Committees
Committee on Culture of Teaching and Learning
The Committee on Culture of Teaching & Learning (CCTL) is charged to identify and articulate issues, leverage resources, share expertise, develop activities, and in general foster and enhance conversations related to teaching and learning across the University.
The UNLV Challenge
As UNLV grows into its research extensive status, it is uniquely positioned to hold onto its value of quality undergraduate education by leveraging its research strength in support of teaching. Faculty can engage undergraduates in research, within the curriculum and external to it; they can engage in research on teaching within their disciplines; they can experiment with and implement the latest research findings on teaching within their courses; and they can link their teaching to their own research. UNLV faculty are faced with challenges similar to those faced at the largest research universities across the country: increasing class size; integrating new technologies to enhance teaching; helping under-prepared students succeed; encouraging academic integrity; engaging the next generation student; demonstrating student learning; and more.
CCTL brings together stakeholders and other experts to serve as a catalyst for collaboration and innovation and to provide a focus for strategic thinking about issues that relate to teaching and learning at UNLV. Through the CCTL, UNLV can create an infrastructure of support that cuts across administrative silos to leverage scarce resources and initiate collaborative projects. CCTL will address issues identified through campus conversations with faculty, administrators, and students.
Some broad areas of interest may include:
- Course Development - learning objectives/goals, syllabi, content selection, pedagogical approaches, assignment design, assessment, curricular choices, etc.
- Course Management - technology integration, communication, academic integrity, record keeping, etc.
- Assessment – testing, grading, performance-based approaches, course/curriculum/program performance assessment, etc.
- Environmental Considerations – physical conditions, class size, classroom design, etc.
- Teaching Enhancement – opportunities for faculty development, Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL), faculty collaborations, integration of learning technologies, etc.
The National Context
Conversations related to teaching and learning are taking center stage at research universities across the country. As research universities respond to accreditation agencies, policy makers, constituents, and other stakeholders about the quality of undergraduate education, many are inspired by the 1998 report issued by the Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities. The Boyer report helped universities structure campus conversations about ways to leverage their research strength in the service of undergraduates. It also spawned creative initiatives for inquiry and research-based learning on campuses across the nation, as referenced in the follow-up Reinventing Undergraduate Education, Three Years after the Boyer Report. The principles of the Boyer report continue to be promulgated and applied in research universities with results shared at regional meetings and the biennial conference on Reinventing Undergraduate Education, sponsored by the Reinvention Center.
As research universities rethink ways they can offer excellent undergraduate education, faculty are coping with increasing class sizes, considering ways that technology can transform the learning environment, and engaging in conversations about how to demonstrate that their students are learning. With the hub of faculty development activities based in teaching and learning centers, much expanded activity focused on teaching and learning has been developing to include a wide array of professionals across administrative silos: in educational or instructional technology departments; in libraries; in service learning centers; in offices of assessment; in learning and writing centers, in tutoring centers, and in various other unique campus units that focus on course redesign, student learning, and assessment.
Methods
CCTL provides an organized way for stakeholders to meet regularly and to coordinate cross-unit efforts and activities. It can initiate conversations within the UNLV community and with Dean’s Council about their priorities. CCTL can search for and support internal and external funding opportunities for collaborative projects and it can serve as a recommending body to and for related groups. Some of the other groups include: the Faculty Senate, charged with curricular and program development matters; the Research Council, charged with enhancing the research culture; the Assessment Committee; the Course Management System Coordinating Committee charged with developing, maintaining, and keeping current the course management system; the Faculty Technology Advisory Board, charged to advise on specific hardware, software, and technology infrastructure; the Distance Education Advisory Group, etc. CCTL will refer issues to these other groups as appropriate, just as it will receive issues and recommendations from these groups.
Possible Products
CCTL activities might include:
- Faculty survey of interests and concerns
- Workshops, conferences, symposia, and other forums for professional exchange
- Grants for specific projects or experiments
- Analysis and reports on identified issues
Charged By: Executive Vice President/Provost
Committee Membership
The Committee will be composed of permanent and rotating members. Permanent members include:
- Director, General Education
- Director, Assessment
- Director, Advising
- Director, Teaching & Learning Center
Representatives from the following will be appointed for a one- year term, subject to reappointment. At least one representative should be a faculty member/administrator from the College of Education with expertise in teaching and learning :
- Dean’s Council
- Academic Department Chairperson
- Associate Dean
- Libraries
- Faculty (2)
- Information Technology
- Distance Education
Members
Patricia Iannuzzi, Chair (Dean's Council)
Bob Ackerman (Faculty Senate)
Bea Babbitt (Assessment)
Christine Clark (Diversity and Inclusion)
Kent Crippen (Faculty Member)
Jeffrey Jablonski (Faculty Member)
Dave James (General Education)
Gayle Juneau (Academic Advising)
Richard Lee (Distance Education)
Elizabeth Baldizan (Academic Success Center)
Stephen Miller (Academic Department Chairperson)
Victoria Nozero (Libraries)
Salley Sawyer (Teaching & Learning Center)
Lori Temple (Information Technology)
VACANT: (Associate Dean)
VACANT: (3rd Faculty Member slot)
Groups
Personal Response System (clicker) Working Group
--charged 2/12/07
Plagiarism and Turnitin Working Group
--charged 2/12/07