Welcome all to this fall. There’s excitement in the air for it’s the beginning of a new season of learning for our post-secondary colleagues and students. This excitement for some of us is also due to anticipation of the launch of The BCcampus Online Book Club on September 10th.
Why a book club you might ask? Our community of post-secondary educators wanted a vehicle to create collegial connections; something to support opportunities to learn with each other and share what we are doing in teaching and learning. The idea of a book club focused on teaching and learning professional development was sparked and began to take shape at a meeting at the Festival of Learning in Vancouver in May 2018. Wonderful volunteer facilitators came forward to help. Yes, people are keen to do this kind of activity, but there would be some key stipulations: it should be open; easy to participate in; and it must be fun!
For our first book, we’ve selected How Learning Works: 7 Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching written by educators from Carnegie-Mellon University. First published in 2010, this book is “go-to” reading for those wanting to learn about what research says about how we learn and how it can inform our teaching practice. A copy of this book should be easily available: you can borrow the book from most post-secondary teaching and learning centres or libraries or purchase your own copy online.
Over the next several weeks, we invite you to read, reflect and share your thoughts and experiences in teaching and learning through suggested book club activities: commenting on the blog, posting your stories on social media (#BookClubBC), and participating in the weekly web conference chats. We challenge you to apply some of the principles featured in each of the chapters if you’ve not already done so. We support you to participate in what interests you and you are able to do and to reach out for collegial wisdom should you need suggestions or have advice to contribute. We’ve built-in a few reading breaks for catching up as needed. (Check the schedule here.) Our hope is these learning moments will be starting points for deeper conversations on teaching and learning and the ideas we as educators care about. In future, book selections will be driven by participants, so we invite you to hop onboard, get reading, and join us on this journey!
All the Best,
The BCcampus Online Book Club Facilitators
P.S. Please check out the Comments section!
Online Book Club 
Introductions! To get a sense of our participants in the book club, we invite you to respond by posting a comment answering the following 4 things: Your name, institution/organization and a brief answer to these 2 questions: 1. What do you hope to get/learn from participating in this book club? 2. What do you hope to give/contribute?
[Note: This will be good practice for when you share your Comments on the Chapter content (to be eligible for the draw prize.) You will need to subscribe to the blog in order to post a reply to a Comment and to do so you need ti click on the “Follow” button at the bottom of the Home page.]
Allow me to begin. My name is Leva Lee and I’m a Learning + Teaching team member at BCcampus. What I hope to get from participating in this book club is a better understanding of new and flexible ways to support collegial learning, as well as learn about research in teaching and learning and how some of the key principles are applied in practice. What I hope to give is opportunities for participants to connect in meaningful ways to support learning for our students and for ourselves.
And you? 🙂
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My name is Becky Rudd and I am a composition instructor at Citrus College in Glendora, California, a community college located in the southeast area of Los Angeles county. I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the principles discussed in the book and to learn from other book club members through the discussions. I hope to contribute to the book club through honest self reflection and sharing from my experiences and perspective.
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Hi Becky,
It’s great to have you join our book club from California.
Leva
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Hi Everyone! My name is Nobuko Fujita and I am an educational developer in the Office of Open Learning at University of Windsor. I hope to get/learn from participating is to develop a deeper understanding of how learning works through discourse with other book club members. I’ve participated in a book club on campus, but the online and open book club format is new to me. What I hope to contribute are my insights and experiences.
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So glad you are joining us from Open Learning at University of Windsor!
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My name is Polly Madsen and I’m an Instructor in the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers Program and a member of the Teaching and Learning team at Yukon College. By participating, I hope to engage in meaningful discussions about learning and to experience a book club in an online format (a first for me). I hope to contribute my thoughts, questions and experiences on the topics discussed.
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Hi Polly, Welcome! Glad to have you join us from Yukon College. This is the first time we are trying a book club in online format so we’re in this together! Leva
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My name is Jennifer Kirkey and I teach Physics and Astronomy at Douglas College. I have been active in Professional Development at the college and have participated and run many a book club. I am looking forward to this new format.
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Welcome Jennifer! So glad you’ve joined us and I know you will have many insights to share.
L
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My name is Janine and I am a senior educational consultant working in the Centre for Teaching and Learning at UBC on the Okanagan Campus in Kelowna. The CTL’s mission is to support and promote teaching and learning excellence, innovation and scholarship. I am looking forward to learning from others about what they are doing in their classrooms and I will also be considering how this format works for collaboration and learning. I look forward to contributing to the discussion and also to connect with like minded people – all interested in helping students learn. I have never belonged to a book club and am really looking forward to it.
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Hi Janine!
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Dear Bookclubbers,
My name is Melanie McFadyen, and I am both an English instructor as well as part of the Teaching and Learning team at Yukon College. I love to read and discuss ideas, and I am interested in innovative and collaborative ways to learn and teach. I hope to contribute to building an engaged community. I look forward to sharing some time with you.
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Hi Melanie! Yes to collaborative ways to learn and teach!
L
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My name is Colleen Grandy. Like Polly and Melanie, I am part of the Teaching and Learning team at Yukon College. I also teach communications courses online. Participating in this online community helps me maintain and grow my empathy with learners in my online courses. I look forward to sharing experiences and learning from the group!
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Hi Colleen,
It was great to meet at the web chat Friday! Looking forwarding seeing you at future chats.
L
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A little late but better than never eh? Hi everyone! My name is Sylvia Riessner, I’m an independent educator. I had hoped to join in from the start and explore what an online book club could provide in terms of self-learning and pro-d. And I hoped to be able to share insights from different teaching/learning design gigs I’ve done the last several years. So much for good intentions. I have been following – will start contributing. Enjoying the conversation and the book you’ve chosen. Cheers
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Welcome! Welcome Sylvia! Never too late to join a book club 🙂 Hope you can make it Friday (tomorrow at 10 AM) for our chat.
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