Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning addresses these questions:
  • What do we know about effective uses of technology in liberal-arts teaching?
  • How do we know if technology is being used to enhance teaching and learning?
  • What are the implications of these innovations?
We offer you 3 ways to join the conversation in the CTL, all of which are available in the contribute space.

Digital Image Interview Series: Henry Art

Posted March 9th, 2007 by Jennifer Curran, Academic Commons
0 Comments | 2482 Page Views

Digital Image Interview Series
Henry Art, Biology/Environmental Science, Williams College

Henry Art, the Samuel Fessenden Clarke Professor of Biology at Williams College, has been a member of the faculty since 1970. He has taught courses in environmental studies, field botany, ecology and land use planning, through the biology department and the environmental studies program. His research includes long-term ecological studies of the Hopkins Memorial Forest. Innovative use of images has been key to both his teaching and research. In this interview, he is joined by Jonathan Leamon, a member of Williams's Office for Instructional Technology.


Academic Commons: How have you used images in your teaching and how has digital technology come into play?
Art: Images are key to the way I teach. For example, I've been teaching a new course on the natural history of the Berkshires. We've set up a website on the Williams CONTENTdm server with maps, video and images of various physical sites that are used in the course, and we've now made this available to the public:

Using Student Podcasts in Literature Classes

Posted September 25th, 2006 by Liz Evans, Swarthmore College
4 Comments | 7197 Page Views
Asking students to create podcasts for literature classes opens up a whole new realm of learning for Professor Peter Schmidt and his students: “Students found that the readings brought the passages and the novels to life—and that when they heard passages aloud, they noticed many more things than when they just read an assignment before class. In addition, students could respond to the interpretations of the selections that the podcasts made—adding their own collaborative insights, arguing with the interpretation, etc. With literature, this new technology encourages close reading, thoughtful interpretation, and student involvement.”

Call for Proposals: Scholarship of Teaching & Learning at the Liberal Arts Colleges

Posted September 1st, 2006 by Michael Roy, Kenyon College
0 Comments | 1291 Page Views
We will be watching the planning for this upcoming conference with great interest, as it provides a view into the future of the scholarship of teaching and learning movement's progress within a liberal arts context.

One of the claimed distinctions of the education offered at liberal arts colleges is that the faculty there are genuine teacher-scholars, dividing their time equally between their research and undergraduate instruction. On the surface, these are ideal circumstances for many to begin to engage in thinking about their teaching as a form of research. Yet we wonder:  How many of these faculty will shift the focus of their research toward the practice of teaching within their chosen disciplines? How many of our institutions' tenure and promotion committees will accept such scholarship as a substitute for traditional scholarship?

Digitized Audio Commentary in First Year Writing Classes

Posted August 16th, 2006 by Susan Sipple, University of Cincinnati Raymond Walters College
2 Comments | 7323 Page Views
Sue Sipple shares her experience with providing digitized audio commentary; she says, “The results have convinced me that audio instructor commentary on student writing is received more positively by college composition students and leads them toward more substantive revision of their essays.
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