March 2025
Hello! The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) is pleased to present our March newsletter. This month’s newsletter includes announcements and registration information about upcoming CTLE programs, and some recommended resources for facilitating student group work, maintaining pedagogical wellness, and soliciting mid-course student feedback on teaching. In addition, our March newsletter highlights a special CTLE event coming up in April: an on-campus presentation by Elizabeth Norell, author of The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformative Teaching.
RECOMMENDED READING AND RESOURCES
This month the CTLE is tooting its own horn, and suggesting you check out our two new resource pages.
Working effectively in a group is an essential professional and academic skill but structuring and assessing student group work, while ensuring fairness and encouraging inclusive engagement, is an ongoing pedagogical puzzle. Find tips and strategies on our new Teaching Resource page, Student Group Work.
Equity-minded educators are facing new challenges and stressors every day. For some ideas about how to safeguard and nurture our own well-being while also supporting student learning, check out our new Teaching Resource page, Pedagogical Wellness. For campus leaders, this short article on the topic is a must-read: Supporting Faculty Self-Care: An Administrative Imperative | American Conference of Academic Deans.
MID-COURSE FEEDBACK
As you prepare to give students mid-course feedback on their academic progress in your classes, consider asking students for feedback about how the class has been going, including reflecting on their own effort, progress, and contributions to the learning environment. Here’s a quick but idea-packed summary of effective strategies for soliciting mid-course feedback: Mid-semester Formative Feedback | MIT Teaching + Learning Lab.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Workshop: Inspiring Authentic Learning with Primary Sources in the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC)
This workshop will begin with a brief overview of the Special Collection Research Center (SCRC) and the opportunities it offers faculty to schedule a class visit and session at the SCRC. Then we will explore how these SCRC class sessions draw on evidence-based, high-impact teaching practices for authentic learning and helping students build academic integrity skills. The remainder of the session will be participants workshopping assignments and syllabi for how to incorporate a SCRC visit into their class. Co-facilitated by Jana Rosinksi, SCRC Instruction and Education Librarian and Jessamyn Neuhaus, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. The workshop will take place in Special Collections, Bird Library Room 600, and space is limited to 18 participants.
March 21, 1:00-2:30 p.m., 600 Bird Library (Special Collections)
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Panel Discussion: Professional and Personal Rewards of Teaching First Year Seminar
Are you a faculty member interested in learning more about the opportunity to lead a section of First Year Seminar (FYS 101)? Join the Director of First Year Seminar, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE), and five esteemed faculty members to reflect on the personal and professional rewards of teaching FYS 101. The FYS 101 Lead Instructor application is now available: FYS Lead Instructor Application.
April 22, 1:00-2:00 p.m., 550 Bird Library (CTLE)
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Workshop: Inspiring Authentic Learning with Primary Sources from the Syracuse Art Museum Collections
This workshop will begin with a brief overview of the SU Museum Collections and the opportunities it offers faculty to schedule a class visit and session at the Museum. Then we will explore how these class sessions draw on evidence-based, high-impact teaching practices for authentic learning and helping students build academic integrity skills. The remainder of the session will be participants workshopping assignments and syllabi for how to incorporate a Museum Collections visit into their class. Co-facilitated by Kate Holohan, Curator of Education at the SU Art Museum and Jessamyn Neuhaus, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. The workshop will take place at the SU Museum, and space is limited to 20 participants.
April 4, 1:00-2:30 p.m., Syracuse University Art Museum, Shaffer Art Building
SPECIAL CTLE EVENT: THE PRESENT PROFESSOR
Dr. Liz Norell is going to be visiting the Syracuse campus on April 23 to give an in-person presentation about her new book, The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching, published this year in the University of Oklahoma Press series, “Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Education.” In addition, and in preparation for Dr. Norell’s talk, the CTLE will host a book discussion about The Present Professor on April 16.
Book Discussion: The Present Professor
In preparation for the author’s in-person presentation on April 23, the CTLE will facilitate a book discussion of The Present Professor in 550 Bird Library (CTLE). Don’t wait to sign up because the first 12 registrants will receive a free copy of the book!
April 16, 2:00-3:30 p.m., 550 Bird Library (CTLE)
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Interactive Presentation: Liz Norell, “Becoming a (More) Present Professor”
Drawing from her recently released book, The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching, Liz Norell’s talk will equip participants to develop a greater presence with students in ways that feel more authentic and psychologically safe. After discussing the multi-disciplinary research that informs the book, participants will be invited to participate in an exercise drawn from the book, one that is connected to teaching. There will also be time for Q&A and discussion about what it means to teach with authenticity and presence in the Syracuse context.
Dr. Liz Norell serves as Associate Director of Instructional Support in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) at the University of Mississippi. She has spent more than 20 years teaching in higher education, including stints in composition, journalism, new media, and political science. She completed a PhD in political science at the University of Texas Dallas, along with master’s degrees in journalism from the University of Arkansas and library science from Texas Woman’s University. Liz’s first book, The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching, is aimed at educators who know they want to create meaningful relationships with students but aren’t quite sure how to do that in authentic ways. Liz is passionate about equitable, inclusive teaching, constructive conversations across differences, and fostering meaningful learning. She is also passionate about boosting awareness of disability in higher education. You can find Liz on her website, liznorell.com.
April 23, 2:00-3:30 p.m., 550 Bird Library (CTLE)
STAY IN TOUCH
As always, please let us know if the CTLE can support or assist you in any way, and if you know someone who might like to join our mailing list, here’s a link to the sign-up form: CTLE Mailing List Sign-Up. And just a reminder that you can access all previous newsletters on our website: Newsletters.