The Mission of the CTLA
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 Grinnell College 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.
Community Friday, March 28: “Writing Mentor Partnerships,” with Tisha Turk, Director of Academic Support for Writing and Speaking
HSSC A1231, Noon to 1 p.m.
Please RSVP by March 25 at this link: Community Friday RVSP for Mar 28
Please join us for the next Community Friday on March 28. If you are considering requesting a writing mentor (peer writing consultant) for a Tutorial or other course next fall, or if you are curious about the work these students do, this is an excellent time to come find out more about the program.
In this session, current writing mentors and faculty who have worked with writing mentors will discuss what students get from working with writing mentors, what faculty get from partnering with writing mentors, what faculty can do to make these partnerships most effective, and what writing mentors themselves get from the program. Faculty: Tamara Beauboeuf, Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies; Eiren Shea, Art History; Jen Shook, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Writing Mentors: Ashley Baek ’25, English and French; Ellie Cierpiot ’25, English; Ben Curran ’25, sociology; Agatha Fusco ’25, economics and Spanish. There will be time for questions from attendees. The panel is moderated by Tisha Turk, director of the Writing Mentors Program and the Writing, Reading, and Speaking Center.
The CTLA thanks the Writing, Reading, and Speaking Center for their generous support of this event.
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.
| 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. |
