Dear Colleagues,

The CTE is offering five new Faculty Learning Communities to VCU faculty during the upcoming academic year -- 2008-9. A Faculty Learning Community (FLC) is a cross-disciplinary group of 8 – 12 faculty members who engage in an active, collaborative, yearlong program that consists of both individual and group teaching and learning projects. Participants immerse themselves in exploratory research as “expert” learners attempting to solve various teaching and learning issues.

The five FLCs are:

1. Active Learning: Problems and Possibilities
2. Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century
3. Using Technology to Enhance Teaching and Learning
4. Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
5. How People Learn

To learn more about each of the FLCs and to apply, please visit our website at http://www.vcu.edu/cte/programs/FLC/proposed_2008-09.htm

All VCU faculty are eligible to apply. The Deadline for applications is August 1st, 2008

This article is a part of the CTE’s Monthly Article series. In this article, Parker Palmer reflects on the isolation faculty members feel when it comes to talking about teaching, and discusses how and why we should return to a “community of scholars.”

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This article is a part of the CTE’s Monthly Article series. In this article, Revere, Elden, & Bartsch examine ‘social loafing’ in a collaborative learning environment. Using a quasi-experimental design and survey research, the authors report that students who participated in collaborative learning followed by a group examination had higher perceived levels of learning and more positive attitudes toward the course than a control group who did not participate in a group examination. The students who participated in a group examination also reported less social loafing.

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This workshop provides a summary of the theory and rationale for community-based learning pedagogy which includes: service-learning, experiential education and community projects. We explore how community service experiences can be integrated with course content, and how instructors and community partners work together to make this a mutually beneficial experience. Participants learn about the resources offered through VCU’s Division of Community Engagement.

Vanessa Diamond, MPA
Service-Learning Program Director
Division of Community Engagement

Helen Ruth Aspaas, Ph.D.
Service-Learning Faculty Scholar
Associate Professor, Wilder School

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In this month's CTE Monthly Article series, we feature the recently released 2008 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium. This annual report, now in its fifth year, describes emerging technologies likely to impact teaching and learning over the next five, three and one year periods. Student and faculty generated video and collaborative webs were seen as emerging near-term, while mobile applications, data mashups, collective intelligence and social operating systems are further out on the horizon. Check out the report to see examples of instructional uses of the technologies featured.

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This article is part of the CTE's Monthly Article series. In this article,
Felder and Brent supply us with time-proven techniques and advice that
improve the success of students working in groups. Questions addressed
include 1). How can I best form groups; 2). How can I deal with
dysfunctional teams; 3). What about grading teams; and 4). What about
dealing with teams in an on-line course.

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