Book Circles - Fall 2025

The CTLT hosts book circles every academic quarter and during summers. They are open to all Cal Poly educators. Selected books draw from a broad array of thoughtful and inspiring educational literature. These are opportunities to enrich your knowledge about timely and significant topics related to higher education while engaging with colleagues from across campus. Participants receive a complimentary copy of the selected book with the expectation that they will engage in three or more discussion sessions. Themes for book circle selections include: Mindful Educators, Mastery Teaching, Inclusive Educators, Navigating Academia, Sustainability Educators, and Writing Educators. 

NOTE: Our cumulative Book Circles list of titles is available on the CTLT's Book Circle archival web page.

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ALERT: Deadline for Course Content Accessibility is April 24, 2026 All digital course materials must be fully accessible to all students by April 24, 2026, to comply with Title II of the ADA. The mandate includes all course materials in Canvas to ensure that all students have equitable access to learning as well as to avoid potential legal consequences. Visit Fixing Course Accessibility for details and available support resources.

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Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers

by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross 

Don't be put off by the title -- a more accurate title would be: "A Treasure Trove of Easy and Powerful Ways to Engage Your Students in Active Learning and Critical Thinking." It is a rich compendium of practical and effective methods for prompting student to do the cognitive work essential for learning. A well-written Part 1 makes a compelling case for educators to create opportunities for students to make their thinking and knowledge visible to themselves and strengthen their metacognitive skills. Classroom assessment techniques (CATs) provide excellent ways to do just that -- while also providing instructors with crucial insights into their students' learning that is otherwise obscure or invisible. Part 2 provides an extensive compilation of fifty (50!) CATs to explore for possible use, including detailed instructions for implementation. Most are quite easy and quick to implement, and when used for formative assessment (for improvement, not grading) requires very little time from instructors. Expect to come away with an array of useful methods that you can use immediately to transform your teaching with active learning that engages all students. 

A "Mastery Teaching" selection

Dates: Wednesdays, Oct 22, 29, Nov. 5 and 12
Time: 9:10-10 am
Location: Onsite (Chase Hall 104) and online (zoom)
Facilitator: Patrick O'Sullivan, PhD (CTLT)

Register for Fall 2025 Book Circle

The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI

Tricia bertram Gallant, PhD, and David A. Rettinger, PhD

Amid the many concerns about how artificial intelligence can undermine teaching and learning, perhaps the most widespread is the worry about threats to academic integrity. In this new (2025) book, authors Gallant and Rettinger have compiled a rich set of clear and actionable steps in the context of AI's presence on campuses. Areas examined include how to communicate integrity expectations, designing your courses and assessments for integrity, and ways to protect the integrity of your assessments. Faculty can explore and then make decisions about what to adopt now (and what to implement later as time and energy allow). Many of their recommendations are readily implementable for Fall. Benefits extend beyond countering cheating -- as others have persuasively argued (e.g., "Cheating Lessons" by James Lang), the recommended course design principles and teaching practices line up quite well with models and methods already known to foster more inclusive and equitable learning environments and to enhance student success. Amid the AI-related tumult, you are likely to come away better prepared as an educator to navigate effectively through these early stages of the AI era.

A "Mastery Teaching" selection

Dates: Tuesdays Oct 21, 28, Nov. 4 and 18 (not on Veteran's Day)
Time: 9:10-10 am
Location: Onsite (Chase Hall 104) and online (zoom)
Facilitator: Patrick O'Sullivan, PhD (CTLT)

Register for Fall 2025 Book Circle