We offer a variety of programs that support members of the Northwestern community develop their teaching skills and enhance student learning. Our programs range from yearlong learning communities and multi-week intensives to hour-long lectures and discussions.
Search below to find the program that fits your needs best. Narrow the results by identifying your role at the university and/or focus area of interest.
The Equity in STEM Journal Club is an evidence-driven reading group intended to deepen one’s understanding of equitable teaching practices in STEM learning contexts. This is part of the broader CIRTL at Northwestern efforts.
Faculty, Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Trainees
Focus Area:
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Core commitments to analyzing and addressing socially constructed and ascribed difference in all priority areas of focus.
Formative Feedback Partners are graduate students, postdocs, and faculty trained in leading Small Group Analyses, conducting Teaching Observations, and facilitating End-of-Term Focus Groups to provide evidence-based, formative feedback on teaching. Throughout the academic year, Formative Feedback Partners participate in a learning community in which they engage in discussions and activities to deepen their skills in providing written and verbal formative feedback.
Postdoctoral Trainees, Graduate Students, Faculty
Focus Area:
Iterative process of aligning course objectives, assessments, teaching methods, and materials to support student learning and reach course outcomes.
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Graduate Teaching Fellows further their pedagogical development by developing or sustaining an initiative in their department around learning & teaching.
Graduate Students
Focus Area:
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Kickoff Session Leaders are a dedicated group of graduate students who help introduce incoming TAs, graduate student instructors, and postdoc instructors to learning and teaching at Northwestern University during the Quarterly Academic Kickoff Events.
Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Trainees
Focus Area:
Aligning with our students and educators who experience inequities and collectively challenging oppressive systems.
Mentored Discussions of Teaching (MDT) is designed to engage STEM and SBE graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in discussions with faculty about teaching and learning. This is part of the broader CIRTL at Northwestern efforts.
Postdoctoral Trainees, Graduate Students, Faculty
Focus Area:
Iterative process of aligning course objectives, assessments, teaching methods, and materials to support student learning and reach course outcomes.
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Nourishment at Noon is a drop-in gathering for instructors, at any career stage, to meet other educators who care about inclusive teaching and want to check-in and share how their efforts are going. This hour-long facilitated space, which convenes twice a month in virtual and in-person formats throughout winter and spring quarter, will center instructor well-being, renewal, and community sharing.
Faculty, Postdoctoral Trainees, Graduate Students
Focus Area:
Aligning with our students and educators who experience inequities and collectively challenging oppressive systems.
Quarterly Academic Kickoff Events feature interactive sessions designed to facilitate graduate student and postdoc transitions to teaching roles at Northwestern University. The events are held every fall and spring.
Postdoctoral Trainees, Graduate Students
Focus Area:
Iterative process of aligning course objectives, assessments, teaching methods, and materials to support student learning and reach course outcomes.
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Reflective & Effective Teaching (RET) offers a unique cohort-based learning community for graduate students and postdocs from any discipline who aspire to improve student learning.
RET teacher-scholars, can choose from our traditional three-quarter sequence of seminars and special-topics workshops or engage on a quarterly basis, selecting seminars and artifacts that align with their stage of teaching, availability, and goals.
Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Trainees
Focus Area:
Core commitments to analyzing and addressing socially constructed and ascribed difference in all priority areas of focus.
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Iterative process of aligning course objectives, assessments, teaching methods, and materials to support student learning and reach course outcomes.
Eleven practices empirically demonstrated to increase engagement, learning, and persistence.
Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Trainees
DEIJ; Pedagogy; Course Design and Delivery; High-Impact Practices
Since 1999, the Searle Fellows Program has been a university-wide initiative for early career research- and teaching-line faculty with the mission to cultivate a community of learning & teaching leaders at Northwestern who center equity/excellence through pedagogical experimentation, critical reflection, and joyful celebration.
Applications open early May and are due by mid-June. For a complete overview of the program and instructions on how to apply, please refer to our initiative page.
Faculty
Focus Area:
Iterative process of aligning course objectives, assessments, teaching methods, and materials to support student learning and reach course outcomes.
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Searle Teaching-As-Research (STAR) is a classroom-based research program designed to improve learning and teaching in STEM and social science disciplines. This is part of the broader CIRTL at Northwestern efforts.
Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Trainees
Focus Area:
Instructors conduct research on their teaching to deepen understanding of student learning.
SoTL at Northwestern offers instructors the opportunity to engage in the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching. Participants work with a Searle Center facilitator and faculty peers to design and implement a research project on a course that they teach or program that they teach in. This involves developing a research question, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting the findings at a conference or in a journal.
Faculty
Focus Area:
Instructors conduct research on their teaching to deepen understanding of student learning.
Theoretical Thursdays is a facilitated reading group intended to deepen your understanding of inclusive teaching pedagogies and principles through engaged discussions with fellow educators. Highlighted frameworks may include culturally relevant pedagogy, engaged pedagogy, trauma-informed pedagogies, feminist pedagogies, and indigenous pedagogies.
Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Trainees, Faculty
Focus Area:
Core commitments to analyzing and addressing socially constructed and ascribed difference in all priority areas of focus.
The Addressing Evolving Needs with Universal Design for Learning Practicum is a three-week, cohort-based online program designed for participants to reflect on the evolving needs of students and instructors, with an emphasis on mental health.
This practicum is now an open educational resource!
Get Started with UDLP
Faculty, Postdoctoral Trainees, Graduate Students
Focus Area:
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.
Each winter, we offer a cozy, half-day retreat for graduate students and postdocs with teaching experience to explore and develop their teaching practices. Focused around a special topic, the Winter Retreat features an interactive keynote address, related workshops to implement evidence-driven teaching techniques in the classroom, and an opportunity to connect with peers over our popular hot chocolate bar.
Postdoctoral Trainees, Graduate Students
Focus Area:
Evidence-informed approaches to teaching that center learners’ lived experiences and social identities.