Excellence in Teaching Alliance

In-person

| Opportunity Location

The goclass cohorts are a great way to learn, and the teachers were super helpful!

Cam Wontan

Northwestern University

I was online with my fellow cohort members and teachers every day, it was so much fun!

Faye Wilson

Northwestern University

It was a great experience, and I'm so glad I did it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn online.

Emily Sharpow

Northwestern University

Learn from a well crafted curriculum

Northwestern’s “Excellence in Teaching Alliance,” hosted by the Searle Center, brings together new and experienced full-time teaching faculty to promote community building and professional development across and within schools.

Curriculum

Excellence in Teaching Alliance

Week two

Faculty Open Classroom Initiative

Week three

FOCI is a week-long program to promote open conversation about learning and teaching across Northwestern. FOCI seeks to make teaching more transparent and public by providing opportunities for faculty across disciplines to open their classrooms and to visit colleagues’ classrooms. Modeled after Yale University’s Faculty Bulldog Days, FOCI offers opportunities for collaboration, learning new ways of teaching, discussing challenges, and sharing experiences.

Learning, Teaching, and Assessment Forum

Week four

On October 19, 2017, Northwestern held its fifth annual Learning, Teaching, and Assessment Forum “Sharing Insights into Student Learning.”

2022 New Faculty Workshop

Week five

The New Faculty Workshop is designed to introduce instructors to several key aspects of learning and teaching, to reflect critically on their own practice as educators, and to apply theory and research to practice.

The Searle Fellows

Week six

The program has been designed to (1) integrate with existing faculty teaching demands, (2) draw on the academic experience of faculty in their current research/scholarship, (3) provide academic rigor and stimulation at a high intellectual level, and (4) create a professional experience which will be rich and rewarding for faculty over the course of their careers.

Universal Design for Learning

Week seven

Join colleagues in the upcoming Addressing Evolving Needs with Universal Design for Learning Practicum, a three-week, cohort-based online program designed for instructors of all levels, backgrounds, and teaching contexts to reflect on the evolving needs of students and instructors, with an emphasis on mental health.

University Teaching Roundtables

Week eight

We host numerous workshops, roundtables, and other sessions on a wide variety of topics related to learning and teaching.

About this cohort

Northwestern’s “Excellence in Teaching Alliance,” hosted by the Searle Center, brings together new and experienced full-time teaching faculty to promote community building and professional development across and within schools.

Full-time faculty, with appointments as Professors of Instruction, Lecturers, Clinical Instructions, and Professors of Practice, are invited to participate in a peer-led program that will launch in Fall 2021. The initiative has been developed by a working group of teaching faculty in collaboration with the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching and the Office of the Provost. It will provide space and time for faculty to reflect together on key issues and questions in teaching and learning, with guidance and resources from the Searle Center.

What is involved?

Faculty will meet in small cohorts 1-3 times each quarter to engage in conversations around teaching and learning that are relevant to their group. Each cohort will be led by a faculty peer, who will use resources and guides provided by the Searle Center, and located on a Canvas site, to facilitate the conversation. Discussion topics will be cohort-generated, but topics of interest include assessment of student learning, developing active learning strategies, and creating inclusive learning environments. As a cohort participant, we ask that you commit to participating in the conversations, and to work together with your colleagues to identify the questions and issues you would like to explore as a group.

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Yemi Musa

Senior Associate Director, Research & Evaluation

Yemi leads the Center's research initiatives and oversees the numerous in-house program evaluation projects.

Learn more

Frequent questions

You have questions and we have answers

Our team of instructors can give you the support you need.