Open Menu Close Menu Open Search Close Search

What are Learning Communities?

These are self-directed interdisciplinary groups of up to 12 faculty who meet over the course of a year (with a schedule they determine). They learn together from the literature, other universities, experts on these topics, and connect to their personal experience.

Drawing upon the appropriate resources for each community, we hope for the groups to be self-directed and reflective, to consider how to make changes in their own teaching, and through that process capture useful principles and best practices to share with other faculty. Each group will have a small budget to buy books, invite local experts, and share meals. This will be a great opportunity to get to know some of your colleagues well and to share in meaningful conversation.

We invite faculty interested in joining or initiating a learning community focused on teaching to contact celt@tufts.edu for more information.

Current Learning Communities

If you are interested in joining one of our learning communities, please email celt@tufts.edu.

Teaching with AI Learning Community

The Teaching & Learning with AI Learning Community creates a space for instructors to share, brainstorm and support each other in exploring new practices and navigating questions and challenges that arise. This supportive community is for instructors who are curious about AI, both those who have been playing with AI and those who haven’t tried it yet. Faculty will share experiences from their own courses with structured feedback from the group, discuss readings on topics of interest, and explore the integration of AI into teaching practices and assignment design. Those in this learning community will also be eligible to apply for a teaching innovation stipend.

Doctoral and post-doctoral students are invited to apply.

Teaching Large Lectures Learning Community

The Teaching Large Lectures Learning Community, previously known as the Large Lecture Consortium, is an interdisciplinary faculty community composed of faculty who teach classes of over 70 students. Members of the consortium share experiences and strategies for enhancing learning for students in their large classes. Some sessions feature host speakers who facilitate discussions on topics of interest to the group.

Pedagogy Seminar for Graduate Students

This series of sessions allows graduate students to build community and share teaching ideas with fellow students. We focus on the text How Learning Works: Eight Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Lovett et al. Participants leave with new teaching strategies that they can apply in the short- and long-term. Students must attend at least four of the five sessions and complete a final written reflection.

Tufts Staff AI Learning Community

Launched in Spring 2022, the Tufts Staff AI Learning Community brings together staff who support Teaching & Learning to explore recent advances in AI and their potential impact at Tufts. As generative AI increasingly shapes the experiences of both faculty and students, this community offers the staff who support them a collaborative space to share insights, discuss challenges, and learn from one another.

 

Past Learning Communities

*Supported by a grant received from the Davis Educational Foundation established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis's retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.