CT&L Corner
Adam Harris Smith, Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning and Learning Commons Manager, shares his thoughts in this weekly blog.
CT&L Faculty Spotlight: Natasha Warshawsky
As we move the CT&L Corner from the weekly newsletter to a blog hosted on the CT&L webpage, I wanted to start with a new, monthly series of Faculty Teaching…
Peer Observation Benefits the Observer, Too
Yogi Berra is quoted as having said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” The research on peer observation would take the a step further: you can learn a lot…
How to prepare without overpreparing
With classes just two weeks away, I wanted to share two resources that have received positive responses from instructors I’ve interacted with here at PCA&D and in my previous roles.…
How do you solve a problem like … AI? (Opinion)
Previously, I shared a Vox resource on Generative AI in teaching and learning, with the warning that we risk substituting cool new tech for the desirable difficulties of learning. In…
Learning to divide fractions v. learning to ‘do school’
Recently, I rewatched one of my favorite Studio Ghibli movies, Only Yesterday. In it, Taeko, a 20-something office worker in Tokyo, takes a vacation to the countryside to work on…
Rest and Creativity
Perspectives on Creativity and Pedagogy A bumper sticker I’ve seen reads: Artwork is work. True. Implying that art is magic that just happens without practice, forethought, or discipline is dishonest.…
Assessment: You keep using that word…
Assessment is a word that can carry different meanings depending on your role in an institution. Administrators will think about assessment along the lines of accreditation, while instructors are more…
Transparency, Purpose… and why should I care?
Anyone familiar with the TV show Bluey may be familiar with the adorable/annoying sockpuppet, Unicorse. It appears in a few episodes, mostly when Bluey’s dad, Bandit, is feeling … cheeky.…
(How) is teaching ‘necessary’?
A long time ago (well, graduate school, which feels like a long time ago), I fell in love with a quote about teaching: teaching is not necessary for learning to…
On Uncertainty, Authority, and Artmaking
Edgar Degas was quoted as saying “Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.” Leaving aside the gendered nature of the quote,…
Valuing Quantity over Quality in Creativity
It was the American chemist (and Nobel laureate) Linus Pauling who was quoted as saying: “If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas.” This wisdom has…
Participation: You keep using that word…
We’re back with Vizzini and Inigo Montoya. Last time, we considered the nuances of the word ‘engagement.’ This time, we’re looking at a close relative of engagement: participation. Some people…
Learning to love… learning?
Over the Memorial Day weekend, I had the pleasure of watching a new documentary about the PBS television show Reading Rainbow, Butterfly in the Sky (you can see the trailer…
The Creativity of Limits
Last week, I started a series that reexamines educational ideas/buzzwords. Creativity is another such word, in that many try to ‘tame’ creativity into a simple definition and/or formula. At the…
Engagement: You keep using that word…
Today marks the start of a series inspired by The Princess Bride’s very own Inigo Montoya. In the movie, Vizzini (played by the inimitable Wallace Shawn) keeps saying that things…