Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs)

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2008-2009 FLCs

Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Facilitators:
Geoff Habron, Associate Professor, Fisheries and Wildlife and Sociology (habrong@msu.edu)

This FLC perceives a need to cultivate critical conversation at MSU regarding how to infuse sustainability into teaching and learning across all colleges. This includes fostering campus-wide familiarity and facility with competency-based learning and portfolio assessment.

The primary audience for this FLC is faculty, advisors and staff interested in sustainability and promoting the specialization.

Members plan to build a network of faculty, staff and advisors with familiarity with sustainability competences and program implementation; increase familiarity and use of pedagogies, content, and strategies that promote sustainability across the curriculum; refine existing competencies; generate and test assessment rubrics; and build capacity for competency assessment using electronic portfolio input and review systems.

Advancing Global Competence through Teaching and Learning Abroad

Facilitators:
Inge Steglitz, Assistant Director of Study Abroad (steglitz@msu.edu)
James Lucas, Assistant to the Dean, International Academic Student Life (lucasjam@msu.edu)

In response to the MSU Study Abroad Task Force Report and in the spirit of Internationalizing the Student Experience, there is a need for an on-going discussion related to best practices and pedagogy for education abroad instruction (before, during, and after the student’s experience), research on this topic, and development of resources to support MSU faculty and staff.

This will include the continuation of the discussion and ideas presented during last spring’s Best Practices in Experiential Education conference. This FLC is designed to provide a forum for such discussion and resource development. Though FLCs are intended primarily for faculty, we would like to invite anyone to submit an application for membership who…

• currently leads or aspires to lead a study abroad program
• works with study abroad students before and after their program participation
• would like to participate as we work toward advancing excellence in teaching and learning abroad

Learning About Our Learners

Facilitators:
Jeno Rivera, Assistant Professor, CARRS (jeno@msu.edu)
Glenn Sterner, Senior Director, Bailey Scholars Program (sternerg@msu.edu)

Are you interested in understanding who our students are? Do you wish you could better reach your students? Do you feel disconnected from this generation of students? Our students are constantly changing in attitudes, needs, and expectations. This Faculty Learning Community named “Learning about our Learners” is open to anyone interested in exploring who are students are, how they learn, and how we can better help them learn. It is open to all faculty, academic specialists and graduate students at MSU, and we are looking for individuals to begin our journey of exploring this exciting and important topic.

Quality Issues in Online Learning (formerly focusing on Challenges and Opportunities in Blended 'Teaching and Learning')

Facilitators:
Cathleen McGreal, Associate Professor, Psychology (mcgreal@msu.edu)
R. Joy Durding, Instructor, Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures (durdingr@msu.edu)

Blended courses (hybrid) are those in which there is a mixture of traditional classroom pedagogies and computer-based technologies. But teaching courses using hybrid or blended instructional technology is relatively new territory for many faculty and staff. Although the use of online technology in courses can be a powerful enhancement to the learning experience, it presents unique challenges for both teachers and students. This FLC provides an opportunity for faculty and staff to communicate and explore the challenges of teaching such courses and to network with other colleagues who are experimenting with these new technologies. The FLC will itself also function as a hybrid/blended community through our ANGEL Group site.

Scientists and Writers: Sharing Our Knowledge of Teaching Writing in the Biological Sciences

Facilitators:
Terri Trupiano Barry, Visiting Assistant Professor, Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures (barryter@msu.edu)
Michael Orth, Associate Professor, Animal Science (orthm@msu.edu)

Are you looking for new ways to help students write better lab reports or research projects? Do you wonder how you can squeeze teaching about writing into your syllabus when it is already overfilled with content that must be covered? As a writing teacher, are you stymied by your lack of knowledge about the conventions of scientific writing? In this FLC, writing teachers and science teachers can come together to learn from each other. Topics we investigate include developing writing assignments, responding to student writing, writing in different genres, and using writing assignments to help students learn content. We also study well-written articles from major journals to discuss ways to make the subtleties of science writing more visible for students. A major goal of this FLC is a reciprocal exchange of information on methods of facilitating student development as writers--writing teachers learning from scientists and scientists learning from writing teachers. The ultimate purpose of the FLC is to facilitate student writing in both Tier I and Tier II courses and to open lines of communication across the disciplines to foster an environment of mutual support between teachers in the sciences and in writing.

Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment

Facilitators:
Fayyaz Hussain, Assistant Professor, Center for Integrative Studies in Social Science (hussain3@msu.edu
Richard Lee, Specialist-Advisor, Supportive Services Program (leer@msu.edu)

This FLC is designed to be an experiential and personal exploration of one’s understanding of how our encounters in life impact not only us but others in the classroom and beyond. The format is intended for every participant to be not only a learner, but also an instructor. This FLC is based on the premise that the more we learn about ourselves, the more effectively we can interact with those who are different from us. By sharing experiences and life-changing incidents through activities, guest speakers, special readings and inter-group dialogue, it is anticipated that each person will proceed along a course of reflective self-development. Differences discussed may include; class, gender, gender identity, race/ethnicity, age, religion, capabilities and others. The ultimate goal is that each participant will leave with a toolbox of useful methodologies to integrate healthy and productive approaches into their pedagogies as they relate to living in a diverse world.

Enhancing the First-Year Experience at MSU

Facilitators:
Kirk Kidwell, Assistant Director and Visiting Assistant Professor, Center for Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities (kidwell@msu.edu)
Todd Tarrant, Senior Academic Specialist, Center for Integrative Studies in General Science (tarrantt@msu.edu)

The Boldness by Design task force on Enhancing the Student Experience foregrounds improving the first-year experience as essential to enhancing the overall student experience at MSU. As the Task Force report observes, “The freshman experience is absolutely critical to establishing the foundation for undergraduate education.” In the spirit of this initiative, this FLC seeks to foster a culture of teaching and learning that will enhance the first-year experience of students at MSU. The group member survey the existing scholarship on the first-year experience, investigate effective first-year teaching practices, and explore strategies for promoting first-year student success. We take a holistic approach to the first-year experience, drawing from and engaging with not only teaching faculty but also student services, residential life, and academic advising.

Effective Teaching in Large Classes

Facilitators:
Fred Jacobs, Associate Professor, Accounting and Information Systems(jacobs@bus.msu.edu)
Jon Stoltzfus, Instructor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (stoltzfu@msu.edu)

Virtually every MSU student enrolls in at least one large class during their first two years, with the University offering numerous large classes across almost all disciplines. Effective instruction in large classes typically demands instructional approaches that are different than those that work in classes of 30-50 students, and faculty who teach large courses may not be familiar with some of these methods for engaging large classes. This Learning Community is designed to facilitate discussion among those who teach large classes to share best practices with other instructors. This FLC has the potential to affect the learning of many students across the MSU campus.

Experimental Approaches to Teaching Writing across the Curriculum

Facilitators:
Marya Sosulski, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work (sosulski@msu.edu)
David Sheridan, Assistant Professor, Residential College (sherid16@msu.edu)

The FLC is open to all instructors—new and experienced—who want to discuss the rewards and challenges of using innovative classroom techniques for promoting critical thinking through writing. The group meets twice monthly to discuss teaching philosophy and novel methods for content delivery, active learning, and evaluation and assessment. Members will receive John Bean’s book Engaging Ideas and other materials to work through during the year. Members bring writing assignments that they have discovered to enhance and assess students' critical thinking and skills. The workshop approach helps members improve assignments over the course of the semester; many will be adapted to an online format. Through this format we will explore innovative approaches such as games and simulations, integrative and experiential learning, and immersion experiences.Inter-disciplinary relationships are encouraged, so that students can connect course content across classes, and at different levels. FLC members track their own and students’ progress and gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of the writing assignments for assessing students’ work and determining the best use of instructors' time and feedback to students.

If you have questions or comments, please contact the Office of Faculty and Organizational Development, at 432-2033 or facdevel@msu.edu.