Faculty members deserve opportunities to succeed at teaching. The new Teaching Excellence Center at Iowa State is an example of an opportunity for those faculty who do not feel comfortable with the quality of their teaching or want to become even better to seek help. In this state, institutions of higher education have the only classrooms where the instructor is not required by law to be certified to teach. It is important for universities to realize that classroom teaching, pedagogy, has its own body of knowledge, theories, techniques, and so on. The assumption in the academy is that if you know about something, you can teach it.
Students have a variety of learning styles.
A teaching technique that works better for one might not work well for another. Understanding this concept alone could lead to more varied instructional approaches and higher success rates in student learning. The teaching excellence center is a fine beginning, but more needs to be done to prepare faculty for the classroom. Perhaps an orientation to College Teaching Methods, Techniques and Evaluation should be a requirement for all new or unproved faculty. Another opportunity already available at Iowa State is the Provost's initiative to study in a second discipline.