About CIRTL

Established in 2003 with the support of the National Science Foundation, the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning seeks to improve teaching skills and increase the diversity of future university faculty in STEM fields. Emory is among 25 new members of CIRTL, bringing the network's total to 46 institutions. CIRTL's members are committed to developing local learning communities that promote proven teaching and mentoring techniques for STEM graduate students. At Emory, this will be carried out by the Laney Graduate School and the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence.

CIRTL Core Ideas

The CIRTL Core Ideas serve as the foundation from which learning communities are built. 

• Teaching-as-research
  • STEM professor as change agent
  • The deliberate and systematic use of research methods to advance teaching and learning practices
  • Self-sustained improvement of STEM education
• Learning communities 
  • In learning communities, graduate students, post-docs, and faculty share learning and discovery
  • Participants collaboratively construct knowledge and achieve learning goals
  • Support growth in teaching and learning
• Learning-through-diversity 
  • Excellence and diversity are necessarily intertwined
  • Students and faculty bring an array of experiences and skills
  • Learning of all students is enhanced if all are engaged

CIRTL Learning Outcomes

• CIRTL Associate: recognize the role of the CIRTL core ideas in effective teaching and learning
• CIRTL Practitioner: scholarly teaching that builds on the CIRTL core ideas to demonstrably improve learning and make the results public
• CIRTL Scholar: scholarship that advances teaching and learning under peer review