Middlesex Community College

An Invitation

Please Join Us

You are cordially invited to join the Carnegie Community of Practice for the 2003-2004 academic year.

Participants call it “an island of sanity” in a chaotic semester and a concrete way “to make the job of teaching more rewarding.”  Now in its fifth year, the Carnegie group creates an environment in which faculty can explore issues in teaching in an ongoing way to promote a deeper understanding of how students learn.

There are many forms of professional development.  A short teaching tip session may be ideal for some concerns, a longer two-part seminar may open up new ideas and techniques for your classroom practice, but at some point you may want to undertake an in-depth inquiry into a particular question or dilemma about teaching. The Carnegie Group provides a place for stepping away from the logistical demands of daily teaching.  It provides a forum for critical reflection and collaboration with colleagues along with the gradual evolution and deepening of ideas.

Carnegie Scholars as a group have developed into a community of practice through participating in stimulating discussions, learning about current thinking in higher education, working on collaborative presentations, and engaging in constructive analysis of colleague’s individual interests and projects.  In the first year, the group focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning, and in the second and third years, the group adopted an ongoing theme of motivation, specifically what types of environments foster intrinsic motivation in our students. This year we welcomed five new members and published a first compilation of Carnegie papers. The threads of the scholarship of teaching and learning and motivation will continue to inform future Carnegie work, but each new year will be shaped by the interests of the current group members.

We invite you to consider this opportunity to join a group of faculty who remain curious about learning and continue to hone their craft.  The reward for the effort is expressed simply in the words of one participant who said, “teaching was a joy for me today.”

        Middlesex Community College

An Invitation

Participants in the Carnegie group will receive one course release time for each of two semesters.  The commitment is to actively engage in Carnegie meetings for two years and to develop an inquiry for a course that results in a written paper. Projects to date have included investigations of the effect of using case studies in science, problem-based learning in dental hygiene, media literacy as a way to motivate students, applying principles of motivation as an organizing factor in an educational psychology course, and a comparison of online with on-campus teaching of a computer course.

The tentative schedule is:

·         Spring 2003:

-          May (two days): Introductory seminars to present the context of the Carnegie effort and to distribute readings for the summer

·         Summer 2003: 

-          Individuals read articles and other materials

·         Fall 2003:

-          Ongoing meetings arranged according to the schedules of participants   (approximately 6 meetings per semester)

-          Participants refine their topic and plan of inquiry

-          Peers review ongoing work of Carnegie Scholars

·         Spring 2004:

-          Ongoing meetings continue

-          Participants begin implementing plan of inquiry

-          Sharing of ongoing individual work with colleagues

·         Fall 2004:

-          Completion of individual projects

·         Spring 2005:

-          Continuing peer review and final editing of papers

-          Ongoing Carnegie development work

The culture of the Carnegie group has been that members continue to attend beyond their formal commitment because they enjoy the camaraderie and the cohesiveness of the group.  A participant states that “the Carnegie experience offers a unique opportunity to discuss issues of teaching and learning both in great depth and over time.  Even though there is a diversity of opinions, all ideas are heard and responded to and sometimes acted upon.  This is a very empowering experience for faculty.”