A Modern Teaching Salon
CRTLE Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are inspired by the
intellectual tradition of the Salons of Paris—regular
gatherings where thinkers, creators, and practitioners came together to exchange
ideas, dialogue, explore emerging questions, and learn through conversation.
This is not a class or a workshop!
Like those salons, CRTLE PLCs are designed as
intellectual commons for teaching across departments and colleges:
spaces where faculty engage in dialogue, experimentation, and collective
sense‑making around pedagogy.
Rather than one‑time workshops, PLCs function as sustained, faculty‑driven
communities that emphasize:
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Knowledge sharing
across disciplines and teaching contexts to circulate ideas
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Pedagogical innovation
grounded in real classroom practice
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Think‑tank–style discussion
of emerging challenges and opportunities as well as cross‑pollination of ideas across units
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Crowdsourcing and piloting new ideas
in courses, with space to reflect on what works—and what doesn’t
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Exploratory Talk and Ideas‑in‑Progress:
Each meeting will start with:
“What’s one teaching question you’re sitting with right now?” and
“What did you try since last time—successful or not?”
Faculty are encouraged to bring works‑in‑progress into the PLC: teaching ideas, assignments, questions, experiments, and even uncertainties. Through regular meetings, guest speakers, and shared reflection, participants collectively surface patterns, refine practices, and contribute to broader campus conversations and problem-solving about teaching and learning.
Across the academic year, PLC participants:
- Engage in structured discussion and peer‑led knowledge sharing about applications to teaching and learning.
- Learn from occasional guest speakers and campus partners about trends and issues relating to the PLC topic.
- Pilot new pedagogical approaches in their own courses, whether face-to-face, hybrid, or online modalities.
- Develop their professional knowledge and skills around evidence-based and high-impact teaching innovations and seek feedback from students.
- Create microcontent (e.g., short reflections, examples, templates, or teaching tips) to share insights with the wider faculty community. Microcontent summarizes key ideas for other faculty.
- Participate in the April CRTLE Faculty Showcase in Spring 2027, sharing lessons learned and ideas in progress.
Participation in each PLC is intentionally capped (approximately 12 faculty) to preserve the conversational, collegial nature of the group and to support meaningful dialogue—mirroring the salon‑style environment that inspires this work. We will have waiting list.
