Casper College elevates teaching and academic excellence through the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, which continues to shape instructional quality across campus. During the college’s past accreditation cycle with the Higher Learning Commission, it established the CTLA through an open quality initiative. The center provides professional development, training, and support to faculty members with the goal of increasing the quality of education at Casper College. Director Renee Griffith, who has been in her role for two and a half years, provides faculty with strategies regarding teaching, student learning, and how to assess students effectively.
How Casper College Elevates Teaching Across Campus
At the CTLA, Griffith works to improve quality instruction and student satisfaction through faculty development. Professional development sessions at the center work toward assisting faculty in many ways. These sessions include educating faculty on new technology, how to engage students, drop-in sessions, and presentations from experts on specific topics such as artificial intelligence integration. Most of these development sessions are led by Casper College faculty or by Griffith herself, but the center also brings experts outside the college, including Connie Hamilton, author, speaker, consultant, and Mike Mervis, director of AI strategy and innovation at EdAdvance. Faculty have found these development sessions helpful and have applied knowledge in their teaching.
Another way Griffith helps faculty is through one-on-one sessions. If a faculty member is struggling with student engagement, she will provide them with ideas and tips on how to improve. If an assignment did not meet a learning goal, she will discuss how to improve the assignment for the future. These smaller sessions give faculty members time to focus on key areas of their instruction and assessment and how they might improve.
“Hopefully, the training that we’re providing faculty will translate into daily practices in the classroom,” said Griffith. “There should be different strategies that instructors are using with the students, providing options on how their assignments are completed or what they’re asking students to do. In turn, this hopefully generates engagement with the students, and they’re more interested in the work,” she continued.
The CTLA is also instrumental in training new faculty members at Casper College. Griffith helps connect, mentor, and train faculty through various topics monthly. Casper has eight new faculty for the 2026-2027 term that she is currently helping. She also assists faculty with building their tenure portfolios to demonstrate growth in their department and support across campus. The center has been crucial for faculty development and for creating a supportive environment for new faculty.
Griffith also added that with the growth of AI in education, she has been the gateway to understanding how to implement the technology. Instructors from both sides of the topic, pro-AI versus anti-AI, have been able to have open discussions on how to best use and implement AI learning in their classrooms. The center provides a space to have tough conversations on education and how Casper College can adapt to the changing landscape.
Cultivating Quality Instruction and Student Satisfaction
Casper College’s HLC quality initiative focused on student satisfaction and quality instruction. Mike Moline, associate vice president for academic affairs, worked with Griffith on crafting a center that could improve on these areas. One of Moline’s goals was to define what quality instruction meant to students and how the CTLA could improve upon it. He utilized student course evaluations to understand what students needed most from instructors.
“We’re using student course evaluation data to define student needs. Students write, ‘the instructor provided quality instruction,’ and then we correlate the results from that question with all of the other ones,” stated Moline. “So if there’s a high correlation between the instructor providing quality instruction and the instructor providing timely feedback, then we can say, ‘OK, in a student’s brain, timely feedback is equivalent to quality instruction,'” he concluded.
The initiative also sought to improve student satisfaction, which it has done. Student satisfaction in courses and instruction has gone up since the establishment of the CTLA. The HLC stated that the college should consider this increase as a “win” for the center and the initiative.
The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, directed by Renee Griffith, has helped improve the education at Casper College for both students and faculty members. Through professional development and training sessions, Griffith has increased the quality of education being offered. The Higher Learning Commission emphasized the success of the CTLA when it came to faculty development and participation in sessions. The commission has also suggested that Casper College present the quality initiative and share the success story of the center at the HLC Annual Conference in April 2027.
At a Glance:
- News Focus
- Impact of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment on faculty development and classroom instruction
- Accreditation quality initiative established with the Higher Learning Commission
- Key Participants
- Renee Griffith, director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
- Mike Moline, associate vice president for academic affairs
- Key Takeaways and Statistics
- Measurable increase in student course satisfaction and instructional quality since the center opened
- Monthly mentoring, drop-in sessions, tenure portfolio assistance, and artificial intelligence integration workshops
- Invitation by the Higher Learning Commission to present the initiative at its Annual Conference in April 2027
