High Impact Teaching Practices are pedagogical practices that have been shown to be beneficial to students and their learning. They take many forms, and some of the practices being used at BMCC include First-Year Seminars, Writing-Intensive Courses, Undergraduate Research, Global Learning, Service Learning, and Learning Communities. Learn more about high impact practices.
Over the next few years, as part of the BMCC Learning Academy’s Title V grant, we will be offering many professional development activities to broaden the understanding and use of these evidence-based practices.
Starting in January 2018, we will be working with the BMCC Learning Academy to develop paired-course learning communities for offering in the Fall 2018 semester to incoming Learning Academy freshmen. The BMCC Learning Academy is a cohort program for incoming freshmen who enroll in a year-long First Year Seminar along with their academic coursework. The Learning Academy is interested in significantly increasing their use of paired-course learning communities for Fall 2018.
Learning communities are shown to foster student success, particularly for at-risk students or those who are underprepared academically, leading to increased student retention and learning. Paired courses are an especially effective form of learning community, and the BLA seeks to increase the number of paired course learning communities offered and train faculty in developing effective learning community pedagogy.
As part of the BMCC Learning Academy’s Title V grant we are excited to announce a new professional development program for faculty to develop paired course learning communities for the BLA.
As part of the initiative, the BLA and CETLS are offering a series of workshops to guide faculty in creating paired courses:
- January 2018: All participants will attend a one-day introduction to learning communities, paired courses, and signature assignments.
- Spring 2018: Faculty will attend a series of workshops in which courses will be paired and faculty will select themes and learning outcomes for paired courses, develop effective learning community pedagogy, and begin to design their courses.
- Summer 2018: Faculty will attend a series of summer workshops giving them the opportunity to coordinate their syllabi and create linked assignments for their courses. Faculty will receive a stipend for their summer work.
- Fall 2018: Faculty will commit to teaching a paired course in Fall 2018. Faculty will continue to meet with each other over the course of the fall semester and will collect assessment data that will be reported to BLA.
Faculty will be compensated for work completed in Summer 2018. If you would like to participate in or have questions about this initiative, please contact Gina Cherry in the Center for Excellence in Teaching Learning and Scholarship by November 16.
