Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment cultivates a community of inquiry and practice to promote excellent teaching, learning, and scholarship in the liberal arts. We nurture the learning environment of Grinnell College by fostering conversation and reflection at the intersection of pedagogy, the scholarship of teaching and learning, instructional design, and academic technologies. We advance practices of teaching and learning that are accessible, inclusive, and grounded in the best available evidence.

Community Friday: “Reimagining Campus Community With Restorative Practices,” with Leslie Bleichner, Assistant Chief Diversity Officer

Friday, April 26, Noon–1 p.m., Humanities and Social Studies Center, Room A1231 (buffet opens at 11:45 a.m.)

Please join us for the next Community Friday on April 26 in HSSC, Room A1231. Encouraging deeper relationships between individuals and promoting social connections within the campus community strengthens equity, belonging, and collective efficacy. This relationship work leads to happier, healthier, and more productive campus communities. Leslie Bleichner ’07, assistant chief diversity officer: community training, education, and belonging, will introduce participants to four explicitly designed practices, backed by peer-reviewed research, to foster and facilitate engagement and build positive relationships, whatever your sphere of influence on campus. Through these practices, Grinnellians can learn to co-create solutions and ongoing accountability together in proactive, human-centered ways.

The CTLA thanks the Restorative Practices Innovation project for their generous support of this event.

Community Friday with Joseph Tucker Edmonds

Spring 2024 Community Fridays

Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Humanities and Social Studies Center, Room A1231 from noon to 1 p.m. Lunch is served beginning at 11:45 a.m. [PDF version of schedule]

Jan. 26: “Revision as an Ethic: Pedagogical Lessons from Gannon, Givens, and Tucker Edmonds,” with Caleb Elfenbein, Associate Dean, and Susan Ferguson, CTLA Director
Feb 2: “The Physical Education Classroom,” with Holly Roepke, Athletics and Recreation
Feb. 9: “The Grinnell College Museum of Art as a Creative Laboratory,” with Susan Baley, Jocelyn Krueger, and Tilly Woordward, GCMoA
Feb 16: “Mapping Cultural Change at Grinnell,” with Dr. Irma McClaurin ’73
Feb. 23: “Developing Cultural Responsiveness Strategies to Support Neurodivergence at Grinnell,” with Autumn Wilke and Emily Fenner, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
March 1: “What is the Deal with Ungrading?” with Karla Erickson, Sociology, and Sira Nassoko ’24
March 8: “Finding Your Place Online: Using Sites@Grinnell for Teaching, Scholarship, and Other Projects,” with Mo Pelzel and Tierney Steelberg, Digital Liberal Arts Collaborative, along with faculty/staff panelists Tamara Beauboeuf, Kristen Burson, Tetyana Dzyadevych, Bill Ferguson, Ross Haenfler, and Susan Sanning.
March 15: “FGLI at Grinnell & Beyond: Contextualizing First-Generation & Low-Income Student Programming,” with Maggie Bell ’17, Center for Religion, Spirituality, and Social Justice
April 5: Fostering Difficult Conversations During Times of Crisis in the Classroom and GC Learning Spaces,” with Steve Andrews, Chinyere Ukabiala, Brigittine French, Vrinda Varia, and Rabbi Sarah Brammer-Shlay [held in JRC 101]
April 12: “Teaching Games and Game Studies,” with Lynn Ramey, Vanderbilt University, and David Neville, DLAC
April 19: "What are We Advising Toward," with Joyce Stern, Tim Arner, and the Tutorial and Advising Committee
April 26: “Reimagining Campus Community with Restorative Practices,” with Leslie Bleichner, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
May 3: “Rethinking Reading: A Multifaceted Approach,” with Belinda Backous, Academic Advising

Faculty Resources

Dean’s Office
Teaching Resource Library
Academic Advising: Adviser’s Handbook
Syllabus Design Guidelines [PDF]
The Grinnell College Guide to Writing, Research, and Speaking [PDF]
Sites@Grinnell (web hosting and digital publishing provided by DLAC)
CTLA Grinnell Share Site (requires Grinnell network login)

Discussion at Teaching with Technology Fair

Recent News and Events

Cate Denial Campus Visit

Cate Denial, Bright Distinguished Professor of American History and director of the Bright Institute at Knox College, visited Grinnell in November 2023 to deliver a luncheon talk and Community Friday presentation. Her new book, A Pedagogy of Kindness, is forthcoming in 2024.

Care in the Academy

Since summer 2022, 36 participants of all ranks and statuses, from colleges and universities across the United States, have been a part of a Mellon-funded project to consider what it means for campuses to show care toward faculty and staff. Come hear from Cate Denial, principal investigator for this Mellon project, who will share some of the recommendations the Care in the Academy team has made with regard to disability, trauma-informed practices, and sustainable teaching. We will also think about what it will take to implement those recommendations and make real change in higher education.

Slides (PDF)

A Pedagogy of Kindness

What does it mean to practice a pedagogy of kindness? This presentation will explore three tenets of compassionate teaching: justice, believing students, and believing in students. We will reflect together on what kindness (and its lack) has meant to us within academia, and how we can — piece by piece — assemble a kind approach to pedagogy that meets the needs of our students and ourselves in a time of great change.

Slides (PDF)

Kevin Gannon Campus Visit

Kevin Gannon, director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence and professor of history at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, visited Grinnell in April 2023 to deliver a convocation address and workshop. Gannon is the author of Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto (West Virginia University Press, 2020).

Hope in the Time of Monsters

Teaching 'Hot Topics and Handling Fraught Moments in the Classroom

Support the development of teachers and learners through consultations, tutorials, and workshops at the course and curricular levels
Build a culture of reflection, engagement, and celebration around liberal arts teaching and learning through programming such as Community Friday lunch and the annual Teaching with Technology Fair
Welcome new faculty members to the Grinnell College learning community through New Faculty Orientation and ongoing programs of faculty development
Promote assessment of course, department, and college-wide learning outcomes through consultations and reviews of department-level assessment practices

Integrate established and emerging digital technologies, methods, and practices into teaching, learning, and scholarship through the Digital Liberal Arts Collaborative
Administer major elements of the digital campus infrastructure for teaching and learning, such as the Sites@Grinnell platform for web hosting and digital publishing
Provide training and support for classroom technologies and hardware/software applications such as video and audio production and Blackboard, the learning management system
Collaborate with campus partners such as the Libraries, ITS, and DASIL, and coordinate campus-wide initiatives such as the Innovation Fund Grant and the co-led Vivero Digital Fellows program

Contact Information

Phone

641-269-3020

Humanities and Social Studies Center, S1370
1226 Park Street
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States