New to TCU: New to Campus Information | Campus Services | Teaching Resources | Koehler Center Services
Classroom Observations
A classroom observation conducted by the Koehler Center can help you see your class from a new perspective and give you ideas about how to enhance learning for your students. A Koehler Center classroom observation focuses specifically on pedagogical practices in terms of their impact on learning, and seeks to find evidence of a wide variety of best-practices. During an observation, Koehler Center faculty developers will visit your class and collect observational data about aspects of the teaching and learning occurring in the room. The supportive consultation following the observation is intended to provide you with formative feedback to help you refine instructional techniques in order to improve student learning.
Course Design & Analysis
The Koehler Center offers individual consultations regarding all aspects of online course design and delivery. If you are building or re-designing a course, we can assist you with refining learning outcomes, creating engaging activities, drafting rubrics, applying design templates, building selected technical elements of your course, and boosting communication within the course. If instructors desire design assistance, partnership with an instructional designer typically begins 1-2 semesters prior to the course going live. We also assist instructors and department chairs / program directors with analyzing TCU Online data and creating program-level reports for accreditors. Please email distlearn@tcu.edu to discuss your needs. All course-level consultations initiated by the instructor of record are confidential.
Experiential Learning Placement (Internship) State Authorization & Reporting
The Koehler Center oversees TCU’s participation in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA). TCU’s participation in SARA permits students to complete Experiential Learning Placements in states other than Texas, subject to certain limitations. Such placements include internships, externships, clinicals, practicums, clerkships, student teaching, rotations, and other on-the-ground supervised learning / field experiences. The Koehler Center is responsible for communicating with faculty supervising INT courses in order to obtain an accurate state-by-state count for TCU’s national reporting obligations.
Faculty Interest Groups
A Faculty Interest Group (FIG) is a group of five to thirty people with a shared interest in a particular aspect of teaching and learning. Intended to foster scholarly teaching and scholarship about teaching, the Koehler Center supports FIGs with organizational help (finding meeting rooms and advertising). FIG members schedule the meetings and set the agendas. Each FIG has a coordinator who takes responsibility for maintaining the group and working with the Koehler Center on logistics.
Insights Magazine
Insights Magazine is published electronically twice a year by the Koehler Center for Teaching Excellence. It features faculty articles about teaching innovation, student engagement, and professional development. It also showcases upcoming Koehler Center events, workshops, and speakers.
Koehler Center Library
The Koehler Center Library houses a collection of current books and journals on subjects such as active learning, online learning, course development, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Materials may be checked out by TCU faculty and students between 8:00 am-5:00 pm, Monday–Friday . Search the catalog.
Mid-semester Analysis Poll (MAP)
A Mid-semester Analysis Poll (MAP) is a method of evaluation that uses facilitated classroom discussion to provide feedback to improve teaching and student learning. A MAP consists of three parts: an instructor pre-meeting, a class-polling visit, and an instructor post-meeting. The process starts with an instructor pre-meeting to become familiar with your course and discuss the process. During the class-polling visit we will give students the opportunity to reflect about what is helping or impeding their learning, as well as what could be improved individually, as a group, and as a whole class. In the post-meeting, we will debrief the results of the class-polling visit as we discuss trends and themes. You will be provided with a written report and additional resources. The MAP process includes individual student reflection and accountability measures, as well as detailed qualitative and quantitative data collection to share with you in the post-meeting.
New Faculty Orientation
New Faculty Orientation welcomes new instructional staff to the TCU community of teacher-scholars. If you’ve ever been to an orientation, you know they can seem like an “information dump” where a variety of speakers each take five minutes to make announcements. That’s not our model; we don’t want to waste precious time making announcements. During orientation, faculty learn about the services and resources related to their careers as TCU teacher-scholars. You will become familiar with the TCU student, as well as TCU’s culture and community. Immediately applicable advice about succeeding as TCU faculty will be the focus of this event.
One-to-One Consultation
The Koehler Center offers individual consultations for full-time and adjunct faculty in a wide range of instructional and design areas. Please schedule a One-To-One Consultation by submitting the request form. All individual consultations are confidential. Faculty can meet with professional educational consultants for feedback, recommendations, or support.
Open Lab
The Open Lab is a place for any faculty member, staff member, graduate student, post-doc, or adjunct who is teaching or supporting teaching at TCU to drop in and work with Koehler Center staff. This is a free development opportunity, and no appointment is necessary.
Come to Open Lab if you…
- are curious about new pedagogical strategies to encourage active, engaged learning
- have questions about using TCU Online
- would like someone to talk through a teaching idea with you
- need help integrating educational technology
- want a quiet place to work independently within earshot of someone who can offer support
Learn more about Open Lab, the location, and hours on our Open Lab page.
TA / GA Support
We offer departments an orientation for graduate students to learn about the services and resources related to their new role in the TCU teaching community. It includes immediately applicable advice about succeeding as a TA/GA, such as balancing the roles of student and teacher or active learning strategies.