There are a large number of offices and opportunities at Penn State for professional development and support related to teaching at Penn State. A successful approach would be to invest some time early in teaching experiences to learn and improve teaching, then build a regular practice of participating in a few courses, workshops or conferences each year.

Resources Within HHD

Locally, the College of Health and Human Development Outreach office is home to our Learning Design team, including instructional designers, multimedia staff, and more. The Team has a Faculty Resources page, where they share webinars and other material they've created for faculty to use. Several times a semester, they provide seminars, to share ideas on teaching and learning with faculty. These are announced in the HHD Faculty/Staff Digest. Faculty can contact the office and seek individual consultation with the office to design course content, discuss assignments, find out how to make course materials accessible, and other teaching support.

The HHD Office of Undergraduate and Outreach Programs has endowment funding available to support efforts to enhance or improve courses, curriculum, programs, or teaching and learning. Funding up to approximately $5,000 can be used for developing new or revising existing courses or programs, pursuing professional development, or traveling for conferences or similar opportunities. All faculty are encouraged to apply for funding.

Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence

The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence is a rich resource for instructors. The mission of the Schreyer Institute is to advance and inspire excellence in Penn State’s teaching and learning community. Please look over the Institute’s website for a description of consultation and other resources available. Schreyer workshops, including their New Instructor Orientation and Course in College Teaching, are offered throughout the academic year via their events webpage.

Other Helpful Sites & Resources

Teaching and Learning with Technology has a wealth of resources for instructors that want to incorporate technology into courses.
IT Learning and Development provides technology trainings each month, as well as IT assistants, resources and more.
Finally, the World Campus Online Faculty Development program offers many teaching improvement courses that are relevant for online, hybrid, as well as in-person instruction.