Lunchtime Reading Group

The lunchtime reading groups are intended to create community around specific topics among faculty and instructors as well as graduate students. The CCTL offers two reading groups per year, sometimes holding separate meetings for faculty/instructors and graduate students, depending on the book. Participants receive a copy of the book and bring their observations and questions to the reading group meetings. Participation is capped at 25 in order to facilitate a more engaging discussion. If you have questions or suggestions for the reading group, please write to teaching@uchicago.edu.  

2025-2026 Reading Groups for Faculty & Instructors

    Wednesdays, Oct. 8 & 22 and Nov. 5 | 12:30PM - 1:20PM | Wieboldt 310 D/E

    Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Student Success  (Felten & Lambert, 2020)

    Peter Felten and Leo Lambert contend in Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Student Success (2020) that relationships are at the center of student success in college. But, they also argue, campuses aren’t necessarily set up to help all students form the web of relationships they need to thrive in and after college. Through interviews with faculty, staff, and students at a variety of higher education institutions across the U.S., Felten and Lambert show how institutions can help all students create formative relationships, build interpersonal skills, and form interpersonal networks. This quarter, the CCTL Lunchtime Reading Group will address the question of relationship-building on our campus, share strategies for building a more relationship-rich culture, and reflect on how we foster relationship formation with and among students in our classrooms. 

    Lunch will be provided.

    Reading Schedule:

    • Meeting 1 (Oct. 8) Chapter 1, “Visions of the Possible” and Chapter 2, “Why Is This So Hard?”
    • Meeting 2 (Oct. 22) Chapter 3, “Making Relationships a Cultural Priority” and Chapter 4, “Creating Relationship-Rich Classrooms”
    • Meeting 3 (Nov. 5) Chapter 5, “Rich Relationships Everywhere” and Chapter 6, “Mentoring Conversations”, "Conclusion" and "Postscript in a Pandemic" 

    Wednesdays, Jan. 21, Feb. 4, and Feb. 18 | 1:30PM - 2:50PM | WB 310 D/E

    Register Here

    The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI (Gallant & Rettinger, 2025)

    Join us in Winter 2026 to discuss Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger’s 2025 book The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI, which explores the challenges of defining cheating and the complex reasons for which students sometimes shortcut their learning. They argue that students’ decision-making around learning are influenced by both internal and external factors, such as how much they value the class (internal) and needing a certain GPA for medical school admission (external). The authors provide ten principles for centering learning and integrity in our courses and suggest adopting grading strategies that help students focus more on learning than on grades. With questions around AI usage and ethics infusing current discussions of teaching and learning, this reading group serves as a place to share strategies for helping students focus on and commit to their learning in an age in which intellectual offloading is easier than ever.  

    Light refreshments will be provided.

    Reading Schedule:

    • Meeting 1 (Jan. 21) Chapter 1 “Why Students Cheat” and Chapter 2 “Communicating Academic Integrity”
    • Meeting 2 (Feb. 4) Chapter 3 “Designing Courses for Integrity,” Chapter 4 “Designing Assessments for Integrity,” and Chapter 5 “Strategies that Promote Success with Integrity”
    • Meeting 3 (Feb. 18) Chapter 6 “Protecting Assessment Integrity,” Chapter 7 “Infusing Ethics into Teaching and Learning” and “Conclusion” 

2025-2026 Reading Groups for Grad Students

    Thursdays, Jan. 22, Feb. 5, and Feb. 19 | 2:00PM - 3:20PM | WB 310 D/E

    The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI  (Gallant & Rettinger, 2025)

    Join us in Winter 2026 to discuss Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger’s 2025 book The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI, which explores the challenges of defining cheating and the complex reasons for which students sometimes shortcut their learning. They argue that students’ decision-making around learning are influenced by both internal and external factors, such as how much they value the class (internal) and needing a certain GPA for medical school admission (external). The authors provide ten principles for centering learning and integrity in our courses and suggest adopting grading strategies that help students focus more on learning than on grades. With questions around AI usage and ethics infusing current discussions of teaching and learning, this reading group serves as a place to share strategies for helping students focus on and commit to their learning in an age in which intellectual offloading is easier than ever.  

    Registration will be available beginning in December. 

    Reading Schedule:

    • Meeting 1 (Jan. 22) Chapter 1 “Why Students Cheat” and Chapter 2 “Communicating Academic Integrity”
    • Meeting 2 (Feb. 5) Chapter 3 “Designing Courses for Integrity,” Chapter 4 “Designing Assessments for Integrity,” and Chapter 5 “Strategies that Promote Success with Integrity”
    • Meeting 3 (Feb. 19) Chapter 6 “Protecting Assessment Integrity,” Chapter 7 “Infusing Ethics into Teaching and Learning” and “Conclusion”