The Hellenic American University Center for Teaching Excellence supports the ongoing professional development of the University’s faculty as informed, reflective, and effective educators. Through its training, mentoring, and consulting services, the Center seeks to heighten the quality and effectiveness of instruction and cultivate a shared enthusiasm for excellence in teaching within the University’s faculty.
Advocacy and Support for Excellence in Teaching
The Center pursues its mission by:
- Providing guidance, resources, and practical help to faculty members as they explore and use new pedagogical approaches and instructional technology in their teaching.
- Fostering a climate of on-going self-assessment, in which faculty systematically reflect on the impact of their teaching practices.
- Building and sharing a repository of knowledge resources on teaching and student learning in higher education, such as best practices, case studies, research articles, templates and rubrics, course design guidelines, and other training material.
- Supporting the introduction of new instructional media, learning environments, teaching instruments, and assessment technologies through training and mentoring.
- Sharing strategies and best practices for designing creative, appropriate, and actionable assessment of student learning.
Services and Resources for Faculty Development
The Center works with the Provost and other academic officers to implement the University’s Faculty Development Plan. Services range from workshops and demonstrations to one-on-one consultation and mentoring.
Training workshops
The Center offers an annual program of training workshops for faculty in a broad range of topics.
Monthly tips to faculty |
The Center issues monthly tips to faculty on the pedagogic use of selected platform functionalities. More specifically, so far pedagogical suggestions have been communicated:
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Systematic classroom observations and one2one trainings with instructors |
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Outreach workshops |
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Seeking external evaluation of course design pedagogy and effectiveness | The Center will participate in the Exemplary Course Program (ECP) launched by Blackboard globally. The ECP began in 2000 with the goal of identifying and disseminating best practices for designing high-quality courses in higher education. The core of the program is the Exemplary Course Rubric that defines key characteristics of high-quality courses within the framework of Course Design, Interaction and Collaboration, Assessment, and Learner Support. The rubric is offered under a Creative Commons license, and the aim is for universities to reuse and remix it as part of their own discussions on quality course design. |
One-on-one consultations with Center staff
Center staff can meet individually with instructors to help on issues they may be facing in their teaching, from designing course material and assessing learning outcomes to promoting student engagement and inclusion.
Staff can also help instructors stage and record short videos of them teaching allowing prospective students to get a sense of what it is like to be in our classes.
Classroom observation
Faculty can choose to pair a classroom observation with their consultation, inviting a Center staff member to observe a class session to provide additional context, suggestions, and advice.
Outside talks
The Center invites scholars from outside of the institution to deliver workshops to the faculty, students, and staff.