Good teaching is a complex and dynamic blend of science and art, training and apprenticeship. We know a great deal about how people learn, and the teaching methods, strategies, and practices that can best facilitate learning. Yet teaching other people, in numbers small and large, is always relational and improvisational. It remains art as much as science.

Held once each semester, the Art of Teaching series aims to bring faculty together as a community of teaching practitioners, to learn from those who excel at their art, and to share the approaches we find to be inspiring and generative. It is also designed to shine a light on all the different venues – the labs, the field sites, the seminar rooms, the studios and the lecture halls – where learning happens at Cornell.

Inaugural Event: The Art of Discussion

The series will kick off in Spring 2025 with the Art of Discussion. Facilitating discussions is among the most important of all teaching methods because it encourages students to apply, test, and extend their learning in dialogue. Discussion is essentially structured application with immediate feedback, with rapid iteration. It is the place where novices take steps towards speaking with the facility of experts, where students can begin to think of themselves as invited into the discipline.

It is also perhaps the most challenging art for the teacher to master. Facilitating a discussion with all it entails – asking the right questions, listening and responding fully to participants while simultaneously fitting each comment into your overall plan and also thinking of how to connect it to the next step or idea, all while keeping it related it to the essential learning of the course but also allowing for the organic emergence of fresh ideas – requires concentration and creativity.

Join us to hear from colleagues as they share some of the hard-won secrets of this unique art. Then, participate in an ongoing conversation about how to better master the art of discussion.

Event details

• Open to: Cornell faculty
• Date: TBD
• Time: TBD
• Modality: In-person, location forthcoming. 

Future Art of Teaching Events

The Art of Discussion is the first in a new series of workshops. Check back soon for more information on next semester's workshop.