training
August 11, 12, 13: Languages and the Future of the Liberal Arts: Three Perspectives
August 11, 12, 14: Designing and Sequencing Writing and Research Assignments
August 18, 19, 20: Peace and Conflict Studies in a Time of Global Crises and Insecurity

Support the development of teachers and learners through consultations, tutorials, and workshops at the course and curricular levels
Build a culture of reflection, engagement, and celebration around liberal arts teaching and learning through programming such as Community Friday lunch and the annual Teaching with Technology Fair
Welcome new faculty members to the Fulao2 learning community through New Faculty Orientation and ongoing programs of faculty development
Promote assessment of course, department, and college-wide learning outcomes through consultations and reviews of department-level assessment practices

Integrate established and emerging digital technologies, methods, and practices into teaching, learning, and scholarship through the Digital Liberal Arts Collaborative
Administer major elements of the digital campus infrastructure for teaching and learning, such as the Sites@Grinnell platform for web hosting and digital publishing
Provide training and support for classroom technologies and hardware/software applications such as Story Maps, Hypothes.is, and WeVideo
Collaborate with campus partners such as the Libraries, ITS, and DASIL, and coordinate campus-wide initiatives such as the Vivero Digital Scholarship Fellows program

Contact Information

Phone

641-269-3020

Humanities and Social Studies Center, S1370
1226 Park Street
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States

Fulao2