New Faculty Support

Welcome to Yale

The Yale community is working hard to plan for various scenarios this fall, and the Poorvu Center will serve as a resource for all faculty. This page provides an introductory guide to resources for new faculty who will be teaching at Yale this fall. Below you will find teaching policies and guidelines, best practices for teaching, how to get started with Yale-specific instructional tools, and teaching programs and support available to you as a new faculty member. 

Timely Support Available to New Faculty

This summer and fall, we will offer timely programming in resilient course design, recognizing that fall teaching may be predominantly online.

Summer 2020 Poorvu Center Guided Support

With our guided support program, you can sign up for a series of training, workshops, and consultations. These services will repeat in two-week intervals through mid-August. Poorvu Center staff members will help you develop teaching strategies for your Yale courses. All registered instructors will receive a designated Poorvu Center contact to answer questions and provide guidance.

For the June 29 and July 27 cohorts of the Guided Support program, we are offering a Course (Re)Design supplement for new faculty. These additional cohort-based components will focus on community-building and address the nuts and bolts of teaching at Yale. To ask specific questions about the Course (Re)Design supplement, please contact Victoria Hallinan: victoria.hallinan@yale.edu.

To sign up for guided support and a Course (Re)Design cohort, please complete the following form:

Fall 2020 New Faculty Orientation to the Teaching Culture at Yale

Dates: Tuesday, August 18, 10-12am OR Thursday, August 20, 1-3pm

During this two hour workshop, participants will relate prior teaching experiences to their new roles at Yale as they learn the essentials of Yale’s teaching and learning culture, engage with some of the “nuts and bolts” of teaching specifically at Yale and in the fall 2020 context, and reflect upon excellent teaching practices by considering the roles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching. New faculty will also have the opportunity to learn about teaching and learning resources at Yale and upcoming programming to support their personal teaching trajectories.

Learning about Teaching at Yale

Yale represents many cultures and subcultures of teaching and learning that reflect the diversity of disciplines and perspectives of Yale students and faculty across undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. The resources below include expectations for teaching and learning at Yale as well as insights into the elements that make up these cultures:

Getting Started: Best Practices

Recognizing that teaching may be predominantly online this fall, we encourage you to leverage the best practices below to guide your decision-making about course design. Employing these practices can help you develop a resilient course that is adaptable to both residential and remote teaching and learning environments. Poorvu Center staff are available to assist you throughout this process.

Start by creating specific course learning goals for your students. Consider the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities you intend for students to develop in your course.
Guided by your course goals, consider which class activities and assessments will provide opportunities for your students to practice and achieve the learning you intend.
On the first day of class and throughout the semester, think intentionally about how to build community in the classroom, which will support your students’ sense of belonging and performance.

Getting Started: Instructional Tools

As you get settled in your new role, we encourage you to become familiar with Yale instructional tools which will benefit your students in both remote and residential teaching settings. Zoom and Canvas will also be used and modeled by Poorvu Center staff during the Guided Support series, for which you can register using the above form.

Getting Started with Zoom - Zoom is Yale’s web conferencing platform, used by Yale instructors to hold synchronous classes and office hours, as well as to bring guest speakers to class remotely.
Getting Started with Canvas - Canvas is Yale’s learning management system, a platform where Yale instructors can post their course materials, administer assessments, facilitate discussion boards, coordinate group work and more.

Academic Continuity