Faculty Interest Groups
The ATL’s Faculty Interest Groups (FIG) are faculty learning communities. They are forums for faculty to read common texts and think together about issues shaping higher education today and for the future. These issues include institutional challenges: changing student demographics and shifting paradigms of discovery and creativity. They also include challenges that transcend the academy: poverty, disease, and oppression.
Perhaps you have an idea for a future Faculty Interest Group. We want to hear from you. Contact us at atl@baylor.edu.
Spring 2023
Virtual Reality in Higher Ed
The growing interest in Virtual Reality is categorized as transformational in revolutionizing higher education. An early adopter, Morehouse College reports an increase in student outcomes when learners utilize VR technology. The value of VR and Metaverse technologies is projected to be 5 trillion by 2030, touching almost every workforce sector. VR will transform higher education and is projected to be the next iteration of online learning.
Proposed Meeting Times
Wednesdays: 1:30-2:30pm
January 25, February 15, March 8, March 29, & April 19
Dates and times are open to "negotiation" after a cohort is formed. Please email your interest to atl@baylor.edu and include your availability MWF or TR and what timeslots.
Facilitated by Keith Pace, Interactive Learning Experience Developer with the Learning Design group, with the conspiracy and collaboration of Craig Clarkson, ATL Manager of Operations.
STEM Education Research Journal Club
Back by popular demand, the ATL is expanding the Fall FIGs focused on reading the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) in the area of STEM higher education. For Spring 2023, four sections will be offered:
- SECTION 1 - Tuesdays, 9:30am - Labs and Graduate Student Instructors
- This section will focus on the lab experience and training graduate students to be instructors.
- SECTION 2 - Wednesdays, 11:15am - The Undergraduate Classroom
- This section will focus on the undergraduate experience, including active learning, team-based learning, preceptors and learning assistants, and metacognition.
- SECTION 3 - Wednesdays, 2:30pm - Assessment
- This section will focus on grading, grading practices, assessment techniques and structures.
- SECTION 4 - Mondays, 2:30pm - Synchronously Online
- This section will cover general topics related to evidence-based practices in STEM courses.
We will meet during the following weeks: January 23, February 6, February 20, March 20, April 3, April 17, May 1