AT&T
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY
Topic
Outlines for Courses Beginning January 26
“Incorporating
Active Learning Strategies in the College Classroom”
“Learning
Communities: A User’s Guide”
“Incorporating
Active Learning Strategies in the College Classroom”
Week 1: Getting Started: What is Active Learning?
· Creating a homepage and introduction exercises
· Discussing our past experiences with active learning
· Readings: “What is Active Learning and Why is it Important?”
Week
2: What Does Active Learning Look Like? Part 1
· Readings:“A
Brief Summary of Best Practices in Teaching”, “A Model of
Active Learning” by L. Dee Fink, “Guidelines for Active Learning
in the College Classroom”
· Discussion themes: self-assessing the degree to which our teaching
strategies promote active learning
Week 3: What Does Active Learning Look Like? Part
2
· Readings: “Active Learning Strategies” (strategy
examples and descriptions), “Active Learning” (strategy examples
and descriptions)
· Discussion themes: Within our academic fields, which topics or
units best lend themselves to active learning strategies; which strategies
would be most readily useful in your courses?
Week 4: What Does Active Learning Look Like? Part
3
· Readings: Case Studies, Problem-Based Learning, and Collaborative
Group Learning In-Depth; “Getting Students Involved”
· Activity: Select a unit from a course that you usually teach
using more passive methods and prepare to adapt it for teaching via case
study, PBL or collaborative group learning.
Week 5: What’s Holding Us Back? Common Roadblocks
to Implementation
· Readings: “Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered
Instruction”
· Activity: continued adaptation of unit to active learning format
· Discussion themes: Which of the roadblocks is in our way? Posting
and commenting on our adapted units.
Week 6: Quick Fixes—Start Using Active Learning
Strategies Today!
· Readings: “Leading Discussions”, “Concept Maps”,
“Some Simple Paired Activities”, “How to Ask Questions
in the Classroom”, “Metacognitive reflection”
· Discussion themes: Reflect on your experience with any of these
less complex active learning strategies—both as a learner and as
an instructor; choose two of these less complicated strategies to infuse
into a course you are currently teaching and describe how you will go
about it.
“Learning
Communities: A User’s Guide”
Week 1: Getting Started: What are Learning Communities?
· Creating a homepage and introduction exercises
· Survey: Why do you want to start a learning community? (To be
compared with results of a survey conducted by Evergreen University Learning
Communities Project)
· Readings: “The Challenge of Learning Communities as a Growing
Movement”, “Beyond a Definition of Learning Communities”
· Discussion themes: Our definitions and experience with learning
communities
Week 2: Why Create Learning Communities?
· Readings: “The Rationale for Learning Communities”,
“Frequently Cited Goals of Learning Communities”, “Learning
Communities: Reweaving the Culture of Disconnection”, “Ascending
Steps of Learning Community Goals and Impacts”
· Discussion themes: What do you hope will happen by establishing
a successful LC? Addressing what matters in college.
Week 3: Exploring Various Learning Community Models
· Readings: “Five Models of Integrated Learning Communities”,
excerpts from the National Learning Communities Project
· Discussion themes: Which of the models interests you for implementation
at your institution? (linked/paired courses, freshman interest groups,
learning clusters, federated learning communities, coordinated studies
programs)
Week 4: Interdisciplinary Collaboration Around
a Theme
· Readings: “Faculty Collaboration: Perceptions on Teaching
in a Learning Community”,
“Learning Community Activities and Direct Benefits”,
· Activity: Small interdisciplinary groups exploring ways that
their content knowledge could be united around a common theme
· Discussion themes: analysis of collaborative process; faculty
roles in a learning community; where do courses overlap?
Week 5: If You Build It, Will They Come?
· Reading: “Steps for Initiating a Learning Community”
· Survey: If the learning community is intended to serve student
sub-populations, which populations are those? (to be compared with Evergreen
University survey results)
· Activity: Continued from Week 4, with examination of student
populations, pedagogical strategies, connections among students and faculty,
other goals, assignments as assessments
· Discussion themes: sharing and commenting on the results of group
activities
Week 6: Sustainability Issues
· Readings: “Six Lessons Learned About Organizational Change”,
“Planning Questions for Developing Learning Community Initiatives”
· Discussion themes: additional considerations when planning LCs,
including: communication, marketing, institutionalization, assessment
and feedback, resources needed for implementation
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