The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University, www.princeton.edu/mcgraw
The Institute for Teaching, Learning, and Academic Leadership (ITLAL) at the University of Albany, www.albany.edu/teachingandlearning
The Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Minnesota, www.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/index.html
Academic Teaching and Learning (T&L) centers are tremendous resources for university faculty, especially in the sciences where faculty backgrounds during their graduate schools and post-doctoral fellowships are research-focused and mostly devoid of pedagogical training. Some T&L centers not only serve their local users, but also place open material on the web. These are good sources of free, reliable information and guidance for faculty. One excellent example is The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University (www.princeton.edu/mcgraw). Sections are available for faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and undergraduates as learners. Resources include:
a blog called “The Scholar as Teacher”
a list of 44 tip sheets on topics such as motivating students, writing effective exams, dealing with large lectures, and cultivating reasoning skills
28 handouts on time management, effective reading, problem solving, and other study skills for students
online learning styles inventory
Assistant Instructor Handbook (68-page pdf)
I can provide many examples of how I personally found the sites useful in a variety of areas. For example, we all have experience with some students who earn low grades on exams, yet report studying for many hours. I have used the learning inventories in courses to help students understand the ways they learn most effectively and thus make more efficient use of their study time. Inventories allow study advice to be tailored to a specific student’s needs.
Another example of a useful T&L site is the Institute for Teaching, Learning, and Academic Leadership (ITLAL) at the University of Albany (www.albany.edu/teachingandlearning). This site has a large number of resources, mainly as links. These include:
a list for faculty and one specifically for graduate TAs, organized by general teaching questions, such as “How do I integrate technologies?” or “What do I do on the first day of class?”
a special section for new faculty, which contains a gem (a list of top 10 books for new instructors, including reviews and tables of contents)
a section covering Service Learning (SL) specifically, including how to design and evaluate SL
the section on leadership is a rather unique feature which should prove very helpful for Department Chairs, covering topics such as mentoring junior faculty and time management (from guru Meggin McIntosh)
A treasure can be found under the link, ITLAL Library: an extensive list of over 100 books in T&L, all organized into categories, each including a summary and table of contents. For someone new to teaching, this is an invaluable guide to seminal works in the field. Finally, two outstanding guides are provided—a faculty mentoring handbook and a peer observation resource manual.
The last site reviewed is the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Minnesota (www.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/index.html). It includes:
10 in-depth tutorials, including writing a teaching philosophy, developing your syllabus, and effective use of PowerPoint
a techniques in learning and teaching blog
some simple advice under Resources on active learning, with 10 classroom examples
a unique section on multicultural teaching
basic description of a teaching portfolio
under peer review, 10 classroom observation instruments
The tutorials are well written and particularly useful. This site has a link to the “Essays on Teaching Excellence” from the POD Network (www.podnetwork.org/publications/teachingexcellence.htm), which are scholarly essays on T&L topics published annually since 1989, a reflective free resource. I particularly recommend one essay entitled “Value of a Teaching Center,” found under the Publications menu on the right of the page. I could not agree more with this essay’s message!