The Teaching Academy is now the Teaching Collaboratory!
A collaboratory can be thought of as an open space where teachers gather with peers to explore pedagogy and scholarly approaches to teaching. This change in name better reflects the underlying philosophy of the program, which values open discussion about and experimentation with teaching.
- Would you like to be part of a community of BMCC instructors who are interested in exploring teaching and learning?
- Would you like to enhance your awareness of what you and your students do in the classroom?
- Are you interested in experimenting with different teaching practices in a supportive environment?
- Do you wish you had more opportunities for non-judgmental reflection and feedback on your teaching?
- Are you curious to see what other instructors do in their classrooms?
- Would you like to engage in classroom research to better understand your teaching and students’ learning?
The Teaching Collaboratory (or CoLab for short) provides BMCC faculty from across disciplines with opportunities to explore teaching and learning in collaborative and supportive ways. The CoLab consists of three interrelated programs: Peer Teaching Consultations, the Teaching Fellows program, and the SoTL Fellows program.
In the Peer Teaching Consultations program, full-time and adjunct faculty can invite a classroom visit from a consulting teacher trained in nonjudgmental reflection and feedback. The pair will then meet to talk about the visit and about teaching and learning more broadly.
In the Teaching Fellows program, participants work in small cross-disciplinary groups, including one senior faculty member who facilitates group activities. Group members observe one another’s classes and exchange descriptive, non-judgmental feedback in order to enhance awareness of their teaching and their students’ learning. Building on these insights, participants experiment with small changes in their teaching to better meet the diverse needs of their students. At the end of the program, teaching fellows have the option of continuing in the SoTL Fellows program.
In the SoTL Fellows program, participants engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) through classroom research based on their own teaching. SoTL fellows meet regularly in small groups, becoming members of a community of faculty engaged in classroom research.
