Inspiration to Implementation Workshops
The CTLT has hosted dozens of book circles over the past several years. In these circles, educators (faculty at all ranks and staff in educational roles) gather to exchange ideas and share insights from the selected books on a range of instruction-related topics. The book circle goals are to infuse our professional practices with new insights, ideas and inspiration while strengthening the campus community of educators. This new program is designed to provide an opportunity for book circle participants to expand the range of valuable insights that are put into professional practice.
Overview
Book circle conversations have been consistently rich, stimulating and rewarding. Participants on occasion share anecdotes how they have used insights from the book circle experiences to introduce a new professional practice (teaching, advising, mentoring activities) as well as personal growth. It may be, however, that the applied value of the insights and ideas prompted by book circle experiences are not realized to their full potential. This new program is an experiment, borne out of the realization that the brief time allocated to book circle participation (3 total hours in discussion, plus reading time) was enough to generate lots of ideas and intentions but not enough for participants to turn them into a fuller range of potential practices.
Purpose
To support participants in CTLT’s book circles putting their ideas and insights into professional and/or personal practice.
Logistics
Each workshop will be organized around a specific book circle experience. Participants from a specific book circle who join the corresponding workshop will reunite those who have already read and unpacked each book’s concepts and ideas. Others who commit to completing a thorough read of the pertinent book are eligible to join as space allows.
Possible offerings include the following books from CTLT book circles in 2016-17. Those that generate sufficient registrations (6-8 people) will be scheduled on dates that provide the greatest opportunity for the most people.
- "Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning" by Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel (Summer 2016)
- "Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation" by Daniel Siegel (Summer 2016)
- "10% Happier: How I Tamed The Voice In My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge and ..." by Dan Harris (Fall 2016)
- "Teaching With Your Mouth Shut" by Donald Finkel (Fall 2016)
- "Quiet: The Power of Introversion in a World That Can't Stop Talking" by Susan Cain (Winter 2017)
- "Teach Students How To Learn" by Saundra McGuire (Winter 2017)
- "Upside of Stress" by Kelly McGonigal (Spring 2017)
- "The Spark of Learning" by Sara Rose Cavanaugh (Spring 2017)
Design
Much like the book circle experience, the workshop time will be devoted to collaborating with colleagues identifying high-priority insights and converting them into practice while generating related artifacts. Collectively the group will generate a cache of educational resources, which will be available to all participants as takeaways in addition to their own contributions.
Preliminary workshop activities outline will be as follows:
- Review the book to collectively identify the most valuable insights with potential for enhancing teaching effectiveness and generate a priority list.
- Coordinate assignments of participants (individually or pairs) to specific high-priority topics.
- Develop specific materials, assignments, projects, pedagogical methods appropriate for implementing the topic in specific disciplines.
- Share draft materials with colleagues for feedback and revisions before finalizing for distribution.
Eligibility
All campus educators (faculty at all ranks and appointment levels as well as staff in educational roles) are welcome. Those who have already participated in the book circle relevant for the specific workshop will have priority, but anyone who had read the book (or commits to reading the book before the workshop) is welcome to participate.
Stipend
Eligible participants will receive a $100 stipend (subject to tax withholding). Campus stipend eligibility policies are used to determine eligibility.
Questions
Contact Patrick O’Sullivan, CTLT director (posulliv@calpoly.edu)
