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, January 24: "The Prehistory of Affirmative Action at Grinnell College," with Dan Kaiser, Professor Emeritus of History
HSSC A1231, Noon to 1:00 pm
Please RSVP by Jan. 21 at this link: Community Friday RVSP for Jan 24
Over the past several decades, "affirmative action" has generated a lot of comments and litigation, particularly for institutions of higher education. Professor of History Emeritus Dan Kaiser joins us to take a look back at affirmative action and how, in 1918, Grinnell College anticipated the idea by identifying and recruiting to Grinnell African American men. Professor Kaiser will outline the College's plan, the support of a Chicago philanthropist, and the demise of the project whose ambitions later efforts attempted to revive.
Please RSVP at the link above by Tuesday, January 21st. Also, note that a faculty retreat will be held on January 31st so there will not be a Community Friday held on that date. For information about future Community Fridays, please visit the CLTA homepage at Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.
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:
- Build, maintain, and effectively apply expertise for the courses they teach
- Foster inclusive and engaging learning environments
- Clearly and effectively communicate to students learning goals and expectations that align with relevant departmental, disciplinary, or institutional learning outcomes
- Use pedagogies that are appropriate for the learning goals and context
- Respond to student work in a substantial, timely, and individualized way for the purposes of informing and improving the learning experiences of students
- Engage in a reflective process to enhance their teaching practices
