New Faculty Seminar
The pedagogy seminar is offered as an option to all incoming tenure-track faculty and continuing faculty, and one session each year includes one post-reappointment faculty colleague and one post-tenure faculty colleague.
The seminar does not advocate any particular pedagogical approach nor does it consist only of a series of nuts-and-bolts workshops. Rather, it is intended to be a forum for open, critical, and constructive dialogue about the liberal arts college as a unique educational environment, for developing pedagogical approaches appropriate to this context and to your respective disciplines and personal styles, and for talking about how to balance the various demands on and opportunities for faculty members in this kind of institution. The seminar includes a partnership between each faculty participant and a Student Consultant through our Students as Learners and Teachers (SaLT) program, which enjoys an international reputation (see, for instance, ).
Responsibilities of Faculty Pedagogy Seminar Participant
Attending and participating in weekly, semi-structured, 90-minute discussions focused on what is happening in your classrooms and what could happen there
Completing weekly written one-page reflections that are posted to a closed Moodle Organization
Working with your Student Consultant (an undergraduate student who went through an application process for this position, who is not enrolled in your class, and who is there to support you through some or all of the following: visiting your class each week, taking detailed observation notes focused on pedagogical issues you identify, meeting with you weekly to discuss what is happening in your class, and meeting weekly with me and the other Student Consultants to discuss how best to support your teaching)
Sharing your research or professional work for a portion of one of the seminar sessions
Taking observation notes (like those taken by Student Consultants) at one of the sessions
Completing mid-semester and end-of-semester feedback forms (used both as assessments of the seminar and as documentation of our work), and
Completing a portfolio at the end of the seminar that documents what you have affirmed, revised, and learned.
Participant Perspectives
Our forum for discussing pedagogy has been a real asset for me this semester and has forced me think more critically about the classroom and my role in it. Hearing about other members’ experiences also has helped me feel part of a larger group and has given me a wide a range of strategies and ideas." (New Faculty Member, Haverford College)
"The seminar has provided a vehicle for self-reflection and learning on the kind of pedagogy that works for me and my students. However, I feel I’ve gained the most from working with peers who also desire to talk about teaching, and feel their role as teacher is an integral part of their identity. While I didn’t expect this latter part, I’ve been very pleased with the peer-exchange in our group." (New Faculty Member, ²ÝÁñ³ÉÈËÉçÇø)
"The seminar has been more than I expected. It has provided me with a valuable opportunity both to reflect on my own experiences and share ideas with my colleagues. Writing weekly memos has been particularly helpful for self-reflection, and so has integrating memos into our discussions." (Fourth-year Faculty Member, ²ÝÁñ³ÉÈËÉçÇø)
"The most telling moment for me has been the discovery that although I’d been thinking my pedagogy was discussion-based … and open-ended, in fact I went into most of my classes with an agenda — my agenda — for the entire class, so I was always more in control than I ever let the students be. So this has been an important discovery and has led to crucial adjustments in my pedagogy…. I find my role as facilitator of discussion is far more engaging and effective than my role as opening lecturer, followed by questioner and leader of discussion. I thought I was facilitating discussion effectively in my previous approach to teaching. Now I feel I’m doing it far more honestly and effectively." (Experienced Faculty Member, Haverford College)
The TLI seminar was a transformative experience; re-connected me with my love of, and investment in teaching; recharged my understanding of the connections between the classroom, my scholarship, and my work as a member of my college community; reawakened my faith in the potential academic institutions have to be sites of innovative and vital work for all who are part of the community.
-Faculty Partner
Selection of Publications by Participating Faculty
How to participate?
Email Alison Cook-Sather, Director of the TLI, at acooksat@brynmawr.edu.