A campus locus for conversations about learning and teaching in the liberal arts.
Recent decades have brought dramatic changes in the ways we structure knowledge, in what we have come to understand about effective teaching and learning, and in the possibilities afforded by new technologies for improving teaching and learning. The Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts (CILA) was founded in 2000 to provide support for St. Olaf College faculty working to meet the challenges posed by these changes. On the premise that the liberal arts colleges are ideal laboratories for pedagogical innovation and reform, CILA provides time and space for conversations and collaboration among faculty about learning, teaching, and scholarship.
Coming up in CILA
FACULTY LUNCH CONVERSATION – “E-Portfolios – Some St. Olaf Examples”
Facilitator: Mary Titus, English, Director of the Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts
St Olaf faculty members will present and discuss examples of creative, ambitious, and effective e-portfolios ranging from individual student projects to program wide platforms.
SPRING 2019 CILA Faculty Conversations and WORKSHOPS:
Join faculty and staff colleagues for lunch discussions around interesting topics in teaching and learning. Unless otherwise noted, all CILA Faculty Lunch Conversations will be in the Valhalla Dining Room, 11:45-1:15, with the presentation and discussion from noon-1:00. Lunch participants will go through the soup/salad line of the Kings’ Room buffet.
SAVE THESE DATES! Conversation descriptions and presenters/facilitators, as well as workshop invitations, are announced by email and will include a request for RSVPs.
See lists and descriptions of Conversations from past semesters here. Descriptions of Fall 2018 Conversations are linked below.
Tues February 19 – Faculty Lunch Conversation
Thurs Feb 28 – CILA/CAAS “Designing an Inclusive Classroom” Workshop Series – Designing a Just Classroom: Technology, Textbooks, and the Law (3:45-5:15pm, Holland 523)
Wed March 6 – Faculty Lunch Conversation
Tues March 12 – Faculty Lunch Conversation
Wed March 20 – Faculty Lunch Conversation
Tues April 9 – Faculty Lunch Conversation
Thurs April 18 – CILA/CAAS “Designing an Inclusive Classroom” Workshop Series – Designing Feedback (3:45-5:15pm, Holland 523)
Wed April 24 – Faculty Lunch Conversation
Tues April 30 – Faculty Lunch Conversation
FALL 2018 CILA Faculty Conversations and WORKSHOPS:
Tuesday Sept 18 Building a Culture of Classroom Observation
CILA/CAAS Faculty Workshop series “Designing an Inclusive Classroom” – Engaging All Students through Universal Design Facilitators: Anne Berry, Multilingual Student Support Specialist, CAAS; Jill Watson, Education Our campus is full of unique individuals — each with a unique set of abilities, needs, preferences, and background experiences. Inclusive, effective instruction recognizes our diversity and proactively enables engagement by all. This workshop explores equity in higher education, and presents strategies, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), that are helpful in planning for and enacting equitable pedagogy for all students. Participants will see examples of various teaching strategies, learn how they can promote equity and inclusivity, and have the opportunity to create inclusive teaching tools for use in their own courses. Wednesday Oct 3 To Include is to Excel: One Year On Tuesday Oct 9 Life on Campus: Histories and Futures of Higher Education CILA/CAAS Faculty Workshop series “Designing an Inclusive Classroom” – Designing Assignments Facilitator: Diane LeBlanc, Interdisciplinary Studies, Director of the Writing Program This workshop, led by Dr. Michele Eodice, Associate Provost for Academic Engagement and director of the writing center at the University of Oklahoma, will focus on designing meaningful, accessible writing assignments. You will appraise a writing assignment you have offered to students and be guided to redesign with a focus on access and agency. The goal of developing our inclusive pedagogies requires us to examine closely the assumptions, values, and practices that might be preventing students from engaging with the assignment to the fullest. We will critique our writing assignments and redesign them based on Universal Design Principles and features of meaningful writing projects [meaningfulwritingproject.net]. Together, we can construct a more expansive frame for students to work within, offering multiple entry points to approach the writing tasks and activating student agency to engage with the project. Wednesday Oct 31 Teaching Research and Writing: Inclusive Practices for All Disciplines Tuesday Nov 6 Inquiry in Support of Student Learning: Success Stories Wednesday Nov 14 Teaching, Fast and Slow Monday and Friday 10:00-12:00, Wednesday 10:00-11:00, or by appointment
Fall 2018 Office Hours
Mary Titus, Director of CILA