Teaching Fellows

The Teaching Fellows Program brings together a cohort of course-contracted faculty for training spanning several months, where you will actively develop, invigorate, and expand your teaching repertoire. Email CELT@smumn.edu with any questions.

Program Objectives

During the Teaching Fellows Program, you will engage in research-based practices, strategies, and tools grounded in the Lasallian tradition of excellence in learning-centered teaching. Through this series, you will:

  • Expand your teaching repertoire to promote excellence in teaching and learning.
  • Be part of a collaborative community of faculty members from a variety of disciplines.
  • Become qualified to facilitate future CELT events.
  • Receive a stipend for completing the sessions and activities.

Requirements

  1. Participation Expectation: Selected participants must be available to virtually attend all six 2-hour workshops
  2. Program Deliverables: Participants will complete a teaching portfolio on Canvas demonstrating their applied learning and share their learning and expertise with other faculty
  3. Program Director Approval: Applicants must discuss this opportunity with their program directors and receive approval
  4. Balance among Schools, Disciplines, and Degree Levels: Representation from all Schools and across disciplines and degree levels is sought in the final selection

A maximum of 10 course-contracted faculty members are selected each year. Participants who attend and complete all 6 workshop sessions and the e-learning activities receive a $500 stipend.

Workshops

Lasallian Community in the Classroom

What makes a classroom distinctly Lasallian is not only what we teach, but how we attend to one another in a spirit of presence, reflection, and accompaniment. Grounded in Saint Mary’s Lasallian Catholic mission and the tradition of St. John Baptist de La Salle, this workshop invites faculty to consider how the classroom becomes a form of community shaped by intentional relationships, shared purpose, and attentiveness to student flourishing. Participants will begin with a reflective invocation centered on the Lasallian understanding of the “holy presence of God,” then engage in guided reflection on how community is formed through everyday teaching practices, including moments of connection, care, and communication in both face-to-face and online environments. Drawing on institutional commitments to ethical formation and holistic education, faculty will explore practical strategies for fostering belonging, encouraging student voice, and cultivating a learning environment where relationships are central to academic and human growth.

Feedback That Motivates Improvement

Feedback is one of the most powerful tools educators have for supporting student learning, yet not all feedback leads to meaningful improvement. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore research-informed principles and practical strategies for providing feedback that promotes motivation, growth, and self-reflection. Faculty will examine how timing, tone, clarity, and student engagement influence the effectiveness of feedback and will leave with concrete techniques for designing feedback processes that encourage students to persist, revise, and take greater ownership of their learning.

Technology-Enhanced Learning

In this session, participants will explore a variety of instructional technologies to expand and enhance their teaching repertoire.  Faculty will practice designing their instruction through the lens of technology to discover the strengths technology brings to their students’ learning experiences.

Supporting Quality Academic Writing

This workshop is designed to provide strategies to promote high-quality academic writing and how to best use writing in order to meet learning objectives. The workshop will be focused on writing assignment design and assessment, effective and efficient feedback, working with a wide range of writing abilities, and creating self-directed improvements.

Information Literacy Approaches for Adult Learners

According to the Association of College & Research Libraries, information literacy encompasses “the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning,” all within a complex information ecosystem. But what does that look like in different disciplines, or outside of the classroom? Participants will come away with an understanding of information literacy’s importance in a changing world and will practice integrating these skills and concepts into their own courses and assignments.

AI and SGPP

In a time of rapid technological change, educators are called to reflect deeply on how emerging tools like artificial intelligence shape teaching, learning, and human formation. This session invites Teaching Fellows to engage Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota’s AI Position Statement through reflection, dialogue, and practical application. Participants will consider how AI intersects with their greatest hopes for students, explore its potential to support or challenge those aspirations, and examine strategies for designing learning experiences and assessments that are AI-assisted, AI-resistant, or AI-integrated. Grounded in the Lasallian Catholic tradition, the workshop emphasizes ethical formation, relational learning, and the commitment to ensuring that technology serves the common good and the flourishing of every student.