Guttman faculty are resolutely committed to growth and effectiveness as educators – they initiate and lead the consistent professional development opportunities in addition to participating in them. Faculty dedication and leadership promotes and increases the collegiality, collaboration, and team-building that are critical both to Guttman’s institutional advancement and its capacity to best serve our students.
The substantive, wide-ranging, and multifaceted professional development program is coordinated and overseen by the Office of Academic Affairs. In spirit and in action, it supports the varied offerings for faculty to enhance their knowledge of best practices, innovative approaches, and specific concerns affecting our students and the institution.
We hold in common the following teaching and learning principles, with a commitment to create:
- Interdisciplinary curricula and learning opportunities for students to solve complex problems;
- A culture of collaborative inquiry;
- A collaborative classroom environment where all students participate;
- Integrative learning opportunities that enable students to study and participate/contribute in meaningful ways to New York City and communities they identify as important to them;
- Opportunities for civic engagement and democratic participation to develop and sustain a thriving New York City;
- Consistent opportunities for faculty, staff, and peer mentors to learn from each other by collaborating inside and outside the classroom;
- Opportunities for timely, ongoing, constructive feedback to students that identifies strengths and areas in need of improvement and suggests strategies to build on strengths and improve;
- Curricula that foster inquiry-based learning and build on student knowledge, experience and curiosity while promoting critical analysis of content and creative social action;
- Course content that engages multiple perspectives on historical and contemporary issues;
- Culturally responsive pedagogy that values and affirms students’ diverse backgrounds and lived experiences as a starting point for all learning;
- Content that is culturally relevant and meaningful;
- Student-centered and experiential teaching strategies that promote engagement and active learning;
- Scaffolded and differentiated instruction and assignments to address the needs of a diverse group of students; and
- A culture of academic rigor affirming that disciplines have bodies of knowledge and ways of knowing that are foundational for students in a post-secondary setting.