New Faculty Programs

Dartmouth's New Faculty Orientation to Teaching aims to provide useful information and introductions to help you get started successfully in your teaching role at Dartmouth. Facilitated by the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL) and Learning Design & Innovation (LDI), the Orientation to Teaching is designed to complement other welcome and orientation sessions (with your department, the Dean of Faculty, and Office of Human Resources) that you might attend as you begin your work at the College. 

At Dartmouth's New Faculty Orientation to Teaching, participants will:

• Discover resources and support for teaching
• Hear from faculty and students about teaching and learning at Dartmouth
• Meet people who can support your teaching
• Meet other new faculty 
• Get excited and more relaxed about teaching at Dartmouth

This event is intended for faculty new to Dartmouth each year, or who will begin teaching at Dartmouth in the academic year.

The next New Faculty Orientation to Teaching will take place in August 2026 on Zoom.

If you are unsure whether this event is suitable for you, please contact us to inquire at dcal@dartmouth.edu.

New Faculty Guide to Teaching at Dartmouth

This guide contains information for new faculty related to navigating university policies, practices, and recommendations as they pertain to teaching at Dartmouth. The guide covers those topics most frequently asked about among new faculty, and is not comprehensive of all policies or requirements. Please refer to the Faculty Handbook and consult with your chair for official rules and policies.

Please note that this guide reflects the documented policies and practices of the institution and its five schools (School of Arts & Sciences, Geisel School of Medicine, Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, Thayer School of Engineering, and Tuck School of Business), and that individual departments and programs may have additional policies and practices. Please consult with your department.

This guide is compiled by the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning and the Learning Design & Innovation Team and updated annually. Please contact us with any questions.

View the Guide

2025 Orientation Materials

Included below are the recordings, materials, and other resources from the most recent Orientation to Teaching.

Orientation video recording and captions

Slides: New Faculty Orientation to Teaching 2025

Campus Resources: Centers, offices, and people who support teaching and learning at Dartmouth

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Teaching & Learning Mailing List: Subscribe for periodic teaching resources, program offerings, and announcements from DCAL

Teaching Resources: Web guides on teaching topics from DCAL and Learning Design & Innovation

Contact Us: For any other questions. We can help, or point you to someone who can!

Dartmouth's Course Design Institute (CDI) introduces an integrated course design process that promotes student-centered teaching and learning. CDI provides a foundation in current theory of course design and – for those participating in the live institute – an applied workshop. Participants apply evidence-based approaches in teaching and learning to the designs of their own courses. This process can be used to develop a new course or redesign an existing course. While CDI may be most valuable for faculty who are new to Dartmouth, it is suitable for anyone designing a course.

Self-Paced Course

CDI content (short videos, readings, additional resources) is freely available on Canvas to all Dartmouth users for asynchronous self-study, and includes modules on:

• How Learning Works
• Course Design Foundations & Learning Outcomes
• Assessment
• Assignments & Activities

The estimated time for completing the asynchronous content is 3-4 hours. Instructors of non-academic courses and trainings are encouraged to pursue the self-study option.

Enroll in Self-Paced CDI Canvas Course

Live Institute

Instructors teaching curricular academic courses at Dartmouth are invited to apply to participate in a live institute. The live institute follows a flipped format and is offered multiple times per year–in June and/or July, December, and March. Participants work through the self-study Canvas content independently before attending live sessions. With support from a cohort of peers and guidance from CDI facilitators, participants practice applying the concepts from the asynchronous content to their own course designs during the live sessions. Live sessions are comprised of interactive workshops, small group discussion with other faculty, and 1-on-1 feedback from facilitators.

During the live sessions, participants:

• Apply evidence-based principles of learning to the design of a course
• Write course learning outcomes and learning outcomes for at least one course unit
• Create an assessment plan to evaluate student progress toward the course learning outcomes
• Consider learning activities and assignments that address the course objectives.

Participants must apply to attend a particular offering of the live institute. Each live institute is limited to 15 participants. Priority consideration will be given to applicants whose courses will run soonest. Applicants will be notified of acceptance decisions within one week of the application deadline.

The application for the December 2025 Course Design Institute will open in September.

Participants have described their CDI experiences this way:      

"It's a great way to make substantive progress on your course, be introduced to best practices, and build relationships with other faculty on campus.  DO IT!"

"Really enjoyed doing this. I learned a lot. I wish I had done this sooner!"

"It was fantastic – a great opportunity to think carefully about teaching with caring experts on teaching."

"Creating an integrated course streamlines the assignments, activities and evaluations -- that will make things clearer not only for me as I choose what materials and readings to include, but also for my students. Aligning things as best as possible can hedge problems in the class later on."

"The backwards course design was new to me and has transformed the way that I think about course development. It was very helpful for me to apply this to a particular course that I'm developing/teaching after not teaching it for a long time. It has also made me reconsider what and how I'm teaching and the overall course design for other courses I teach regularly."

"The pre-work was important for getting a sense of the theories and the context. The pair and group work were good to help formulate ideas and to get feedback on how they could be improved. It was also really great to have individual work time."

"Hearing about other courses at Dartmouth helped me situate my course (level of difficulty, schedule for the quarter system, etc.)."

"So many excellent resources! I liked how the videos were a nice overview of key concepts, which were supported by much more in-depth resources. I also found working through examples in the live sessions and sharing with others was very valuable to me."