The Faculty Academy
The CTLS sponsors faculty development for Loyola’s First-Year Seminar program, the anchor of the university’s First-Year Experience, which includes learning communities, residential experiences, and Jesuit mission components.
First-year seminars are part of each incoming student’s first-year experience at Loyola. The seminars introduce first-year students to the study of the liberal arts and sciences in the context of Jesuit values and reinforce interdisciplinary learning as embodied in Loyola’s Common Curriculum. The seminars involve students and faculty in a shared process of inquiry around a broad, interdisciplinary topic or question. They also aim to help students make connections with faculty, peers, the university, and the curriculum. See the listing of 2009-2010 seminars.
All faculty teaching for the first time in the First-Year Seminar program attend a Faculty Academy, which focuses on effective pedagogical strategies and “best practices” for first-year teaching as well as syllabus and assignment development. Experienced faculty from across the disciplines make presentations and lead discussions on a variety of topics, from young adult cognitive development to assessing learning outcomes.
The Faculty Academy meets once per month from February through April and then for a full week in mid-May During the Academy, participants complete a course syllabus and assessment plan.
Brown Bag Discussions
Throughout the academic year, the CTLS hosts weekly brown bag discussion sessions for faculty members teaching first-year seminars. These sessions give faculty the chance to share questions and problems, exchange effective assignments, and brainstorm about ways to improve seminars-in-progress.