Community – NSpire

April 11, 2019 | In Culture, Individual, Resources, Uncategorized

Faculty Learning Communities

Most faculty have little training in pedagogy, and yet teaching well is the central expectation for faculty at Northwestern. Almost all faculty here spend the majority of their time on this task, and yet teaching is one of the most solitary activities in which most faculty engage. Faculty rarely share syllabi, assignments, assessments, or […]

April 10, 2019 | In Culture, Higher Ed, Institutional, Policy, Resources

Creative Student “Work” Exchange

Students are seeking a lower cost option for college and parents are facing “sticker-shock” for higher education in private colleges. Higher education is facing more enrollment challenges due to costs, but if those costs could be lowered through a work exchange program then more students would be able to financially afford NWC. Furthermore, research has found […]

April 10, 2019 | In Institutional, Resources, Scholarship, Teaching

A Center Focused on the Third Mission

The role of a college is not limited to teaching and research but includes a third mission: to engage with society. To address increasing societal and economic challenges, colleges should be refocusing efforts to link teaching and research to the third mission. The ‘third mission’ is not just a catchy phrase, but is of increasing importance […]

February 4, 2019 | In Classroom, Individual, Institutional, Teaching

Faculty learning communities: Learning to teach together

Teaching tends to be faculty members’ most solitary activity–we rarely visit each other’s courses, comment on each other’s syllabi or assignments, help each other develop new ideas, comment on each other’s lecture style and content, etc. This article discusses the creation of faculty learning communities that are an essential part of faculty development. Faculty are […]