Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape in Higher Education

by Mary C. Wright

An in-depth look at Centers for Teaching and Learning and their profound impact on US higher education. Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) are important change agents on campus with strategies that are unique and impactful―but sometimes unarticulated or misaligned. In this wide-ranging book, Mary C. Wright maps the landscape of 1,200+ CTLs in the United States through a unique by conducting complex web searches to identify and categorize CTLs, then examining the wealth of information that is available on these institutions' own websites. The data she uncovers reveal important insights into CTLs' strategies and operations and offer a fuller picture of the impact these centers are making on US higher education as a whole. Drawing from this web-based methodology, as well as interviews with CTL leaders and staff, Wright provides a broad picture of educational development in the United States and examines trends in what CTLs aim to accomplish, key strategies for reaching these goals, programs and services they offer, and their impacts on campuses. She also explores new organizational mandates for CTLs, including ones involving instructional technology and online learning, assessment, writing, service learning and community engagement, and career and leadership development. In response to increased constituency sizes and expanding missions and mandates, she notes, centers are also incorporating new faculty and student engagement structures. Key chapters focus on goals and theories of change, program types and exemplars, organizational structures, assessment and evaluation practices, and emerging trends. Offering guidelines for effective strategic leadership, Centers for Teaching and Learning documents the growth of this important organizational unit in US higher education and explains the role these centers play in supporting operational needs, strategic aims, and organizational change.

296 pages, Hardcover

Published September 12, 2023

Reviews

[Liz Norell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Wright has gifted the CTL world with a treasure trove of data and reflection, to say nothing of the wealth of resources for strategic planning and assessment. I could quibble with methods, but that's a bit pedantic and no survey methodology would be perfect. Our team read this as a CTL professional development project and found it seeded useful and generative conversations. Thanks for your efforts, Mary!

[Anthony Molaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides both a wonderful synthesis of the previous SoTL on CTLs and combines it with a review of more than 1,200 CTLs completed by the author in 2020/21. It explains the role, theories of change, strategies, tactics, organizational structure, and evaluation of CTLs.