Teaching Circles

Upcoming Events

Mar 25

Open Education Resources & Canvas Commons

March 25 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Apr 15

New Academic Program Development Workshop

April 15 @ 11:45 am - 12:45 pm

Teaching Circles are small groups of faculty from various disciplines who come together to discuss matters related to teaching and learning. Members meet every other week to dive deeply into a topic as well as develop relationships with faculty across campus. The discussion is centered around one focal book (provided free of charge to participants) which guides the conversation. Members serve as informal “discussion leaders” each week but the conversation is typically guided by the group at large.

If you would like to join a teaching circle this semester, please click on the link included in the teaching circle descriptions below to register or reserve a book by January 31. If you do not register by this date, you may not be guaranteed a copy of the book/material during the first few weeks of the teaching circle.

We always accept suggestions for future teaching and learning books to read!

For the Spring Semester of 2020, three teaching circles will be offered.

Environmental Humanities

The Faculty Resource Center (with the Sustainability and Literature convening groups) would like to invite you to join a Teaching Circle devoted to the Environmental Humanities. This teaching circle will be a forum to share ideas and developments on the environmental challenges of our times and how we could further this discussion in our classrooms. Participants in this teaching circle will read and discuss the following two books:

1) Sarah M. Broom. The Yellow House

2) Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.

Members serve as informal “discussion leaders” each week but the conversation is typically guided by the group at large.

Click here to register: Environmental Humanities or visit the following link: https://forms.gle/byehqxr827kea9dx5

The schedule for this circle is:

February 5, 11:00-12:00
February 12, 11:00 – 12:00
February 26, 11:00 — 12:00
March 11, 11:00 – 12:00
March 25, 11:00 – 12:00
April 8, 11:00 – 12:00
April 22, 11:00 – 12:00
May 6, 11:00 – 12:00

How to Champion Team-Based Learning

Are you thinking about creating more team-based projects and assignments? Are you already incorporating semester-long collaborative learning activities in your courses? The FRC will sponsor a teaching circle that will focus on building successful team-based experiences. Discussions in this teaching circle will be guided by “Team-Based Learning” by Michaelsen, Knight, and Fink. This book describes team-based learning (TBL)–a powerful and versatile teaching strategy that enables teachers to take small group learning to a whole new level of effectiveness. It is the only pedagogical use of small groups that is based on a recognition of the critical difference between “groups” and “teams,” and intentionally employs specific procedures to transform newly formed groups into high-performance learning teams. Members serve as informal “discussion leaders” each week but the conversation is typically guided by the group at large.

Click here to register: Team-Based Learning or visit the following page: https://forms.gle/AJxenKhGgWjzJaF76

The schedule for this circle is:

February 5, 11:00-12:00
February 12, 11:00-12:00
February 26, 11:00 – 12:00
March 11, 11:00 – 12:00
March 25, 11:00 – 12:00
April 8, 11:00 – 12:00
April 22, 11:00 – 12:00

Designing Online Courses

The FRC will sponsor a teaching circle focused on teaching strategies, assessments, and future directions for online learning. “Designing and Teaching Online Courses” by Thormann and Zimmerman has many field-tested examples and practice assignments, and with voices from students, teachers, and experts, this book arms instructors and administrators with the tools they need to teach effective and empowering online courses. This one-stop resource addresses all of the core elements of online teaching in terms that are universally applicable to any content area and at any instructional level. This teaching circle will cover the building blocks necessary to create a successful online course; templates for course building, including sample assignments, activities, assessments, and emails; and detailed treatment of diversity in the online environment. Members serve as informal “discussion leaders” each week but the conversation is typically guided by the group at large.

Click here to register: Designing Online Courses or visit the following link: https://forms.gle/RUGab5j8vLnGnNuz7tpVH9k8

The schedule for this circle is:

February 5, 11:00-12:00
February 12, 11:00-12:00
February 26, 11:00 – 12:00
March 11, 11:00 – 12:00
March 25, 11:00 – 12:00
April 8, 11:00 – 12:00
April 22, 11:00 – 12:00