Students often look to their instructors for guidance and resources to help navigate their studies, but when instructors need support, they can find it at the Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning (CCTL).
CCTL, and its new executive director Robin Paige, provide resources for instructors looking to design a new course, make an existing course more inclusive, provide professional development opportunities, improve students’ learning and more.
Located on the third floor of Wieboldt Hall, CCTL is a place where instructors and faculty from across the University come together to form a supportive community of teachers.
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Paige came to UChicago after spending the last 10 years at Rice University. Starting as a sociology professor before becoming one of the first staff members at Rice’s then-new Center for Teaching Excellence, she worked to build up the center and served as its director for the last three years.
"The last three years have required educators to think deeply about and adapt their teaching methods," she said. "I’m thrilled to join the CCTL at this key moment, and help expand programs and services that support teaching as an art, a science and a craft."
As an art, teaching should be viewed as a deeply personal act that requires instructors to bring themselves fully into the classroom, Paige said. As a science, CCTL will draw upon a growing body of knowledge on practices that foster inclusive and engaged learning. And as a craft, she said, teaching necessitates the ongoing development of skills through experience, reflection and practice.
Over the course of each school year, CCTL hosts a wide variety of events, seminars, and workshops, and creates online resources for University instructors across all experience levels. Whether it’s a course on effectively designing a syllabus, or a strategy session on teaching and student assessment methods, CCTL aims to inspire pedagogical innovation.
“Teaching necessitates the ongoing development of skills through experience, reflection, and practice,” Paige said. “To this end, CCTL focuses on programming and one-on-one services that provide instructors and faculty with the opportunity to reflect, build community and share effective practices.”
Paige said her current priorities at the Center include working with her staff and Deputy Dean of the College and Assoc. Prof. Emily Lynn Osborn on strategic planning, as the Center looks to expand its programs and services.
As well as hiring more CCTL staff, the Center’s new initiatives will include services that support students as they develop the skills to be independent learners, inside and outside of the classroom.
Just two months into her tenure at UChicago, Paige said the campus community has been very welcoming and excited to see the growth of the Center.
“One of the things that I really love about working at Centers like this one is that you get to work with faculty and instructors all across campus who have similar goals,” she said. “They may be chemists or social scientists or humanists, but they're all coming to the Center because they're really focused on improving student learning.”