Center for Teaching and Learning
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is a hub for professional innovation, collaboration, and transformation. Our mission at the CTL is to strengthen and promote a culture of collaboration, continuous learning and innovation for all members of the LaGuardia community while prioritizing equity and access for all students and contributing to our students’ intellectual growth and career development.
By engaging the collective expertise of LaGuardia faculty and colleagues across the nation, the CTL provides resources and opportunities that support reflective teaching practice, student-centered pedagogies and scholarly approaches to teaching
Learn more about the guiding principles by which the CTL operates its programming
In all of its programs, the Center seeks to manifest these key principles:
- Respect Faculty Knowledge. Effective professional development builds on faculty’s tremendous expertise. Faculty leaders are critical to success. So are formal and informal opportunities for faculty participants to share and learn from each other. Encourage multiple perspectives and approaches.
- Focus on the classroom. Classroom practice is the nexus of professional growth. Link questions of theory to practical possibilities for the LaGuardia classroom. Focus on activities, classroom resources, technologies and approaches that faculty can actually use with students. Model good classroom practice. Faculty should be able to walk away from each seminar with new skills and resources. Make it useful.
- Support Collective Inquiry. Meaningful professional development provides opportunities to explore important questions about learning and teaching through a gradually unfolding inquiry process. Faculty are master learners—help them apply the tools of scholarship to their own classroom practice. Innovative faculty see their classrooms as laboratories, sites for thoughtful pedagogical experimentation and documentation, with the seminar providing opportunities for reflection and exchange.
- Create Opportunities for Sustained Work. Change in professional practice happens over time. One-shot workshops are primarily outreach, not faculty development. Faculty need structures and support that enables them to engage in a long-term and recursive learning process.
- Break Boundaries. Bring faculty together in groups that don’t normally work together. Create opportunities for faculty to explore contrasting disciplinary perspectives, and to collaborate across departmental lines, focusing on the holistic student experience. Help faculty develop ways to combine skill-building and discipline-based learning. Link classroom issues to larger questions about learning, teaching, and our highest goals for the College.
- Create a Supportive Professional Community. Teaching is a challenging profession. Innovation involves risk-taking. Establish a climate of support and thoughtful reflection, generating safe spaces, where faulty can talk about and learn from what doesn’t work, as well as what does.
- Respect Faculty Time. Make sure that seminars and workshops are carefully planned and well organized. Think about the details. Make sure that hand-outs and activities are clear and accurate. Work hard to start on time and end on time. Provide good food.
- Anita Baksh, English
- Rachel Boccio, English
- Luke Cardaio, Student Affairs
- Milena Cuellar, MEC
- Jasmine Edwards, Health Science
- Charlie Elias, Administration and Finance
- Arianne Fernandez, Humanities
- David Housel, ACE
- Dusana Podlucka, Social Science
- Kayla Williams, Student Affairs
- Vanessa Bing, Social Science
- Marta Kowalczyk, Natural Sciences
- Pau Fess, English
- Andre Ford, ACE
- Jesse Schwartz, English
- Manisha Dindial, Student member
- Emily Ramos, Student member
- David Brandt, AA/CTL
- Pablo Avila, AA/CTL
- Ljubica Depovic, AA/CTL
Goals for the 2024-2025 Academic Year
Our focus during the 2024-2025 academic year will be to continue strengthening and integrating pedagogical tools that meet the diverse needs of LaGuardia students. Through workshops, informal discussions, showcases, and seminars, the CTL will support continuous development of Educational Resources (OER), planning of curricula and lessons grounded in the principles of Universal Design (UD) open pedagogy and high impact practices (HIP).
The CTL activities will also support the integration of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools into teaching and learning, strengthening online learning, revitalizing ePortfolio as a tool that facilitates students’ ongoing exploration of connections between academics and career preparation, and integrating experiential and global learning methods into classroom practice.
Ongoing Events
Tuesdays @ the Center, 2:15–3:30 p.m. in E-255
These conversations at the CTL are informal opportunities for faculty to connect with colleagues from across the College who are interested in similar themes or research to share and learn from each other. Please if you are interested in facilitating or would like to suggest a topic.
| Date | Event | Facilitator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| October 1 | Universal Design | Derek Stadler |
| October 8 | Data analysis for Equity and Inclusion | Reem Jaffar and Milena Cuellar |
| October 15 | HIP: ePortfolio | Liz Clark |
| October 22 | COIL | Olga Aksakalova, Marta K., and Anita Baksh |
| October 29 | GAI Faculty Group Update on Projects | Ljubica Depovic and Pablo Avila |
| November TBD | Reading and AI: Can AI Make Students Better Readers | TBD |
| November 12 | Online Learning Classes follow Friday schedule | Joshua Tan Michele De Goeas Malone |
| November 19 | Update on AI PD projects from CUNY Central | Liz Clark |
| December 3 | Assignments That Support Learning and Development, Not Only Assessments | Dusana Podlucka and Lara Beaty |
| December 10 | In Transit: Decolonizing the Humanities SoTL Seminar Faculty Projects | Michele Piso Manukian |
Additional dates and themes coming soon.
Showcases
These are forums for faculty to share their lessons, assignments, teaching projects with colleagues, receive feedback and inspire others.
The Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) Institute will be showcasing innovative ways that faculty have implemented GAI in their teaching as part of this year’s programming for Opening Sessions on September 4. The showcase will take place in two different sessions—see details below:
- Time: 11:10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
- Location: Room E-234
- Facilitator: Ljubica Depovic
- Featuring: Language learning and tutoring, presented by Tomonori Nagano and Lilla Tőke; Math tutoring, real life applications of math concepts, AI-assisted coding, and tutoring, presented by Milena Cuellar, Lucie Mingla, Andi Toce, Claudette Davis
- Time: 12:15 to 1:05 p.m.
- Location: Room E-229
- Facilitator: Pablo Avila
- Featuring: Reading and close reading, presented by Sue Livingston and Paul Fess; Research presented by Ximena Gallardo, Jaime Riccio, Patricia Sokolski, Derek Stadler
Workshops
The Student Technology Mentors (STM) team will offer two AI workshops for students in E232 on Friday, October 25 at 10:30-11:30 and on Monday, October 28 at 2:15-3:15. These sessions will cover free AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT that students can use to support their learning across disciplines. Students can register and learn about other technology workshops offered by the STM team here.
We have several seminars planned for the upcoming academic year:
- Artificial Intelligence and the College Classroom – A Multi-Disciplinary Seminar to Safeguard Student Learning
- NEH Seminar: Oral History in Interdisciplinary Community College Pedagogy
- COIL Seminar: Developing Culturally Inclusive Pedagogy through International Virtual Exchange
- Community Based Learning – An Experiential Learning Approach
- Experiential Learning: Pedagogy, Community Outreach, Career Readiness
- Writing in the Disciplines
- OER Seminar, Spring 2025
The CTL supports seminars, workshops, presentations, and initiatives that promote learning in digital environments.
ePortfolio
LaGuardia is a national leader in ePortfolio practice, with thousands of students creating an ePortfolio in their first semester that they will develop over their academic experiences at LaGuardia. Faculty and staff use ePortfolio as a tool to facilitate students’ ongoing exploration of connections between academics and career preparation leveraging their academic and extracurricular experiences at LaGuardia to create emerging professional identities.
Our ePortfolio Consultants, a team of LaGuardia alumni and current CUNY students, offer their expertise through training in the development and design of ePortfolios, as well as support with the implementation of ePortfolio in the classroom. Services range from workshops to one-on-one student or faculty consultations. Learn more about ePortfolio here, or sign up for a session with one of our ePortfolio Consultants.
Hybrid-Online Teaching
The CTL staff, in collaboration with a few members of the Senate Online Learning Committee, have created an asynchronous training for faculty interested in online teaching. Offered via Blackboard, this course covers pedagogy, strategies, and resources specific to this modality. For further information or assistance, please contact Pablo Avila at pavila@lagcc.cuny.edu. For more resources on online teaching you may also visit the LaGuardia Online page.
Instructional Technology and Online Course Design
The CTL provides resources and instructional support to faculty building their hybrid and online courses. This includes the use of different web resources to engage students with content and to foster collaboration among students in online environments. For more information, please contact Pablo Avila at pavila@lagcc.cuny.edu or the Student Technology Mentor program at stm@lagcc.cuny.edu.
Online Pedagogy, Assignments, Flip Classroom, etc.
Resources recommended and vetted by the CTL staff and LaGuardia faculty. Coming soon.
Online Learning Tools
Student Technology Mentors (STM) provide workshops to introduce faculty to or answer more advanced questions about the technical aspects of Blackboard, Digication and, in fall 2025, Brightspace. Check back for dates.
Reflective teaching practice is at the core of the CTL sponsored activities. From CTL conversations or workshops to seminars, through college wide resources, faculty wishing to apply a scholarly research lens to their own teaching practice can find support and guidance in that process from idea generation to publication.
If you want to get involved, look for communication from the CTL to apply for the SoTL or TIP seminars when they are announced, or email askctl@laguardiacc.cuny.edu about your interest to join the FSPW, described below.
In the year-long Carnegie Seminar on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), faculty investigate significant issues in the teaching and learning in their fields and complete a scholarly paper for internal publication in In Transit: LaGuardia’s Journal on Teaching and Learning.
In Transit: LaGuardia’s Journal on Teaching and Learning
Since 2005, In Transit: LaGuardia’s Journal on Teaching and Learning has invited LaGuardia faculty to submit scholarly inquiries into faculty teaching, defined by Pat Hutchings as “the conditions under which [learning] occurs, what it looks like, how to deepen it with an eye not only to improving their own classrooms, but to advancing practice beyond it.” Proposals span a variety of methodical approaches, including case studies, empirical research, literature reviews, and reflective essays, address the college’s mission and problem-solving and global initiatives, and define disciplinary-based learning objectives.
In Transit publications demonstrate credible knowledge of the background and purposes of the SoTL, as well as faculty awareness of the practical implications of their disciplinary research for the diverse communities and identities of LaGuardia students, faculty, and staff.
Teaching as Inquiry Practice (TIP)
Primarily for new faculty but open to all to study an assignment or a teaching practice, implement it, collect data and turn it into SoTL research. Follow-up support toward publication is provided by faculty mentors and through existing college-wide resources.
Effective teaching requires consistent evaluation of student learning. In the Teaching as Inquiry Practice (TIP) seminar, participants expand their pedagogical “toolbox” by exploring various strategies used to assess learning. Through a series of hands-on activities and workshops, participants will become more thoughtful in their approach to assessment planning and implementation
- Learning Matters Assignment Library (submissions to LMAL is part of CTL seminars) LaGuardia’s Learning Matters Assignment Library (LMAL) is a faculty-generated online resource housed within CUNY Academic Works. Read more about it here.
- Faculty Scholars Publication Workshop (FSPW), which supports faculty’s disciplinary-focused research, provides faculty with support structures for at least a full academic year or more. It is offered by the CTL based on faculty interest, and will be listed under CTL seminars.
- Literacy Brokers Writing Circle, an 8-week session open to anyone working on a piece of writing. Learn more here.
- Library’s Scholarly Publishing Teahouse
- Library workshops on topics like predatory publishing, hands-on practice with new databases, and techniques for researching potential publishers.
Essential Course and Syllabus Design
List of recommended resources: https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/course-design/backward-course-design/index.html
Over the years, the CTL has compiled examples of our faculty’s work with students across a range of activities. For example, the ePortfolio sampler features work by LaGuardia faculty and provides useful, engaging activities that others may use or adapt. View samples here.
Experiential Learning
The CTL and the Global and Experiential Learning Office offer two seminars jointly: Community Based Learning – An Experiential Learning Approach, and Experiential Learning in the fall and Pedagogy, Community Outreach, Career Readiness in the spring. Learn more.
Schedule a Consultation with the CTL Staff Member
If you have a question about teaching, or would like to lead a conversation circle or workshop for a larger college audience, contact AskCTL@lagcc.cuny.edu.
Ongoing Events
Tuesdays @ the Center, 2:15–3:30 p.m. in E-255
These conversations at the CTL are informal opportunities for faculty to connect with colleagues from across the College who are interested in similar themes or research to share and learn from each other. Please if you are interested in facilitating or would like to suggest a topic.
| Date | Event | Facilitator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| October 1 | Universal Design | Derek Stadler |
| October 8 | Data analysis for Equity and Inclusion | Reem Jaffar and Milena Cuellar |
| October 15 | HIP: ePortfolio | Liz Clark |
| October 22 | COIL | Olga Aksakalova, Marta K., and Anita Baksh |
| October 29 | GAI Faculty Group Update on Projects | Ljubica Depovic and Pablo Avila |
| November TBD | Reading and AI: Can AI Make Students Better Readers | TBD |
| November 12 | Online Learning Classes follow Friday schedule | Joshua Tan Michele De Goeas Malone |
| November 19 | Update on AI PD projects from CUNY Central | Liz Clark |
| December 3 | Assignments That Support Learning and Development, Not Only Assessments | Dusana Podlucka and Lara Beaty |
| December 10 | In Transit: Decolonizing the Humanities SoTL Seminar Faculty Projects | Michele Piso Manukian |
Additional dates and themes coming soon.
Showcases
These are forums for faculty to share their lessons, assignments, teaching projects with colleagues, receive feedback and inspire others.
The Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) Institute will be showcasing innovative ways that faculty have implemented GAI in their teaching as part of this year’s programming for Opening Sessions on September 4. The showcase will take place in two different sessions—see details below:
- Time: 11:10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
- Location: Room E-234
- Facilitator: Ljubica Depovic
- Featuring: Language learning and tutoring, presented by Tomonori Nagano and Lilla Tőke; Math tutoring, real life applications of math concepts, AI-assisted coding, and tutoring, presented by Milena Cuellar, Lucie Mingla, Andi Toce, Claudette Davis
- Time: 12:15 to 1:05 p.m.
- Location: Room E-229
- Facilitator: Pablo Avila
- Featuring: Reading and close reading, presented by Sue Livingston and Paul Fess; Research presented by Ximena Gallardo, Jaime Riccio, Patricia Sokolski, Derek Stadler
Workshops
The Student Technology Mentors (STM) team will offer two AI workshops for students in E232 on Friday, October 25 at 10:30-11:30 and on Monday, October 28 at 2:15-3:15. These sessions will cover free AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT that students can use to support their learning across disciplines. Students can register and learn about other technology workshops offered by the STM team here.
Seminars
We have several seminars planned for the upcoming academic year:
The Student Technology Mentors (STM) team will offer two AI workshops for students in E232 on Friday, October 25 at 10:30-11:30 and on Monday, October 28 at 2:15-3:15. These sessions will cover free AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT that students can use to support their learning across disciplines. Students can register and learn about other technology workshops offered by the STM team here.
- Artificial Intelligence and the College Classroom – A Multi-Disciplinary Seminar to Safeguard Student Learning
- NEH Seminar: Oral History in Interdisciplinary Community College Pedagogy
- COIL Seminar: Developing Culturally Inclusive Pedagogy through International Virtual Exchange
- Community Based Learning – An Experiential Learning Approach
- Experiential Learning: Pedagogy, Community Outreach, Career Readiness
- Writing in the Disciplines
- OER Seminar, Spring 2025
Teaching in Digital Spaces
The CTL supports seminars, workshops, presentations, and initiatives that promote learning in digital environments.
ePortfolio
LaGuardia is a national leader in ePortfolio practice, with thousands of students creating an ePortfolio in their first semester that they will develop over their academic experiences at LaGuardia. Faculty and staff use ePortfolio as a tool to facilitate students’ ongoing exploration of connections between academics and career preparation leveraging their academic and extracurricular experiences at LaGuardia to create emerging professional identities.
Our ePortfolio Consultants, a team of LaGuardia alumni and current CUNY students, offer their expertise through training in the development and design of ePortfolios, as well as support with the implementation of ePortfolio in the classroom. Services range from workshops to one-on-one student or faculty consultations. Learn more about ePortfolio here, or sign up for a session with one of our ePortfolio Consultants.
Hybrid-Online Teaching
The CTL staff, in collaboration with a few members of the Senate Online Learning Committee, have created an asynchronous training for faculty interested in online teaching. Offered via Blackboard, this course covers pedagogy, strategies, and resources specific to this modality. For further information or assistance, please contact Pablo Avila at pavila@lagcc.cuny.edu. For more resources on online teaching you may also visit the LaGuardia Online page.
Instructional Technology and Online Course Design
The CTL provides resources and instructional support to faculty building their hybrid and online courses. This includes the use of different web resources to engage students with content and to foster collaboration among students in online environments. For more information, please contact Pablo Avila at pavila@lagcc.cuny.edu or the Student Technology Mentor program at stm@lagcc.cuny.edu.
Online Pedagogy, Assignments, Flip Classroom, etc.
Resources recommended and vetted by the CTL staff and LaGuardia faculty. Coming soon.
Online Learning Tools
Student Technology Mentors (STM) provide workshops to introduce faculty to or answer more advanced questions about the technical aspects of Blackboard, Digication and, in fall 2025, Brightspace. Check back for dates.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Reflective teaching practice is at the core of the CTL sponsored activities. From CTL conversations or workshops to seminars, through college wide resources, faculty wishing to apply a scholarly research lens to their own teaching practice can find support and guidance in that process from idea generation to publication.
If you want to get involved, look for communication from the CTL to apply for the SoTL or TIP seminars when they are announced, or email askctl@laguardiacc.cuny.edu about your interest to join the FSPW, described below.
In the year-long Carnegie Seminar on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), faculty investigate significant issues in the teaching and learning in their fields and complete a scholarly paper for internal publication in In Transit: LaGuardia’s Journal on Teaching and Learning.
In Transit: LaGuardia’s Journal on Teaching and Learning
Since 2005, In Transit: LaGuardia’s Journal on Teaching and Learning has invited LaGuardia faculty to submit scholarly inquiries into faculty teaching, defined by Pat Hutchings as “the conditions under which [learning] occurs, what it looks like, how to deepen it with an eye not only to improving their own classrooms, but to advancing practice beyond it.” Proposals span a variety of methodical approaches, including case studies, empirical research, literature reviews, and reflective essays, address the college’s mission and problem-solving and global initiatives, and define disciplinary-based learning objectives.
In Transit publications demonstrate credible knowledge of the background and purposes of the SoTL, as well as faculty awareness of the practical implications of their disciplinary research for the diverse communities and identities of LaGuardia students, faculty, and staff.
Teaching as Inquiry Practice (TIP)
Primarily for new faculty but open to all to study an assignment or a teaching practice, implement it, collect data and turn it into SoTL research. Follow-up support toward publication is provided by faculty mentors and through existing college-wide resources.
Effective teaching requires consistent evaluation of student learning. In the Teaching as Inquiry Practice (TIP) seminar, participants expand their pedagogical “toolbox” by exploring various strategies used to assess learning. Through a series of hands-on activities and workshops, participants will become more thoughtful in their approach to assessment planning and implementation
- Learning Matters Assignment Library (submissions to LMAL is part of CTL seminars) LaGuardia’s Learning Matters Assignment Library (LMAL) is a faculty-generated online resource housed within CUNY Academic Works. Read more about it here.
- Faculty Scholars Publication Workshop (FSPW), which supports faculty’s disciplinary-focused research, provides faculty with support structures for at least a full academic year or more. It is offered by the CTL based on faculty interest, and will be listed under CTL seminars.
- Literacy Brokers Writing Circle, an 8-week session open to anyone working on a piece of writing. Learn more here.
- Library’s Scholarly Publishing Teahouse
- Library workshops on topics like predatory publishing, hands-on practice with new databases, and techniques for researching potential publishers.
Teaching and Resources Hub
Essential Course and Syllabus Design
List of recommended resources: https://citl.indiana.edu/teaching-resources/course-design/backward-course-design/index.html
Over the years, the CTL has compiled examples of our faculty’s work with students across a range of activities. For example, the ePortfolio sampler features work by LaGuardia faculty and provides useful, engaging activities that others may use or adapt. View samples here.
Experiential Learning
The CTL and the Global and Experiential Learning Office offer two seminars jointly: Community Based Learning – An Experiential Learning Approach, and Experiential Learning in the fall and Pedagogy, Community Outreach, Career Readiness in the spring. Learn more.
Schedule a Consultation with the CTL Staff Member
If you have a question about teaching, or would like to lead a conversation circle or workshop for a larger college audience, contact AskCTL@lagcc.cuny.edu.
New Faculty Resources
The CTL provides several resources to new faculty at LaGuardia, including the New Faculty Colloquium, a year-long program that helps ease new faculty into our campus.
In this year-long orientation to teaching and learning at LaGuardia, new full-time faculty work with CTL staff, senior colleagues, and chairpersons to learn about their new professional environment. Participants learn from each other and colleagues across the College about LaGuardia’s students, college-wide initiatives, networking opportunities, institutional resources to support scholarship and service, and pedagogical strategies proven to be effective at LaGuardia.
The Colloquium provides a setting where new faculty can form friendships that carry into future endeavors. Colloquium activities include introductions to key processes, resources, and information that will help new faculty successfully navigate their first year at the college and set the stage for a successful LaGuardia career.
- LaGuardia Faculty and Staff Portal: Access key resources such as Blackboard CUNYfirst, Outlook, the IT HelpDesk, and more
- A Handbook for New Faculty: A guide with everything you need to know about teaching here at LaGuardia.
Assessment and Core Competencies
The CTL supports the College’s Outcomes Assessment process by providing year-long and mini-seminars that support the development of course activities and assignments linked to the College’s general education Core Learning Competencies and Communication Abilities. Our faculty have determined that these competencies (Global and Integrative Learning, Inquiry & Problem Solving) and abilities (Oral, Written, and Digital Communication) are key for students’ development as modern learners—for college and career.
Every academic program includes a range of courses across the curriculum that incorporate assignments that help students build the Core Competencies and Abilities. Faculty teaching these courses will implement assignments aligned with rubrics for each Competency or Ability; students enrolled in these courses will deposit their work for future scoring as part of a programmatic or college-wide Benchmark Reading. To support assignment development, the CTL announces a range of seminar and mini-grant offerings each spring for faculty interested in participating the following year.
To learn more about these offerings and how they connect with the Learning Competencies and Communication Abilities, or to browse relevant assignments, please visit the CTL Seminars page and the LaGuardia Assessment page.
Check the competencies in your course in Digication, a platform housing ePortfolio.
CTL Initiatives and Mentor Programs
External Partnerships
We value the social dimensions of learning. Collaboration is an important aspect of our work in the CTL, and this extends from our college-based programs to work with colleagues local to CUNY, and on a regional or national scale. Here are some examples of our partnerships with external groups and organizations:
The CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy offers a wealth of professional development opportunities for faculty across CUNY. These sessions are not only another useful resource for faculty but also an opportunity for a cross campus networking and exchange of ideas.
LaGuardia’s Center for Teaching and Learning is an active member of the CUNY-wide CTL Council, a network for support among CUNY campus’ pedagogical centers. The CTL Council’s website describes its mission as working cooperatively within CUNY to prioritize teaching and learning considerations in University planning and decision-making.
TA partnership between the CUNY Graduate Center and LaGuardia Community College, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the CUNY Humanities Alliance trains Ph.D. students in the most successful methods for teaching humanities courses in some of the country’s most diverse undergraduate classrooms. Working with graduate students, administrators in the Graduate Center, and LaGuardia faculty, the CTL supports professional development that helps to broaden and strengthen access to and engagement in the humanities for LaGuardia students.