Supporting the continual development of our faculty as teachers is a fundamental mission of the Provost's Office. The resources provided here will be particularly helpful for those who are newer to teaching, but even experienced teachers will benefit from reviewing these materials and applying them to refine their methods or try something new. These pages are updated regularly. If there is a topic or document you that you'd like to propose including here, contact Director of Assessment and Curricular Support Carolyn Comiskey.

The First Day of Class

Technology Tutoring for Faculty  

Designing a Course

Creating a Syllabus

Upcoming Events on Teaching and Learning

This year, the Curriculum + Learning area of the Provost’s Office is sponsoring events and activities loosely organized around the theme of learning. Institutions of higher education have gradually shifted from a conception of instruction focused on the teacher to one in which the question of how students learn is central. How do students learn? How can teaching be more closely aligned with how students learn? How can instructors, and the institution as a whole, determine whether students have learned what we’d like them to?

Classroom Teaching Tools: “Preparing the Syllabus: Identifying and Writing Effective Course Learning Outcomes”
Carolyn Comiskey, Director of Assessment and Curricular Support
December 10, 12 noon-1 p.m., 71 Fifth Avenue, Room 912
ALSO: January 17, 1-2 p.m., 71 Fifth Avenue, Room 912

It is a New School requirement that a course syllabus include a list of student learning outcomes. By the end of a course, what should students know? What skills will they have learned or improved? What will they be able to do as a result of the course? Learning outcomes are not only helpful for students, who better understand their learning, but assist faculty in course planning. Participants in this workshop will be able to identify course learning outcomes and communicate them clearly to students. This workshop is led by Carolyn Comiskey, Director of Assessment and Curricular Support.
All full-time and part-time faculty are invited to attend this opportunity to gather together with fellow faculty. Please bring a copy of your syllabus.

Talking About Learning: “Future scenarios, reflective practice and 21st century learning”
Monday, February 4, 12:15-2:45 p.m.
79 Fifth Avenue, Room 1618
Lisa Grocott, Associate Professor, Parsons, Art, Media, and Technologies, Dean of Academic Initiatives

Lisa Grocott, associate professor and dean of Academic Initiatives at the School of Art, Media and Technologies at Parsons, leads this workshop, which builds on a research project that traces a line between reflective practice, 21st century competencies, and the formative assessment of cross-curricular learning. The research project centers around a two-part collaborative student exercise. The first part engages students in a future-oriented scenario that challenges participants to think critically and playfully as they frame problems and propose solutions in a collaborative context. The second part comprises a self-reporting exercise where the participants reflect upon skill acquisition with respect to 21st century competencies like collaboration and communication, problem-framing and critical thinking, flexibility and adaptability etc.

The research project was driven by the challenge of assessing 21st century skills in the K12 environment but the pilot scenarios undertaken with Parsons students drew attention to the importance in higher education for carving out a place, within a degree program, for reflecting on the learning that happens beyond the specific outcomes associated with a course or the walls of an institution. The workshop will provide a generative, collaborative space for exploring strategies for integrating critical reflection into our everyday teaching to enhance students understanding of what they believe to be the graduate attributes of his or her New School education.

Talking About Learning: “Making Space for Collaboration”
Scott Pobiner, Assistant Professor of Information Design and Management, School of Design Strategies
DATE TBA

The proportion of students carrying mobile or personal computing devices on campus is quickly reaching saturation, forcing the classroom to compete with an increasing amount of information accessible through students' personal devices. The classroom remains a critical part of the learning infrastructure, but it must adapt to meet the needs and expectations of its users. This session challenges designers, technologists, and teachers to work together to reinvent the classroom as an interface for collaborative learning.


Classroom Teaching Tools: “Grading and Assessing Course Learning with Rubrics”
Carolyn Comiskey, Director of Assessment and Curricular Support
Thursday, February 28, from 2-3:30 p.m.
71 Fifth Avenue, Room 912
It is challenging to grade student work consistently, transparently, and in a time-effective manner. Using rubrics for assignments can immensely aid the grading process, as well as provide students with clarity as to expectations and a better understanding of assignment grades. In this workshop, faculty will learn how to construct assignment rubrics and learn how to most effectively deploy rubrics. Please RSVP to comiskec@newschool.edu

Talking About Learning: “Metaphor in the mind and hands”
Daniel Cassasanto, Assistant Professor of Psychology, NSSR
Wednesday, March 6, 2-3:30 p.m., Orozco Room (7th Floor, 66 W. 12th St)

NSSR assistant professor of Psychology Daniel Cassasanto’s research examines how language, culture, and bodily experiences influence the way people think, feel, and make decisions. In his blog, “The Malleable Mind” on the Psychology Today website, Cassasanto makes these issues in cognitive science comprehensible to a broader audience. This talk examines the ways that space structures our abstract concepts, and how using the body according to the spatial schemas in our minds can promote learning.

Talking About Learning: Applying Research on Learning to Teaching
The “Talking About Learning” series culminates with two talks by learning expert Todd Zakrajsek.

Speaker Todd Zakrajsek served as executive director of the Center for Faculty Excellence at UNC-Chapel Hill until September 2012; he is currently leading faculty development as an associate professor at the UNC’s School of Medicine. He was previously the Inaugural Director of the Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching at Central Michigan University and the founding Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Southern Oregon University, where he also taught in the psychology department as a tenured associate professor in the psychology department. Todd also directs the Lilly Conference on Teaching and Learning at Traverse City, Michigan, and the International Conference on Improving University Teaching. Dr. Zakrajsek received his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Ohio University. He has published and presented widely on the topic of student learning.

“Overcoming Apathy and Creating Excitement in the Classroom”
Monday, April 8, 5-6:30 p.m.
Location TBA

What can instructors do to facilitate learning when they encounter students who seem uninterested and even apathetic toward course content and assignments? Part of the responsibility for learning belongs to students, but as faculty, we can find new ways to motivate, inspire, and maybe even cajole students to learn. This session will demonstrate and explain how instructors can make classroom learning, perhaps one of the most artificial learning settings, a more meaningful experience for students. Todd Zakrajsek will use theories of learning and motivation as a basis for creating strategies to increase student engagement in course content and class sessions. Learn strategies to encourage students to complete assigned readings and to help them increase the effectiveness of their study time. Participants will have an opportunity to try out and experience first-hand some of these techniques. Topics covered in this session include motivation, collaborative learning, metacognition, learning theory, and interpersonal communication.

“How Students Learn: Strategies for Teaching from the Psychology of Learning”
Tuesday, April 9, 10:30 a.m.-12 noon
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor

Todd Zakrajsek discusses the abundant research demonstrating that learning takes place when the student's mind actively engages in the material.
The major problem is determining how to increase that activity. Within the discipline of human memory, learning, and cognition exists a vast body of literature dealing specifically with this issue. Participants will leave this workshop with an understanding of the basic concepts in human learning, how to present information so that students most effectively encode it into long-term memory, and how to help students know when they know. Using demonstrations and participant activities, this lecture will draw specific attention to how research and theory on memory directly impacts teaching and learning.