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ResearchThis is the eighth article in our iTeach.MSU playlist for the Spartan Studios Playkit.
There are many potential approaches to research connected to teaching a Spartan Studios course. These include:

Disciplinary research inspired by the course

Novel methods, insights, theories, applications, or results inspired by activity in the course that fall within one instructor’s discipline. For example, a student team comes up with a new approach to solving a packaging problem. The packaging faculty member works with those students to write up and publish this innovation.

Studying institutional or student success outcomes
Education research on your pedagogical methods and processes
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) or Disciplinary‐Based  Education Research (DBER) about student learning outcomes.
Research into student teamwork (for example, by analyzing student communication networks)
Research on partner or community impacts and outcomes
See our Appendix for examples of research about Studios and other similar experiential courses 

▶️Plan ahead with your team for the kinds of research you’re interested in pursuing. There may be relevant data to collect during the semester, including classroom observations, student interviews/surveys, or specific assignment designs. You will also need to obtain institutional approval as well as consent from students and/or external partners to include their data in your research. 
🔧MSU’s Office of Research and Innovation has resources for faculty members to get started on a research project, involving undergraduate students in research projects, and more.  
🔧The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology has been conducting research on several Studios courses and can share our experiences in that area.
Next Steps
For more information about any of this material or to find out how you can teach your own Spartan Studios course, contact the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology (hub@msu.edu). We offer yearly workshops on planning and pedagogy for Studios courses and can consult with any interested units or faculty members. You are welcome to watch our workshop from the Spring Conference on Teaching, Learning, and Student Success (May 7, 2021) where faculty heard more about teaching Spartan Studios courses, got feedback on ideas for course designs, and heard from instructors who have already taught a Studio course.Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
 
Knowing Student Experiences
Ask yourself: Do I know my students’ experiences that bring them to this class?
 
Tip: You can, of course, set up surveys to get a glimpse of student experiences. Another way to tap into topics that students find relevant is by scaffolding discussions where students are given opportunities to provide examples situated in their experiences, choosing their styles of expression and communication.
 
Explicit Instruction
Ask yourself: Is it obvious to my students why this topic is important to study?
 
Tip: Include a quick list of significance and implications in your syllabus. This does not have to be a comprehensive list, but something to hook your students. If you wish to have some fun with, make it a catchy Buzzfeed-like clickbait sentence. However, make sure that you do not frame your clickbaits in a way that take the substance out of the topics, or essentialize students. Here are a few examples that do and do not work.
 
Situated and Transformative Practice
Ask yourself: Will students be able to go outside and use what they have learned in their real world?
 
Tip: Create projects or assignments that involve solving a real problem in students’ communities. These could be papers, a survey of their community, or actual working projects. There is always room for improvisation.
 
Critical Framing
Ask yourself: Are my students critical of the information they engage with, or do they agree without further questioning?
 
Tip: Show your own skepticism towards marginalizing and unscientific practices (e.g.: practices that are based in evidence, but still value other ways of knowing) in your discipline. Add a question at the end of each topic that makes connections to how it affects (or has affected) social and cultural issues.
 
Aesthetic Framing
Ask yourself: Are my students genuinely curious about this topic? Do they think about this when they leave my class?
 
Tip: Pay close attention to your word choice when framing the language in your syllabus, and more importantly, during your instruction. Keep in mind that music, lighting, and other modalities can also have an effect on emotions. Feel free to experiment with the ambiance of your classroom. For example, reading Edgar Allen Poe with dim lights and spooky music creates an eerie atmosphere often associated with Poe’s work and genre, thereby making it more engaging.
 
 
Related readings:

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Learning by Design. Palgrave Macmillan.


Girod, M., Rau, C., & Schepige, A. (2003). Appreciating the beauty of science ideas: Teaching for aesthetic understanding. Science Education, 87(4), 574–587.


Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491.

 

Below is a list of resources that promote student success. All links provided are direct links (ONE CLICK) connecting you to contact information or an educator who can respond to your questions and/or help your students who need academic help. Thank you for helping our students achieve their goals.
Academic Advising
For students in a particular college or department:

Agriculture and Natural Resources
Arts and Letters
Broad College of Business
Hospitality Business
Communication Arts and Sciences
Education
Engineering
Music: Please click on Associate Deans’ Offices; contact Talitha Wimberly, Director of Undergraduate Student Affairs
Natural Science
Nursing
Social Science
Veterinary Medicine

For students in a residential college:

James Madison
Lyman Briggs
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH)

For students selected to be in the Honors College:

Honors College

For students who have not yet selected a major [Exploratory Major preference]; usually first year students or sophomores):

University Advising 

For students in an ROTC Program

Air Force
Military Science

Help Rooms
Business Courses for Students in Multicultural Business Programs Please click on the link and contact Ed Tillet, Director Multicultural Business Programs/ Darrell King, Sr. Associate Director/ Anne Crain, Academic Advisor and Program Coordinator
Accounting 201 & 202
Economics 201 & 202
Math 103, MTH 103A, & MTH 103B
Statistics 200
CSE 102
 
Help Rooms Housed in the College of Natural Science
Help Rooms Housed in the College of Social Science
James Madison Writing Consultancy (MC 201)    
Music Theory Learning Center (MTLC)  
Packaging Help Room
Veterinary Medicine
Other Academic Support  
Collaborative Learning Center: For students wanting to develop their academic skills [study skills, note taking, time management, etc.] and for students interested in becoming peer educators
CoRe Experience [Cornerstone Engineering Residential Experience]: All first-year engineering students are considered part of CoRe where they engage in academic [i.e., tutoring, advising] and co-curricular activities; some students choose to join a living-learning community in Wilson or Wonders Halls
English Language Center: For international students needing to improve their English language skills before beginning their academic course work
ESL Writing Lab:  For international students seeking help with course assignments i.e., reading comprehension, writing, etc. 
Writing Center: For students seeking assistance with brainstorming, writing, making multimodal projects, and interpreting writing assignments

Summary of CT&LI Summit Engagements
This report summarizes data gathered from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CT&LI) Kick-off Summit [held on Jan. 14, 2022] and following asynchronous engagement opportunities, as well as concurrent discussions within the center about space and services to directly address the questions in our charge. To read more about the Kick-off Summit, check out "Reflecting on the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation Kick-off Summit".

What factors should we consider when deciding where responsibility lies?




Aligning what is already in place; what units / local-level are already doing well.
How the Center and IT (particularly Academic Tech unit) work together.
How to ensure best use and highest purpose for any given resource.




What are the greatest areas of priority for increased collaboration and focus with regard to teaching and learning?




Development of service portfolio and communicating broadly/transparently (adjusting according to ongoing listening/feedback from users + assessment)

What are the demands/needs of educators? What are current/proposed services in the network? Evaluate gaps relative to current staffing. 

Developing “the network” across campus

Developing and maintaining directories of available people, resources and services. Making opportunities for affiliation with the center explicit.





What are our highest areas of need for investment in new skills and expertise, regardless of where those skills are placed




Needed investment in distributed staffing to meet the needs of faculty in colleges/departments/units that may not be as robustly staffed as others in areas/services that the center will not be able to cover (e.g. course assistance).
Evaluation, assessment, feedback, and educational research.
Educator development programming and instructional consultative practitioners.




What models would you see as most effective for increased local support in those colleges or units that currently would not be able to participate in a networked model?




Liaison model, assigning center staff to units, if we add/repurpose positions.
Joint appointments and fellowships, if the center is willing to co-sponsor.
Sponsored work or partial buy-out of educators to augment center staffing.




What design engagements might come after the summit? For instance, to determine the center’s services, design its space, or develop a collaborative model for the network?



Faculty (in process), instructor, and additional educator stakeholder engagement via surveys, interviews, or focus groups.
Evaluation of available center skills, capabilities and available capacities.
Service design exercises specific to individual service portfolio items.
Engagement with IT to coordinate and co-design shared client experience.
Possible direct engagement with MSU students or student-educators (GTAs & ULAs)


Data Highlights
Services and Support Portfolio 

Services

Responsive, point-of-need support, including individual consultations
Curriculum and program development
Course design / reform support and incubation
Development and training on various topics at various levels
Catalog of what to get where, and a directory to find people/expertise
Formal structure for online/hybrid course/program development and support

Space

Spaces that support delivery of training, hosting events, social gatherings
A place with presence to host and build the community of educators
Classroom space to experiment, innovate, and create digital experiences

“faculty can do one offs in a space to try something different with a class”
“technology to check out to use in classrooms (like VR or other tools)”
“space for recording teaching and support for editing”


Additional notes on physical space (data in evaluation re: Hub spaces not 1/14 Summit)

Dedicated desks for center staff, with mix of hot-seating / hotelling
Allows clients to meet with center consultants in semi-private settings
Variety of co-working spaces that enables part-time projects teams to gather
Small-group meeting spaces, high-flex tech enabled for remote participants
Individual booths to isolate noise from remote meetings from clients / coworkers


Connection and Collaboration

Hosting of events for collegiality, fellowship, networking and community building


Collaborative programming



Discipline specific or with faculty experts in certain pedagogies or approaches
With other central parties, e.g. MSU IT, DEI, Academic HR, student success, etc.
With faculty learning communities or administrative groups (e.g. online programs)

Sponsored institutional memberships and global virtual conference access for campus
Hosted and invited outside experts, presenters, and seminars or workshops
Fellowships for faculty with benefits for center, network, and the faculty fellow
Fellowships for graduate students that help them develop and gain hiring advantage
Opportunity for faculty/staff to affiliate with the center to encourage boundary-spanning

Teaching and Learning in Practice

Advocacy, leadership narratives, and communicative storytelling that elevate the importance of teaching and learning excellence at every level
Assessment, visibility, and recognition of teaching and learning
Emphasis on and recognition of teaching and learning in tenure and promotion

incentivizing teaching and learning efforts and allocation of time and talent

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL)

Additional Data Details (optional)
Wouldn’t It be Fantastic If (WIFI)
Description of Activity
In this activity the participants were asked to identify blue sky ideas to ultimately group into common themes and inform shared vision for the Center, Network, Teaching and Learning. Participants individually answered the prompt “Wouldn’t it be fantastic if (WIFI) … as many times as they could. Then in small groups, organized statements to show what might be influenced, controlled or created by the Center, Network, or Teaching and Learning. 
Stakeholders raised a variety of needs, which were categorized as ed-tech support, resources, staffing, space, as well as coordination/planning. Building a network for these services seems to be something participants hope for, such as a “shared list of experts across campus to make finding the right person to ask easier”. Additionally, this item “explicit partnerships and shared services between the teaching center and other key support units,” speaks to the network.. When it comes to specific services, support for DEI in instruction, fostering innovative practices, instructional design, and pedagogy were among those most frequently mentioned. Consulting, training and events are delivery formats most often associated with the center. 
The most common themes can be found here: WIFI Themes 
What the Center should provide: Services, Space, Coordination

Services: Consulting, special projects to solve common problems, access to experts, and intramural grants / sponsorships.
A space to provide access to services and resources, and invite educators to gatherings.
Coordination of services and facilitation of collaboration between units and people.

E.g. Educator showcase, repository/ a knowledge-base, and events calendar for all offerings across the university

Opportunities for part-time affiliation to center, as fellows, or to staff services or projects.
Classroom space to innovate and create digital experiences

“where faculty can do one offs in a space to try something different with a class”
“technology to check out to use in classrooms (like VR or other tools)”
“space for recording teaching and support for editing”


What the Educator Network should provide: Coordination, Collaboration, Networking

Coordinate the Educator Network with participation of center and other stakeholders

Allow for collaboration and self-organizing
Recognition to colleagues who contribute

Functional network, depended on by clients (needs) and university (commissioned work)

Maintain a “list of experts”, make it easier to find “the right people” to ask.

Opportunities for learning space experimentation, in prototype classrooms and digital.

What the whole University should support in T&L: Services, Pedagogy Practices, EdTech
In this section, some participants understood Teaching and Learning as how it is viewed and supported by the administration, while others provided more specific ideas around teaching resources and services   

Services and resources should be shared in a variety of ways and rather than being siloed all units should work together bringing the following together as shown in this quote “More collaboration and breaking down silos”

Creating a Network of experts coming from all units
Have connection points to colleges and “cross-college work” and working groups
Provide university funding for projects, “awards, innovation grants” for T&L.
“Both/And approach to broad everyone should know AND specific ideas in the disciplines or colleges”, perhaps with the center being more active in the former and the college more active in the latter such as DBER.

All educators may contribute and share pedagogy/best practices in peer-support.
Other supports include and may recognize needs of stakeholders: quality standards, DEI (including opportunities and accessibility), educational technology, and sponsored research such as SoTL, and those not typically included in educator support. 
There should be tangible appreciation of the work of educators in Teaching and Learning, including leadership narratives and recognition for RPT.

What I need from you… 
The What I Need From You  (WINFY) activity asked participants to assume one of five roles, randomly assigned. These included Academic Unit Administrators, Faculty and Instructors, Center Affiliated Staff, College Affiliated Staff, and University-Wide Staff.
Each group was asked to outline what they needed from each of the other four groups to be successful in their roles. The following themes emerged from each of the groups, pointing to commonalities among groups about what each would like to see from the Center.
Services and Support Portfolio
A clear and concise services and support portfolio emerged as a major theme. All five groups said that services and support portfolio was what they needed- both as stakeholders in the center, as center staff working with those stakeholders, and those who were potential partners and patrons of the center. The services and support portfolio -of what the Center provides, what it can offer to help with course design, instructional design, and various other activities, and how to contact and use the center was foundational for all five groups.
Participants in the WINFY activity wanted to have clear definitions of roles and resources of the center; clearer collaboration with college faculty and staff on projects and programs; a better understanding of what types of questions can be referred to the center; and ad hoc but nimble service support. Specific requests included consultations, development and trainings for various comfort levels of instructors, a clear catalog of what to get where, cooperation with local support, a list of resources.
Connection and Collaboration
Another dominant theme across all five groups was the need for and understanding of connection and collaboration. Primarily, participants from the groups wanted other units to be collaborative with the center, to figure out how to connect across boundaries, and how to leverage and build relationships. Four of the groups mentioned more collaborative work with staff in the colleges who are currently working on teaching and learning initiatives. Three of the five groups mentioned collaborative program opportunities, and two of the five groups mentioned a networked approach.
Teaching and Learning in Practice
The third theme that all five groups mentioned was what we are calling teaching and learning in practice. This encompasses a number of things, including teaching and learning in tenure and promotion, incentivizing teaching and learning, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. There was again the need for collaborative programming, this time with discipline specific colleges and with faculty who are experts in certain pedagogies or approaches. One group wanted to know what teaching and learning capabilities are available to help other educators, while another said that assistance with aligning course level objectives, assessments, and curricula with the institutional practices and the resources of the center would be useful. The Academic Unit Administrator and the Faculty group both had incentivizing teaching and learning as something they’d like to see from the center and center staff. There also was an overarching theme of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) but none of the groups made it their top priority-it did emerge as a theme though, so important to highlight here.
Minimum Viable Product Reviews 
The “minimum viable product” activity was framed as a Yelp review session. Participants were paired in teams of two and asked to take on the perspective of an educator who had worked with the Center for T&LI and had a positive experience. Throughout the 17 combined Center “reviews” the following were the top ten most mentioned themes/services. Within each of these areas, participants in the 01/14/2022 Kick-off Summit mentioned a range of examples (i.e. Center experiences [per activity instructions]). High level captures of examples for each are included below. 
Coaching/Consultation (Feedback, Support, Emotional Support)
Almost 65% of the reviews mentioned some version of coaching or consultation (including additional keywords such as feedback, support, guiding, and helping). Some examples of topics and underlying services within this category include: restructuring programs, refining crouse design, and reviewing curriculum; developing formative and summative assessments, transitioning to different feedback models, and integrating student voice; and finally combining theory and practice, integrating technology and pedagogy, as well as course alignment and student engagement.  
Pedagogy (Student Voice)
Over half of the reviews related to methods and practices for engaging in teaching. Examples of experiences and services related to this topic include but are not limited to: support and guidance for strategies, envisioning difference learning experiences, participating in design experiences to try new approaches to teaching and learning; integrate research and teaching; focus on student experiences, create supporting and effective learning experiences, create inclusive and welcoming spaces. 
Restructure/Redesign (Modality, Curriculum)
41% of reviews specifically called out redesign as a service of the Center. Examples of restructure and redesign (including topics of modality and curriculum) in the experience reviews include but are not limited to: moving face to face courses online (and planning for possible future transitions) and adapting class to a different structure (i.e. rubric or flipped models, competency-based learning outcomes, trauma informed teaching, asset based practices, etc.).
Student Experience (Engagement, Student-Centered)
41% of reviews mention the Center supporting them in ways that positively impacted student experience, student engagement, and student-centered design. Examples of this theme include: creating welcoming, supportive, and effective learning environments; reviewing curriculum and developing rubrics with respect to student engagement (and adjusting as necessary); and learning about theories of improving student connections to engage with them more effectively. 
Confidence (Empowered)
35% of reviews specifically denote improvements in educator confidence and empowerment after working with the Center. Topics where educators had this improved sense of ability and agency included student centered teaching and learning practices, creating supportive and effective learning environments, initiating collaborative partnerships, and general teaching and learning experimentation and implementation. 
Collaboration/Partnerships
35% of reviews emphasized the importance of collaborative partnerships with the Center across units. This ranged from individual consultations with faculty to full-scale curricular and program developments. The nature of these partnerships in terms of scope and focus varied in the reviews, but what remained consistent was the value that is derived from these relationships with the Center. 
Connection/Community
18% underscored the importance of connection to a network of educators through the Center and the community that is derived from it. This was mentioned in the context of relationships built with Center staff along with events where networking takes place. Sometimes, educators connecting with other educators can make a huge difference in their teaching as it provides essential opportunities for sharing what is being done and learned in one context to another. 
Assessment
Assessment was mentioned by 18% of the reviews as being an important piece of expertise that the Center can offer to faculty and programs at MSU. Of course, assessment comes in a myriad of forms and faculty are often seeking ways to improve on their assessment strategies and design.
Inclusion
18% of the reviews made mention of how consultative relationships with the Center could help them improve their efforts around accessibility and inclusion in their classrooms and digital learning environments. 
Research/SOTL (Scholarship of Teaching & Learning)
12% of the reviews mentioned various ways they envisioned that the Center staff could help them with their research and scholarship efforts. Examples were not provided in the reviews specifically, but we know that the approaches to research in the scholarship of teaching and learning in particular at MSU are vastly different from college to college and that the Center staff have a great deal of experience and expertise in these areas.

Instructions: Click on the registration link and sign-up for the sessions that you're interested in. After completing your registration you will receive an email with the Zoom link for the session.




Keynote Address




Welcome and Keynote IITeaching for Equity in Treacherous Times9:00 - 9:45 am




Time

Block 1



10:00 - 11:15 am

 

 


Implementation of the Student Perceptions of Learning Environments Policy (SPLEP) and Student Perceptions of Learning Survey (SPLS)


Teaching Knowledge Workers of the 21st century


Incorporating equitable pedagogy into your classroom


Turning Your Teaching & Administration Work into Research and Publication Projects


What About Student Voice in Department and Program Level Spaces?


"How Can You Get A Job With That?": Practical Skills for Undergraduate Studio Art Students




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Paper Sessions (25 min. each)

Foster Inclusive Research Opportunities Through A Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)
JamBoard: Where Academic and Intellectual Collaboration Meets Creativity
The Power of Education Abroad: Lessons from Sustainable Community Development in Tanzania


Learning Tech Demo (25 min. each)

Beyond Zoom: A Beginner’s Guide to Unlocking the Transformative Potential of Virtual Reality in Education (25 min)
Exploring Perusall and summarizing findings from GEO & ISS courses. (25 min)
Rise: A Tool to Building Interactive Online Courses (25 min)


 
 
 
 


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Time


Block 2




11:30 - 12:30 pm

 

 


Excel accessibility 101


Rethinking Access: Fatigue, Hostility and Intimacy in Teaching and Learning


How to Encourage Student Engagement: Using PearDeck and Interactive Slideshows
 


Translingual Theory in Action, and in Support of Multilingual Learners 


The Happiness Ripple Effect: Exploring the 4 Levels of Happiness and How Educator Happiness Might Impact Student Learning


Hyflex Course Design: Creating Accessible Learning Spaces





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Recognizing Burnout and Mapping Your Stress Response


Learning Tech Demo (20 min each)

NOAA’s Science On a Sphere at the MSU Museum
“That Doesn’t Work For Me!”: Tools for Students with ADHD
Cohort Programs and Student Success at MSU


 

 


 

 



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Lunch12:30 - 1:30 pm



Time


Block 3




1:30-2:30 pm
 

 


A journey of summative assessments



MSUvote and Democratic Engagement at MSU



Finding Your True North: Equitable access to career education through core curriculum integration


Decolonizing the Classroom



Creating a “Friendlier” Syllabus: One that Considers Brain Science and Promotes Student Equity, Belonging, and A Growth Mindset


 
 




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Welcome to My Classroom (20 min each)

Designing Against the Hidden Labors of Adult Learning
Teaching English in Chinese way? International Engagement in a Writing Course
Exploring the effects of the flipped classroom approach in an undergraduate lab math course



Teaching GIF animation in pre-service art teacher education courses

 

 

 
 



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Time


Block 4




2:45 - 3:45 pm 
 

 


Exploring Inclusive Practices Across the Curriculum: Results from the Inclusive Pedagogy Fellows Program in the College of Arts & Letters at MSU


Incorporating Reflective Practices in Classrooms: Our Learning Assessment Model


Increasing learners' motivation in gender and sexuality study through making activist animation and video game


Teaching Gender in a Global Context: Pedagogy, Practice, and Prospects for Expanding Narratives(Cancelled)


Exploring the Social Change Wheel: Approaches, Tools, and Techniques for Incorporating Community Engaged Teaching and Learning


MSU Libraries: Partners in Student Success




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Welcome to my classroom: COIL


Using H5P to Help Students Learn!

 
 
 
 



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Topic Area: Student Success
Presented By: Qiana Green, Gary King
Abstract:
Collaborative initiatives continue to be an important strategy for student success in higher education. Additionally, partnerships across universities, especially between community colleges and four-year institutions, continue to rise as more students select community colleges as their first step to completing a four-year degree. Students are choosing community colleges first due to access, affordability, student-centered focus, community engagement, academic flexibility, along with certificates/degree offerings that lead to high-paying wages, etc. As such, community colleges and four-year institution administrators are tasked with creating and improving pathways to better serve students through the transfer pathway and their success after matriculation. Attendees will be introduced to the LCC-MSU Envision Green pipeline program as one cross-institutional initiative to increase access to transfer and provide an easier transfer experience from LCC to MSU. Presenters will share 1) the history of the LCC Envision Green program, which includes the goals and purpose, 2) how we implement the program day-to-day and how we pivoted operations due to COVID-19, 3) assessment we are utilizing, and 4) how we moved from theory to practice. Lastly, in breakout sessions with colleagues, attendees will have the opportunity to grapple with some of the issues LCC and MSU leadership have dealt with and potentially be able to provide new considerations and solutions we have yet to consider.

Greetings from the Writing Center @ MSU!
We’re excited to announce applications for Strategies for Teaching Across Fields (STAF), running May 15-18 2023 in 300 Bessey Hall. STAF is a four-day learning community focused on incorporating effective and equitable writing pedagogy across the disciplines open to any MSU educator. 
As a learning community, STAF will provide tangible, effective support for instructors who teach with writing and will provide you with the theories and practices for implementing meaningful writing pedagogy in your classes. In particular, STAF cohort members will work on a mentored  teaching with writing project– a specific course or assignment that will be workshopped and revised for a future semester. 
Facilitators from various MSU colleges will share research and practice for engaging in effective writing pedagogy across the disciplines. Topics will include designing effective assignments, providing actionable feedback, backward design of larger projects, and accessible and equitable approaches to teaching with writing. 
This opportunity is open to any MSU educator– graduate student, faculty, and staff interested in effective and equitable ways to teach with writing across the disciplines at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Please share widely!
Applications to this year’s cohort are open until April 3rd. Interested MSU educators should complete this brief application, designed for us to get to know your teaching interests and goals. We'll use these responses to inform the design of our learning community.  Selected participants will be contacted by mid-April. Application URL: https://forms.gle/W9TwsvmMZwK6CCnK8  
Questions? Feel free to email Nick Sanders (sande463@msu.edu) with any questions, concerns, or ideas. Learn more about STAF here. 
Nick Sanders
 

MSU Teaching Dossier Template
These are 'suggested' sections for a dossier / portfolio. Consider these as starting points to building your dossier and highlighting your work.
Rationale
“...many teacher educators continue to believe that teachers learn to teach over time. In fact, it is the consensus in the teacher education community that we are never done learning to teach, because each group of new students brings new challenges and possibilities, and because as societies change, the problems and issues that teachers confront also change." (Cochran-Smith, M., 2012, p.2)[1]
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to help organize the development of a teaching dossier. As suggested in the above quote, teaching is an ongoing and evolving process. Your teaching dossier is an opportunity to organize and reflect on your instructional practice and related contributions to pedagogy such as professional learning and scholarship. This resource will help you to organize and highlight these efforts.
How to use this template
You should view your teaching dossier as a living document. Unlike a CV your dossier affords you the opportunity to include reflections, artifacts, and examples of your work to highlight your efforts, contributions, and growth as an educator. This document helps to outline core or common elements to be included to show your experience and perspective on teaching and learning. You may wish to omit or emphasize other areas of your work in this resource. Therefore, view this template as a starting point or organizer to begin the development of your dossier.
Biographical Statement
Provide a brief history of the journey to your current teaching position. Consider this your introduction. Provide a little background about your teaching experience but leave the specific details about your experience and current responsibilities for that section of the dossier.
Approach to Teaching / Teaching Philosophy
These are personal statements of your beliefs about teaching and learning. You can support your claims with anecdotal evidence and personal experiences. You may also highlight specific approaches that you employ in your practice. Your statement can summarize a general plan or goals for your teaching. The statement should be descriptive, but brief (1 to 2 pages). This isn’t a critique or analysis of various philosophies or theories of learning. It is your statement.
Teaching Methods & Examples
What types of instructional strategies do you use or rely on? Are you a proponent of active learning, peer instruction, problem-based learning, case-Based learning, or project-based learning? Maybe your instructional strategies are more didactic because these align with your philosophy of teaching. Here is where you can provide a description of the methods you use and show some examples of your work. You may consider including sample course materials such as:

Assignment descriptions
Course modules
Lab assignments / projects
Descriptions of activities
Outline of technologies used

Teaching Responsibilities & Activities
Offer a description of your teaching responsibilities and courses. You may describe the courses (modality, level, size, credit hour, etc.). Highlight your role in the design and delivery of these courses. You may consider including the syllabi for the courses that you are currently teaching or have taught. If you are involved with non-credit teaching such as seminars and workshops, include these as well.
Professional Development & Scholarship
Highlight your participation and commitment to ongoing professional development. What courses or sessions have you participated in? Are you a member of a professional learning community? If you have contributed to the academic community through a presentation, publication, or session related to the practice of teaching and learning than these efforts should be highlighted. Include links to artifacts and evidence.
Reviews & Feedback
Course reviews can be artifacts of effectiveness. You may have received peer or student feedback to highlight your efforts and effectiveness. It is important to show the alignment between your approach to instruction and the results highlighted in feedback and outcomes. Consider comments received via iteach.msu.edu “Thank an Educator”, or through peer feedback sessions (i.e. Peer Dialogues)
Awards and Recognition
Provide a description of the nominations, awards, and various forms of recognition that you have received for your contributions to teaching. These may include “Thank an Educator” awards from iTeach.msu.edu to invitations to speak or present about your work.
Summary & Reflections
Include a summary or reflection to add a narrative to the experiences you have had during instruction. Identify things that worked well, or things that could be modified to work better the next time. Reflect on things that you have learned, areas where you believe you have been successful and areas where you would like to improve or grow. You may outline goals in this portion of your dossier.
Appendices / Evidence
In a document format of your dossier, you would include links to resources and a list of citations outlining your work and contributions to teaching and learning. In a digital format you would be able to provide evidence more directly. As you build your dossier, you may want to outline the artifacts and evidence you will include in your dossier here.
 
 
[1] COCHRAN-SMITH, Marilyn. A Tale of Two Teachers: Learning to Teach Over Time. Kappa Delta Pi Record, v. 48, n. 3, p. 108-122, 2012. DOI:10.1080/00228958.2012.707501.