The Center for Teaching and Learning

The Whitman College faculty, well known for its accessibility to students, has a new resource at its disposal.

Tucked away on the third floor of the newly-renovated Penrose Library is the College's latest commitment to excellence.

The Center for Teaching and Learning opened mid-September and has been working quietly on its mission to promote a campus-wide environment that values and encourages excellent teaching, said acting director Deborah DuNann Winter, professor of psychology.

Winter credits president Tom Cronin with recognizing the importance of supporting a community of teachers who talk about and constantly strive to improve their teaching, and for including the center in the College's plans for the library renovation. She and her steering committee have already sponsored one major speaker and two informal gatherings.

The center's opening presentation by Stephen Brookfield, author of Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, was attended by about 50 faculty members, said Winter. Brookfield, a distinguished professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, spoke on critical reflection, "the concept that to be good at teaching, you need to continually reflect on your practice as a teacher."

Winter said she and the steering committee are designing a program for the center based on this concept, noting that an education library is taking shape on the bookshelves outside the center's conference room. A major part of the program will consist of informal gatherings using a discussion format.

"The plan is to create an array of opportunities to examine many different teaching techniques. There is no single right way to teach. We just want to create frequent occasions for people who want to get together and talk about different aspects of teaching," Winter said. She foresees in-house presentations on topics chosen by faculty members. "Two presentations we've had this year — one on integrating research into the classroom, the other on different modalities through which students learn — have been given by faculty volunteers. We have tremendous talent in this faculty, and we can learn a lot from each other."

By spring Winter expects to have a bi-weekly series of programs available for those who want to get together and discuss teaching and learning. And even though Winter herself is the 1997 recipient of the College's Fluno Award for Distinguished Social Science Teaching, she will be one of the first in line. "I don't feel satisfied as a teacher at all. One of the things I'm working on right now," said Winter, "is how to invite shy students into discussion. I'm trying to learn how to call on students without overwhelming them to the point they can't even remember their names, let alone the answer to my question. I know it can be done — I've seen colleagues do it."

The new center will offer resources for Whitman faculty who want to discuss aspects of teaching and learning, said Deborah DuNann Winter, right, acting director.

Even though teaching requires continual reflection and work, it's what she's always wanted to do, said Winter. "I decided I wanted to be a college professor when I was a student at Grinnell College. I love teaching and academic life — it's like a constant reincarnation. Every four months you get to start fresh with a fresh class. A whole new world is there for your creation." In addition, it's a constant challenge. "You can't ride on past accomplishments. You have to create a whole new group dynamic and a whole new relationship with the material."

Teaching — with all of its enjoyable and challenging aspects — is what Winter hopes people will talk about at the center and on campus. "If we can bring faculty into a culture in which people are talking about teaching as part of their earliest experience, it will eventually create a different Zeitgeist at Whitman." Traditionally, she said, teaching has been a fairly private matter, with the notable exception of the first-year core program where about 20 teachers regularly talk about how to teach the material, in part because most of them are teaching out of their discipline. "We'd like to bring conversation about teaching to the whole campus, making teaching and learning something that's a big part of the public discourse."