Dr. Laura Cruz from the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence came to campus on Friday September 27th for an engaging three-hour hands-on workshop about research in teaching and learning. Fifteen faculty from York and Mont Alto attended the event which was highly relevant and practical. Participants learned about the purpose of this type of research, developed research questions, and began to explore the existing scholarship around their current teaching and learning-related issues.
A follow-up session will be scheduled that will help faculty move forward with their research projects towards presentations and publications.
Dr. Cruz (Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 2001) is an Associate Research Professor (teaching and learning) for the Schreyer Institute of Teaching Excellence at Penn State University. In this newly created position, her role is to foster teaching and learning research across Penn State. As a former editor-in-chief (of two journals in the field) and director of two centers for teaching and learning, Cruz has worked with thousands of faculty to develop research projects leading to presentations, publications, external grants, and advanced insight into comprehensive and disciplinary-based pedagogical practices. Her publications, presentations, and invited sessions include work in her first discipline (history) as well as the areas of educational development, educational technology, organizational change in higher education, design thinking for education, and emerging forms of scholarship (including SoTL).
