Programs and Services
The programs and services listed below are the result of innovative collaborations among Brandeis faculty, staff, and students that align with the Brandeis University Learning Goals, Core Learning Goals, Core Values, and The Framework for the Future. We hope you see something below that excites you and in which you'd like to participate.
That being said, we're always excited to develop new programs and services to support you. If there's ever anything else you'd like to do, please don't hesitate to reach out and let us know!
New Faculty Orientation is a week-long program in August to welcome new faculty to Brandeis. It offers opportunities to meet colleagues, explore effective teaching strategies, and tour learning spaces.
In a Pedagogical Partnership, a faculty member chooses a student partner to work with them on a course they teach throughout the semester. The student partner sits in on their faculty member’s course and meets with them weekly to provide feedback from a student point of view. The CTL provides training and support for both the student partners and the participating faculty members throughout the semester.
This program is an opportunity to harness student feedback, collaboration, and partnership to meaningfully address some of the challenges we're experiencing in our classrooms and to think deeply about equitable and inclusive course design, explore new pedagogical approaches, or incorporate new course content.
Participating faculty will receive a $1,000 stipend for the semester and student partners will receive $1,250. If you are interested in working with a student partner, or if you have any questions about the program, please email ctl@brandeis.edu.
Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are small groups of five to six faculty who meet every other week throughout the semester to discuss teaching and learning issues, inspire one another and make teaching a communal act (rather than a solitary one).
The program involves three components:
- 80-minute in-person meetings every two weeks;
- peer teaching observations; and
- short, selected readings.
FLCs are designed to foster supportive environments in which faculty can investigate, question, explore, and apply new classroom techniques and share new ideas about teaching and learning.
The program is open to any full-time faculty members, teaching on a multi-year contract or tenured/tenure-track. Participating faculty will receive a $600 stipend upon completion of the program.
If you are interested in participating in an FLC, or if you have any questions about the program, please email ctl@brandeis.edu.
The Justice League is an informal community of practice for Brandeis faculty who are committed to supporting one another as we cultivate equitable, inclusive, and accessible courses that inspire deep and meaningful learning for our students.
We meet 4-5 times per semester, visit each other's classes for inspiration, feedback, and support, and work on other project in support of fostering inclusive excellence on campus. Join us!
We invite all members of the Brandeis teaching community to join us and participate in all of our Friday Teaching+Learning Lunches, workshops, and other events, all of which are listed on our Events page.
Faculty recipients of Provost's Teaching Improvement, Experimentation, and Research (TIER) Grants and other grants to support teaching share their wisdom, along with additional panel discussions, awards, and other events centering teaching and learning at the end of each school year.
Would you like a sounding board to discuss your syllabus?
Do you want to incorporate a type of new assignment or more active learning into your course?
Do you want help training your TAs or help with developing an external educational grant?
Would you like to discuss your mid-semester or end-of-semester student feedback or how to deal with chatGPT?
Would you like someone to visit and observe your class and chat with them confidentially afterwards about it?
We're here for you! Please feel free to fill email ctl@brandeis.edu, call us at 781-736-4642.
- Provost's Teaching Improvement, Experimentation, and Research (TIER) Grants (previously known as Teaching Innovation Grants) are designed to encourage faculty to try new and/or enhanced ways to enrich their students' learning (see past awards).
- External Grants to Support Teaching may also be useful to explore.
The CTL offers the required pedagogical training for all first-time Teaching Assistants (TAs), Course Assistants (CAs), Instructional Assistants (IAs), and Teaching Fellows (TFs).
The CTL also offers seminars and workshops for graduate students, both of which count towards completing a Teaching Certificate.
Every semester, the CTL awards 10 TA Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring to recognize and celebrate the excellent work TAs do. (TAs can be nominated by both their faculty members and students.)
The CTL provides tips for leading discussion sections, office hours, board work, review sessions, etc.
We are also always thrilled to support graduate students in any way that we can, so please never hesitate to reach out!
The Committee on Teaching, Learning and Assessment advises that all Brandeis University syllabi must be accessible and must provide Important Brandeis Policies and Resources. See the Brandeis University Syllabus Template webpage for additional resources.
Your students' feedback during the early part of the course can help you identify small course adjustments that will improve their learning and engagement. Brandeis' Midcourse Feedback webpage highlights further benefits and explains how to gather student comments anonymously through Moodle. This feedback will be shared with you alone and will not be used in any formal evaluation of your teaching effectiveness. We would be happy to help you review your students' feedback and help you consider how to responding to it. Please contact ctl@brandeis.edu for a confidential consultation.
CTL staff collaborate with Information Technology Services and Media and Technology Services, the Technology Help Desk and other campus colleagues to curate these resources.