The teacher stays current with their field and its pedagogies.

Faculty are expected to maintain knowledge and expertise in their fields through study, research, and scholarship, in accordance with their departmental and disciplinary expectations. From a teaching and learning perspective, it is important to include regular development of pedagogical knowledge and skills, both generally and within the discipline.  

There are multiple ways to develop and maintain pedagogical currency:

• Maintain currency through disciplinary/professional organizations.

  Many disciplines have teaching or pedagogical focal areas or even entire organizations devoted to teaching in your field. To find disciplinary organizations in your field, visit the US Department of Labor’s Career One Stop Professional Association Finder or the Directory of Associations. Maag Library’s “LibGuides” often include professional organizations in subject areas. 

• Attend conferences on teaching and learning. 

  Attending conferences focused on pedagogy or those with teaching and learning tracks, either interdisciplinary or within your discipline. In addition to travel funds that may be available through your department or college, ITL’s Teaching and Learning Mini-Grants may also be a resource to defray travel expenses. 

  For a list of upcoming disciplinary teaching conferences, check out this Teaching Conference Directory from Kennesaw State University. Some of the bigger general audience teaching conferences include: 

  • Lilly Conferences on Teaching and Learning 
  • Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)  
  • Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education 
  • The Teaching Professor Conference 
  • International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) 
  • American Educational Research Association (AERA) 
  • Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy 
• Read, research, and publish in journals focused on teaching or the scholarship of teaching and learning.

  There are numerous journals and publications focused on developing your teaching knowledge and skills, as well as opportunities to conduct and publish research in teaching and learning--called the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or SOTL. In addition to the journals outlined in Reflecting Based on Research and Theory and available at Maag Library, there is an extensive list of journals focused on college teaching for both general and disciplinary audiences available through the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network.

• Attend programs and use services and resources from ITL.

  ITL offers numerous programs and services to develop your pedagogical knowledge and skills, including workshops, book groups, training, and more—we ITL offered over 45 events with over 900 participants (headcount) during the 2021-2022 academic year alone! In addition to general audience workshops, we ITL can work with colleges or departments to tailor programs to specific needs. ITL also offers consultation services for topics like backward design, collecting formative feedback, course and assignment design, syllabus review, rubric development, class observation and more. Click here to schedule a consultation!