Services
Please feel free to contact the Institute for Faculty Excellence to discuss any of the following consultation services.
One-on-One Consultations
We are glad to meet with you to talk with you about potential challenges in your classroom. These conversations are confidential and are focused on whatever teaching topic is on your mind.
Classroom Observations
If you’d like us to objectively watch a class session in action, feel free to set up a classroom observation, which involves talking first about one or two areas of focus, observing the course unobtrusively, and offering no-pressure feedback.
Course Redesign
Course redesign is ideal for faculty who teach large enrollment survey courses and who wish to redesign their courses to increase student engagement and active learning. Another component of redesign is the use of open educational resources (OERs) to support learning.
Training
Would you like to learn more about ways to promote student engagement, add active learning to your course, or how to align learning objectives with assessments? We’re glad to talk with you one-on-one about these approaches and more—and we’re always do so confidentially.
Faculty Learning Communities
Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) provide opportunities for staff and faculty to collaboratively plan innovative and effective practices that can enhance student success. FLC topics vary by semester. So contact us about our current groups if you’d like to join.
If you’d like to know more about one or more of these services, feel free to contact us.
Across each semester, the Institute for Faculty Excellence offers practical, interactive workshops that will energize your teaching. For example, every August, we host UWG’s New Faculty Orientation. To faculty of all ranks, we also offer faculty-driven topics that focus on concrete strategies for improving student success:
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High-Impact Practices (HIPs)
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Student motivation and engagement
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Evidence-based teaching strategies
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Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)
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Best practices in face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses
Check out our Workshops page for a list of topics and descriptions.
Interested in being part of a reading group with other faculty and staff? Consider joining a book study group, facilitated by the IFE. In a book study, a group of 8-12 faculty meet 3-5 times over the course of a semester to discuss a text they read together. Titles of recent book studies include the following:
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Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership by Mary-Ann Winkelmes, Allison Boye, and Suzanne Trapp (eds.)
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Small Teaching by James Lang
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Small Teaching Online by Flower Darby and James Lang
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Deconstructing Privilege by Kim White (ed.)
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Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks
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The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer
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Teaching Naked by José Antonio Bowen
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How Learning Works by Susan A. Ambrose et al
Contact us if you’d like to join a reading group.
The IFE offers consultations for new faculty who are looking for no-pressure suggestions about teaching at UWG. Please contact us for details or to set up a time to chat.
The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) encompasses a broad set of practices that engage teachers in looking closely and critically at student learning in order to improve their own courses and programs, and to share that insight with other educators who can evaluate and build on their efforts. (p. xix)
Interested in learning more about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning? Click here to watch a video from Elon University's Center for Engaged Learning!
For more information about SoTL, visit the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning page under Research, Special Projects, and Grants within the IFE.
Every year since 2014, the Institute for Faculty Excellence hosts the popular Innovations in Pedagogy Conference as part of our mission to support Engage West! Faculty Edition and UWG Strategic Imperatives. Immediately after the end of the spring semester, high-impact UWG faculty and staff gather to share and discuss best practices, experiences, and results—all with the aim of enriching student engagement and success.
To learn about the upcoming and past conference, visit the Innovations in Pedagogy website.
The IFE offers support for travel to and presenting at major conferences or institutes related to teaching and learning. Funds are available by application and are distributed based on the type of conference or institute, the applicant’s role thereat, and availability. Note: Priority is given to those presenting to at the USG Teaching & Learning Conference, which is held each spring semester on the campus of UGA. Please contact us for more details or if you have a venue in mind.