Notes & News Faculty Learning Communities
This year, CTLT is sponsoring six faculty learning communities. These learning communities have brought together over 50 BGSU faculty for purposes of enhancing their learning experiences and the learning experiences of their students. By definition, Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) are cross disciplinary faculty groups who are engaged in programs with a curriculum about enhancing teaching, research and learning and with frequent seminars and activities that provide learning, development and community building. Sharing information and projects is a staple in each learning community. There are two categories of faculty learning communities: cohort-based and topic-based. This year CTLT sponsors one cohort-based FLC for first-year tenure track faculty. The purpose of this FLC is to support new faculty in their overall teaching efforts and to provide more specific support in the area of one selected course that the faculty member has chosen to modify for the next semester.
Featured Staff Member Jon Immel Computer Art
At the CTLT Jon assists with the following: • Consulting faculty • Blackboard issues • Web sites • Conducting and developing workshops for faculty
CTLT also sponsors 5 topic-based cross-disciplinary FLCs. They are the General Education FLC, the Information Literacy FLC, two Research/Teaching FLCs, and a Technology FLC. The Gen Ed FLC brings together faculty who seek to enhance the learning experiences of both themselves and their students in a selected General Education course. The Information Literacy FLC provides an opportunity for faculty to discuss ways in which information literacy threads can be integrated into a specific course. Both of the Research/Teaching FLCs bring together faculty who are interested in getting support for the preparation and delivery of a manuscript that is ready for publication. The research from these manuscript projects will be tied to the pedagogical efforts of each faculty member. Technology FLC members have chosen to integrate a particular kind of technology into their curriculum and to seek support from one another for the purposes of exploring new technologies that enhance student learning in specific disciplines. The director of CTLT believes that these FLCs create an opportunity for the faculty to have a very positive impact on student learning at BGSU specifically because each member of the FLC consistently shares best teaching and research practices with each other. In addition, within their learning communities these faculty demonstrate and share methods, activities, and information about ways in which student learning can be enhanced. Faculty from these learning communities have the potential to enhance the learning of several thousand BGSU students during the upcoming academic year.
New Faculty Learning Community members gather for a meeting at CTLT
CTLT also sponsors one Graduate Learning Community this year. More detail on this learning community will be provided in the next CTLT newsletter.
The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology * 201 University Hall * 419-372-6898 * http://ctlt.bgsu.edu/ October, 2003
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Volume 4, Issue 2