SAVE NOVEMBER 21 NOW
Teaching and Learning Interventions to Improve Student Success is a faculty development workshop built in response to your requests. Todd Pourciau and Jeanne Stacy are closing the loop on teaching and learning in this interactive workshop set for November 21 at 3:00 PM. Some of the topics to be covered include how to get everyone seated, attentive and ready to start class, how to gauge the temperature of your class and determine your impact on student learning, solving the student excuse dilemma, and calming test anxiety. We will also be sharing the newly revised Active Learning Guide. Participants will have the opportunity to bring their issues before the group and receive immediate feedback. This is a not to be missed opportunity that you have been asking for, so mark your calendar now.

UPCOMING WEBINAR WILL BE LIVE
There are still seats available for the faculty development live webinar, Promoting the Development, Achievement, and Persistence of Students from Diverse Backgrounds, to be held on Thursday, November 14. The participants from BRCC will be able to ask questions and fully participate in the live webinar which begins at 12:00 PM and will be held in the T+LC (311 Magnolia Building). Come and hear from a national expert as well as peers from colleges and universities across the U.S. Topics include how to use culturally appropriate interventions, shifting students to a task-involved approach, and how to use intrusive advising techniques for student success. This webinar series event is being co-sponsored by the Title III Program and the Teaching+Learning Center. Register now.

HYBRID FLC FILLS NEED
The Building a Hybrid Course Faculty Learning Community (FLC) met on Wednesday to explore the best ways to use discussion in a class meeting face-to-face and virtually. The members thought it was most important to insure that student discussion be insightful rather than superficial and that developing a democratic classroom environment where the students feel safe will produce the best class meetings. As the session moved to the use of feedback to assess learning and monitor teaching, the formation of retrieval mechanisms and development of correct mental models took center stage. The FLC agreed, as one of their outcomes, to create a pre-test that students could take to help them make decisions about taking classes delivered in an online environment.

NEWEST MEMBER OF THE CIRCLE

The latest recipient of a Keep Calm and Be Engaged shirt is Assistant Professor Wes Harris, who teaches English and also directs the Honor College at BRCC. Wes has demonstrated his commitment to student success by redesigning his courses to include topics that are student-relevant, using active learning in his classes, and being a leader in the recent Common Reader Faculty Learning Community. Wes said of his experience on the FLC, "Our conversations and study have re-invigorated my pedagogy and reminded me that driving the classroom necessarily involves traffic jams, the occasional fender bender, and sometimes even wrecks, and that each of these moments can be learnable and teachable. What a pleasure it has been to get to know each of you better, hear your experiences, and learn." He is pictured below (in his green shirt) with students from two of his classes. These students have currently earned an A mid-term grade and are well on their way to achieving academic excellence in the classroom. We offer congratulations to them as we celebrate learning and to Wes Harris for his commitment to student success.

John Langston, Jana Roosa, & Deana Hodges

Elizabeth Foster, Adrian Arabie, & Elizabeth Doerfler