Building Teaching and Learning Communities: Creating Shared Meaning and Purpose

“The book is effervescent with potential to transform our work in everything from our relations with students to our role in developing teaching cultures on campus.” —from the Foreword by Margy MacMillan Teaching and learning communities are communities of practice in which a group of faculty and staff from across disciplines regularly meet to discuss topics of common interest and to learn together how to enhance teaching and learning. Since these teaching and learning communities can bring together members who might not have otherwise interacted, new ideas, practices, and synergies can arise. The role of librarians in teaching and learning has been reexamined and reinvigorated by the introduction of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, which offers a conceptual approach and theoretical foundations that are new and challenging. Building Teaching and Learning Communities: Creating Shared Meaning and Purpose goes beyond the library profession for inspiration and insights from leading experts in higher education pedagogy and educational development across North America to open a window on the wider world of teaching and learning, and includes discussion of pedagogical theories and practices including threshold concepts and stuck places; the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL); disciplinary approaches to pedagogy; the role of signature pedagogies; inclusion of student voices; metaliteracy; reflective practice; affective, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of learning; liminal spaces; and faculty as learners. This unique collection asks each of the authors to address this question: What do we as educators need to learn (or unlearn) and experience so we can create teaching and learning communities across disciplines and learning levels based on shared meaning and purpose? Six fascinating chapters explore this question in different ways: Building a Culture of Teaching and Learning, Pat Hutchings and Mary Deane Sorcinelli Sit a Spell: Embracing the Liminality of Pedagogical Change through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Linda Hodges The Crossroads of SoTL and Signature Pedagogies, Nancy L. Chick Bottlenecks of Information Literacy, Joan Middendorf and Andrea Baer Developing Learning Partnerships: Navigating Troublesome and Transformational Relationships, Peter Felten, Kristina Meinking, Shannon Tennant, and Katherine Westover When Teachers Talk to Teachers: Shared Traits between Writing Across the Curriculum and Faculty Learning Communities, Kateryna A. R. Schray Building Teaching and Learning Communities is an entry into some of the most interesting conversations in higher education and offers ways for librarians to socialize in learning theory and begin “thinking together” with faculty. It proposes questions, challenges assumptions, provides examples to be used and adapted, and can help you better prepare as teachers and pursue the essential role of conversation and collaboration with faculty and students.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Foreword Margy MacMillan Introduction Lessons from the Chapters Themes across the Chapters Partnerships, Professional Development, and Community Building Adopting New Pedagogical Practices in a Community Context Multidisciplinarity and Community Librarians in Teaching and Learning Communities Becoming Part of the Whole Notes Bibliography Chapter 1. Building a Culture of Teaching and Learning Pat Hutchings and Mary Deane Sorcinelli A Framework for Culture Change Four Levers 1. Professional Development 2. Resources 3. Incentives and Rewards 4. Leadership The Role of Library Faculty in Fostering a Culture of Teaching and Learning Notes Bibliography Chapter 2. Sit a Spell: Embracing the Liminality of Pedagogical Change through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Linda Hodges Pedagogy as a Field of Learning Faculty Belief Systems around Teaching Threshold Concepts in Pedagogy Threshold Concepts and SoTL Reflecting on the Role of Teacher—Content Provider versus Learning Facilitator Reflecting on the Role of Students in Learning and Teaching Reflecting on Teaching in a Community of Practice Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 3. The Crossroads of SoTL and Signature Pedagogies Nancy L. Chick Signature Pedagogies Information Literacy and Signature Pedagogies Scholarship of Teaching and Learning SoTL and Signature Pedagogies Notes Bibliography Chapter 4. Bottlenecks of Information Literacy Joan Middendorf and Andrea Baer What Is Decoding the Disciplines? The Survey Key Survey Findings Applying Decoding to a Conceptual “Bottleneck” Strategies for Addressing Bottlenecks and Sub-bottlenecks A Sub-bottleneck Strategy (Example): Developing Search Terms 1. The Bottleneck? What Are Students Unable to Do? 2. Mental Action: What Mental Actions Does the Expert Perform in Order to Get Past the Bottleneck? 3. Modeling the Thinking: What Doe Experts Do to Get Through the Bottleneck? What Mental Action Do They Use? 4. Practice and Feedback: How Will Students Practice These Mental Actions? How Will They Receive Feedback to Make Improvements? 5. Motivation: How Can Students Be Motivated to Persist in Using This New Mental Action? 6. Assessment: How Will I Assess Student Mastery of the Mental Action? 7. Sharing the Results: How Will I Share What I Have Learned? Connecting Sub-bottlenecks with Larger Conceptual Bottlenecks Decoding and Librarian-Faculty Partnership Decoding and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Notes Bibliography Chapter 5. Developing Learning Partnerships: Navigating Troublesome and Transformational Relationships Peter Felten, Kristina Meinking, Shannon Tennant, and Katherine Westover Visions of the Possible The Case of an Evolving Library Partnership The First Steps toward Partnership The New Step: Cocreating a Course Lessons Learned and Troubles Ahead Advice for Building Partnerships Notes Bibliography Chapter 6. When Teachers Talk to Teachers: Shared Traits between Writing Across the Curriculum and Faculty Learning Communities Kateryna A. R. Schray WAC as a Proto-FLC Faculty Learning Communities at Marshall University Librarians in FLCs Closing Thoughts Acknowledgements Appendix: FLCs at Marshall University by Facilitator and Topic Notes Bibliography Conclusion Teacher Identity within Communities Community Formation Understanding Campus Networks Productive Engagement in Group Liminality The Framework as Community-Building Catalyst A Call to Action Notes Bibliography About the Contributors