Any faculty member is welcome to schedule a confidential, individual consultation with the CTL Director or Faculty Fellows. Professors at any stage of their careers can benefit from open discussion and reflection about their teaching experiences. Consultation topics might include course planning, classroom “nuts and bolts,” reviewing student feedback, creating positive classroom environments, or mentoring students. The purpose of individual consultation is to provide faculty with a one-on-one option to work through specific pedagogical challenges with the help of all CTL staff.
Specific Areas of Consultation (including, but not limited to):
Kate Zubko (Director):
- Any area or topic, I’m here to listen and help!
Contact: kzubko@unca.edu
Renuka Gusain (Faculty Fellow):
- Contemplative Pedagogy
- Active Learning Strategies
- Inclusive Teaching
- Digital Pedagogy and Course Policies on Emerging Technologies
- Student Engagement in Online Courses
- Effective and engaged lecturing
- Syllabus Design
- Cultivating Learner Agency
- Inquiry-Based Learning
- Creative Assignments
- Work Life Balance
Contact: rgusain@unca.edu
Kelly Biers (Faculty Fellow):
- New and New-ish Faculty Mentoring and Support
- Course Design
- Specifications Grading
- Supporting LGBTQ+ Students
- Feminist and Decolonial Pedagogies
- Navigating Stress and Burnout
Contact: kbiers@unca.edu
Julia Webster (Faculty Fellow):
- Mastery Grading
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Support
- Student Motivation
- Student Choice
- STEM Education
- Universal Design
Contact: jwebste2@unca.edu
Peer Observation Feedback
Faculty may make requests, time and labor permitting, for the CTL director and fellows to conduct peer observations of classes, assignments, and other pedagogical documents. Peer observation and feedback that is voluntarily requested from CTL personnel is not evaluative and is confidential. Information will only be shared with the faculty member who has asked for the feedback, and not with chairs, deans, or other evaluative committees. The focus is on formative growth and support.
Teaching is a vulnerable activity for many of us at all stages of our careers. Validating what is working or understanding why something is not working can also be hard without helpful, collegial feedback that can encourage us and give some practical directions to try. We are looking into building out peer-to-peer teaching squares, learning walks, and other growth-focused, collaborative peer observation modalities. Stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to learn skills around peer observation and feedback for yourself and in collaboration with your colleagues that aim to support all of our own reflective processes and growth as teachers in support of the success of all of our students.