Faculty
The Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) provides pedagogy workshops and seminars, book clubs, one-on-one consultations, a lending library, and assistance with teaching portfolios to faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students who are or will be teaching. The proposed programs listed below are subject to change to reflect the needs and desires of Tulane’s faculty.
Print and/or download full Tulane University Instructional Continuity Policy.
Print and/or download the Provost Office Guidance for Course and Teaching Adjustments
CELT, in partnership with IT’s Innovative Learning Center (ILC), are hosting in person Classroom Demonstrations next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The purpose of these trainings is to familiarize faculty and staff with Tulane’s technology enhanced learning spaces. For more info, please visit the Teach Anywhere toolkit.
Teach Anywhere Office Hours
These are open office hours for faculty to meet with the CELT and ILC staff. We will be holding consulting hours for you to drop in online and work with us directly on your course content. Mondays and Thursdays | 12PM-2PM | via ZOOM
A Classroom Experience Assistant (CEA) will assist you with the nuances of the classroom during the first few weeks of the semester. The CEA can help you get the technology in your classroom working appropriately and provide you with additional training so you can fly solo within a few weeks. If you are interested in working with a CEA, please fill out this form.
Programs
CELT Brown Bags/Workshops are held frequently throughout the semester on a variety of topics of interest to faculty and/or anyone engaged in the classroom. Essentially informal conversations, these workshops are led by a member of the Tulane community on a topic of their choice. This is an opportunity for faculty at all ranks, from, adjunct to full professor, as well as graduate students, postdocs, and staff who are interested to meet and talk about teaching and showcase the innovative work they’re doing in their classes, with the aim of improving the classroom experience for students. Major Brown Bag themes include pedagogy, mentorship, diversity, technology, faculty wellness, and HR topics. The Brown Bag Workshops are among CELT’s most popular and well-attended programs.
RSVP for any/all programming with Ariel McFarland.
The CELT Faculty Book Club provides 10 educators, from across departments and schools, the opportunity to read and discuss books on a variety of pedagogy and learning theory topics. Conversations range from the macro level, how to improve the academy, to more micro topics relating to each participant’s individual class. Most importantly, the book club creates a structure in which participants can talk about teaching in a supportive environment around a common theme. The book club meets twice per semester, usually on campus. CELT purchases the books for all members.
Spring 2021 Book Clubs:
The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion
- Historically we have constructed our classrooms with the assumption that learning is a dry, staid affair best conducted in quiet tones and ruled by an unemotional consideration of the facts. The field of education, however, is beginning to awaken to the potential power of emotions to fuel learning, informed by contributions from psychology and neuroscience. In friendly, readable prose, Sarah Rose Cavanagh argues that if you as an educator want to capture your students' attention, harness their working memory, bolster their long-term retention, and enhance their motivation, you should consider the emotional impact of your teaching style and course design. To make this argument, she brings to bear a wide range of evidence from the study of education, psychology, and neuroscience, and she provides practical examples of successful classroom activities from a variety of disciplines in secondary and higher education.
Thursdays, April 15 & Thursday, April 29
6:30PM – 8PM
This book club is full. Members are expected to attend both virtual book club meetings.
At the end of each semester CELT hosts Faculty Grading Breaks to reward you for all your hard work. Past events have featured crepes and gelletes from Crepes Rendezvous, wine or champagne, and massage chairs. They are a great way to socialize, eat, and relax during the often stressful grading period at the end of the semester.
Spring 2021 Faculty Grading Break
Wednesday, May 12 | 12PM - 2PM |
Qatar Ballroom (Room 212) , Lavin-Bernick Center (Building 29) | Tulane University Uptown Campus
Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to attend.
Faculty Learning Communities are groups of 4 to 12 faculty members, engaged in a collaborative year-long study of a pedagogy, teaching-related, or leadership theme, held at least monthly.
The purpose of FLCs is to provide faculty with the opportunity to study a pedagogy related topic, in-depth & in a small cohort, foster interdisciplinary communication, and to produce materials (guides, workshops, scholarly articles) that can be helpful to the larger community.
AY: 2019-2020 Faculty Learning Communities:
Inclusive Excellence: How Do We Evaluate Teaching Effectiveness and Inclusion
Digital Textbook Working Group
Applying Design Thinking Across Teaching and Learning in Multiple Disciplines
AY: 2018-2019 Faculty Learning Communities:
Critical Service Learning
Difficult Dialogues
Teaching Large Classes
What Predicts Success in Struggling Students
Imagine speed dating, but instead of romantic hopefuls sitting across from each other at small tables, picture Tulane professors, eager to join forces, interested in the development of an innovative, interdisciplinary class. This workshop brings together professors hailing from many different fields of study. Each round, two professors, paired randomly, sit down for 8 minutes and develop a class or paper they could work on together. After four or five rounds, the group then votes on the most creative idea and the most actionable idea.
Previously, one of the winning titles, from Architecture and Neuroscience was “Architecture in Sickness & Health: Hospitals, Prisons, and Schools.” Another, from Art History and Cellular Biology was “Imagining and Imaging Mutants through Natural History Illustrations.”
5-Minute Research Collaboration Fall 2019 Prize Winners:
Sean Knowlton (Howard-Tilton Memorial Library) Most Doable
Kathleen Ferris (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) Most Doable
Nicholas Mattei (Computer Science) Most Creative
Mary Glavan (English) Most Creative
AY 2021-2022
Tulane University’s Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) invites all faculty, teaching staff, post doc, and graduate t.a.'s to the 4th Annual Sparking Success: Faculty Development Conference, on December 10-11, 2021. Registration and call for breakout session proposal details coming soon.
Friday, December 10, 2021 | In-Person Plenary Session led by Dr. Saundra McGuire follwed by the Sparkling Success Reception.
Saturdday, December 11, 2021 | Virtual Breakout Sessions
CELT, in partnership with the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (OGPS) offer a day-long teaching workshop in mid-May for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have or anticipate having a teaching assignment. The workshop will offer both large format discussions as well as smaller, breakout sessions. Workshop topics typically include classroom management and setting boundaries, leading discussions, collaborative/group work, grading, and active learning.
If you have any questions about the GTA Workshop content, schedule, or would like to present as a workshop leader please email Liv Newman at lnewman1@tulane.edu.
Past Ready, Prep, Teach Workshop 2019:
Presentations & Handouts
Teaching Resources Guide
Past Ready, Prep, Teach Workshops:
Resources
The Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) is committed to supporting all Tulane faculty and teaching focused professionals, in and out of the classroom, through the entire arc of their career. In partnership with other University offices, we assist in providing faculty with information on such matters as personnel management (for PIs of research grants), family leave, retirement planning, and work-life balance matters. The proposed services and guides listed below are subject to change to reflect the needs and desires of Tulane’s faculty.
Peer Observations are a completely no-stakes, 100% confidential way to improve and enhance your teaching through constructive, formative feedback. It is the process through which a peer provides thoughtful, informed feedback to a colleague for the purpose of enhancing the quality of that individual’s (classroom) instruction.
The process and confidentiality:
Peer Observations consist of a pre-observation meeting, a classroom observation, a conversation between your students and the Peer Observer (PO) during the last ten minutes of the class, and a post-observation meeting. After the final meeting, the PO will delete all information from his or her computer. Further, neither CELT nor anyone else will be privy to the conversations regarding the process.
Additionally, faculty members are never paired with a PO from their own department and we attempt to pair them with someone outside of their school, thus the content of the class a non-issue.
Why participate?
- To improve classroom teaching through constructive, formative feedback.
- To promote the professional development of individual faculty and instructors.
- To build a culture of faculty who genuinely care about becoming better teachers.
FAQs:
Q: Who can participate in Peer Observations?
A: Anyone who is teaching a course at Tulane University is invited to participate, including faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students. However, as space is limited and faculty participation will be prioritized.
Q: Who Can Benefit from Peer Observations?
A: Everyone from first year instructors to long experienced full professors, and of
course, ultimately the students.
Q: Who qualifies as a peer?
A: A full-time Tulane faculty member outside of one’s home department and ideally from a different school.
Q: What qualifications does the Peer Observer possess?
A: Each of CELT’s Peer Observers are thoroughly trained, have been observed themselves, and have conducted multiple observations.
Q: Is the outcome of the process confidential?
A: Yes! The information passed between professor and Peer Observer will remain
strictly confidential. Only the professor will receive the final report, both in hard and
digital copy.
Sign up here to work with a Peer Observer in your classroom.
CELT offers one-on-one consultations with either Toni Weiss or Liv Newman. Toni has worked at CELT since 2011 and has almost over 30 years of experience in the classroom. Dr. Liv Newman has over a decade of teaching experience and led the Center for Faculty Innovation at Loyola University for six years. These consultations are meant to provide you and/or your colleagues the opportunity to confidentially discuss concerns, questions, or ideas about your teaching career in and beyond the classroom. Submit a consultation request.
CELT offers a growing library of teaching guides. If you would like CELT to make a guide on a certain subject please email your idea to celt@tulane.edu.
- Exam Tips
- Tips for the 1st Day of Classes
- Teaching Large Classes Guide
- Inclusive Practices in Learning Environments
- Teaching Resource Manual
- Student Resource Guide for Faculty
- Syllabus Template
- How To: 10 Easy Steps to Allowing Students to Pick Assessment Weighting
- Netiquette Statements
- What to do when Tech Glitches
- Zoom Connectivity Recommendations
CELT has an ever growing Lending Library filled with books on diverse topics all relevant to teaching - pedagogy, classroom management, assessment techniques, mentoring undergraduates, the science of learning, etc. Please stop into B23 of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library if you would like to check a book out.
If you would like to suggest an additional acquisition, email celt@tulane.edu.
E-Books (Please note that off campus access might require login with your Tulane ID and password.)
Specifications Grading
Linda Nilson
Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time
Creating Engaging Discussions
Editors: Jennifer H. Herman and Linda Nilson
Strategies for Avoiding Crickets in Any Size Classroom and Online
Teaching at Its Best, Ed. 4
Linda B. Nilson
A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors
Online Teaching at Its Best
Linda B. Nilson and Ludwika A. Goodson
Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and Learning Research
Small Teaching Online
Flower Darby and James M. Lang
Applying Learning Science in Online Classes
The Teaching Portfolio
Peter Seldin, J. Elizabeth Miller, and Clement A. Seldin
A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions
Minds Online
Michelle D. Miller
Teaching Effectively with Technology
The Blended Course Design Workbook
Kathryn E. Linder
A Practical Guide
Make It Stick
The Science of Successful Learning
Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger, and Mark A. McDaniel
Thrive Online
Shannon Riggs and Kathryn E. Linder
Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning : A Guide to the Process, and How to Develop a Project From Start to Finish
Bishop-Clark, Cathy and Dietz-Uhler, Beth
Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology
Michelle D. Miller
Teaching to Transgress
Bell Hooks
Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student Meta-cognition, Study Skills, and Motivation
Saundra Yancy McGuire
Teach Yourself How to Learn: Strategies You Can Use to Ace Any Course at Any Level
Saundra Yancy McGuire
Resources for you:
Classroom Experience Assistant
Tulane Academic Alert System: If you are concerned about a student for academic reasons and want to let Tulane know, you may report your concerns through the online Academic Alert System.
Tulane Concerns: Non-academic concerns should be filed through Tulane Concerns.
Code of Student Conduct: This Student Guide includes the most frequently referenced policies related to student misconduct and is update every summer.
Student Code of Academic Conduct: This Code applies to all undergraduate students, full-time and part-time, in Tulane University. The Mississippi campuses of the School of Continuing Studies will use this Code but will constitute their own Honor Board panels for those campuses.
Tulane Provost: Faculty Development and Mentoring
Resources for your students:
Tulane Academic Success Center
Below please find resources offered by other Universities, institutions, and organizations. If you have any suggestions for resources please email celt@tulane.edu.
Teaching Resources
Teaching Conferences Directory, Kennesaw State University
Teaching Journals Directory, Kennesaw State University
Research in Action, Oregon State University
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Teaching
Inside Higher Education: Teaching and Learning
Higher Education Websites
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wellness Resources
How to Meditate, The New York Times
Self-Compassion, Dr. Kristin Neff
The Undergraduate Student Government and Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching have collaborated to provide a Mid-Course Reflection. The goal of this form is to offer an avenue for students to provide productive feedback to professors and to reflect on their own performance in a course. The reflections are an optional tool for professors to use mid-way through a course and are unaffiliated with the end of semester evaluations conducted by the university. Ideally, these will be a growing point for both the students and faculty involved. The forms can be downloaded as a Word Document and given out in class or may be accessed via a quiz created on canvas. Please contact Toni Weiss (tweiss@tulane.edu) for more information or questions