Carnegie Mellon University

Eberly Center

Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

Eberly Center  ›  Faculty Series on Teaching and Learning

Faculty Series on Teaching and Learning Image

Neurodiversity Faculty Seminar Series: Introduction to Neurodiversity and Neuroinclusive Learning

Event date: Wednesday, May 8, 12-1:15pm ET
Location: Zoom

What does it mean to be neurodivergent and how can instructors support neurodivergent students in the classroom? What do the terms neurodiversity and neuroinclusive mean and how do they relate to neurodivergence? This introductory seminar will unpack these terms, the strengths and challenges of neurodivergent students, and will offer an overview of the pedagogies that can support these learners. Participants will have a chance to dive into a specific pedagogy to discuss and brainstorm specific strategies that they can use in their own teaching contexts.

This is the first, foundational seminar in the Neurodiversity Seminar Series. It will be offered multiple times throughout the year (dates TBD). Future seminars in the series will build off of the foundational seminar and will be deep dives into topics such as designing neuroinclusive classrooms, accommodations for neurodivergent students, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to support neurodivergent students, the neuroscience of neurodivergence, and more. They can be attended in any order. 

All seminars are a joint collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and have been the collective creation of the following units:

  • Eberly Center (CMU)
  • University Center for Teaching & Learning (Pitt)
  • Office for Disability Resources (CMU)
  • Disability Resources and Services (Pitt)
  • Pitt Autism Center for Excellence (Pitt)
  • Olitsky Family Foundation Career Readiness Program (CMU)
  • School of Education (Pitt)

Register here!

Spotlight on Inclusive Teaching

Event date: Thursday May 9, 9:00-11:00 am
Location: Zoom

This event will showcase innovative teaching by CMU faculty and graduate students designed to enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and/or sense of belonging (DEIB). Presenters will share their teaching strategies through a sequence of lightning roundtable dialogues. Attendees will have additional opportunities to discuss goals and challenges around DEIB in teaching and can expect to leave with practical strategies and be inspired to invest in their own DEIB teaching interventions.

The DEIB spotlight will be a remote event via Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants prior to the event. Faculty, staff, and graduate students are welcome!

Faculty and staff: Register here for the Spotlight session. 

Graduate students and Postdocs: Please register here.

Coming Soon! Recurring Signature Eberly Center Programs

Instrumented, Technology-enhanced, Active Learning Classrooms

Proposal due date: TBD

Program duration: up to one semester of class sessions

The Eberly Center provides two instrumented technology-enhanced, active learning classrooms in the Tepper Quad. These rooms are designed to capture rich data on classroom interactions and behaviors that can be used for (a) formative feedback on your teaching and your students’ learning, (b) exploring the effect of a new technology or pedagogy you wish to incorporate in your course, (c) conducting educational research in a real class setting, and more! Faculty work closely with Eberly colleagues to design and implement their proposed use of an instrumented classroom as well as to collect, interpret, and apply any data collected.  


For more info: see examples of use cases and the classroom request form

Teaching as Research Institute:
Can generative AI tools enhance student learning?

Are you wondering how generative AI tools might enhance student learning and equity in CMU courses? Join a community of instructor-scholars brainstorming how to apply generative AI tools in their teaching AND measure the impacts on student learning! Prior experience with AI or educational research is NOT required.

This 4-session program will help you generate ideas for teaching innovations AND prepare to study them in your own CMU course, with tangible Eberly Center support from start to finish. Participants will:

    • Design a generative AI teaching intervention to implement and investigate, 
    • Identify data sources to measure student learning,
    • Design a study to conduct in your course, and
    • Exit with an action plan, including Eberly support, that you could submit as a Teaching as Research Fellowship proposal.

Teaching as Research Fellowship: Generative AI

Generative AI Teaching as Research (GAITAR) Fellows receive a $5000 award and copious in-kind support from a team of Eberly Center colleagues to:

  1. implement a teaching innovation using a generative AI tool in a Spring or Fall 2024 CMU course; 
  2. measure the impacts of the innovation on student learning; and
  3. disseminate findings at CMU and beyond.

Fellows also participate in a special interest group of instructor-scholars meeting several times per semester to discuss their successes, challenges, and lessons learned teaching with generative AI tools. 

Prior experience with generative AI or educational research is NOT required.
All CMU instructors of record are eligible to apply.

Wimmer Faculty Fellowship for the Development of Teaching

Wimmer Fellowships provide resources and Eberly Center support to junior faculty designing or redesigning a course by innovating course materials and/or pedagogical approaches. Each Fellow works in close collaboration with Eberly Center colleagues to design, implement, and assess the impacts of their innovations. 

See more information on the Wimmer Fellowship here...