Tools and Resources

One-page handout to evaluate the quality or effectiveness of case studies.

Case study about a TA who alienates his supervising faculty member. Includes reflection questions about ways to avoid this kind of situation.

Brief discussion of characteristics that case-writers should aim for in order to promote students' learning. Traits discussed include realism, alignment with students' needs, complexity, adequate background information, and clear writing.

Case study: An instructor who has assigned a small-group project finds that one group is functioning poorly. One of the members complains that his religious beliefs make it difficult for him to work with another member of the group, who is gay.

This case study would be appropriate for use with faculty or graduate student instructors. It deals, in particular, with issues of inclusivity and students' inability to pay for required texts.

This is a case study appropriate for use with any faculty or graduate instructor audience. It touches on themes including religious differences, inclusivity, difficult dialogues, and class discussions.

In-depth discussion of planning and writing a case study. Key steps discussed include identifying the reason for using a case study; drafting the case; and piloting and revising it.

This is a 2-page flyer provided by the CIRTL Network (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning). It includes quotes from participants about how participating benefitted them. Many are now professors. The second page is focuses on additional benefits for students, faculty, and academic units.

Course instructors and short course/workshop facilitators sign this form to document participants' successful completion of programming that satisfies one or more learning objectives of the Penn State CIRTL Associate-level teaching certificate.

Answers to frequently asked questions about Penn State CIRTL and its teaching certificate process.

This document is a 1993 teaching newsletter from Stanford University that addresses the topic of classroom assessments - brief, typically non-graded assignments, that reveals to both teachers and students the extent to which students have the knowledge the teacher expects them to have.

This document provides methods for doing classroom assessment (usually ungraded) to help faculty keep students in large classes engaged and to provide feedback about student knowledge of specific concepts to both faculty and students.

Case study for classroom management

Richard Felder and Rebecca Brent describe their approach to Collaborative Learning Strategies.

IST's 2010 master assessment plan is a great model for similar programs trying to map their objectives, courses, and assessments.

An overview of the components of a teaching portfolio based on the administrative guidelines for AC 23 at Penn State. The document describes the each component its function and includes examples from various portfolios.

This document describes how concept maps can be used as active methods for students to learn course material.

This document describes several active learning methods for helping students learn how course concepts are organized.

This is a pdf diagram that can help instructors determine whether intellectual property can be legally used in courses under the Fair Use Doctrine. It was developed by Becky Albitz a former Penn State Librarian. Becky is currently the Associate Librarian for Collection Management at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

Links to resources for instructors responding to student comments, disruptions, or microaggressions. Also included are SITE faculty consultants' most recommended course norms, discussion guidelines, ground rules, and netiquette.

This file contains a list of six course design models chosen as "favorites" by the POD Network members, pulled from a thread on the POD Network Open Discussion Group. The six models are: Purdue’s Interactive Course Re/Design (ICD) Wheel; Connection-Engagement-Empowerment (CEE); Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework; Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle; Fink’s Integrated Course Design; and Backward Design. Moji Shahvali

Most course observations involve pre- and post-observation discussions between the observer and the instructor. A pre-observation conversation builds trust and ensures that the observer understands the instructional context. A post-observation debriefing should highlight effective instructional practices, as well as collaborative identification of improvements. The following can also be used to guide a written summary by the observer.

Questions and advice to guide pre- and post-observation conversations for faculty peer review of teaching. These questions can also be used to guide a written observation summary letter.

Creating a Culture of Academic Integrity publication by Herteis. This document includes a definition of plagiarism, facts about the extent of cheating, why students cheat, and strategies for designing written assignments that reduce plagiarism (among other topics)

This document describes the process for creating permanent groups (teams) for collaborative learning.

Inclusive Teaching. This document includes the slides and handouts used in Linse & Weinstein's workshop introducing faculty to specific actions that they can take immediately to make their courses more inclusive. Based on our experience, it is best to provide the Strategies early in the workshop because it addresses faculty members' primary concern--what to do! By addressing faculty needs first, we have found it allows us to have richer discussions about the two most intractable issues to creating inclusive learning environments, Microaggressions and Stereotype Threat.

A sense of belonging is students’ perception of social support on campus, connectedness, and experience of feeling accepted, respected, mattering, and valued by the community or people on campus, such as faculty, staff, and peers (Strayhorn, 2012). Based on four domains of sense of belonging that Ahn and Davis (2020) suggest (academic engagement, social engagement, surroundings, and personal space), this resource provides practical guidance for cultivating a sense of belonging in learning environments.

Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is a pedagogical approach that recognizes the importance of cultural diversity in the teaching and learning process. The core emphasis of CRT is the inclusion of diverse cultures in the design of instruction (Addy et al., 2021). Gay (2010) defines CRT as “using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (p.31). This resource expands on the understanding of culturally responsive teaching and provides practical suggestions for teaching in higher education.

Example of a curriculum matrix or map that is for a business program at Penn State Berks. Development of curriculum maps are important parts of the learning outcomes assessment process.

This is curriculum matrix was completed by the faculty in the Elementary and Kindergarten Education program at Penn State Berks. It is used to determine which program goals/objectives are addressed in the various courses included in the program. A curriculum map is an important step in the process of learning outcomes assessment (program assessment).