Mission

We promote and support a culture of excellence in teaching through the application of technology, assessment, research and collaboration, with the goal of improving student performance in a health care environment.

Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) started as the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) in 2007 to support teaching and learning at Clarkson College. CTL currently houses three administrators who focus on Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, Academic and Student Support, and external constituents. We currently support over 130 faculty and over 1100 students enrolled in over 340 courses. All CTL services are oriented towards meeting the mission of the College.

All three administrators oversee daily operations of the Center for Teaching and Learning, including budgeting, troubleshooting, and other committees as needed. They also play an important role in all of the events and services provided by CTL throughout the year.

The CTL Academic Administrator administers, coordinates, and provides guidance for all academic functions of on-campus and online classroom development and management to support students, staff and faculty. This position focuses on services that develop and continually improve student-centered educational experiences through instructional pedagogy, online and on-campus learning as well as assistance for educators in managing student situations. Creates resources and provides differentiated training to support the needs of faculty, staff and students. Collaborates with faculty and staff to integrate best teaching practices and assessment processes to meet accreditation and College quality standards.

The CTL Technology Administrator designs, coordinates, and administers all functions of emerging technologies, the College learning management system, and other academic platforms, to support students, employees, and faculty. This position focuses on student facing services including assisting with student platforms and learning for registration, advising, and orientation. Additionally, course design and services, along with on-campus and online spaces to support student, faculty, and employee learning are maintained. Creates tutorials, handouts and other reference materials for faculty, staff, and students. Works with faculty and staff to integrate technology into their presentations, courses, scholarly activities, and other department projects. Provides students, faculty, and staff development opportunities for best practices in use of computer technologies to enhance teaching and learning to support quality experiences for Clarkson College employees and students.

The CTL Development Administrator designs and administers all learning development functions of the Center for Teaching and Learning including software contracts, online and on-campus classroom and academic technology usage, training, and set-up to support infrastructure and all College constituents. This position also focuses on services to orient, develop, communicate, and continually improve educational experiences for students, alumni, and College founding and community partners through tutorials, webinars, courses, handouts and other communication and development materials.

CTL plays a crucial role in training faculty on how to navigate and make best use of the learning management system. All faculty members have access to training and materials in order to be able to post written materials for student use, maintain gradebooks, post audio/video lectures, provide feedback, conduct threaded discussions, facilitate online testing, and make use of online communication tools.

CTL provides opportunities for faculty development throughout the year. CTL members work closely with the Faculty Development Committee to decide on future training opportunities. CTL delivers several training sessions during the semester, which focus on instructional methods and current technologies. Additionally, CTL hosts three comprehensive faculty and staff development events annually. These training events occur in August, December, and May.

CTL also assists with on-Campus faculty development for adjunct faculty each semester. Adjunct faculty who are able to meet on Campus are provided with instructional resources and college updates. Each adjunct faculty session is also broadcasted live, via web-conferencing software, for those unable to participate on Campus.

CTL is responsible for assessing online courses systematically with a rubric focused on criteria from best practices derived from research and academic program directors. At the end of the course evaluation period, faculty and academic program directors are provided with feedback and guidance to improve online, hybrid, and on-Campus courses.

To fulfill our mission, all of us at CTL are continuously looking for new approaches to quality curriculum delivery, as well as new resources that can impact teaching and learning in a positive manner.