A Teaching Commons for

CSU Business Programs

Ron Purser

What’s a Teaching Commons?

• A concept advanced by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

• A community space for: – Faculty sharing of knowledge and expertise across the

CSU– Accessing teaching and learning resources and

strategies that work for CSU Business faculty and students

– Faculty leaders organizing and disseminating best practices so they become common practices

– Networking around campus and system-level initiatives in timely and effective ways

CSU College of Business Needs

• Sharing best practices using online resources

• Developing and adopting instructional innovations cost-effectively

• Creating a community of practice to address common pedagogical problems

• Support AACSB accreditation– Quality curriculum (content + pedagogy)– Scholarship of teaching business

Requirements for Putting Innovations

into Practice• Disciplinary context for content• Institutional context for curriculum• Community context for peer advocacy

and recognition• Usable Services

– Effective, Easy to learn, Easy to Use, Motivating

The CSU Teaching Commons• Teaching Commons is a workspace for CSU faculty within

disciplines to share projects, expertise, and resources across our campuses

– Puts the control of the content in faculty hands– Gets the technology behind the scenes– Bridges the individual efforts to the larger CSU, national, and

international endeavorsWe’ve built a prototype to illustrate what a Teaching Commons

might do and to get feedback for the faculty

http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/business/about/council.html

Teaching Commons Basics

• Use Adobe Contribute to enable faculty to manage the content without IT Staff Support

• CSU CO will host the Teaching Commons

• Faculty Driven • Rapid Prototyping and Experimentation

Current Status

• Version 1.0 Introduced to all CSU/COB Deans• Formation of Teaching Commons Faculty

Steering Committee From CSU Campuses– Initial strategy meeting with 6 faculty held August

2nd

– Recruitment of additional faculty to Steering Committee

• Content and Features Enhancements– Blogging and Discussion Forums– Departmental Collections

• Version 2.0 to be launched by Dec 1, 2007