Cultivating Effective and Innovative Pedagogies

Consultations

The TLC director offers individual and group consultations on strategies to enhance teaching and learning. For more information, contact TLC director Scott Hicks at (910) 775-4032 or scott.hicks@uncp.edu. 

Midsemester Class Check-ins

Student evaluations of instruction are helpful in understanding how students perceived a class—but because they take place at the end of the semester and are shared with faculty after final exams, they come too late to identify problems or miscommunications that otherwise could be easily corrected for the good of the class. A Midsemester Class Check-in conducted by a TLC consultant elicits students’ perceptions of your class before midterm and engages students in taking responsibility for the continued success of the class, all while maintaining student anonymity and faculty confidentiality.

Whether your class is face to face, hybrid, or online, check-in has two components: data-gathering and consultation. For a face to face class, a TLC consultant visits your class for about 20 minutes, either at the start or before the end of your class. You leave the room, and the TLC consultant leads students in a Keep/Quit/Start assessment followed by group reflection. After her or his visit, the consultant compiles the feedback into a report, assuring student anonymity. For an online class, a TLC consultant will email all class members a Qualtrics survey link active for 24 hours. The survey will solicit students’ understandings of class expectations, perceptions regarding how the class is helping them learn, advice for you as the class’s instructor, and reflections on how they can better contribute to the success of the class.

The second component, consultation, occurs at a confidential meeting between you and the TLC consultant. During your time together, your consultant will share with you the report resulting from her or his findings. Together, you will interpret student comments, identify successes and areas for improvement, and plan a course of action that makes use, as you see fit, of students’ feedback.

The purpose of this service to assist you in meeting students’ needs for deepened, enhanced, ongoing learning. The anonymity of the process makes students more comfortable sharing their feedback; the students’ feedback tells you which elements of your teaching methods are effective or could be more effective. What’s more, soliciting midsemester student feedback is valuable in helping you improve and refine your teaching because it allows you to hear your students’ successes and concerns while there is still time in the semester to make appropriate changes. Finally, all components of this process—data gathering, reporting, and consultation—remain completely confidential, for your use as you see fit.

For more information or to request a Midsemester Class Check-in for your class(es), please contact TLC director Scott Hicks at (910) 775-4032 or scott.hicks@uncp.edu. Check-ins will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis as consultants are available.

Certificate in Accessibility and Inclusion in Teaching and Learning

The Accessibility Resource Center and TLC are pleased to offer a Certificate in Accessibility and Inclusion in Teaching and Learning in support of the University's commitment, as a matter of mission, to inclusion and excellence in teaching and learning: “The University … serves a diverse student body and encourages inclusion and appreciation for the values of all people … [and] exists to promote excellence in teaching and learning, at the master’s and undergraduate levels, in an environment of free inquiry, interdisciplinary collaboration, and rigorous intellectual standards.” Thus, this series aims to develop the skills and competencies of UNCP faculty in the areas of accessible course design and inclusive teaching, practices that operationalize and/or enhance inclusive and excellent teaching and learning.

All EHRA employees, faculty and nonfaculty, employed fulltime or part-time and in good standing at UNCP, are eligible to participate. Individuals interested in certification must inform the directors of ARC and TLC of their desire to participate, and eligible individuals shall be admitted to the program upon approval by the directors.

Upon admission, participants must complete successfully these activities:

Upon successful completion of all requirements (or substitutions approved by the ARC and TLC directors) and documentation and reflection as submitted via this survey, participants shall be certified in Accessibility and Inclusion in Teaching and Learning. Participants thus certified shall be recognized at the annual Faculty Awards Dinner and may be eligible for a stipend. Certification shall be valid for three years and is renewable thereafter.

For more information or to join the cohort, please contact ARC interim Director Vanessa Hawes at (910) 521-6695 or vanessa.hawes@uncp.edu and TLC director Scott Hicks at (910) 775-4032 or scott.hicks@uncp.edu.

Book of the Month Club

The Book of the Month Club is a faculty, staff, and student learning circle of no more than 15 participants who meet to discuss, in person and online, a selected book, article, or dataset chosen by the TLC consistent with its mission. Facilitators, like participants, are learners; a guiding principle of the learning circle is that no one is, or need be, an expert. All members are encouraged to share, listen, and reflect, connecting with colleagues from all areas of campus. Together, participants will identify, explore, develop, and apply effective and impactful pedagogies and teaching techniques and collaborate with peers to advance and cultivate enhanced pedagogies and teaching techniques.

The TLC will purchase books or supply readings for participants, and the club will meet throughout the semester in person and/or online.

Based on a survey of faculty preferences, the TLC will facilitate discussions of the following in AY2022-2023:

  • Tracie Addy, Derek Dube, Khadijah A. Mitchell, and Mallory SoRelle's What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching
  • Sonja Ardoin’s College Aspirations and Access in Working-Class Rural Communities: The Mixed Signals, Challenges, and New Language First-Generation Students Encounter
  • Kevin M. Gannon’s Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto
  • James M. Lang’s Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do about It by James M. Lang

The TLC welcomes your suggestions for future selections. For more information or to join the club, please contact TLC director Scott Hicks at (910) 775-4032 or scott.hicks@uncp.edu.