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Center for Teaching
Center for Teaching Committee at MCC
The Center for Teaching committee addresses the needs of faculty, both as teacher and as professional. A primary activity of the committee is to create informal and formal opportunities on campus for discussing issues of teaching and learning. Our programs promote interaction of faculty—both full-time and part-time—among the divisions.
Committee Membership:
Len Dupille, Chair and Teaching & Learning Consultant
Thomas Hodgkin, Chair, Center for Teaching Steering Committee
Carla Adams, Jana Sime, Barbara Fox, Kimberly Hamilton-Bobrow, C.K. Pai, Susan VanNess, Georgia Buckles, Stacy Giguere, James Gentile
Center for Teaching System-wide Initiatives
The system-wide Center for Teaching sponsors the following events. Each of these events is aimed at a specific audience in the community college system and participation is limited. Specific information about each event as well as application forms will become available throughout the semester.
Save the Dates
Pathways: New Faculty Initiative *
Fall - October 14, 2011 & November 4, 2011
Spring - March 2, 2012 & April 13, 2012
This program addresses the professional needs of faculty within their first three years of full-time employment. Pathways has both a fall and spring sessions; faculty may attend as many sessions as they would like.
Schwab Institute for Academic Leadership *
March 30, 2012
This one-day workshop, directed at department chairs, program coordinators, division directors, and those who aspire to a leadership position, features a keynote address and workshops focused on managerial and leadership issues.
Barnes Seminar *
May 22-24, 2012
Incarnation Center, Iveryton, CT
This two-and-a-half day workshop allows faculty to share teaching challenges and successes and, in the process, to identify innovations in teaching.
Spirit of Teaching *
September 23, 2012
Holy Family Retreat Center, West Hartford, CT
Centered on the work of Parker Palmer, this one-day event focuses on rediscovering the teacher within the established faculty member.
* These CFT events and programs are open by registration. Several are directed at specific members of the community college system. Information about the programs is sent by email.
Ongoing CFT Initiatives
Narrative Teaching
What is narrative teaching? How can it help you discover new directions for the classroom? How can it help you grow as a teacher?
Narrative Teaching is a program in which journaling is used to explore one's teaching and to identify areas for growth. It is modeled after programs currently in place in many medical institutions and has been used on several college campuses.
In the past, small groups of faculty and staff from different disciplines met regularly to discuss their teaching experiences. Currently we are looking to form a new group of interested participants. Participation in this project requires two things:
- a willingness to reflect at least once a week in writing on your teaching
- a willingness to meet with other participants formally once a month as a group, informally more often in self-determined groups.
For information about registration, click here.
The Teachers Bureau
An Opportunity for Faculty Collaboration
- Visit the classroom of a colleague
- Explore the challenges of teaching another discipline
- Learn about teaching methodologies adaptable to other disciplines
- Discover opportunities for collaborative teaching.
The Teachers Bureau acts as a registry for faculty—full-time and part-time—interested in visiting the classroom of a colleague. The CFT committee coordinates this registry so that an interested faculty member can visit a colleague's class once (but we imagine that some faculty will want to establish a longer series of visits). We ask that the two faculty members meet after the visits to discuss what they learned, to offer feedback to one another, and to identify areas of possible growth.
For more information and an application form, click here.
The Teachers’ Café
The Teachers’ Café is sponsored jointly by Academic Affairs, the Center for Teaching, and Educational Technology and Distance Learning. It is a regularly scheduled event where faculty and staff can come together, socialize and be involved in presentations and discussions of issues related to teaching and learning. The Teachers’ Café is held once a month, typically on Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Each Café will provide light refreshments and the first fifteen minutes is reserved for enjoying these refreshments and socializing. Presentations will begin at 3:45 p.m. Those interested in attending are invited to come with teaching tips or challenges related to the topic to be considered. These discussions are attended by both full-time and part-time faculty, administration, staff and students.
Archive of past Teachers’ Cafés
Case Studies
The Case Studies evolved out of an awareness that much of what faculty know about teaching and learning occurs directly through their work in the classroom as well as through their discussions with colleagues. The case studies offer an opportunity akin to talking with a colleague or colleagues informally around the campus. These studies provide a time for reflection and exchange and thus for professional development. Among those who attend are full-time and part-time faculty, librarians, and counselors.
- Help us plan our case studies for fall 2011 and spring 2012.
- What types of cases would you like us to discuss?
- What classroom issues would you like to explore with colleagues?
Perhaps you’ve struggled with a student who does not want to work collaboratively, or perhaps you’ve gone to a class only to discover few students are prepared for that day’s work, or perhaps an assignment you thought was so well-designed was either too easy or too difficult, or perhaps your students are struggling to balance homework and class work, or perhaps there have been challenges working with colleagues that you would like to explore.
Please write us with your ideas. A brief description of the issue you faced or a brief narrative of the event or the student is all that you need to provide. If you prefer to remain anonymous, your identity and specific details will be changed and the case will be presented anonymously.
Send your ideas to Len Dupille at ldupille@mcc.commnet.edu
Mini-grants
Mini-grants offer an opportunity for a department or program to host a speaker, start a discussion series, or create another professional development activity. The Center for Teaching committee offers mini-grants (limited to approximately $200) to fund in part or in whole such projects. We are especially interested in activities that might be of interest to faculty and staff outside of the sponsoring department or program as well as those within it.
For more information and an application form, click here.
Fall and Spring Luncheon
The Center for Teaching committee sponsors a luncheon or dinner every fall and spring. Each event is centered on a presentation of a teaching and learning related issue.
Fall Dinner
Active Learning Strategies
November 15, 2011
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Spring Luncheon
March 7, 2012
12:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Upcoming Events
Teachers’ Cafés for 2011–2012
- 09/21/11 Developing Grading Rubrics for Written Assignments
- 10/14/11 Developing Effective Assessment Techniques/exams, quizzes, papers, projects
- 11/9/11 Developing Effective Techniques for Student Outcomes Assessment
- 02/15/12 Teaching and Assessing Creative Thinking
- 03/14/12 Interdisciplinary Teaching
- 04/11/12 Team Teaching
All meetings are from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. except 10/14 which is from 11:00 to 12:00 p.m.
Case Studies for 2011-2012
- 9/13/11
- 10/25/11
- 11/16/11
- 1/24/12
- 2/10/12
- 3/27/12
- 4/24/12
All meetings are from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. except 2/10/12, which is from 11:00 to 12:00 p.m.
All Center For Teaching Events and Programs are open to both full-time and part-time faculty
