More than 50 faculty members from 39 departments took place in the Yale Summer Institute on Course (Re)Design in May 2017. The three-day, workshop intensive institute organized faculty members into nine working groups with expert facilitators from Yale. The goal of the institute was to help faculty members fully or partially redesign an existing course, or approach the design of a new course.

Led by Executive Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Jennifer Frederick and Director of Faculty Teaching Initiatives Nancy Niemi, the institute outlined several objectives for participating faculty: 

• Develop knowledge of how people learn to examine and strengthen teaching
• Identify, practice, and apply course design, alignment, assessment and feedback strategies to strengthen connections between student learning goals and coursework, and deep learning
• Identify how we can find out how well our students are learning
• Identify and refine components of one class that could be made more inclusive
• Discuss and explore how teaching matters in a research institution
• Discuss the culture of teaching and learning at Yale as it relates to the ways we can achieve more effective teaching for all students

“The institute was an opportunity to connect with faculty members from across campus and to create a collaborative environment for the faculty to work with their peers and discuss their work in the classroom,” said Niemi. “The S.I. resulted in a great dialogue about teaching and learning at Yale.”

Faculty members have continued to work with Niemi, Frederick, and other facilitators throughout the summer and Niemi plans to offer a rich set of programs and events for all faculty at the start of the upcoming academic year.

View the schedule from the institute, learn more about faculty teaching initiatives, or contact Nancy Niemi to discuss the summer institute.