News & Announcements
Angela Linse elected president of the North American professional society for faculty developers
March 18, 2019
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA — Angela Linse, executive director of the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence and associate dean for teaching in the Office of Undergraduate Education at Penn State, has been elected president of the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education. The POD Network is the nation’s premier professional society, which has been advancing the research and practice of effective teaching and learning and faculty development in higher education for more than 40 years.
Linse has been serving as the POD network president-elect since March 10, 2018. She will begin her presidency on March 23, 2019, which is the second year of her three-year term. In March of 2020, she will transition to past president. Linse’s selection was announced at the 42nd Annual Conference of the POD Network in Montreal, Quebec on October 27, 2017.
“Angela has been in the field of faculty development for more than 20 years and her expertise and experience will greatly benefit the POD Network as its national and international reputation expands,” said Cassandra Horii, POD Network president and Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Outreach at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
The POD Network represents academic and faculty developers from Centers for Teaching and Learning at institutions across North America and from 23 other countries. POD members encompass institutions of all ranks and sizes, including highly selective public and private universities, regional public and private colleges, two-year colleges, military academies, and graduate universities. Members facilitate faculty and graduate student use of evidence-based teaching practices, effective instructional design, and course-based research, such as Discipline-Based Educational Research (DBER) and Teaching and Learning Scholarship (TLS).
Linse has served the organization as conference program co-chair and contributed 24 sessions at POD conferences. While on the organization’s governing committee, she was Treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee and served on the Executive Committee. She later chaired the Gifting (philanthropy) subcommittee, and has been an active member of numerous other committees including, Grants, Strategic Planning, and Professional Development.
“The POD Network is moving into a new era of advocacy for all instructors to have access to high quality educational development; examining how institutions value and reward excellence in teaching; and creating an evidence-based, inclusive environment where all learners can succeed,” notes Mary Wright, past president and Director of the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University.
Linse said, “I am excited to serve in a leadership role for such a committed and collaborative group of individuals over the next three years. And I am grateful to my colleagues for allowing me to serve.”
Linse works with a skilled team of staff and faculty instructional consultants. The faculty are responsible for collaborating with faculty of all ranks at all Penn State colleges and campuses, as well as graduate students, to develop their teaching and improve students’ learning. Also in Linse’s portfolio are the Pollock Testing Center, which offers eTesting and exam scanning services, and the process for administering the Student Ratings of Teaching Excellence (SRTEs).
Linse’s current research focuses on inclusive teaching, faculty evaluation, and strategic planning for unit assessment. Prior to joining Penn State, Linse directed the Teaching and Learning Center at Temple University and was an assistant director with the Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching at the University of Washington. Linse received her doctorate in Anthropology (archaeology) from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Honoring the Voices, Experiences, and Assets of Students from Low-Income Backgrounds
This article is the first in a series from the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). It raises an important point that students from groups that historically have been underrepresented in higher education have a lot to contribute to our institutional, college, campus, and departmental cultures. Too often the lack of opportunities afforded these students in elementary and secondary education are viewed through the lens of a deficit model. If we are truly committed to creating a learning environment that welcomes all students, we need to see their contributions from an asset based perspective. As the student population changes, so will (must) we.
What can you do to honor the contributions of these students in your courses? If you want to have a conversation about changes that can have significant impacts, contact your Schreyer Institute academic unit liaison or invite us to facilitate a conversation or workshop on inclusive teaching in your unit.
Recipe for Teaching: Cue-Do-Review
FACULTY FOCUS, APRIL 8TH, 2019
By: Patty Kohler-Evans, EdD, and Chayla Rutledge
Cue-Do-Review, a teaching sequence that can be used in any lesson, regardless of content level, is one way to help ensure classroom instruction time is used effectively and efficiently. By purposefully targeting specific instructor behaviors at the beginning, middle, and end of a lesson, students are more likely to connect with and remember content.
To read the full story, visit Faculty Focus' article.
Registration is now open for the Spring 2019 Graduate Student Online Teaching Certificate (OL 2050)
Applicants are currently being accepted for the Spring 2019 Graduate Student Online Teaching Certificate (OL 2050). This is a free, non-credit professional development course for all current Penn State graduate students and post docs. Over 1,150 students have enrolled since the program began in 2015. Students who complete OL 2050 will receive a pdf certificate of accomplishment from World Campus Online Faculty Development.
Registration is open now and closes at 4:00 p.m. on April 26. The course starts on the morning of May 6 and ends June 10.
What is OL 2050? It is a rigorous five-week, online, asynchronous course that introduces the basics and best practices of online teaching. It is cohort-based with 20-25 students in each of 3-5 sections taught by an OL-trained Penn State instructor. It includes weekly reading and writing assignments and a group project designed to replicate an online academic class.
Interested applicants should visit the OL 2050 website to register. Questions? Contact Larry Boggess or Shawna Cassick.
Improv & Pedagogy Faculty Learning Group Announces Spring '19 Meeting Dates
You are invited to join the group to chat about improv & pedagogy—maybe even sample some improv! All session are held in 102 Kern from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 
Come for all or part of the festivities, which include a light lunch, discussing improv & pedagogy, and perhaps an improv performance in a fun, no-pressure environment.
Email "yes, and!" to jet26@psu.edu to sign up and for more information.
As a reminder, this Faculty Learning Group is open to anyone in the Penn State system interested in improv and learning.
SRTEs Go Mobile!
This semester students can choose to submit SRTEs using the new mobile friendly web version for phones and tablets. No app download is necessary, upon sign-in students will see this option when they have active SRTEs to complete. Students may find it convenient to respond to open-ended questions using the voice-recognition built into their mobile devices.
Screen shot of Mobile SRTE icon.
When students choose the mobile option, they will see only one question at a time, rather than the entire SRTE form on their screens.
The regular web version SRTE is still available for students with laptops or without mobile devices.
Faculty will also be able to use the mobile version to check response rates for courses with active SRTEs. Those faculty who are concerned about response rates will be interested in taking advantage of this new functionality by asking students with mobile devices to complete their SRTEs during class.
Faculty: please remember that if you set aside class time for students to complete the SRTE, you need to leave the room.
Workshops & Seminars
