LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning
Carnegie Seminar on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
2011 - 2013 Faculty Development Seminar
What is the Carnegie Seminar Scholarship of Teaching and Learning?
The scholarship of teaching and learninginvolves systematic study of teaching and/or learning and its public sharing and review through presentations or publications. SoTLshares established criteria of scholarship in general: it is made public, reviewed critically by members of the appropriate community, and can be built upon by others to advance the field (Shulman, 2001). Committed to LaGuardia’s culture of intentional teaching, the seminar grew out of the Center’sparticipation in the Integrative Learning Project directed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). The Foundation has guided faculty across the country in scholarly inquiry into teaching and learning, in documenting their discoveries, and in contributing to new knowledge and more purposeful classroom practice. (
Seminar Goals and Focus
In response to faculty suggestions, in Fall 2011 the seminar will move to a two-year (four semesters) cycle. Designed to introduce faculty from Health Science, Natural Sciences, and Engineering to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), the 2011-2013 seminar offersdedicated time, space, and the critical feedback necessary to develop lines of disciplinary inquiry, implement classroom research, and document and present findings. Participants will
- Distinguish among good teaching, scholarly teaching and learning, and the scholarship of teaching and learning
- Explore the theory, methods and examples of SoTL practice; gain familiarity with foundational SoTL texts and pedagogical theory
- Design and implement a publishable research paper on questions raised by the science classroom and laboratories.
- Receive collegial and constructive feedback from peers and mentors on lines of inquiry, research design, data analysis, and paper drafts.
- Enhance evidence-based student learning and advance teaching effectiveness
- Exhibit professional and disciplinary engagement
SoTL and LaGuardia Science Faculty
In the last years, the Obama administration has drawn attention to education in community colleges, with special emphasis on increasing opportunities for women and underrepresented populations. Addressing the national Academy of Sciences, President Obama launched “Educate to Innovate,” a nationwide effort to “help reach the administration’s goal of moving American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.”
Recent conversations with CUNY science faculty at the senior colleges (SENCER/SoTL Conference, College of Staten Island, Spring 2010) about the challenges of teaching chemistry and biology suggest the need at LaGuardia to focus on questions of pedagogy related to the natural sciences. To share with the wider LaGuardia campus the forms of collaboration, experimentation, and the fundamental ways that scientists are educated, The Carnegie Seminar and In Transit, Volume6 wish to concentrate on the skills necessary to “think like a scientist.” What are these skills, and how are they defined, taught and learned? At LaGuardia, in what ways does our science faculty communicate, in Obama’s words, “a sense of promise, a sense that with some hard work---with effort – they have the potential to achieve extraordinary things?”
The Carnegie Seminar’s emphasis upon mindful, evidence-based teaching and learning celebrates the process of classroom challenges and discovery. As community colleges assume an immediate and more pivotal role in the educational life of our country, LaGuardia’s Carnegie Seminar can provide faculty with the SoTL skills and opportunities to participate more directly in the national conversation.
Condensed Seminar Syllabus (following the suggestions of Carnegie Seminar participants, we offer the following abbreviated plan as a thumbnail sketch of discussion topics; all work will be supported by research mentors and cohorts of three to four members):
June Kick-Off
IIntroduction to Carnegie/SoTL
Framing the research question: What is the central question, issue, or problem?
Fall 2011
IDefining SoTL, Refining the research question; Using SoTL journals as models; exploring pedagogies;
The syllabus as argument; the activity; assessment of the activity
Mid-Winter 2012 Institutes 1 and 2
IPresenting the research question
IISearching the Literature
IIIIdentifying publication outlets
*Why is your central question, issue, or problem important to you and to others who might benefit from or build on your findings? Please note that the goal of the scholarship of teaching and learning is not simply to improve your own teaching, but also to contribute to the practice and profession of teaching more broadly.
Spring 2012
IIntroducing SoTL research design and methods
Presenting research design, methods, and evidence
Formation of research cohorts
*How do you plan to conduct your investigation? What sources of evidence do you plan to examine? What methods will you employ to gather and make sense of this evidence?
Fall 2012
I Project outline
Project implementation
Documenting implementation
Mid/Winter 2013
IPresenting the SoTL draft
*How do you plan to make your work available to others in ways that facilitate scholarly critique and review, and that contribute to thought and practice beyond the local? What aspects of the design and character of this work are you not yet fully prepared to describe? What questions do you have and what do you still need to know?
Spring 2013
IWriting and submitting the paper
Fall I and II 2013
IIn Transit V6 publication
We hope that the following quotations from former faculty participants offer a sense of the Carnegie Seminar and its objectives:
- Reporting on my teaching in a scholarly forum has made me more conscious of the ways I construct my courses. The idea of the syllabus as argument has become important for me.
- Carnegie Seminar has allowed us to turn our classroom into a lab…to do research on SoTL, formulate questions about challenges in classrooms, design strategies/experiments to overcome these, and then share our findings…
- I have an article that will shortly be ready for publication, which grew out of my work in Carnegie Seminar.
- Taking part in Carnegie has enabled me to view teaching as scholarship, to design curricula and evaluate its effectiveness.
- [Carnegie encouraged] me to take a research approach to teaching which is measurable and can be articulated for others’ benefit.
*We are grateful to theInternational Institute for SoTL Scholars and Mentorsfor the stages of seminar inquiry and the design of questions.
FACILITATION
The seminar will be led by the faculty/staff team of Professor Patricia Sokolski (Humanities) and Dr. Michele Piso (LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning), and one faculty member from Natural Science.
ELIGIBILITY
The seminar is open to full-time faculty, CLTs, and long-term part-time faculty; administrators of science-related programs are also welcome.
Applicants must:
- Be available and committed to attend all seminars and institutes (see seminar schedule below).
- Submit an application.
- Obtain the signature of their department chairperson.
STIPENDS
Each Academic Affairs faculty participant will receive a stipend of $1,250.
SEMINAR AND INSTITUTE SCHEDULE, 2011-2012 (2012-2013 schedule TBA)
- Orientation Institutes 2011
Friday, June 17, 10:00 – 4:00
Wednesday, September 7, 10:00 – 2:00
- Fall I 2011 Thursdays, 3:30 – 5:30
September 15; October 6 and October 20; Nov. 3 and Nov. 17, and December 15
- Mid Year Institutes, 2012, 10:00 – 4:00
Friday, January 20; Friday, January 27
- Spring I 2012 Thursdays, 3:30 – 5:30
March 15, March 29, April 5, April 19, May 3, and May 24
DEADLINE
April 282011
Return applicationsto Roslyn Orgelat the LaGuardiaCenter for Teaching and Learning by April 28, 2011. If you wish to send the application electronically, please attach it to an email to Please be sure to mail a copy of the application form with your signature and the signature of your chairperson or department head to Room M-414.
INQUIRIESFor more information, contact Dr. Michele Piso at the Center for Teaching and Learning (x5483), .
Carnegie Seminar Application 2011-2013
NAME______
DEPARTMENT/DIVISION______
TITLE (POSITION)______
OFFICE______EXTENSION______EMAIL______
COURSE(S) YOU PROPOSE TO ENHANCE: ______
ARE YOU APPLYING TO ANY OTHER CTL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM(S)? ______IF SO, WHICH PROGRAM(S)? ______
COMMITMENT
I certify the following:
1. I commit to taking an active part in the program as detailed in the seminar schedule, during which I will:
- Attend and participate in all seminar and institute sessions (see schedule above);
- Experiment with ways to incorporate ePortfolio as a tool for deepening learning and teaching;
- Deposit syllabus, class activity and samples of student work in course portfolio;
- Submit a year-end report examining my seminar-related classroom experiment and its impact; and,
- Participate in documentation activities designed to assess the impact of the program on learning and teaching at LaGuardia.
2. I have attached a one-page statement (see attached instructions) as well as a copy of my tentative schedule for next semester.
Signature of applicant ______Date______
Signature of Chairperson ______Date______
Or Program Director
Return to Roslyn Orgel – M414 by April 28, 2011
Carnegie Seminar on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
2011-2013 Application Essay
To help us understand your interest in taking part in this program, please write a one-page essay that addresses the following questions:
How would you summarize your philosophy or approach to learning and teaching of science? What interests you about this seminar?
What aspects or areas of teaching and/or learning have you examined through other seminars, workshops, and projects in which you have participated? Which of these aspects or areas are you interested in further exploring through the Carnegie Seminar?
In your view, what could be some advantages and challenges of SoTL research and publication— (and other forms of scholarly presentation)?
If you have a “line of inquiry” or question about teaching and teaching that you wish to explore, please discuss it briefly.