Faculty/Staff Inquiry Groups (FIGs) Fall 2010

This fall we will continue to support Faculty/Staff Inquiry Groups through the Teaching and Learning Center. Through this project, teams of faculty and/or staff members will develop a critical question into a thorny issue around student experience and success at BCC. Teams will participate in orientations, receive coaching, and conduct research in their work. Selected teams will receive a small stipend for their work.

Goals:

  • Create a culture of collaboration;
  • Strengthen teaching through inquiry and research;
  • Improve staff and faculty understanding of student learning;
  • Document the findings to plan future workshops, projects, and plans.

For more information, click this link:  Fall 2010 FIGs

For the application, click here:  FIG Online Application

What makes a strong inquiry question?

Why does inquiry require a question?

Often, when we are working to fulfill some requirement or to achieve some goal, we do not stop to go deeper into the issues before us. We must give quick answers and solutions based on anecdotal data or on our hunches and intuitions. This is a normal way of approaching issues.

Inquiry allows us the room to wonder, to question, and to ask our students what they think. It opens a space for critical and creative thinking, for building our receptivity to ideas that may not match our own, and it allows us to change our minds. So, rather than come up with a solution after a long meeting, a strong inquiry question guides our discussions, our research, and our listening, so that eventually our thinking leads to thoughtful decisions, policies, and practices.

A good critical question:

  • Should be something each team member feels interested in or about (at least to some degree);
  • Should NOT be easily answered. While you may have a hunch, it will hopefully shed light on an issue or idea that has been unclear to you before;
  • Should be something that forces your team to look beyond the surface;
  • Should lead your team to interact with students (interviews, focus groups, surveys) and their work (tests, papers, freewrites, projects, presentations, etc.);
  • Should be thorny or possibly controversial.

Fall 2010 Programs

This fall, Title III and the Basic Skills Initiative are running four different types of activities in the Teaching and Learning Center.

The Inclusive Classroom
This workshop series taught by Dr. Kimberly Mayfield from Holy Names College focuses on helping teachers develop curriculum and teaching practices that reach students with a wide-range of life experiences, learning styles, and cultural backgrounds. Monthly workshops will be held during Fall 2010 and participants will continue in Spring 2010 as mentors to additional participants. Compensation (subject to change): $1000 stipend for full participation. Contacts: Joan Berezin (jberezin@peralta.edu) & Terry Tricomi (ttricomi@peralta.edu).

Student Learning Outcomes Workshop
Dr. Mary J. Allen will present a workshop on how create simple and sustainable assessments connected to your department’s Student Learning Outcomes. The training will consist of one initial workshop with follow-up meetings to complete SLOs by department. Faculty appointed by department to conduct SLO assessment and follow-up should sign-up and attend the first workshop. Compensation: TBA. Contacts: Joan Berezin (jberezin@peralta.edu) & Terry Tricomi (ttricomi@peralta.edu).

Faculty/Staff Inquiry Groups [FIGs]
Teams of faculty and staff work together to research a thorny issues the encounter when working with students. The research questions should require the team to gather data from students to better understand the issue. Orientation in September; final presentation in late November/early December; meetings with team during semester.Priority will be given to inter-disciplinary teams, projects designed to close the assessment loop, and projects that focus on basic skills students. Compensation: $400 for team lead/$300 for participants (maximum 5). Contact: Scott Hoshida (shoshida@peralta.edu; 510-981-2897).

Faculty Peer Mentoring Program
This fall, the TLC will test two different peer-based assessment models to give participating faculty mid-term feedback on their teaching. The first model will include video-taping classroom teaching and conducting self-assessments, and the second model includes student feedback facilitated and recorded by another faculty member. In both cases, the Program Leaders will help set up the assessments, gather data about the effectiveness of each, and create recommendations for future professional development to support teaching and learning. Contact: Laura Ruberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) or Linda McAllister (lmcallister@peralta.edu).

TLC Workshop Development Grant (application to be released in October)
This pilot mini-grant program will fund a few teachers to develop workshops in Spring 2010. No compensation in F2010. Contact: Scott Hoshida (shoshida@peralta.edu; 510-981-2897).

Other Workshops, Programs, Presentations, etc.
If you are interested in using the Teaching and Learning Center for any event for faculty and staff at BCC, then please do not hesitate to contact the coordinator, Scott Hoshida, to schedule a time to use the space and to help publicize your event.