TLC Newsletter

Open Calls and Invitations

Become a Faculty Mentor 

• Are you looking for a University-level service opportunity?
• Do you want to make a significant difference in a colleague’s career development?
• Do you want to increase your own job satisfaction?

If so, then please consider becoming a mentor to other faculty. We are looking for mentors for faculty at three career stages:  

1. Junior, untenured faculty 
2. Faculty seeking promotion
3. Adjunct faculty 

For more information about requirements and expectations visit the Faculty Mentoring Committee Call for Mentors. To learn more about the mentoring experience listen to Faculty Mentoring with Dr. Colwell and Dr. Ocasio. To submit your interest in being a mentor, complete the Mentoring Interest Form.

Apply to Join the Pedagogical Innovations Faculty Learning Community 

The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) invite faculty to submit an expression of interest for the third cohort of the Pedagogical Innovations Faculty Learning Community. Grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and the teacher-scholar model, this program supports faculty in connecting teaching and research. Participants work with an interdisciplinary cohort to examine the effectiveness of a pedagogical approach designed to address a specific teaching challenge and its impact on student learning, experiences, and outcomes. The program requires participation in 10 in-person meetings across three semesters and ongoing project work between meetings. Fall 2026 meetings will be Mondays on the following dates: Mondays, September 21, October 19, November 9, and December 7, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM.

Participants who complete the program will receive a $1,000 stipend. 

Deadline for applications: September 9, 2026.

 More information about the program and application are available on the TLC website and via via this blog post.  

Join a Fall Teaching Circle

A teaching circle is a group of faculty who collectively explore a teaching topic of interest and work together to create products reflecting their experience. Circles offer structure and accountability to help you improve your teaching practice with just a 10 hour commitment over the semester. There are multiple teaching circle opportunities for the fall semester:

1. Engaging Students in AI Conversations will focus on how to hold productive conversations with students that engage in critical conversations about the impact of AI tools. Meetings are on select Mondays 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM on Zoom.
2. Problems of Practice: Finding Solutions to Tricky Teaching Challenges will focus on exploring the literature and creating solutions to a teaching challenge you bring to the circle. Meetings are on select Wednesdays 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM on Zoom.
3. Incorporating a Unique Pedagogical Approach will helping faculty research and potentially implement a new or unique pedagogical approach.  Meetings are on select Thursdays 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM on Zoom.
4. Teaching Diverse Community Courses will focus on strategies and challenges of teaching courses that fulfill the Diverse Communities requirement. Meetings are on select Mondays 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM.  

To learn more about each circle, including meeting times, visit the Teaching Circle website. Registration is due by Monday, August 31.

Opportunities to Receive Teaching Feedback

•  The Teaching Triangles program involves three faculty members in a triad who agree to visit each other’s classes over the semester and meet to discuss what they have learned about their own teaching from the observations. The process is non-evaluative, and the program is open to all WCU faculty, including adjuncts. Learn more about the program on the Teaching Triangles website or from our ODLI on Air podcast episode. To participate, register online by Monday, August 31.
• The Class Consultation program empowers faculty to enhance their teaching by requesting non-evaluative feedback on any instructional session, regardless of modality. This program is in a pilot phase and is currently only available to tenured faculty. To learn more, visit the Class Consultations website.
• At the end of each semester, TLC hosts a Student Feedback Reading Party, a collaborative space to process evaluations with peers. Please save the date for the Fall semester party:

Date: Wednesday, December 16, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Location: Zoom

Upcoming Events

Summer Accessibility Bootcamp

Are you getting ready for the new semester and not sure how to handle the new accessibility requirements or looking to expand your skills? Join us for our summer accessibility bootcamp! Running Tuesday, August 11 through Thursday, August 13, we'll cover how to create accessible documents, slides, PDFs, and D2L pages, as well as how to write effective alt text. If you're not able to join us, check out the recordings from our Spring 2026 webinars on our blog, or stay tuned for our Fall 2026 offerings. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at tlc@wcupa.edu.

Alternative Grading System - Fall Preparation Work Session

Are you implementing an alternative grading system like mastery grading, specifications grading, standards-based grading, or ungrading for the fall semester? Would you like to create, refine, or modify your alternative grading structure in the company of other faculty who are doing the same? Join the Alternative Grading Faculty Learning Community for a work session!

Date: Thursday August 13, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Anderson 125

Folks will be on hand with ideas, strategies and support. Registration is required.

CELT Podcast Club: Let's Discuss!

Join members of the Committee for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) for a variation on the traditional book club. Three times this semester, we will all listen to the same podcast episode(s) and then meet to discuss what we learned. 

Session 1: The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies (38 minutes) | Cult of Pedagogy with Jennifer Gonzalez.

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: Zoom

Date: Wednesday, September 16, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Anderson 125

Session 2: The Power of Silent Discussion (21 minutes) | The Creative Classroom with John Spencer or Letting Students Lead with Learning with Spider Web Discussions with Alexis Wiggins (53 minutes) | The Balance by Dr. Caitlin Tucker

Date: Tuesday, October 20, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: Zoom

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Anderson 125

Session 3: Facilitating Contentious Conversations in Your Classroom with Mylien Duong (45 minutes) | Teaching in Higher Ed. 

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: Zoom

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Anderson 125

Please register to participate.

Program Updates

Calling all ODLI on Air Listeners

Do you listen to the ODLI on Air podcast? If so, we want to hear from you in advance of our 100th episode coming in early 2027. Please email Tom Pantazes at tpantazes@wcupa.edu and he will explain more.

Not yet an ODLI on Air listener?  You can be! Check out our latest episodes.    

University Writing Council

Writing and Critical Thinking Conference

Each August West Chester’s University Writing Council and Advisory Board hosts a Writing and Critical Thinking (WACT) faculty conference on campus. This year will be our 9th annual offering of the event. Attached please find a save the date flyer.  Our theme this year will be Critical conversations: How to make our classrooms more dialogical and less transactional. If you are a faculty member who centers their writing emphasis classroom around critical conversations, we would love to hear from you this summer.

Date: Monday, August 17, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Location: Mitchell Hall

Please RSVP to participate.

If you are interested in additional resources that can help you think about teaching writing in your discipline, here are some additional links: 

• D2L Resource Page and Self-Paced Learning Modules
• WCU Writing Across the Curriculum Website
• Assignment sheet, syllabus and feedback form
• Free membership to the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum (AWAC), an international organization with workshops, conferences, and publication opportunities with the WAC Clearinghouse

For questions, contact Justin Rademaekers. Hope to see you all there! 

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The Teaching and Learning Center is far more than just a newsletter! Our website hosts a variety of teaching resources and our full Event Calendar. To get in touch, feel free to send us an email, or schedule a consultation to speak live with one of our designers.