Mutual Learning Communities foster the kind of depth, curiosity and collegiality that make for an inclusive and innovative learning environment. That’s why CTLM provides ongoing support for Teaching & Learning Circles (TLCs) and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) that create space for colleagues to come together and consider questions and of teaching, learning, and mentoring.
In the day-to-day of academia, many of our discussions regarding teaching, learning and mentoring occur in the structured spaces of department meetings and/or discipline-specific conferences/professional development opportunities. Mutual learning communities aim to bring faculty & staff colleagues together within and across disciplines, departments, and units to work together on generative questions of theory and practice. Each circle is led by a facilitator who is often also a member of the group, and determines its meeting schedule, goals, and overall direction by consensus. These circles aspire to:
- Provide space for encouragement, support, and reflection;
- Stimulate innovation and create experiential, collaborative learning environments;
- Increase communication and collaboration among campus colleagues within and across disciplines;
- Focus on a particular topic to deepen understanding and widen the knowledge base about how that topic applies to various disciplines and/or aligns with the overall pedagogical goals of the university;
- Nourish the scholarship of teaching, learning, and mentoring;
- Create space for wider conversations to share with the broader University community through events, speaker series, or other means of sharing.
