Teachers doing the learning at center

The Center for Teaching and Learning can help faculty better their skills. The School of Arts and Sciences recently unveiled a new center intended essentially to teach teachers how to teach, according to Center for Teaching and Learning Director Larry Robbins. The Center for Teaching and Learning, which opened on July 1 and operates out of Logan Hall, will mentor instructors at all professional levels through one-on-one consultations and analysis of classroom videotapes. It will also develop peer evaluations for faculty members seeking "feedback" with their teaching methods, Robbins said. Robbins, who has worked with teacher development in the Wharton School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science for the past 10 years, introduced the new program -- designed to nurture junior faculty members -- at a SAS faculty orientation session earlier this semester. Also director of Wharton Communications and a Management professor, Robbins said he is focused on incorporating each SAS department into the center's mentoring program. He said the center will videotape class sessions only when invited and keep the tapes private. "It's totally confidential," Robbins stressed. "Nobody gets to see the videotape except the instructor and me." Now only in its early stage of development, the center is staffed by Robbins, a part-time graduate student and College of Arts and Sciences office staff. It does not yet have Student Committee on Undergraduate Education representation. "I think that student involvement is essential in this kind of undertaking," Robbins said. College Dean Richard Beeman praised the new program. "This is very important," Beeman said. "In fact, I can think of few things that are more important." Several faculty and staff members said they are anxious to tap the center's resources. Anthropology Department Chairperson Gregory Possehl has already spoken with Robbins about possible consultation between the center and the department's faculty members. "Anthropology starts with 'A' and I hope we'll be first on your list," Possehl said he told Robbins. Associate Director for Learning Resources Myrna Cohen, who has a doctoral degree in education, informally consults faculty right now and looks forward to the center's more structured support. "Teaching and learning exist inseparably," Cohen said. "It makes sense that [the University] should also be available for the teaching end." "The center [should be] set up to give the professors a better perspective of how students learn," said College junior Daniel Sherman, who tutors introductory mathematics and physics through Tutoring and Learning Resources. Currently, the center is upgrading its PennTeach World Wide Web site, http://www.upenn.edu/pennteach/, which offers links to teacher development programs at Penn and across the nation. PennTeach Network Manager Carl Seaquist, a third-year SAS graduate student, serves as the graduate arm of the center, while also maintaining the Web site and advising graduate students and faculty who use teaching assistants. "We're open," said Seaquist, who is pursuing his doctorate in Religious Studies. "We're ready for business."