Introducing the CIRTL Guidebook Collection:
Offering Faculty the Tools to put the CIRTL Pillars into Practice
Melissa Tully

The CIRTL Guidebook Collection is now available online and features eight versatile course guidebooks:  Expeditions in Learning guidebook, Instructional Materials Development Course guidebook, The College Classroom guidebook, Informal Science Education for Scientists: A Practicum guidebook, Effective Teaching with Technology guidebook, Creating a Collaborative Learning Environment guidebook, the Internship Program guidebook, and the Diversity in the College Classroom guidebook.  These eight guidebooks stem from the work of a community of research-active faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and academic staff in the STEM disciplines.  Guidebook users benefit from the CIRTL research, implementation, and evaluation of the various courses used to develop the guidebooks.  The guidebooks are designed to introduce faculty members to the Delta courses and programs and provide a time-saving way for them to offer similar courses in their departments or at their universities.    

The guidebooks were developed as part of the Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning at UW-Madison.  Delta is the “laboratory” for developing and testing many of CIRTL’s teaching and learning “experiments.”  Project Manager Kitch Barnicle notes, “The National Science Foundation has made a significant investment in the development of the Delta courses and programs. These guidebooks provide a way to leverage that investment by sharing what we have learned throughout the development and implementation process. They are a great resource for anyone involved in preparing future STEM faculty. Using a guidebook, a faculty member could relatively quickly prepare to teach a course or program for graduate students or postdocs interested in becoming a professor.”

The guidebooks can be used in a variety of ways because they provide both a depth and breadth of knowledge and resources.  The guidebooks offer complete programs that can be followed in detail, or instructors can tailor the materials to fit their classroom needs.  Course syllabi, recommended readings, and evaluation tools are just some of the guidebooks’ features.  STEM faculty and future faculty looking to improve their teaching and foster greater student learning benefit from the guidebooks’ versatility.

Professor Steve Ackerman (Atmospheric Sciences), co-author of Informal Science Education for Scientists: A Practicum, notes, “These courses provide an edge to those who will be looking for faculty positions when their research training is complete. STEM students are eager for professional development opportunities in teaching and learning. Participating in these courses and supported with the guidebooks, these future faculty have a set of tools and experiences that enable them to apply specific and successful approaches to their own course.”

The guidebooks are ultimately the result of putting the CIRTL teaching-as-research pillar into action.  Lillian Tong, CIRTL Researcher and Delta Instructor for Instructional Materials Development (IMD) course, worked in collaboration with Professor Bob Jeanne to develop and write the Instructional Materials Development Course guidebook.  The IMD course is designed for teams (2-3 individuals) of faculty/staff and graduate/postdoctoral students to develop instructional materials for existing STEM undergraduate courses. According to Tong, “The IMD course aims to take the concept of teaching-as-research one step further—from a teaching technique to a teaching practice.  Faculty and graduate students work together to think about a teaching and learning problem, like they would think about any science research problem.  Bringing together faculty and students allows wisdom to meet creativity in new and exciting ways.  The materials that the faculty/student groups develop are created to be used in the classroom because you can’t create instructional materials in a vacuum.  The groups must have goals and plans to implement their materials.  Thinking about how the materials will actually be used by students is a major portion of the development.” 

The IMD guidebook is the result of the dedication and hard work of IMD instructors and students.  The other courses and guidebooks have gone through the same rigorous development cycles and are continuously being improved.  The guidebooks offer faculty outside of the Delta program the opportunity to create similar courses in their own departments. 

Visit the Guidebooks page to learn more about each and to download the full versions:
http://www.cirtl.net/guidebooks.html

CIRTL
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