Professional Development
Building Institutional Capacity Through Faculty Development
Strong implementation of CAE’s Critical Thinking Skills Program starts with strong support. That’s why we offer in-depth professional development that prepares faculty not just to teach critical thinking, but to inspire it.
With the right tools and training, faculty gain the confidence to integrate these workforce-ready skills into their existing curriculum, elevating both student outcomes and institutional value.
CAE offers three-day workshops, led by CAE experts, for instructors and education leaders to better:
- Understand the role of critical thinking skills for students’ academic and career success, based on CAE and industry research
- Understand the importance of critical thinking skills in the world of AI
- Understand how to develop students’ critical thinking skills through intentional instruction, deliberate practice, and regular assessment, including outcomes data
- Incorporate critical thinking skills development into their courses by using or developing performance tasks
- Help students improve their persuasive writing skills through improved critical thinking and the use of generative AI
What Faculty Learn: Topics That Translate to Impact
CAE’s professional development sessions are built around the real-world needs of today’s faculty, blending research, pedagogy, and practical strategies to make critical thinking a seamless part of any course of study.
The Why Behind
the Program
First, we unpack the research and cognitive science behind CAE’s approach, helping faculty understand the importance of critical thinking skills and the how and why the program works so they can teach with purpose and confidence.
Curriculum
Integration
Faculty gain ready-to-use strategies to embed critical thinking into existing course content; no stand-alone courses required. Whether it’s a first-year seminar or an advanced course, faculty walk away with subject-specific tools that work.
Effective Use
of Data
Faculty learn how to interpret student assessment data to identify learning gaps, track progress, and provide targeted feedback. Our reports make it easy to turn insights into action.
Best Practices for
Student Engagment
We share techniques to foster meaningful classroom discussion and deeper learning. Faculty receive templates, rubrics, and real examples to help make critical thinking visible and valuable to students.
“I taught the first lesson in the module this morning and I’m not sure it could have gone better. The kinds of discussions I was hearing in class had me grinning from ear to ear. These are the best problem statements I’ve seen at the start of the semester ever.”
~ Faculty Member
Partner With CAE to Build Workforce Readiness
CAE’s Critical Thinking Skills Program gives every student the opportunity to build, practice, and demonstrate the workforce skills that last a lifetime.
“I gained valuable insights into the strengths and challenges of integrating critical-thinking instruction into my course. Critical thinking has relevance far beyond classroom activities.”
~ Faculty Member