Mission Statement
The Teaching and Learning Center is a resource center for Wake Forest faculty at all stages of their careers. We host events designed to bring together faculty and other professionals to share expertise, explore innovations, and discuss the challenges of teaching in and across disciplines. The TLC is controlled by the faculty, participation is voluntary, and all records of use are kept confidential.
Guiding Principles
- to explore innovations in teaching that have been tried by others
- to obtain support for one’s own innovations
- to find experienced mentors who can help answer questions and develop teaching skills
- to seek confidential help
- to share teaching ideas and innovations with other interested faculty
Goals and Objectives
- Support teachers at all levels in their pursuit of excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising.
- Hire experts in instructional design to assist in course design/development and help teachers establish assessment and evaluation of teaching outcomes
- Provide a university-wide orientation for all new faculty
- Elicit feedback from recent new faculty about teaching needs the TLC can serve
- Continue to offer community-wide programs sharing teaching expertise and innovations
- Create programs specifically for non-tenure stream faculty and Graduate students and invite them to programs
- Create programs specifically designed to address needs of the professional schools
- Work with the undergraduate college, the graduate school and professional schools to strengthen advising programs for students
- Study current faculty mentoring opportunities and plan how to support and expand them
- Generate pod casts and white papers on teaching issues critical to WFU
- Explore the possibility of a network with IS through housing of ITGs and their counterparts throughout the university in the TLC
- Establish a professional development program for junior faculty comparable to CRADLE effort supported by Associate Provost for Research
- Continue to offer hands-on analysis and concrete feedback on an individual basis to support teaching excellence
- Recognize and advocate the importance of teaching at Wake Forest University.
- Provide more resources and awards for outstanding teaching and pedagogical innovations
- Consider appointing a TLC representative on RAC to support research in pedagogy
- Provide a workshop/class/etc. on history and culture of Wake Forest, teacher-scholar ideal, and where the university is going as part of New Faculty Orientation
- Provide information about innovations in pedagogy (i.e. pedagogy and technology; pedagogy and public engagement; etc.)
- Consider providing funds for programs that were successful in the past and were discontinued due to lack of funds (e.g., STAR program)
- Build community across departments and schools and among the faculty through our common commitment to teaching and learning.
- Facilitate informal get-togethers and idea exchanges through social events (in lieu of a faculty club)
- Obtain from another committee/program/department searchable databases of faculty expertise and who teaches what courses
- Address deans, chairs and program directors about the goals and objectives of the TLC, and the ways the TLC facilitates their mission of teaching and learning excellence
- Provide nationally-recognized leadership in support of the teacher-scholar model in higher education.
- Hold university-wide discussions on such issues like grade distribution/grade inflation and national benchmarks; invite national speakers, hold conferences, develop working papers from discussions that shape the national conversation
- Construct an annual list of conferences related to pedagogy, circulate to all faculty on a regular basis, and provide competitive resources to attend
- Provide access to pod casts and white papers on teaching issues with national relevance
- Sponsor the Teaching Fair on a regular basis (perhaps every 2 years) and consider holding a conference by inviting schools in the ACC
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