Building a Better Professor

Very few professors are born great teachers.

College faculty have detailed and highly specialized knowledge, but successfully imparting that knowledge to students usually comes with years of trial and error. Couple a professor’s difficult teaching schedule with the demands of research, publishing and service, and the frustration can be overwhelming.

p>“In higher education, we often assume that because a person has extensive knowledge on a subject, they naturally have the skills to teach it, but that’s not the case,” said Alan Altany, director of Georgia Southern’s Center for Teaching, Learning and Scholarship (CTLS). “Very few non-education-related graduate programs offer courses about teaching, and practical internships aren’t readily available for aspiring professors,” he explained. “Centralized professional faculty centers should fill this void, but we must go beyond workshops and truly foster faculty work to effectively teach learners in their classrooms.”

Formerly known as the Center for Excellence in Teaching, the CTLS has grown exponentially in the past five years. Altany said the name change represents a full transformation from faculty resource center into an international leader for the scholarship of teaching and learning.

The Center has established peer-to-peer programs, such as interdisciplinary faculty learning communities. In each community, professors team up for an entire academic year to study a given topic, utilize their findings in their classrooms, and share the results with their colleagues. “What we found is that a project will often spin beyond itself so many others can learn from it,” Altany said. “Faculty members benefit from the team’s conclusions, but we see further impact from bringing together people from different disciplines who would not normally interact. They form connections that strengthen the University as a whole, much like the united limbs and roots of a banyan tree,” which is the Center’s logo.

Roundtables allow faculty to read and discuss books, and academic and creative writing circles provide peer feedback, editing support and more. Regardless of the program or group, the primary goals are to facilitate faculty interaction, encourage sharing best practices, and foster lasting relationships that provide support and learning opportunities.

“I think most faculty want to be good teachers; they possess a love for their discipline and a desire to guide students. But much has been discovered in recent decades about the how and why of student learning,” Altany said. “Our center serves Georgia Southern’s faculty by reigniting their passion and regenerating their skills to keep alive the inner fire they had when they first became teachers.”

Much like the Banyan tree’s expansive canopy, a new passion for the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) has extended far beyond its initial roots. In March 2011, the CTLS hosted the fourth annual SoTL Commons, attracting an international array of presenters and scholars. Altany said the event serves as a catalyst for conversations and collaborations about improving learning outcomes in higher education. Additionally, the CLTS’ International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is an open, peer-reviewed international electronic journal containing articles, essays and discussions about the scholarship of teaching and learning and its practical applications for improving student learning in higher education.

Chemistry professor Laura Frost, a member of the journal’s editorial board who has been involved in many of the Center’s other programs, said Georgia Southern has gained national attention regarding SoTL.

“Georgia Southern’s facility serves as a regional resource center, but reaches far beyond,” she said. “When I attend conferences related to my discipline, people who hear I’m from Georgia Southern automatically make a connection to the scholarship of teaching and learning.”

Altany said his goal for the CTLS is to become a leader and national resource center for other faculty enrichment programs. “Georgia Southern, by capitalizing on the wisdom and strength of its own faculty, is poised to lead the international SoTL movement,” Altany said. “We can transform the academic culture by uniting teachers here, and around the world, and as a result, faculty will no longer be isolated, but rejuvenated. Students become curious learners. And America, as a whole, benefits from a more educated population.”

–Jennifer Tanner