Teaching Tables
Teaching Tables represent more structured and moderated conversations around specific topics that are brought to the CLTR from faculty, students and staff. If you have a teaching need, wish to explore a new technique, want to hear from a faculty panel on a specific topic, etc. just let us know. You propose the topic and perhaps suggested presenters and we do all the work to set things up. To suggest an idea please email cltr@colgate.edu.
Reflective Writing for Learning
Date: Monday, January 26, 2026 (Noon-1:00 p.m.)
Location: Lathrop Hall, 107 Conference Room
Facilitator(s): Jenn Lutman and Emilio Spadola
Research in Writing to Learn (WTL) consistently demonstrates that reflective writing can support students’ learning in multiple ways. This teaching table will review examples of and highlight two approaches from the presenters.
Jenn Lutman, Director of University Writing, will share an assignment she calls students’ “WRDs” (writing, reading, and discussion reflections), an in-class practice in which students handwrite responses to prompts designed to help them clarify each day’s learning outcomes. These entries accumulate in a graded journal, offering insight into students’ engagement and creating a record of how their thinking evolves across the semester. Emilio Spadola, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, will discuss his recently developed “reflection and response journal” or RRJ assignment, a cumulative document of weekly entries in which students respond to assigned texts and complete mini-research exercises paired to the week’s key theme or theory. Having introduced the RRJ in spring ’25 with introductory anthropology students and revised it for 200/300-level courses in fall ’25, Emilio will describe the practicalities and positive outcomes of the assignment as well as course-specific adjustments made and recommendations for continued use in the AI age.
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The Attention Economy and Reclaiming Cognitive Sovereignty
Date: Friday, February 13, 2026 (12:15-1:15 p.m.)
Location: Lathrop Hall, 107 Conference Room
Facilitator: Doug Johnson
Modern digital infrastructure is optimized for capturing attention from moment-to-moment as well as providing algorithmic recommendations and instant responses. Yet deep reading, writing, and learning are inherently difficult; they require cognitive friction, ambiguity tolerance, and sustained attention. This disconnect is creating a challenge for educators and learners, where students increasingly view the struggle of learning as a system error rather than a feature.
Drawing on the history of the “attention economy” (Herbert Simon 1971), this Teaching Table invites faculty from all disciplines to discuss how we can help students cultivate cognitive sovereignty, which we will define as the agency to control their own attention. We will explore how to build “attention-aware” pedagogies, how to address the “continuous partial attention” driven by mobile tech, and how to create classroom environments that protect the time and space required for rigorous scholarship. We look forward to having you join us for this session.
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Faculty Teaching Fellows
The Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty (PDoF) and the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research (CLTR) are pleased to announce an opportunity for faculty members to serve as Faculty Teaching Fellows in the CLTR. The new program offers a one-year role providing the opportunity to explore, develop, and disseminate ideas that further support a culture of teaching and learning at ߲ݴý.
Please review the document linked below to learn more about the Faculty Teaching Fellows program and apply to be a participant.
Constance Harsh, Professor of English and Rebecca S. Chopp Chair in the Humanities, will serve as the inaugural CLTR Teaching Fellow. In this role, Connie is leading a collaborative project focused on exploring strategies to strengthen students’ capacities for deep reading and comprehensive reflection. The hope is that faculty can think about how to support students as they seek to extend their attention span in a world full of distractions. In the spring 2025 semester, we’ll host several conversations to pursue this project.
The first conversation will take place on January 31 at 12:15 in 101A McGregory Hall. This will provide an opportunity for faculty to learn more about the project, and consider a plan for the semester that will have two chief aims: understanding the obstacles to reading deeply and paying sustained attention; developing methods for chipping away at those obstacles.
Each conversation this term will be individually announced to the community. To be added to the mailing list, contact Connie or the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research (cltr@colgate.edu). A few faculty teaching FSEMs in fall 2025 will collaborate on implementing some of the strategies we identify. Reach out if you would like to join this cohort.
Pedagogical Partnership Program
The CLTR will be continuing its Pedagogical Partnership program during the 2025–2026 academic year. This program is informed by similar programs originally developed at Bryn Mawr College by Allison Cook-Sather, that included student consultants as partners in the classroom. This original work in the (Students as Learners and Teachers) program, focused on connecting students, faculty and staff in various forms of co-creation and co-learning. Building on this work, the CLTR seeks to create spaces where faculty, students and academic staff can partner to co-create equitable teaching and learning.
During the fall 2025 semester, a new cohort of student partners will be participating in an orientation course to assist in preparing them for partnership roles with faculty members in the spring 2026 semester. We will also be engaged in outreach to share information about partnership work, and invite interested faculty to contact the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu) with questions or to express interest in participating in this program. Below are links to documents providing more information about the program.
Reading Groups
This fall 2025 semester the CLTR will host a reading group for the book, “”. Elodie Fourquet, associate professor of computer science, will be facilitating a series of conversations about this book as part of her role as Sio Chair and CLTR Faculty Fellow. This will be a great opportunity to connect with colleagues, share ideas about how to promote effective learning strategies in your students, and potentially implement some changes in your teaching. Please reach out to the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu) to request a copy of the book.
Dates and times are listed below, and all sessions will be held in McGregory 101A.
- Thursday, September 18 from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. (Chp. 1-4)
- Thursday, October 16 from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. (Chp. 5-8)
- Thursday, November 13 from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. (Chp. 9-12)
Light breakfast fare and coffee will be provided. We kindly ask you to you’d like to attend to assist us in ordering an appropriate amount of food.
Teaching and Learning Workshops
CLTR staff partner with faculty and facilitate workshops on various teaching and learning topics. We also collaborate with colleagues in the Learning and Applied Innovation (LAI) group in ITS to conduct workshops addressing the meaningful use of technology to support instruction, and on using a wide range of digital tools. A full list of sessions can be found on the (organized by month). If you have ideas for a workshop you'd like to see us offer, please reach out to the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu).
Faculty Learning Communities
Faculty learning communities (FLCs) are collaborative, cross-disciplinary groups of faculty members who come together to engage in ongoing, reflective discussions and activities focused on enhancing teaching and learning. FLCs provide a supportive environment for faculty to engage in shared inquiry, explore specific issues together, and develop new pedagogical approaches. Please review the information below to learn more about current and future FLCs.
This faculty learning community (FLC) will launch in the fall 2025 semester. The overview linked below provides more details about the FLC's work, along with a brief form you can complete to express your interest in participating. Please feel free to reach out to the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu) if you have any questions.
This faculty learning community (FLC) will launch in the fall 2025 semester. The overview linked below provides more details about the FLC's work, along with a brief form you can complete to express your interest in participating. Please feel free to reach out to the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu) if you have any questions.
The document linked below provides additional information about the work of this faculty learning community (FLC) which will be meeting regularly throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. A brief summary is also available that outlines some of the ideas and lessons learned from the fall 2024 semester.
(overview)