Ed Crafters Community Connection

For the academic year 2024-2025, the goals of this Virtual Professional Learning Community (VPLC) are to:

• Promote Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): Encourage members to engage in scholarly inquiry into their teaching practices and their student's learning experiences.
• Facilitate Professional Development: Provide opportunities for educators to enhance their teaching, research, and professional skills through workshops and collaborative projects.
• Foster Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Encourage collaboration and knowledge exchange across different disciplines and areas of expertise to promote innovative approaches to educational research. 
• Support Research and Publication: Assist members in conducting educational research, writing scholarly articles, and disseminating their findings through publication and conference presentations.
• Cultivate a Supportive Community: Create an inclusive environment where educators can share resources, exchange ideas, and provide mutual support in their professional development.
• Empower Educators as Scholars: Empower educators to view themselves as scholars who advance knowledge in their field through inquiry and reflective practice.
• Promote Critical Reflection: Encourage members to critically reflect on their teaching practices, educational theories, and the broader social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of education.

The community's co-coordinators, Scott Riley II, PhD and Eric Belt, EdD, will (co)facilitate the Zoom sessions for the academic year 2024-2025. Each session follows a structured format:

• Presentation (15-20 minutes):

The session begins with a focused presentation from the community co-coordinators providing valuable insights, information, or learning materials relevant to the theme or objectives of the learning community.

• Open Discussion (15-20 minutes):

Following the presentation, there is an opportunity for open discussion where everyone is encouraged to share their thoughts, ask questions, and engage in dialogue with the presenter(s) and fellow attendees.

• Interactive Component or Exit Ticket (15-20 minutes):

The session concludes with an interactive component or an exit ticket activity, designed to reinforce learning and facilitate reflection. This interactive component may include polls, quizzes, breakout room discussions, or other interactive activities. Alternatively, participants may be asked to complete an exit ticket, providing feedback or summarizing key takeaways from the session. This helps to "close the loop" on the discussion and ensure that participants leave with a clear understanding of the session's content. 

The meetings are scheduled for the third Friday of each month, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, and will be conducted via Zoom. This year's schedule, organized by date and corresponding topics: 

Academic Year 2024-2025
Date	Topic
Sept. 20, 2024	SoTL Orientation & Overview
Oct. 18, 2024	Digging Deeper into SoTL
Nov. 15, 2024	Crafting SoTL Research Questions
Dec. 20, 2024	Open Meeting Check-In (alt. educational myths)
Jan. 17, 2025	Fall Recap & SoTL Study Design
Feb. 21, 2025	SoTL Data Analysis
March 21, 2025	SoTL Writing & Peer Review
April 18, 2025	SoTL Collaboration Strategies
May 16, 2025	SoTL Funding & Future Planning

Register for the Academic Year 2024-2025 Meeting Series:

To register for the meeting series for the academic year 2024-2025, please click the link below. Registering will enable you to conveniently add all meetings to your calendar. Attendance at all sessions is not mandatory; feel free to attend as many as your schedule permits. We hope to see you there!

Register for the meeting series