Minutes
TALC Learning Strategies Taskforce

  February 18, 2002 

Members present: Donna Harrison, Bill Lewis, Gerri Dobbins, Cindy Martin, Barbara Peterson, Kristi Sanborn, Nancy Womack, Chris Koone, Rhonda Davis, Paula Walker, Fred Bayley, Kelly Dedmon, Robert Harrison, Debbie Puett, Kim Gold. 

Old Business: 

            Learning Communities Update: Donna Harrison reported that the current learning communities are going well. The Learning Community offered this fall is the first learning community to be carried over from a previous semester. Donna and Gerri reported that the participants in this learning community had developed strong social bonds. Another learning community will be offered in the fall of 2002 including, ENG 111, CIS 110, BIO 111 and ACA 115. Other Learning Communities that are being considered for the future include BIO 112 and ENG 113 in the spring of 2003 as well as ENG 272 and PSY 281 in the spring of 2003. 

            Cooperative Learning Update: Kim Gold reported that Myra Johnson and Dr. Lewis conducted the Awareness session at Richmond Community College in January. Also Chris Koone and Rhonda Davis will be conducting the first half of the Foundations Training at Southwestern Community College on February 21 and 22. The dates for the second half of this training have not yet been determined. Planning for the Summer Institute is still going forward although given the current budget crisis participation may be low. A determination of whether to continue with the Summer Institute will be made at the end of March. 

            Areas of Expertise/ Article Sharing: Kim Gold shared that an email was sent to everyone on campus asking for any area of expertise that employees would be willing to share in a classroom setting. Based on the replies to this email a list was developed of people who could be contacted to speak and the topics they would be willing to discuss. This list was then distributed to everyone on campus. This list will be posted on a blackboard site in the near future. Also the blackboard site will archive articles with information on various learning strategies. Discussion of these articles will be possible utilizing a message board on the blackboard site. 

            James Anderson: Donna Harrison reported that she had talked with James Anderson and that he was available to come to campus for the August convocation day. There was some discussion regarding possible topics Anderson might address while on campus. 

New Business:  At the December meeting a list of learning strategies that the taskforce might explore was developed. This list included Problem-based learning, Inquiry based learning, Critical thinking and Paedaia.  Taskforce members were asked if they had learning strategies they would like to add to the list. Several learning strategies were mentioned including: Paired courses, Writing to learn, and student self-assessment. There was also discussion of exploring scheduling options that would be more conducive to Cooperative Learning. It was decided that more research was needed before the committee could decide which learning strategies might be beneficial to pursue. Taskforce members volunteered to research different strategies listed during the meeting. Members will prepare a brief definition and explanation to be shared at the next meeting. Topics and taskforce members are as follows:

            Problem based learning- Kim Gold

            Inquiry based learning- Cindy Martin and Nancy Womack

            Critical Thinking- Chris Koone

            Paedia- Jeremiah Council

            Paired Courses- Kelly Dedmon

            Student Self-Assessment- Gerri Dobbins and Barbara Peterson

            Writing to Learn- Kristi Sanborn

            Scheduling- Dr. Harrison 

The next meeting date was scheduled for April 15^th at 2:00. 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.