Reflections on a semester as a CTL Fellow: Ljupcho Petrov

Written by Ljupcho Petrov, Mathematics

In this blog post, I share my reflections on my experience as an Educational Development Fellow for the Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington University. These thoughts might help others who may be interested in pursuing such fellowships or wish to learn more about alternative work in academia/higher ed beyond professorships.

“Working as an Educational Development Fellow at the Center for Teaching and Learning during the Fall 2024 semester has been such a rewarding experience.  It was truly great working with Lisa, the other CTL fellows, and the CTL team. I co-facilitated EPiC with Lisa, led workshops, and deepened my understanding of evidence-based teaching strategies in discussions with everyone on the CTL team.

There was always a lot of energy and new ideas emerging from our meetings. Lisa was always very open to helping all the fellows explore different ways of getting involved with CTL’s projects and bringing new ideas to the table. Nicole, Sophie, and Alex’s involvement with IGNITE, the Graduate Student Reading Community, the Graduate Student Teaching Orientation, and EPiC as well, and their enthusiasm when discussing their projects during our weekly meetings, was also a constant source of inspiration for me.

As a co-facilitator with Lisa, I designed and led activities for EPiC, a learning community supporting graduate students eager to grow as teachers. The enthusiasm in our meetings was inspiring. EPiC encouraged participants to explore their personal beliefs about good teaching, support each other, and develop skills to engage others in conversations about pedagogy.

Leading the “Teaching as an International Scholar” workshop was both challenging and rewarding. I’m especially grateful to Elina for her mentorship and for our many conversations about facilitating workshops, teaching philosophies, and student engagement. Collaborating with Lisa on running one session of the Mathematics Department’s Teaching Seminar gave me deep insights into the psychology of learning. I also appreciated my conversations with Denise about group work in discussion-based classes and with Eric, who shared his thoughtful approach to leading the Educational Development team. Finally, Lisa and I discussed the idea of running teaching observations. Reflective teaching is at the core of my teaching philosophy, and this is one way to actively engage in continuous improvement.

Overall, this CTL fellowship deepened my understanding of effective teaching and collaboration. It gave me valuable experience working in a team and the confidence to design workshops and contribute to educational development projects effectively.”