The primary mission of the Open CoLab is to support the work of PSU faculty. This can take many forms, including assisting them with designing new courses, rethinking existing courses, considering new ways of assessing student work, collaborating with colleagues to consider more interdisciplinary pathways to learning, researching how people learn and what kind of teaching works best in different contexts, and infusing PSU’s curriculum with “cluster pedagogy” (more on this later!) That’s a lot of ground to cover, and as result, through  your work in the CoLab, you’ll have the opportunity to learn a lot about what goes on “behind the scenes” of teaching at the University. 

How we work with faculty also takes lots of different forms, including events, workshops, online modules, and one-on-one consultations. No matter what we’re working on or how we’re doing that work, we try to infuse all of what we do with the values that we believe should be at the center of teaching and learning: solidarity, community, care, equity, trust, empowerment, openness, and emergence. As a CoSA, you might work with faculty right alongside CoLab staff. We think it’s powerful and valuable to have current students at the table to talk about their own learning! This module is designed to help you get your feet under you and understand the CoLab’s approach so you can be prepared to be involved in the conversation!