CTSE Communities of Practice
CTSE Communities of Practice (CoP)
(formerly Faculty and Professional Learning Communities (FPLCs))
Call for Participants
The topics and facilitators for the CTSE Communities of Practice for the 2024-2025 Academic Year have been selected. Please review the descriptions and complete the call for participants form if you’re interested in connecting with colleagues around one of these topics.
Bridging Cultures: Enhancing Support for International Students
Facilitated by Carrie Oliva, INTO, and Viviana Leyva, Center for International Education and Study Away
International students bring a rich diversity of perspectives and experiences to our campus, but they often face unique challenges that require tailored support. This community aims to create a collaborative space for faculty and staff to explore effective strategies for supporting international students and enhancing their overall experience at Suffolk University.
The Reflective Collective
Facilitated by Elizabeth Thompson, CTSE
In this CoP, we will investigate the literature and evolving guidelines around practices that are being used to improve student focus and deepen their connection with a topic or text–pausing, slowing down, breathing, reflecting, close listening to others, reading aloud, observing thoughts and feelings, etc. What do experts and studies say about how well such practices address some common problems in the classroom today, from difficulties in focusing and engaging to managing stress?
SoTL in Action: Research-based Teaching & Learning
Facilitated by Rachel Plews, CTSE
Looking for an opportunity to develop scholarship aimed at improving your teaching? The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) “encompasses a broad set of practices that engage teachers in looking closely and critically at student learning in order to improve their own courses or programs, and to share insights with other educators who can evaluate and build on their efforts” (Hutchings, Huber, & Ciccone, 2011, p.xix). Whether you are new to SoTL or have already been engaged in this work, we invite you to join this CoP which will explore SoTL literature and research methodologies, while also encouraging experimentation in your personal teaching context.
Join a Community of Practice (CoP)
The Call for Participants is open from Monday, August 26, 2024 until Friday, September 13, 2024. Facilitators will be in touch with interested participants during the week of September 16, 2024.
Propose a Community of Practice (CoP) topic for the 2024-2025 academic year
Call for CoP facilitators
Facilitators submit proposals for a specific topic relating to teaching and learning to the CTSE, and the CTSE works with facilitators to develop and hone their topics and recruit participants. The CoP meet regularly during the fall and spring semesters to explore their topics. They decide the learning activities they’ll engage in, the goals and values that will guide their inquiry, and the learning experience or artifacts they’ll create through their collaboration.
Any faculty person, staff member, or administrator can propose a CoP! It is a great way to create connections and fuel inspiration among Suffolk community members.
Possible list of CoP themes
Here are several suggested topics, but all ideas are welcome from potential facilitators.
- Guiding Students to Ethical and Appropriate Use of AI
- Improving Teaching through Peer Observation
- Learning about the Science of Learning
- Using Reflection to Deepen Learning
- Trauma-Aware Approaches to Teaching and Learning
- Well-Being for Educators
- Contemplative Pedagogy for Whole Person Education
- Increasing Equity, Access, and Belonging in the Suffolk Community
- Teaching and Learning in Virtual and Augmented Realities
Expectations for facilitators
Supported by the CTSE, facilitators provide leadership for their CoP in various ways:
- Attend a planning meeting for facilitators in August hosted by the CTSE to develop topics and brainstorm the learning activities, outcomes, and group culture that might guide their CoP;
- With their CoP participants, establish a regular meeting time, community norms, and other group parameters, help facilitate discussions and learning activities, and guide the production of an artifact or learning experience;
- Regularly communicate with group members and the CTSE;
- Get advance approval from the CTSE for budget expenditures;
- Attend a facilitators and participants meet and greet at the end of fall semester;
- Meet with the CTSE in the spring to discuss their presentations at the Symposium for Innovative Teaching and Learning;
- With CoP participants, produce a year-end reflection.
Propose a Community of Practice (CoP) topic for the 2024-2025 academic year
Call for CoP participants
Expectations for CoP participants
CoP participants are expected to
- Attend all meetings;
- Come to meetings prepared and engage fully in discussions and activities;
- Contribute fully to the CoP outcomes, including the production of an artifact or learning experience, a final report for the CTSE, and a generous, collegial community culture.
CoP participants are invited to attend a CTSE-hosted meet and greet at the end of fall semester.
Note. Final expectations and goals will be co-created by the group with the facilitator.
Benefits of participating in a CTSE Community of Practice
Sense of community has been defined as a “feeling that members have belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith the members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together” (McMillan & Chavis, 1986, p. 9). Milton Cox (2004) considers the following qualities essential to creating a felt sense of community: safety and trust, openness, respect, responsiveness, collaboration, relevance, challenge, enjoyment, esprit de corps, and empowerment.
Leading researchers on communities of practice, Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner (2015) distinguish communities of practice from less intentional communities: “In pursuing their interest in their domain, [CoP] members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other; they care about their standing with each other.” CoP participants are practitioners who, through their sustained interactions, explore and develop not only a shared language and practice across disciplines, schools, and roles, but also a shared culture of respect and collegiality.
Timeline for 2024-2025 process
| Task: | Due Date: |
| Announcement of Fall CoP program | May 14, 2024 |
| Facilitators’ Info Session (zoom) | May 21, 2024 |
| Facilitators’ Applications Due | July 12, 2024 |
| Facilitators’ Meeting | August TBD |
| First CoP Meeting | By October 15, 2024 |
| Participants Meet and Greet | Early December, 2024 |
| CTSE meets with facilitators regarding Symposium presentations | Mid-March, 2025 |
| Symposium presentations | Mid-May, 2025 |
| Final reports and reflections due | June 30, 2025 |
CoP Annual Budget
References
Mcmillan, David & Chavis, David. (1986). Sense of Community: A Definition and Theory. Journal of Community Psychology. 14. 6-23. 10.1002/1520-6629(198601)14:13.0.CO;2-I.
Wenger-Trayner, E. and Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015) An Introduction to Communities of Practice: A Brief Overview of the Concept and Its Uses. Available from authors at https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice.