2016 Annual Conference

A Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning has the potential to improve faculty’s effectiveness in the classroom, but the creation of such a space can be fraught with objection, rejection, and denial. However, in the right hands, forging a center for teaching can be inspiring, motivating, and game-changing.

This session is ideal for those who have experience with or would like to gain insight into the creation of a center for teaching and learning excellence on a college campus. College deans, department chairs, administrators, distance learning directors, and faculty will bring diverse perspectives to this conversation that addresses the challenges and rewards of actively pursuing faculty development.

In response to the growing demands placed on higher education institutions to produce graduates who are truly job-market-ready, administrators are searching for solutions that will accomplish this goal. Once upon a time, a diploma was sufficient to secure a well-paying job after graduation, but in recent years employers have noted that college graduates are entering the workforce unprepared and under-skilled. In order to ensure that this is not the case and that a college degree is a true representation of a student’s learning one consideration is to improve what happens in the classroom. As Kuh (2009) notes, "Institutions cannot change who students are when they start college. But with the right assessment tools, colleges can identify areas where improvements in teaching and learning will increase the chances that their students attain their educational and personal goals "(p. 14). A center for teaching and learning excellence can facilitate these goals, but the process of creating such a space for faculty to learn how improve their craft of teaching and assessing students’ learning can be fraught with objection, rejection, and denial. However, in the right hands the process of forging a center for teaching can be inspiring, motivating, and challenging.