For early career higher education instructors, teaching in a large institution can be a solitary task. Although we are surrounded by other teachers, we often find ourselves working alone, unable to access learning and teaching communities developed for both students and full time faculty members. This is especially true of educators in positions of precarious employment—an increasingly significant proportion of the teaching staff at most large universities.
This workshop will use games, structured small group discussions, and collaborative brainstorming to provide some hands-on strategies for building a community that can support and enrich the teaching approaches of early career educators. We will also explore and test a framework for putting that community to work in a collaborative way.
Participants will address the following questions: what are the strengths and weaknesses of working together, what kind of teaching work best lends itself to collaborative approaches, and how can you ensure that the process goes smoothly and has great results?
By the end of the workshop, participants will have practiced on the spot community building, analyzed factors that contribute to a successful collaboration within a community, and created a plan for collaboration that is specific to their own teaching context.