Customized Services

The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence offers a variety of customized workshops on topics that can help you design, develop, and implement different teaching strategies. We tailor these workshops to your requirements and deliver them to faculty at your college, department, or campus.


Commonly Requested Workshops

  • Developing Rubrics to Assess Problems and Presentations

    This workshop engages participants in an analysis of their assignment learning outcomes in order to learn the process of developing rubrics that take the mystery out of grading.

  • Inclusive Teaching

    Are you responding to all students with the same level of respect and attention? How do you address public expressions of prejudice or incivility? Are you aware that making your courses more reflective of current student identities and interests can improve the retention and success of your students? This workshop explores these and other questions related to teaching inclusively.

  • Inquiry-based Learning (IBL)

    This discussion and activity-based workshop is designed to help you understand how to integrate research into the classroom using IBL and by developing an instructional plan based on a given level of inquiry.

  • Midsemester Feedback Analysis

    Many instructors are so accustomed to end-of-semester teaching evaluations that they find it difficult to write good mid-semester feedback questions. This workshop provides guidance on question writing, as well how to analyze responses and report back to students.

  • Problem-based Learning (PBL)

    This workshop is designed for those who are familiar with problem-based learning and would like more information on designing and assessing PBL problems.

  • Peer Review

    This workshop provides guidance for faculty who perform peer reviews of teaching as well as for faculty who will be reviewed. The session includes materials and activities to help direct thinking toward the many factors that contribute to excellence in teaching.

  • Student Centered Discussion©

    Students do not inherently understand how best to engage in effective discussion. Student Centered Discussion© (SCD) is a model developed by Penn State Professor Dr. Linda Shoop and Deborah Wright (Apollo-Ridge School District, Spring Church, PA) that includes components of effective classroom discussion and how to introduce these processes to students.

  • Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTEs)

    Instructors are more likely to improve their teaching when they analyze student ratings with a consultant, but we don’t always have time to contact a professional. In this hands-on workshop you will learn how to interpret and make teaching improvement decisions based on SRTEs.

  • Teaching for Academic Integrity

    This workshop will help instructors develop effective strategies for the prevention of plagiarism and cheating. It will also present University resources for dealing with violations when they occur.

  • Teaching/Learning Portfolios

    This workshop provides a road map to portfolio development - a process that includes reflection on teaching/learning as well as selection of portfolio content.

  • Testing, Grading and Item Analysis

    Testing, a primary way for instructors to get feedback about how their course is working, is described as promoting both learning and long term memory. Gradeing is a secondary benefit of giving tests. Item analysis illustrates how to use question statistical information to improve tests as well as teaching.

Customized services from the Institute are not limited to workshops.

If you don't see what you're looking for, contact us at site@psu.edu to discuss your specific needs.