Explore teaching, learning through fall 2021 reading groups for PWL instructors: sign up by Sept. 10

The Teaching Academy and the Center for Instructional Excellence invite PWL instructors to join Purdue’s faculty teaching and learning reading groups in the fall 2021 semester. These reading groups bring together instructors from around the campus in small groups to discuss how recent books about the classroom and teaching and learning may inform what they do.

For the fall semester, participants will read Peter Felten and Leo Lambert’s Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College. Building on data from the Purdue-Gallup survey about the importance of close connections, Felten and Lambert conducted more than 300 interviews and studied 29 institutions to understand the importance of relationships, why we struggle to make them, and what we can do to foster quality relationships and, by extension, promote student success.

Participants will read the book over three meetings throughout the semester to discuss the ideas, theories, and application for this semester and in the future.

Participants can choose to meet in-person on Thursdays from 1 to 2:30 p.m. or virtually on Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 12: p.m. (noon), on the following dates:
Thursdays: September 30, October 21, and November 18
Fridays: October 1, October 22, and November 19

Instructors who would like to participate during fall 2021 should fill out an online questionnaire by Sept. 10 providing information about themselves and their availability.

Those who cannot make it this semester but are interested in faculty reading and learning communities, or who have suggestions for future books/topics, should contact Dan Guberman at dguberma@purdue.edu.

The faculty teaching and learning reading groups are part of Innovative Learning, Purdue West Lafayette’s hub approach to connect instructors to the resources they need to engage students, develop courses in any instructional modality, and enhance learning across the University. Members include the Center for Instructional Excellence, Libraries and the School of Information Studies, Purdue Online and Teaching and Learning Technologies.