Academic Upcycling in Faculty Learning Communities: Improving Student Scholarship Together through Assignment Design

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

Room 218

Abstract

In 2007, the University of Georgia's Center for Teaching and Learning piloted a new program by sponsoring several Faculty Learning Communities. These FLCs were inspired by student learning communities, where a group of people come together regularly for an extended period of time to explore solutions to a particular challenge in a way that fosters an intensively collaborative environment. Two librarians at UGA, Caroline Cason Barratt and Nadine Cohen, participated by facilitating an FLC in 2007 and again in 2009 which focused on working with faculty to "upcycle" or revamp assignments in order to more effectively infuse active learning and critical thinking skills into their design. The group explored ways to add active-learning research activities into the classroom without requiring the traditional research paper. The rationale was that such activities will not only create better researchers, but will also enhance course content and promote critical thinking in a way that is manageable for almost any size classroom and for even the busiest instructor. This presentation will describe our experience and detail our upcycling process while sharing the results of our work. We will also include tips for successfully facilitating a similar FLC that may be replicated at other campuses.

Presentation Description

University of Georgia Reference and Instruction Librarians Caroline Cason Barratt and Nadine Cohen facilitated a Faculty Learning Community focusing on working with faculty from a variety of disciplines to “upcycle” or revamp assignments in order to more effectively infuse active learning and critical thinking skills into their design. This presentation will describe their experience and detail their upcycling process, while sharing the results of their FLC’s work from the two FLCs they facilitated in 2007 and 2009. The presenters will also include tips for successfully facilitating a similar FLC that may be replicated on other campuses.

Keywords

Faculty learning communities, Student learning communities, Student research assignments, Information literacy, Assignment design, Critical thinking skills, Active learning

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Sep 25th, 4:30 PM Sep 25th, 5:30 PM

Academic Upcycling in Faculty Learning Communities: Improving Student Scholarship Together through Assignment Design

Room 218

In 2007, the University of Georgia's Center for Teaching and Learning piloted a new program by sponsoring several Faculty Learning Communities. These FLCs were inspired by student learning communities, where a group of people come together regularly for an extended period of time to explore solutions to a particular challenge in a way that fosters an intensively collaborative environment. Two librarians at UGA, Caroline Cason Barratt and Nadine Cohen, participated by facilitating an FLC in 2007 and again in 2009 which focused on working with faculty to "upcycle" or revamp assignments in order to more effectively infuse active learning and critical thinking skills into their design. The group explored ways to add active-learning research activities into the classroom without requiring the traditional research paper. The rationale was that such activities will not only create better researchers, but will also enhance course content and promote critical thinking in a way that is manageable for almost any size classroom and for even the busiest instructor. This presentation will describe our experience and detail our upcycling process while sharing the results of our work. We will also include tips for successfully facilitating a similar FLC that may be replicated at other campuses.