STEM Teaching MOOC-Centered Learning Community (MCLC)
Learn about STEM teaching through online courses and a campus learning community. Graduate students, postdocs, and faculty are invited to concurrently participate in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and MOOC-Centered Learning Community (MCLC).
Overview
Connect with other Northwestern MOOC participants through a MOOC-Centered Learning Community (MCLC) aimed at enhancing your learning experience and keeping you on track with MOOC course material. In weekly, synchronous peer-led and facilitated meetings, participants will discuss course topics and lessons learned after engaging with online content.
What is a MOOC and why should I participate before joining the MCLC?
The MOOC is an 8-week course covering many of the basics of evidence-based teaching and learning. Participants partake in the MOOC, which happens asynchronously online. Participants then can partake in the associated Learning Community or MOOC-Centered Learning Community (MCLC), which is a CIRTL at Northwestern program. This learning community facilitates and reinforces learning from the topics covered in the MOOC. For more information on the evidence-based teaching and learning MOOC, see below.
Eligibility
This program is open to current or incoming faculty members, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.
Application or Registration
To participate, you will need to register separately for the MOOC and the MCLC.
MCLC Registration
Please check back soon to register for the MCLC in summer 2023. Registration will be on this page.
MOOC Registration
- The most recent offering of the CIRTL MOOC 1, "An Introduction to Evidence-Based STEM Undergraduate Teaching" began in September 2022. It will be offered again in 2023 in the summer.
- The next offering of the CIRTL MOOC 2, “Advancing Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching”, begins Monday, January 30, 2023. Please register online.
See below for more information about CIRTL MOOCs.
Objectives
Following CIRTL core principles, participants will be able to :
- engage students in active learning in classrooms using strategies such as peer instruction and problem-based learning
- develop methods to help their students think more like experts in their fields using inquiry-based labs and similar activities
- turn their classrooms into learning communities through cooperative learning and using the diverse perspectives of their students
- use approaches like flipped classrooms that make it possible to build active and collaborative learning into their classes
Time Commitment and/or Schedule
The MCLC will be for an hour each week and runs for eight weeks.
Additional Program Information
Graduate students and postdocs: MCLC can be used to fulfill CIRTL certification requirements! Those who participate in an MCLC and complete one of the CIRTL MOOCs are only one CIRTL workshop away from achieving CIRTL Associate status.
CIRTL MOOC 1 “An Introduction to Evidence-Based STEM Undergraduate Teaching”
Learn how to implement effective teaching strategies in a college or university classroom through this free 8-week online course. This course is designed for future STEM faculty and provides an introduction to evidence-based teaching strategies as well as methods for assessing learning and teaching. This MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) draws on the expertise of experienced STEM faculty, educational researchers, and staff from university teaching centers, many of them affiliated with the CIRTL network.
You can learn more about the course through the CIRTL's MOOC website.
CIRTL MOOC 2 "Advancing Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching"
Learn how to engage students in active learning using strategies such as peer instruction, problem-based learning, and inquiry-based labs in this MOOC developed by CIRTL Network faculty.
This course builds on the CIRTL MOOC 1, “An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching,” which is recommended, but not required, as a prerequisite for participating in this course.
You can learn more about the course through the CIRTL's MOOC website.