CIP Strategic Plan

The CIP facilitates faculty conversations about teaching.  Through the resources of the center, Kenyon faculty augment their knowledge of effective pedagogies. The CIP staff assist faculty in implementing teaching and learning strategies in the classroom. The staff also assist faculty with investigating and evaluating pedagogical practices.

Strategic Goals

We envision this as a 3-year plan, to be evaluated and revised in 2022.

1. The CIP supports faculty in exploring new approaches to teaching, including the thoughtful use of technologies.
   
1. Faculty prefer consultation at the point of need to training in advance of a specific case. We will advertise the availability of consultations with CIP staff, especially during the course design process.
   
2. Faculty also like hearing from other faculty about approaches which are working at Kenyon. We will institute 1 showcase each semester where faculty can demonstrate their innovative approaches. We will also introduce a web platform where faculty can showcase their work.
   
3. Our course design workshops have been a popular way to deliver consultation and training in a group format. We can extend the reach of this valuable workshop by reflecting elements of it better on our website and advertising the availability of those materials. We will also experiment with workshops during the semester or mid-semester breaks.
   
4. With the end of the Mellon Digital Storytelling grant in December 2020, we will develop plans for other sustainable ways to incentivize the innovative use of technology.
   

2. The CIP supports faculty in creating inclusive classroom environments through both faculty development programming and direct consultation, in support of the Kenyon 2020 plan.

1. The CIP will connect directly to this collegiate goal by hosting and co-hosting reading groups, faculty presentations, external speakers, and longer workshops which provide faculty and staff with concrete strategies they can use to enhance the ability of all students to succeed in their classes.
   
2. We identify accessibility of course materials and activities as an inclusion issue. We will advance principles of universal design, which ensure that course materials are created with accessibility in mind, and work with SASS on providing training and services which can ease the burden of creating accessible materials.

3. The CIP contributes to awareness, use, and creation of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).

1. We will continue to support the popular book and journal clubs which give faculty members time to engage with the scholarship of teaching and learning.
   
   We will continue to sponsor faculty learning communities (FLCs) as opportunities for small groups of faculty to work deeply with the scholarship of teaching and learning on a particular topic. We will sponsor 3 FLCs per academic year, encourage those groups to share their research process openly, and help faculty find venues where they can present the results of their investigations.
   
2. We will continue to sponsor and co-sponsor speakers who create or synthesize the scholarship of teaching and learning. We should sponsor at least one speaker in this area per year.
   
3. We will offer services to help faculty members with awareness of the scholarship of teaching and learning. This will start with writing regular pieces for the CIP website to synthesize recent or important works. It will expand to include a service to assist faculty with preliminary research into SoTL questions.
   
4. We will establish an incentive program to encourage people to present or publish about their course innovations. This will include small grants to defray the cost of conference attendance, consultation on course designs which can lead to presentation/publication, and promotion of appropriate venues.
   
5. Mid-semester observations and classroom observation protocols can provide faculty members with valuable feedback for evaluating their teaching, and can be used as evidence in SoTL writings. We will continue to offer the GIFT service for mid-semester feedback and design a service for offering classroom observations through the CIP.
   

4. The CIP encourages a collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and inclusive environment for the faculty, in keeping with the Kenyon 2020 plan.

1. CIP will design a plan for needed renovations of Edwards House which encourage both formal and informal faculty collaboration.
   
2. We will continue to prioritize cross-disciplinary topics for our Faculty Learning Communities, book clubs, and article clubs.
   
3. We will continue hosting writing groups and grading groups, which have been popular venues for faculty to accomplish their work in community with others.

5. The CIP engages with faculty, LBIS, and other stakeholders to ensure that the instructional spaces in the West Quad are equipped and used well.

1. In the very near future, decisions will need to be made about the way the new rooms in the library will be equipped. CIP will engage in those discussions as a high priority.
   
2. Shortly after that, the College will need to design, advertise, and begin a process by which faculty can be aware of the resources in those spaces, learn how best to use them and in which classroom situations they give the most benefit, apply to use the space, and use it. CIP will continue to work with LBIS on this process.
   
3. CIP will collect and maintain resources for faculty on the effective use of “active learning classrooms” and facilitate a workshop/showcase series in which faculty members can see different approaches enabled by these spaces.
   

6. The CIP publishes a website and social media accounts which are valuable resources on new approaches to teaching, inclusive teaching, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

1. To be a valuable resource, the website(s) must be regularly replenished with new resources and collections of resources. We will establish a schedule for writing and publishing new articles.
   
2. We will increase announcements through email and social media channels about the new (or valuable older) material on the website.
   

7. The CIP staff are continually developing as professionals and community members.

1. We will prioritize dedicating the time and resources needed for CIP staff to keep learning.
   
2. We will engage with consortial, regional, national, and international organizations as venues where we can continue to develop.
   
3. We will let the campus know when and how we are engaged with external efforts to improve education.