Communities of Practice (COP) are intentionally focused on faculty working together to change their teaching. They are short-term and aimed at only one aspect of the instructional practice. Each semester, the TEACH Center chooses a theme for the Communities of Practice and invites interested faculty to engage in an initial learning kick-off meeting, participate in a Canvas shell with teaching strategies and resources, work with a Teaching Teammate to modify one lesson/policy, and present their work at a TEACHing Showcase at the end of the semester.
According to one faculty learner, Communities of Practice are like an extended conversation at the water fountain – an opportunity to exchange ideas and learn from each other. Please join us!
2025-2026 Topics
This Community of Practice (CoP) includes a two-part, hands-on workshop series facilitated by Anna Mills, a community college writing teacher and open textbook author and advocate for critical AI literacy.
Workshop Schedule
Week 1: Workshop - Exploring AI in Teaching
Friday, September 5th, 9:00-11:30AM
Try out AI tools for generating teaching ideas, organizing your thinking, comparing platforms like Khanmigo and ChatGPT, and testing student-facing activities.
Week 2: Workshop - Integrating AI into Your Courses with Anna Mills
Friday, September 12th, 9:00-11:30AM
Turn your experiments into implementation plans. Design assignments, discuss AI literacy, and troubleshoot integration challenges alongside peers.
Community of Practice
The initial two workshops will count for FLEX credit and you can attend one or both. We will also have a Community of Practice, so if you are excited and want to join the semester-long community of practice, where you can work with a TEACHing Teammate to turn your experiments into implementation plans, design assignments, discuss AI literacy, and troubleshoot integration challenges.
We do have a very limited number of stipends available for eligible faculty. The stipend requires that you do each of the following.
- Attend both Workshop Sessions- Session #1: Exploring AI in Teaching: Trying out applications of AI to support teaching preparation and student learning, and Session #2: Integrating AI into Your Courses and Teaching Practice: Practical Strategies.
- Commit to the semester-long Community of Practice: Weeks 1-2: Workshop Sessions #1 and #2; Weeks 3-14: Implementation, experimentation, and collaboration with your TEACHing Teammate; and Week 15: TEACHing Showcase where participants share their learning.
Past Topics
- APEX Applied Programming Experience
- Assign and Assess Early and Often
- Careers in the Classroom
- Cognitive Coaching
- Culturally Responsive Teaching in Art and Design
- Empathy in Education
- Equitable Assessments in Biology
- Fostering a Culture of Belonging
- Making Moments that Matter for Students
- Problem-Based Learning
- Situational Fairness
- Transformative Teaching
- Universal Design for Learning
For more information on each Community (including dates and times), please check out our Communities of Practice archive page.
Frequently Asked Questions
A community of practice is a semester-long, or short-term, commitment to a community of faculty who are focused on actively changing one aspect of their instructional practice.
Besides being a wonderful opportunity to work with your colleagues on a specific lesson, it can count for hours of FLEX, or can contribute to your PG&D project (pending committee approval), or associate faculty can apply for a stipend (up to 20 hours, depending on the COP). There is a limited number of stipends available. You will be notified before All College Week if you have received a stipend.
No, the COPs are open only to faculty who have a contract to teach at WVC that same semester. Please watch for future COP opportunities!
Not as much as you think! While some CoPs can be structured a bit differently, below is an example of a typical CoP structure, including your commitments.
- Participate in an initial Launch Party and connect with your Teaching Teammate (a fellow faculty member in the program who will be your partner as you both modify/create ONE lesson).
- Week 2-10 of semester: Meet with Teaching Teammates to solidify the lesson creation that you began working on together in the initial Launch Party. REMEMBER: You each only create/modify one lesson!!!
- Week 6-11 of semester: Teach the lesson/Publish the module and observe your Teaching Teammates teaching their lesson or review their published module, including assignments, using the 2+2 Observation protocol (2 compliments/2 suggestions or questions for discussion).
- Week 13 of semester: Present your lesson and your reflection to the wider community at the incredibly supportive and engaging Teaching Showcase.
Still Not Convinced?
Here is what your faculty colleagues said about their experiences in a COP:
Even though I'm at the end of my teaching career, but I'm still very excited to join the group to motivate myself in adopting new pedagogy; so to me "Never too late to transform!
I joined the {community of practice} not really knowing what to expect, or really anticipating getting anything substantive out of it. Was I wrong! It was a wonderful experience working with my colleagues, hearing their feedback, offering my own, and ultimately growing as an instructor from this experience. I would highly encourage all faculty to go through this process!
For more information, please contact Michelle Francis.