The Center for Teaching Excellence, which strives to maintain a commitment to helping educators at Iowa State become more effective, has been increasing interactivity among small groups of faculty members.

These groups, called Teaching and Learning Circles, offer the chance for faculty members to discuss aspects of their professional lives with one another. The circles allow faculty members to gain new insight into a particular topic by means of reading and discussion, said Susan Yager, associate director of the Center for Teaching Excellence.

The groups formed in the fall of 2000 and have been well received by the faculty, said Corly Brooke, associate vice provost and director of the Center For Teaching Excellence.

“It was developed to give the faculty insight of a topic over time, as opposed to a single class or workshop,” Brooke said. “They’re more like seminars.”

The groups meet several times each semester to discuss a certain resource, such as books on teaching. The groups are always small, generally with a dozen members.

“We aim for 12 people but sometimes we run over that number,” Yager said.

The center is hosting two learning circles this semester.

“The Skillful Teacher” circle utilizes the book of the same name to discuss traits of successful teachers. The other, “Teaching a Class of One: Intersections of Advising and Teaching,” is designed for teachers who also perform as academic advisers.

Yager said the idea behind the “Teaching a Class of One” was to bring together “all kinds of people who do advising work.”

“I’m a huge proponent for programs like these,” said Dana Schumacher, academic adviser for the political science department.

“There are few opportunities for faculty to talk in a positive way about the things we do and the things we could do.”

Schumacher said programs such as the learning circles help build cross-campus relationships, and often projects and proposals can spring from the group meetings.

“The groups also have a social aspect to them,” Yager said.

While the groups may not help educators with every detail of teaching, Yager said it helps with “the big issue [of] working with students to help them learn.”

She said the groups may not help teachers with the details of teaching, it helps them “understand the big issue: working with students to help them learn.”

“It helps them get out of their niche,” Yager said.