Center for Teaching and Learning
The Colby College Center for Teaching and Learning offers numerous opportunities to examine your pedagogical practice, including Mid-Semester Course Analyses, Course (re)Design Institutes, the Learning Assistant program, the Celebration of Teaching, and many more.
Mission
The Colby College Center for Teaching and Learning champions and inspires active, innovative, and just teaching and learning experiences through opportunities that motivate ongoing pedagogical reflections, encourage dialogue about effective practices, and deconstruct academic inequities.
Vision
The Center for Teaching and Learning strives to collaboratively address emerging teaching and learning needs at Colby and lead national conversations about innovative and just teaching in higher education.
Values
The work of the Center for Teaching and Learning is rooted in:
-the literature and scholarship on effective teaching and learning,
-the experiences of the CTL staff,
-the experiences of Colby faculty and students,
-the relationships and communities that support teaching and learning at Colby.
The CTL works collaboratively, prioritizing authentic connection to respond creatively to the needs of the Colby teaching community. Our work is growth-oriented and non-evaluative, guided by our interest in the holistic development of educators through all stages of their careers. When needed or requested, conversations with the CTL are confidential.
The CTL advocates for just and inclusive teaching and learning practices, and continually evolves to better support the diverse identities that form our community.
Statement on Confidentiality and Non-Evaluation
Colby’s Center for Teaching and Learning is committed to encouraging active, innovative, and just teaching and learning experiences. To uphold these ideals, the CTL’s services are voluntary and non-evaluative. That means that, in alignment with the Ethical Guidelines for Educational Developers created by the POD Network in Higher Education, the CTL:
–Does not provide letters or evaluations for promotion, tenure, or annual review processes. However, we will provide individuals an annual list of their participation in CTL events and programs, which they may use as desired.
–Does not collect feedback or conduct observations for evaluative purposes, only formative purposes.
–Does not share outside of the CTL information about individual consultations or feedback with anyone other than the individual requesting the service. No report of individuals’ use of our services is ever made to chairs, deans, or any other evaluative entity. Documents the CTL provides to individuals, such as Mid-Semester Course Analysis (MSCA) reports, are kept confidential, but participants are free to share documents such as these if they choose (e.g., with the Committee on Promotion and Tenure). MSCA reports are retained by the CTL for a period of up to 2 years before they are deleted.
–Tracks aggregate statistics about the CTL’s activities. However, in any report that we may create, we remove identifying information.
We understand that candid conversation about teaching and learning can sometimes lead to feelings of vulnerability. Protecting all faculty and teaching staff’s ability to engage vulnerably, and therefore authentically examine their pedagogy, is at the heart of our confidentiality policy. Candid conversation may sometimes involve sensitive disclosures. While the CTL strives to maintain the highest level of confidentiality, it must adhere to College policies and legal obligations.
