Communities of Practice (CoP)
What is a Community of Practice?
A community of practice (CoP) is a group whose members “share a passion for something they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better” (Wenger, 2006). Depending on the interests of members they may host presentations from various CSU departments, share ideas and problem-solve together, host guest speakers, collaborate on projects, or hold social/networking events. A CoP allows people to share knowledge, expertise, scholarship, ideas, and suggestions, both face-to-face and electronically.
Why Join?
Communities of practice are a great way to connect with others on campus who are doing work similar to yours, to share and learn from each, and to give and receive support.
2024-25 Communities of Practice
To join a Community of Practice, reach out to the designated contact person associated with each CoP.
TILT Led CoP's
Increasing Student Success Through Classroom Writing: Interrogating the Possibilities of Writing Engaged Classrooms and Writing-Across the-Curriculum
Contact: Kelly Bradbury
Email: [email protected]
At a time when Generative AI has many people questioning the purpose, value, and authorship of college writing, this Community of Practice invites faculty, postdocs, and graduate students to interrogate current and possible uses of class-time writing to enrich, deepen, and assess student learning across the curriculum. This Community of Practice will meet in a condensed, intensive 2-week format to discuss current scholarship that crosses disciplinary boundaries, that is grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and that pulls from localized (CSU-based) experiments with meaningful integration of writing across a variety of courses and learning outcomes. Outside reading will be expected over the period of the CoP.
In this Community of Practice, participants will work together to brainstorm, discuss, and analyze multiple ways of integrating writing into their courses, taking into account course objectives, lesson planning, implementation, and assessment. Additional opportunity to apply for funded classroom writing integration projects will follow the CoP. This CoP will have an enrollment cap and priority will be given to varied disciplinary representation. Indication of interest in this CoP (email [email protected]) will be accepted until 5 PM on May 21 and candidates will be notified of plans by May 26.
Dates, Time, and Location:
· 4 Meetings: Monday June 2nd, Thursday June 5th, Monday June 9th, Thursday June 12th
· Time: 1:00 – 3:00pm
· Location: Microsoft Teams (virtual)
Co-Facilitators:
- Kelly Bradbury, Director of gtPathways Writing Integration
- Genesea Carter, Associate Director of Composition
- Leslie Davis, Associate Director of the CSU Writing Center
- Annie Halseth, CSU WAC Program Writing Specialist
Readings:
· “The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year” by Nancy Sommers and Laura Saltz
· “Learning through Writing: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Writing Assignments” by Gamze Cavdar and Sue Doe
· “Writing as a Mode of Learning” by Janet Emig
· “Writing-to-Learn, Writing-to-Communicate, & Scientific Literacy” by Meena Balgopal and Alison Wallace
· “Valuing Process over Product: Using Writing to Teach History in the Undergraduate History Classroom” by Genesea Carter and David Korostyshevsky
· “Stories and Explanations in the Introductory Calculus Classroom” by Sue Doe, Mary E. Pilgrim, and Jessica Gehrtz
· “Active Processing via Write-to-Learn Assignments: Learning and Retention Benefits in Introductory Psychology” by Karla Gingerich et al
· Thomas Angelo & Patricia Cross’s book Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd ed., Jossey-Bass, 1993 (Excerpts will be provided)
· John C. Bean’s book: Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. 2nd ed. Jossey-Bass, 2011 (Excerpts will be provided).
Alternative Grading Practices
Contact: Jennifer Todd
Email: [email protected]
Purpose: Explore and share different types of assessments and how to make grading practices more equitable. Topics will include student-generated rubrics, mastery grading, standards-based grading, and more as defined by the CoP.
Vision: Increase student motivation and learning at CSU through equitable assessment.
Mission: Build and strengthen community and teaching skills by sharing resources, stories, knowledge, and experience to promote equitable grading at CSU.
Course Assessment Community of Practice
Contacts: Anastasia Williams, [email protected]; Stephanie Foster, [email protected]
Purpose: This is a place for faculty members to explore ideas for innovative ways to address the AUCC 1C learning outcomes in their own disciplines and share strategies for addressing challenges in the 1C classroom. CoP participants will provide peer support for (re)designing courses for submission and approval through the university curriculum processes. This CoP is co-led with the Office of Institutional Research, Planning & Effectiveness.
Goals:
- Provide peer support and shared resources for developing course assignments and learning activities to support student achievement of AUCC 1C course learning outcomes.
- Contribute to the development of a category-wide assessment strategy for AUCC 1C learning outcomes assessment to be conducted in collaboration with course instructors.
Community Engaged Learning
Update: This Community of Practice will occur in Fall 2026. We look forward to welcoming participants then—stay tuned for more details!
Contact: Danyel Addes
Email: [email protected]
Goal: create an intentional, semi-structured, space for faculty and instructors at CSU to talk about their Community Engaged Learning / Service-Learning courses, projects, and practices. Regular meetings and touchpoints allow participants to learn from each other, connect and find support, share resources, examples, and ideas, and to improve our collective ability to create rich learning experiences for students while supporting community priorities or meeting community requests.
Why? Many CSU faculty and instructors are running or developing rich and impactful CEL / SL projects but don’t know others on campus doing similar work. We know our capacities and skills improve when we collaborate, connect, and practice with others. Given the quality of current programs, we are curious to see what else becomes possible when we pool our knowledge and resources.
Who is it for?
This CoP is for anyone running or developing CEL/SL projects that include academic credit or scholarly components. We will ground our discussions and explorations in the specifics of current work and pull in articles, resources or examples based on participant interests and questions. There are many different approaches and definitions of Community Engaged Learning. Please see “about community engaged learning” to get a sense of the framework we will be using.
When / Where / How?
Our default meeting format is virtual with the goal of offering occasional in person gatherings as well. Sign Up Here to receive updates and meeting invitations.
Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education
Contact: Joseph Brown, Ph.D.
Email: [email protected]
The CSU Community of Practice on Artificial Intelligence is an interdisciplinary group of campus community members (academic leaders, faculty, administrative professionals, students) who are seeking to collaborate on questions pertaining to AI’s influence on the university community. This takes many forms, such as the impact on the classroom and learning environment, but also the student experience. The purpose of the CoP is to extend discussion beyond the superficial, explore healthy policy and pedagogical approaches to co-existing with AI, and, ultimately, to share recommendations to senior leadership to help CSU chart the future path forward. The group meets monthly as a whole group and slightly more frequently in subgroups.
Participation in the Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Community of Practice is open to any member of the CSU community who has an interest in this topic. Email or call Joseph Brown ([email protected] OR 970-491-2898) to join.
International Graduate Student Instructors
Contact: Todd Ruecker
Email: [email protected]
Graduate student instructors (GSIs) who grew up speaking a different language or a different variety of English face a number of challenges in adapting to teaching at the college level in the US, including prejudice from students, navigating cultural differences, and learning how to teach while balancing the demands of their graduate programs (c.f. Tseptsura & Ruecker, 2024). This CoP aims to create a space for GSIs to support one another in an asset-focused space.
Who: This CoP is especially relevant for international GSIs looking for a support group in navigating teaching responsibilities at CSU, although it may be useful for those looking to be allies in supporting international GTAs in their programs.
Goal and Structure: This CoP will meet monthly, typically online, with occasional in-person meetings. During our first meeting, we will decide the goals and structure for the semester, which may include a mix of collaboratively working through classroom challenges, identifying strengths that members bring to their programs and classrooms, curricula brainstorming, and discussing relevant readings and other resources.
If interested in joining, please complete this brief interest survey.
Servingness
Contact: Jennifer Roche, Sue Doe, Amanda Penley
Email: [email protected]
Purpose: This community is focused on engaging with and sharing materials, discussing approaches, and getting practical about how to engage in servingness as part of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Given CSU’s status as an emerging HSI, TILT is committed to providing a space for faculty and staff across campus to come together and improve our collective ability to incorporate servingness into our work – with an emphasis on identifying strategies for effectively serving students from a range of underrepresented backgrounds in our teaching (course design and classroom instruction).
Our community aims to meet monthly in a hybrid format (with options for engaging in-person or virtually).
Faculty Led CoP's
Writing-Enriched Curriculum in the Age of AI
Update: This Community of Practice will occur in Spring 2026. We look forward to welcoming participants then—stay tuned for more details!
Contact: Genesea Carter
Email: [email protected]
This Community of Practice invites faculty and graduate students who teach writing-intensive courses and/or who want to teach more writing in their courses to join a conversation about assignment design and writing evaluation in the age of generative AI. In this Community of Practice, participants will brainstorm, discuss, analyze, and practice ways to design and teach writing in their disciplines for enriched learning. We will read selections from John Warner’s book More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI alongside complementary scholarship as a launching point into our conversations. Time will be made in each session to discuss practical application to participants’ writing assignments and teaching of writing. This CoP is capped at 20 participants.
Dates, Time, and Location:
- Mondays: September 8, October 6, November 10, and December 8
- Time: 1:00-3:30pm
- Location: Teams
Session Schedule:
- Session 1 Focus: Warner’s More Than Words chapters “Writing Is Thinking” and “Writing Is Feeling”; Working Paper 2: Generative AI and Policy Development: Guidance from the MLA-CCCC Task Force
- Session 2 Focus: Arola’s “Composing as Culturing: An American Indian Approach to Digital Ethics”; Carter, Bradbury, and Doe’s chapter “Students’ Rights to Generative AI: Using Justice-based Literacies to Center the Human”
- Session 3 Focus: Warner’s More Than Words chapters “A Framework for Action: Resist, Renew, Explore,” “Resist,” “Renew,” and “Explore.”
- Session 4 Focus: TBD
Upcoming Meetings
Community of Practice: Alternative Grading Practices
A community of practice (CoP) is a group whose members "share a passion for something they know how to do and who interact regularly to..
- Date: January 29, 2026
- Time: 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
- Date: February 2, 2026
- Time: 8:00 am - 9:00 am
- Date: February 13, 2026
- Time: 9:30 am - 10:30 am
Location: MS Teams
TILT Book Groups Begin
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