Learning and Teaching Center

In this issue of the LTC newsletter, I wanted to share some responses from colleagues who have used the student observer program. The LTC Fellows, who serve as the student observers, are a lot of fun to work with. They are eager, very interested in teaching, and are insightful when they are visiting classes, as well as in the other programs that we run in the LTC.

I also share an opinion piece about how consciously we lead our students into an understanding of what a liberal arts education really means. As always, I would be happy to speak with any of you on these topics if you are interested in following up.

The student observer program has been around for a number of years. This program, where faculty members can have a student visit their classes to offer feedback, is an example of one of the many things we do to try to keep the level of teaching at Carleton high. It used to be overseen by the Associate Dean’s office, but it moved to the LTC some time ago.

Before starting at the LTC last summer I had the opportunity to go to Transylvania University for a summer symposium on the liberal arts. It had a fairly heavy list of readings that covered the history of the liberal arts and institutions of higher education. The group included faculty members from Colleges and Universities from across the country in a variety of disciplines.