Instructional Consulting

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Consultations are designed to offer individualized and experience/course-specific educator development through peer partnerships. Any educator is welcome and encouraged to work with a consultant whether their goal is addressing a specific problem, exploring strategies to more fully engage learners, or seeking ideas to [re]energize a course or experience. Our goal is to support educators at all levels, from novices to experts and everyone in between. For this reason, each consultation is customized, collaborative, and informed by scholarship.

  • Customized
    • Consultants focus on questions specific to the group’s teaching contexts, needs, and timeframes. Consultants will help you answer your questions by raising questions, providing feedback, and finding resources.
  • Collaborative
    • Consultants emphasize your expertise and collaborate with you to find instructional strategies that are effective for your group’s unique teaching context.
  • Scholarship-informed
    • Consultants draw on insights from research on teaching and learning and bring to the consultation data that will help you make important decisions about teaching.

How to request a consultation

There are many ways to access the teaching center. Please choose the option most appropriate for you.

  • Call the Center
    • Because we are not fully staffed, and working remotely, you'll need to leave a voice-mail.
    • Please leave contact information, and disclose what you can about the nature of your inquiry.
    • Someone on staff will call you back ASAP, usually within 4 business-hours, 8a-5p M-F.
  • Contact a staff member directly
    • Click on the names of any of the team members below, or on our Meet the Team page. Then you can...
    • E-mail them directly
    • Direct message them in Microsoft Teams
    • Call them directly
  • Send a request to the center
    Request a Consultation
    • This will allow you to disclose more about what you need.
    • The center will review your request and try to assign the right person to respond to you.
    • Usually you'll hear from us within 2 business days.
  • Use our online booking feature
    • Use one of the "Schedule a Meeting about..." links below.
    • Booking a consultation session may be requested online via Microsoft Bookings, by logging in with your MSU NetID.
    • You may request a session with a specific staff member or by topic.
    • You'll get an email confirmation, and the appointment will appear on your Outlook calendar.

Available Instructional Consultation Services

Because consultations are course and educator-specific, an initial meeting between the consultant and faculty member will be used to determine the goals and needs of the educator.

  • Classroom Response Systems & Pedagogies 

    • Description: Tools that support immediate response to questions during live classes, and the associated pedagogies for real-time assessment.
    • Staff Available: Dave, Ellie, Jay, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a meeting about Classroom Response

  • Experiential Learning (including Spartan Studios)

    • Description: The Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation supports Spartan Studios, which recently wrapped up its 3-year pilot. These are interdisciplinary, experiential courses that work with local or community partners, taught by educators from different departments or colleges. We help educators design, plan, implement, and assess these courses. Educators get training to team-teach in our course model; your students experience real problem-solving on multidisciplinary teams and work towards improving wicked, societal problems. Interested educators can discuss ideas for new or repeat courses as well as CTLI support through the Spartan Studios Fellowship (begins in Spring term for courses the following Fall). We can also consult with educators on other topics related to experiential learning.
    • Staff Available: Ellie, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Experiential Learning

  • SoTL

    • Description: Advice on research methods for teaching and learning research.
    • Staff Available: Dave, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Research Methods

  • Facilitating Class Discussions

    • Description: Advice on structuring and prompting classroom discussion.
    • Staff Available: Ellie, Dave, Jay, Makena, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Class Discussions

  • Curriculum Development

    • Description: Support for designing and evaluating degree programs.
    • Staff Available: Jay, Dave, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Curriculum Development

  • Course Design 

    • Description: Support for designing or redesigning individual courses.
    • Staff Available: Dave, Jay

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Course Design

  • Syllabus Best Practices 

    • Description: Support for syllabus composition and design.
    • Staff Available: Ellie, Dave, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Syllabus Best Practices

  • Self-Assessment, Reflection, and Inner Feedback 

    • Description: Learning assessment consultations will assist instructors with evaluating the efficacy of their assessments and help to design or redevelop assessment strategies for instruction. Further, we can work with instructors to establish ways to reflect on their practice and experiences with different instructional and assessment strategies.
    • Staff Available: Jay, EllieMakena, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Self-Assessment

  • #iteachmsu Commons

     

    Schedule a Meeting about iteachMSU

  • Online Programs: Planning

    • Description: The Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation’s Online Program Management team provides collaborative consulting services to support the design, development, and sustainability of online/blended academic programs. Resources and areas covered are market feasibility, program planning and portfolio management, program sustainability (budget and proformas) capital funding and revenue-based initiative (RBI) approvals, curricular approval assistance and strategic sourcing of services.
    • Staff Available:  Jerry, Brendan, Alicia

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Online Programs: Planning

  • Online Programs: Marketing

    • Description: The Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation’s Online Program Management team can assist with securing market feasibility research services; marketing, student recruitment and student retention services as well as best practice resources for program marketing and student recruitment.
    • Staff Available:  KaitlynJerry, Brendan, Alicia

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Online Programs: Marketing

  • Online Programs: Design & Build

    • Description: The Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation works in collaboration with academic programs, units, departments, schools, and colleges on learning experience design. The scope of this work could be specific to an individual assignment, an individual course section, or as large as the curriculum for an entire credential.
    • Staff Available: Dave, Jay, Alicia, Brendan

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Online Programs: Design & Build

  • Online Courses: Quality Review & Improvement

    • Description: Quality Matters (QM) is a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components.
    • Staff Available: Dave, JayBrendan

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Online Courses: Quality Review

  • Learning Assessment

    • Description: Explore strategies, techniques, and theories during learning assessment consultations. Consultations will help instructors identify suitable tools and resources that will help to meet assessment goals for their courses and learning experiences. 
    • Staff Available:  JayDave

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Learning Assessment

  • Student Feedback - 

    • Description: What, why, and how of gathering, analyzing, and responding to learner feedback.
    • Staff Available: BrendanMakena, Dave, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Student Feedback

  • Catalyst Innovation Grants

    • Description: Just-in-Time grants for MSU instructors to support innovation in their teaching practice and in learning experiences for their students. If you need to consult after being awarded a grant, or in preparation for your application.
    • Staff Available: Brendan, Makena, Alicia, Jeremy

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Catalyst Innovation Grants

  • Graduate Fellows in CTLI

    • Description: The CTLI Graduate Fellowship is an 8-month cohort fellowship sponsored by the Graduate School. We welcome eligible MSU PhD students to learn with us, influence the future of higher education, and further develop as leaders and public scholars by becoming a Graduate School/CTLI Fellow. More info about the fellowship is available.
    • Staff Available: Makena, Ellie

     

    Schedule a Meeting about Grad Fellowships within the CTLI

  • OTHER: I have a teaching topic not listed. Please describe your needs.

     

    Schedule a Meeting about OTHER topics