Learning Communities (LCs) bring together individuals around a shared topic of interest. They are focused on “a continuous process of learning and reflection, supported by colleagues, with an intention of getting things done” (McGill & Beaty, 2001, p. 11). LCs are designed to energize and empower participants and offer new ways to engage with topics and colleagues. These voluntary communities typically meet once a month for a semester, and activities range from some discussion around projects and/or readings to more hands-on building, creating, and doing. Some learning communities have specific products (e.g., grant proposals, courses, collaboratively constructed conference presentations, or manuscripts), others do not have set or specific products.
Spring 2025 Learning Community: Language Program Vitality in the United States: From Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education
The Spring 2025 LRC Learning Community will offer an interinstitutional opportunity to exchange best practices in language teaching, centering on language program vitality. The LC is organized as part of the Central New York Humanities Corridor Working Group on Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC). Our monthly meetings will connect the seven CLAC Working Group partner campuses (Cornell, Colgate, Hamilton, Rochester, Skidmore, Syracuse, and Union) via Zoom to discuss chapters from the recent edited volume Language Program Vitality in the United States: From Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education (Heidrich Uebel et al., 2023, Springer). This LC will be relevant for seasoned language instructors and those new to the field. All participants will get online access to the chapters.
Spring 2025 Dates and Timeline:
There will be three meetings throughout spring semester:
- Friday, February 21, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom - Student voices; presentations by Carlo Cinaglia and Matt Coss
- Friday, March 21, 2:30-4:00 pm in person at Rochester and on Zoom - Solutions to thrive: Curriculum and credentials; presentation by Emily Heidrich Uebel
- Friday, April 18, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom - Solutions to thrive: Recruitment
Application Process:
Anyone with an interest in language teaching (including graduate students) is invited to apply for this learning community. Please complete the online application by Monday, February 10, 2025. Applicants will be notified by February 14, 2025. Space is limited.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. All participants are expected to read the assigned book chapters and engage with online activities in preparation for our synchronous meetings. For participants interested in earning a certificate, regular attendance and active participation are expected. We will use Canvas to share additional resources, ideas, and discussions.
AY 23-24 Learning Community: Harnessing the Transformative Potentials of Languages Across Disciplines
The AY 23-24 LRC Learning Community will offer an interinstitutional opportunity to exchange best practices in language teaching, centering on transformations and impact on society. The LC is organized as part of the Central New York Humanities Corridor Working Group on Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC). Our monthly meetings will connect the six CLAC Working Group partner campuses (Cornell, Colgate, Hamilton, Rochester, Skidmore, and Syracuse) via Zoom to discuss chapters from the recent edited volume Harnessing the Transformative Potentials of CLAC Across Disciplines (Plough & Tamboura, 2023, Routledge). This LC will be relevant for seasoned language instructors and those new to the field.
Dates and Timeline:
There will be three meetings each throughout fall and spring semesters.
Spring 2024
- Friday, February 9, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom
- Topic: Effecting institutional change
- Reading: Chapter 9 CLAC at a SLAC: A Distinctive Model for Teaching Language Across the Curriculum in the Context of a Small Liberal Arts College (pp. 131-144)
- Friday, March 8, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom
- Topic: Potential transformative changes
- Reading: Chapter 16 Unifying Themes and Future Directions (pp. 248-258)
- Saturday, April 13, in-person workshop at Colgate with Deborah Reisinger (tentative time 11:00 am - 12:30 pm, followed by a reception)
- Topic: Language program vitality
- Reading: TBA
Fall 2023
- Friday, September 22, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom:
- Chapter 1 Introduction (pp. 1-16)
- Chapter 3 Developing a CLAC Program: Evolving Perspectives from Students, Faculty, and Administrators (pp. 39-55)
- Friday, October 27, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom:
- Chapter 5 Understanding Undergraduate Students’ Experiences in a Project-Based Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum Program: A Teaching and Learning Autoethnography (pp. 71-84)
- Chapter 7 “I’m a French Teacher, Not a Data Scientist!” Culture and Language Across My Professions (pp. 99-111)
- Friday, November 10, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom:
- Chapter 8 Language Matters: Shifting Perspectives (pp. 121-130)
- Chapter 13 Interdisciplinarity and Translanguaging in a CLAC Program: Challenging and Changing Language Ideologies in Higher Education (pp. 200-217)
Application Process:
All faculty and graduate students with an interest in language teaching are invited to apply for this learning community. Please complete the online application by Tuesday, January 30, 2024. Applicants will be notified by January 31, 2024. Space is limited.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. All participants are expected to read the assigned book chapters and engage with online activities in preparation for our synchronous meetings. For participants interested in earning a certificate, regular attendance and active participation are expected. We will use Canvas to share additional resources, ideas, and discussions.
Spring 2023 Learning Community: Common Ground: Moving SLA Theory into Practice
The Spring 2023 LRC Learning Community will offer an interinstitutional opportunity to exchange best practices in language teaching and review basic principles of SLA, content-based language teaching, and assessment. The LC is organized as part of the Central New York Humanities Corridor Working Group on Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC). Our monthly meetings will connect the four CLAC Working Group partner campuses (Cornell, Colgate, Skidmore, and Syracuse) via Zoom to discuss readings by Roy Lyster (Content-Based Language Teaching, 2018, Routledge) and the recent book by Florencia Henshaw and Maris Hawkins (Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom, 2022, Hackett Publishing). This LC will be relevant for seasoned language instructors and those new to the field. The first 15 applicants will receive free copies of both books.
Dates and Timeline:
There will be four synchronous meetings throughout the semester.
- Friday, February, 17, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom: Content-based language teaching (reading: Lyster, 2018)
- Saturday, March 25, 11-12:30 at Cornell: Guiding SLA principles and assessment (reading: Henshaw & Hawkins, 2022, Section I)
Author Florencia Henshaw will give an in-person workshop at Cornell, followed by a reception. - Friday, April 21, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom: The role of input and skills (reading: Henshaw & Hawkins, 2022, Section II)
- Friday, May 5, 2:30-4:00 pm on Zoom: Integrating output and interaction (reading: Henshaw & Hawkins, 2022, Section III)
Application Process:
All faculty and graduate students with an interest in language teaching are invited to apply for this learning community. Please complete the online application by 5 pm on Monday, February 6, 2023. Applicants will be notified by February 10, 2023. Space is limited.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. All participants are expected to read the assigned book chapters and engage with online activities in preparation for our synchronous meetings. For participants interested in earning a certificate, regular attendance and active participation are expected. We will use Canvas to share additional resources, ideas, and discussions.
Summer 2022 Online Learning Community: Post-Pandemic Language Teaching
The 2022 LRC Summer Learning Community will create a space for language instructors to process their recent language teaching experiences, identify those technology-enabled practices that have the most transformative potential, and design an intentional "new normal" for what language instruction might look like in the near future. Our experiences with remote teaching and learning during COVID, while extremely challenging, have certainly revealed the potential of certain technology-enabled pedagogies for transforming classroom practices. We will build on this transformative potential of technology and help you craft a plan for your language course. The LC provides a community to share experiences and exchange ideas. It will cover topics that apply to F2F, hybrid, and online models of language teaching, both synchronous and asynchronous.
Dates and Timeline:
The LC will open on Canvas on Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
New modules will be released over the course of 6 weeks. The LC will be mostly asynchronous with biweekly synchronous Zoom meetings on Tuesdays at 11 am:
- June 28 (Module 1)
- July 12 (Module 2)
- July 26 (Module 3)
- August 9 (Debrief)
Application Process:
All faculty and graduate students with an interest in language teaching are invited to apply for this online learning community. Please complete the online application by 5 pm on Monday, June 13, 2022. Applicants will be notified by June 15, 2022. Space is limited.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. Expected workload by module is ~5 hours. For participants interested in earning a certificate, regular attendance and active participation are expected. We will use Canvas to share resources and ideas.
Summer 2021 Online Learning Community: Post-Pandemic Language Teaching
The LRC Summer Learning Community will create a space for language instructors to process their remote teaching experiences during the pandemic, identify those technology-enabled practices that have the most transformative potential, and design an intentional "new normal" for what language instruction might look like in the near future. Our experiences with remote teaching and learning during COVID, while extremely challenging, have certainly brought to the surface the potential of certain technology-enabled pedagogies to transform our classroom practices in a positive way. We will build on this transformative potential of technology and help you craft a plan for your language course. The LC provides a community to share experiences and exchange ideas and will cover topics that apply to F2F, hybrid, and online models of language teaching, both synchronous and asynchronous.
Dates and Timeline:
The LC will open on Canvas on Monday, August 2.
New modules will be released over the course of 3 weeks. The LC will be mostly asynchronous with weekly synchronous Zoom meetings on Tuesdays at 11 am:
- August 10
- August 17
- August 24
Application Process:
All faculty and graduate students with an interest in language teaching are invited to apply for this online learning community. Please complete the online application by 5 pm on Monday, July 12, 2021. Applicants will be notified by Thursday, July 15, 2021. Space is limited.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. For participants interested in earning a certificate, regular attendance and active participation are expected. We will use Canvas to share resources and ideas.
Spring 2021 Online Learning Community: Intercultural Citizenship
Our spring learning community will be based on the 2019 ACTFL publication Teaching Intercultural Citizenship Across the Curriculum: The Role of Language Education by Manuela Wagner, Fabiana Cardetti, and Michael Byram. In regular meetings, we will discuss how to develop interdisciplinary units that link language, culture, and relevant content. How can we guide our language learners along the journey of becoming critically culturally aware and help them develop intercultural citizenship? We will unpack the concepts, models, and theories behind interculturality, analyze an interdisciplinary approach, explore issues of equity and social justice in language learning, and apply what we read to the design of effective units. Engage in conversations with your colleagues on how to expand learners' language proficiency through the exploration of topics that matter to them. The LC will consist of a mix of synchronous and asynchronous discussions.
All participants will receive a free copy of the book.
Dates and Timeline:
There will be five synchronous meetings throughout the semester, tentatively scheduled for Thursdays. The meeting time will be determined with all participants.
- March 18
- March 25
- April 8
- April 22
- May 6
Application Process:
All faculty and graduate students with an interest in language teaching are invited to apply for this online learning community. Please complete the online application by 5 pm on Monday, March 1, 2021. Applicants will be notified by Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Space is limited.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. All participants are expected to read the assigned book chapter(s) in preparation for our synchronous meetings. For participants interested in earning a certificate, regular attendance and active participation are expected. We will use Canvas to share resources and ideas.
Winter 2020 Online Learning Community: Just A Minute!
Have you tired of all your online teaching tools? Are you out of ideas for your virtual classes? Exhausted by staring at your screen? Ready to throw in the towel and hide until online learning goes away forever (snort)?
Just A Minute! The LRC has your back, with the JAM, our video series investigating quick ways to spruce up the online teaching and learning experience for you and your students.
In the span of sixty seconds or so, we'll dive into topics like Universal Design for Learning, rethinking your communication with your students, and how to deal with Zoom fatigue. We'll drop new JAMs twice a week. You are also invited to join us live for two jam sessions.
Maybe you're already familiar with some of the topics, or maybe it all seems new and exciting. Either way, we're willing to bet we have something useful to offer you. Curious? Check it out - it'll take just a minute.
Dates and Timeline:
- JAMs drop on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon on YouTube, starting January 5, 2021
- Live jam sessions take place on Zoom on Wednesdays, January 13 and February 3, from 11a-12p
Find our JAMs on our YouTube channel and watch for announcements on social media (@CornellLRC on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).
Summer 2020 Online Learning Community: Teaching Language Online
The LRC Summer Online Learning Community (OLC) Teaching Language Online will focus on best practices in online pedagogy and effective and engaging language teaching and learning. Throughout five modules, we will explore and deconstruct research-based strategies for effectively teaching and learning languages and the role technology can play. The OLC provides a community to share experiences and exchange ideas and will cover topics that apply to F2F, hybrid, and online models of language teaching, both synchronous and asynchronous. Participants in the community can earn a certificate in online language teaching excellence upon successful completion of all five modules. You can participate without completing all five modules.
Dates and Timeline:
The OLC will open on Monday, June 8.
There are 5 modules that will be covered over the course of 6 weeks:
- June 8-14 Module 1: Course Design Basics
- June 15-21 Module 2: Classroom Management, Presence, and Communication
- June 22-28 Module 3: Language Learning Tasks
- June 29-July 5 catch-up week
- July 6-12 Module 4: Student Engagement
- July 13-19 Module 5: Assessment and Testing
- August 6 OLC meet-up
Each week, there will be a synchronous meeting on Thursday (time will be determined with all participants).
Application Process:
All faculty and graduate students with an interest in language teaching are invited to join this OLC. Please complete the online application by 5pm on Monday, June 1, 2020. If you are interested in joining late, please contact us.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. For participants interested in earning a certificate, regular attendance and active participation are expected. We will use Canvas to share resources and ideas.
Spring 2020 Learning Community: Core Practices for Effective Language Learning
The inaugural LRC LC will focus on Core Practices for Effective Language Learning. It is designed around one of ACTFL's Virtual Learning Modules. In monthly meetings, we will explore and deconstruct research-based strategies for effectively developing students' language proficiency. The goal is to develop practical knowledge for designing real-world tasks for our classrooms and curricula. The LC will address questions such as: How much time should I spend in the target language? What kind of feedback is most effective? How can I use more authentic resources with my students?
The LC will be lively, exciting, and a combination of analytical, theoretical, and philosophical discussions. We hope you’ll join us!
Dates and Timeline:
3rd Thursday of the month, 4:00-5:30p in G24B
- February 20
- March 19
- April 16
Light refreshments will be provided.
Application Process:
All faculty and graduate students with an interest in language teaching are invited to apply for this LC. Please complete the online application by 5 pm on Friday, January 31, 2020. Applicants will be notified by Monday, February 10, 2020. Participation is limited to encourage group cohesion.
Expectations:
Active and regular participation is essential to successful LCs. We expect participants to attend all monthly meetings and read/watch short materials in preparation for and reflection on our meetings. We will use Canvas to share resources and ideas.