UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence at Penn State offers individual consultations to anyone who teaches Penn State students and offers courses and workshops that are open to all instructors at no additional cost.
To build community among instructors, the Schreyer Institute also supports a wide variety of teaching communities and a Commonwealth New Faculty Colleagues Group.
Meet with a consultant
The faculty consultants at the Schreyer Institute are free and confidential and can occur in person or virtually. Set up a 1-1 consultation to discuss any aspect of teaching by reaching out to a consultant (click on the Schedule button) or sending an email to site@psu.edu.
Workshops on current issues
Artificial intelligence (AI) generative tools are rapidly changing and impacting teaching and learning. In a workshop on Designing Assignments for Learning in the Age of AI, instructors can discuss the implications of AI for designing assignments that help students learn.
The workshop on Navigating Student Disruptions and Challenging Moments offers strategies for responding in the moment, following up after disruptions and a discussion of factors we can control to create conditions for navigating challenges in ways that support student learning.
Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging
The Schreyer Institute offers various courses and workshops that address DEIB in teaching. The introductory course on Universal Design for Learning is for instructors and designers who embrace student variability, strive for equity, seek to implement research-based learning practices and want to empower students through flexibility. For those who have already completed the introductory course, Teach to Reach with Universal Design for Learning might be of interest as a more advanced option.
Workshops that address student belonging include: Accessibility and Belonging and Supporting Students’ Sense of Belonging.
Instructors interested in joining a Teaching Community focused on DEIB are welcome to reach out to community leaders to learn more about meeting dates and times.
Assessing teaching
The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence (SITE) supports all instructors through non-evaluative (formative) assessment of their teaching. SITE faculty consultants are available for classroom observations, interpreting student feedback and individual meetings to discuss any aspect of the assessment of teaching. Instructors can also join workshops on Approaches to Analyzing and Responding to Midsemester Feedback and How to be a Reflective Teacher or request a workshop on another teaching assessment topic.
Assessing student learning
Instructors interested in exploring emerging alternatives to conventional grading schema can join a workshop on Grading differently: rethinking how and why we do classroom assessment. In the workshop on Equity and Inclusion in Grading and Assessment, participants consider the connection between grading and DEIB teaching practices.
Teaching and learning scholarship
Graduate students interested in learning more about teaching and learning scholarship can attend a variety of workshops this fall. The workshop on Going Public with Teaching and Learning Scholarship is specifically for graduate students interested in learning more about potential outlets for their projects. The Teaching as Research short course offers future faculty an opportunity to apply their scientific research knowledge to ask and answer a question about teaching and learning.
CIRTL network remote workshops and courses
CIRTL is a 45-university consortium that helps grad students and postdocs learn how to teach college courses more effectively. Penn State is a member and CIRTL programs and resources are free to anyone with a Penn State email account (including faculty). CIRTL is especially focused on preparing STEM educators, but many of the programs are valuable for other disciplines. Learn more at cirtl.net.
Visit the Schreyer Institute events page to see additional workshops and programs and our Teaching Communities directory page for a full list of current teaching communities.
The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence is a part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.