We believe in collaboration, and we know from our own personal experience that having the support of colleagues as we design courses makes a big difference. It is our hope that this page will help you connect with others and with us. A great way to "meet" us is through our interview on the incomparable "Teaching in Higher Ed" podcast (If you aren't already a regular listener, we recommend it highly. There may be no better way to keep up with innovations and resources.)
To work with us in person, come to our Summer Institute!
Set on the lush, forested campus of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, Learning that Matters: the Course Design Institute offers faculty an opportunity to pause from normal routines to focus deeply on meaningful course design. During this four day, resource-rich institute, faculty will find themselves supported and inspired as they develop and design courses that address the needs of diverse students within the contexts of their unique teaching environments.
Please follow us @icbgers on Twitter, Facebook, or Mastodon and use #learningthatmatters to share insights, ideas, and creations with other readers on social media. Or add to our book playlist. Can you think of songs that would be a good match for specific chapters or sections? List them here or use #learningthatmattersplaylist
Until we become overwhelmed with requests, we would like to offer to Zoom (for free!) with any faculty learning community who has purchased ten or more books.
Also, send us your questions, and we'll get a Q&A going. We will also list conferences where we are presenting so you can come meet up with us and online workshops you can attend. And if you have ideas about how we can connect like-minded individuals to team up to work through their course designs together, let us know.
Want to see our shining faces and hear what we sound like? Check out our interview with Chris Myers of Myers Education Press.
ABOUT US
Caralyn Zehnder is a lecturer in Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She discovered her passion for transformative teaching and developed her identity as a professional educator when she was a professor of Biology & Environmental Science at Georgia College. It was at Georgia College where she realized the power and joy of collaborating with fellow educators to intentionally design courses. Dr. Zehnder has facilitated course design workshops that help participants use evidence-based teaching practice that utilizes the most recent research in education, cognitive psychology, and the social sciences to build learning environments that contribute to important student learning. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Penn State and her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia. For 2 years, she was the Professional Development Coordinator at Springfield Technical Community College. On a good weekend, you’ll find Caralyn out hiking and birding with her husband and daughter.
Cynthia Alby has spent most of her career immersed in what could most accurately be described as “avid cross-discipline idea synthesizing.” She studies pedagogy, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, and economics - anything that might yield useful clues to improving the art and science of teaching. Her primary research question is, “How might we re-enchant learning for both students and faculty?” Dr. Alby received a Ph.D. in Language Education from the University of Georgia, an M.A. in Classical Archeology from the University of Cincinnati, and an H.A.B. in Classical Languages and Philosophy from Xavier University. She joined Georgia College in 2001, where she is now a Professor of Teacher Education and works extensively with the Center for Teaching and Learning. She is also the Lead Lecturer for Georgia’s “Governor’s Teaching Fellows,” a program she has worked with since 2001. She and her husband raise a critically endangered breed of sheep on their farm, Shangri-Baa.
Searching for a purposeful profession after stints in both public and private business sectors, Karynne L M Kleine came later to her career in education, which has now fascinated her for 35 years. Throughout that period, she has examined many of the taken-for-granted-assumptions about teaching, learning, and how the world works in order to internalize her understanding of human nature and its intersection with growth and progress of the collective. Dr. Kleine’s educational philosophy focuses on finding out “what is” and imagining and then realizing “what could be.” She calls Georgia home having travelled the US and earning undergraduate degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies (Southwestern College) and Business Administration (San Diego State University), and advanced degrees in Education from the University of Maine (M.Ed. Middle Grades Education; Ed. D. History and Philosophy of Science/Science Education.) As a former dean and now retired professor of education, Karynne collaborates nationally with those in other fields to address issues of equity, particularly inequitable educational outcomes that serve to reinforce the status quo and limit life choices. She and the love of her life enjoy the pace of time together and quietude found in the mountains of Appalachia.
Julia Metzker serves as Director of the Washington Center and Learning & Teaching Commons at The Evergreen State College. Julia received her first degree from The Evergreen State College where she learned first-hand the value of a transformative liberal arts education. She went on to obtain a doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Arizona and completed a post-doctoral appointment at the University of York in York, UK. In her 10 years as a chemistry professor at Georgia College, she discovered the power of community-based learning to engage students. After serving as the inaugural Director of Community-based Engaged Learning at Georgia College she was the founding Executive Director for the Brown Center for Faculty Innovation and Excellence at Stetson University. Julia is currently the co-chair for Imagining America's “Assessing the Practices of Public Scholarship” research group that is reimagining and reclaiming the democratic potential of assessment. During her journey of discovering herself as an educator, she was fortunate to find a cohort of like-minded university educators who co-founded the Innovative Course-building Group (IC-bG) - a grass-roots social network for learning that supports teaching faculty and staff across disciplines. In her work as an educational developer, Julia helps instructors build courses that use dilemmas, issues and questions (DIQs) to inspire students and facilitate transformative student learning.
Cynthia Alby has spent most of her career immersed in what could most accurately be described as “avid cross-discipline idea synthesizing.” She studies pedagogy, sociology, psychology, neuroscience, and economics - anything that might yield useful clues to improving the art and science of teaching. Her primary research question is, “How might we re-enchant learning for both students and faculty?” Dr. Alby received a Ph.D. in Language Education from the University of Georgia, an M.A. in Classical Archeology from the University of Cincinnati, and an H.A.B. in Classical Languages and Philosophy from Xavier University. She joined Georgia College in 2001, where she is now a Professor of Teacher Education and works extensively with the Center for Teaching and Learning. She is also the Lead Lecturer for Georgia’s “Governor’s Teaching Fellows,” a program she has worked with since 2001. She and her husband raise a critically endangered breed of sheep on their farm, Shangri-Baa.
Searching for a purposeful profession after stints in both public and private business sectors, Karynne L M Kleine came later to her career in education, which has now fascinated her for 35 years. Throughout that period, she has examined many of the taken-for-granted-assumptions about teaching, learning, and how the world works in order to internalize her understanding of human nature and its intersection with growth and progress of the collective. Dr. Kleine’s educational philosophy focuses on finding out “what is” and imagining and then realizing “what could be.” She calls Georgia home having travelled the US and earning undergraduate degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies (Southwestern College) and Business Administration (San Diego State University), and advanced degrees in Education from the University of Maine (M.Ed. Middle Grades Education; Ed. D. History and Philosophy of Science/Science Education.) As a former dean and now retired professor of education, Karynne collaborates nationally with those in other fields to address issues of equity, particularly inequitable educational outcomes that serve to reinforce the status quo and limit life choices. She and the love of her life enjoy the pace of time together and quietude found in the mountains of Appalachia.
Julia Metzker serves as Director of the Washington Center and Learning & Teaching Commons at The Evergreen State College. Julia received her first degree from The Evergreen State College where she learned first-hand the value of a transformative liberal arts education. She went on to obtain a doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Arizona and completed a post-doctoral appointment at the University of York in York, UK. In her 10 years as a chemistry professor at Georgia College, she discovered the power of community-based learning to engage students. After serving as the inaugural Director of Community-based Engaged Learning at Georgia College she was the founding Executive Director for the Brown Center for Faculty Innovation and Excellence at Stetson University. Julia is currently the co-chair for Imagining America's “Assessing the Practices of Public Scholarship” research group that is reimagining and reclaiming the democratic potential of assessment. During her journey of discovering herself as an educator, she was fortunate to find a cohort of like-minded university educators who co-founded the Innovative Course-building Group (IC-bG) - a grass-roots social network for learning that supports teaching faculty and staff across disciplines. In her work as an educational developer, Julia helps instructors build courses that use dilemmas, issues and questions (DIQs) to inspire students and facilitate transformative student learning.