Communities of Practice – Center for Teaching & Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning hosts various communities of practice (CoPs) as needed by the faculty. Participating in a community of practice requires a commitment to meet together 6-8 times (about every 2-3 weeks) over the course of a semester. In most cases, CoPs work over a two-semester period. In addition to the meetings, participants will read, collaborate, and make progress on individual projects between meetings. Each participant will actively contribute as responders, facilitators, peer reviewers and experts in selected areas of teaching and learning. Faculty should consider their other professional commitments before applying.

Fall 2024

The AI Playground: CTL Community of Practice Fall 2024

When: Fridays, 2:00-3:00 (See dates below)
Where: F2F Drinko Library (See rooms below)
Registration: Not required, come to one, some, or all sessions

Tired of staring at screens all day and feeling like the bots are winning?

Bring your laptop and join the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Presidential AI Task Force this fall for a bi-weekly, one-hour, F2F, “AI Playground” – where the hallowed traditions of the ivory tower meet the wild west of large language models. These won’t be your typical sessions where an “expert” talks at you while you pretend to take notes. Instead, this will be a very loosely supervised “playground” to mess around, ask questions, experiment, and play with AI and chatbots in real time.

Whether you’re trying to figure out ways to make students do their own work beyond bluebooks and threatening death and dismemberment for using AI, or you’d like to create a custom Virgil chatbot to guide them through the perils of your syllabus or you just want to freshen up your dad jokes about standard deviation, we’ve got you covered. Our friendly neighborhood facilitators will be on hand to answer questions, offer suggestions, and dust you off when you get thrown off the AI merry-go-round…again.

Unlike the nightmare playground scene in Terminator 2 where AI goes rogue and attempts to destroy all humanity in a nuclear holocaust, at Marshall’s AI Playground you can expect some laughter, help and brainstorming from facilitators and your peers, and the occasional “Aha!” moment (that doesn’t involve being incinerated). Grab your laptop and join us in Drinko Library!

Date	Room
8/30/2024	DL349
9/13/2024	DL349
9/27/2024	DL138
10/25/2024	DL349
11/1/2024	DL349
11/15/2024	DL349

For questions, email Jamie Warner (warnerj@marshall.edu).

COEPD Doctoral Research Statistics

When: Thursdays, 9/26 and 10/31 | 1:00-2:00
Where: Online via Teams
Registration: Not required

For information, please visit our COEPD Doctoral Research Statistics CoP webpage or email April Fugett (fugett5@marshall.edu).

Spring 2025

Wellness Wednesdays

When: Wednesdays, 1/29, 2/19, 3/12, 4/2, and 4/23 | 2:45-3:45
Where: Old Main 109 Common Room
Registration: Required, space limited

Faculty has seen an ever-growing population of struggling students. Anxiety and depression rates have been on the rise with a near constant feeling of uncertainty. These shifts have created long days and the need to craft new approaches during a seemingly ever-changing personal and professional landscape. Faculty have been left to navigate this shifting environment even while experiencing the same stressors as our students. It seems inevitable that many of us are now feeling exhausted and burnt-out. How can we protect and support each other while also remaining present for our students?

This spring, the Center for Teaching and Learning will be offering Wellness Wednesday sessions. These sessions will include work in a wellness journal among other things. All materials required for these sessions will be provided by the Center.

Sessions will be held every third Wednesday: 1/29, 2/19, 3/12, 4/2, and 4/23.

For questions, please contact Britani Black at black114@marshall.edu.

Research Mentorship

When: Thursdays, 1/23, 2/13, 3/6, 4/3, and 4/24 | 2:30- 3:30
Where: Online via Teams
Registration: Recommended, not required

The Center for Teaching and Learning is excited to announce the launch of a Community of Practice (CoP) focused on research mentorship for undergraduate and graduate students. This initiative aims to foster collaboration, share best practices, and enhance the mentorship experience for both students and mentors.