Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation
Our Mission is to distill the research on learning for faculty and graduate students and collaborate with them to design and implement meaningful educational experiences.
Carnegie Mellon
Established: 1982
[www.cmu.edu/teach]
Profile submitted by Marsha Lovett
Vision and Goals
Our Mission is to distill the research on learning for faculty and graduate students and collaborate with them to design and implement meaningful educational experiences.
Our vision is that CMU faculty and graduate students are empowered and engaged to innovate in their teaching, creating new modes of learning for their students and using data to inform ongoing improvement.
Center/Program Structure
Our Center serves the entire university, with much of our work supporting STEM teaching and learning. We are an independent administrative unit (reporting to the Vice Provost for Education and ultimately the Provost). Internal collaboration is expected. The Director is Teaching Professor of Psychology; we have 9 FTEs, 5 of whom consult with faculty and graduate students on issues of teaching and learning, 3 provide technical and ed-tech support, and 1 is administrative.
Description of Programming
Our flagship service is 1:1 teaching consultations. We also provide workshops to faculty on teaching and learning, and we offer a 3-day orientation program for incoming faculty. Faculty come from all schools and colleges across campus; we do a significant amount of work with faculty in STEM disciplines.
Graduate students participate in our programs as instructors and TAs but also -- when they are not engaged in teaching per se -- as future faculty, working to develop their knowledge and skills as educators while pursing their graduate degrees.
We also work with departments, schools, and colleges within CMU, supporting them to develop new programs, review & revise curriculum, and identify opportunities for collaboration.
Successes and Impacts
Our 1:1 consultations lead to change in course design, materials, teaching and more. We work with > 100 faculty per year. In a recent survey of faculty who had participated in our 1:1 consultations, over 85% responded "definitely yes" when asked if they would recommend our services (79% reported they already had), and over 80% responded that the consultation was "very valuable."