Teaching Scholars Program

The UW-Whitewater Teaching Scholars Program is a two year long program that provides a group of 10 faculty a structured and collegial environment to explore and improve teaching and learning. Since it's inception in 1998, the Teaching Scholars Program has proven to be a popular program among participants, with the regular meetings providing a unique venue for in-depth discussions of our works as teachers and an opportunity to get to know faculty from across the campus. The program is designed to enhance knowledge in teaching and learning and support faculty in the design and completion of a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project appropriate for publication. Since the fall of 2003 the program has brought together mid-career and senior faculty who teach general education courses and/or work with significant numbers of freshmen students.


Program Design

The Teaching Scholars Program has three principle components.

  • Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) Project

Over the course of two academic years, participants are expected to design and conduct a project relevant to improving their teaching. Each individual, in collaboration with the program leader, will determine the purpose and design of the project. All projects will be required to include an assessment component to determine the effect of their project on student learning or other student outcomes. It is expected that participants will "go public" with their results, creating a SoTL product for presentation on campus, at a professional conference, and/or publication.

  • Teaching Scholars Seminars

Participants will meet in a seminar twice per month at regularly scheduled times. Meetings typically take place from 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm on Wednesdays. Those unable to commit to regular meetings at this time should not apply to the program. Seminar discussions focus on selected topics and readings, project discussion and planning, and presentation of research findings.

  • Peer Partnerships

Each participant forms a one semester partnership with another Scholar in order to learn from one another. Peers review and each other's course materials (syllabi, assignments, assessments, etc.) visit one another's class, and meet to discuss course structures and instruction.

Program Objectives

While participants will likely find their own motives for engaging in the program, in general, the Scholars Program is designed to have participants:

  • explore the literature relevant to student learning and teaching strategies particularly relevant to general education and the instruction and retention of freshmen;
  • increase their use of state-of-the-art teaching strategies;
  • develop more collegial relationships among mid-career and senior faculty from across campus;
  • complete a SoTL project that culminates in a presentation and/or paper; and
  • develop, where applicable, a mechanism that will aid in the academic assessment of one or more general education outcomes.

Program Schedule

2006-2008 Program

Year 1 - Fall Semester

Seminar with readings on teaching & learning, preliminary project proposals presented & discussed

Spring Semester

Seminar with readings on teaching & learning continue, seminar & individual consultation meetings to refine project proposals

Written version of proposal, e.g., rationale and project design

Summer

Review of relevant literature & written summary

Year 2 - Fall Semester

Project implementation / data collection, seminar presentation of literature reviews, peer partnerships

Spring Semester

Completion of projects, including paper version, presentation of projects at seminar or SoTL mini-conference

Participant Support

Funding fro the program varies depending on external support. However, each participant typically receives a stipend and a budget line to be used for professional development expenses (e.g., conference travel, books, software) or costs affiliated with completing the SoTL project.

Program Leader

Greg Valde is an Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, recipient of the 1997 W.P. Roseman Award for Excellence in Teaching, a member of the executive board member of the UW System Office for Professional & Instructional Development (OPID), and director of the UW System Faculty Developers Project. He regularly leads sessions on teaching and learning at various universities throughout the United States.

To Inquire/Apply

If you have questions, please contact the LEARN Center (Contact), or Greg Valde 472-5433; valdeg@uww.edu.

"The real benefit of the LEARN Center's Teaching Scholars Program is that it allows us to discuss teaching approaches in some detail. When one member of the group describes a unique approach, the other members can ask questions about how they might use it in their classrooms. Equally important is the opportunity to learn how not to do something."
--Assistant Professor, College of Letters and Sciences

"Given the demands on our time and differences in faculty schedules, the type of interaction and the focused discussion that takes place in the Teaching Scholars Program occur very rarely on an informal basis. I find that the program offers an excellent and very welcome opportunity to actually reflect on what it is that we do on a daily basis."
--Assistant Professor, College of Letters and Sciences