The Wallace Library, like many other buildings on campus, has undergone changes this semester. The Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning (CCTL), located in the library where the microfiche room used to be on the periodicals level, recently held its official inauguration event in Emerson dining.
The CCTL has three main co-directors: M. Gabriela Torres, professor of Anthropology, Claire Buck, professor of English and Cary Gouldin, the humanities liaison librarian. Additionally, the CCTL has two student members who played just as important parts in the creation of the CCTL: Fatoumata Diallo ’19 and Dominick Torres ’20. As said on Wheaton’s website, “the new Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning aims to build on the college’s holistic approach to education, helping to grow a rigorous and culturally diverse learning environment to promote student success.”
Over the summer, Torres, Buck and Gouldin began developing events and programs for the CCTL. Included in these programs, as mentioned in the same introduction to the CCTL on Wheaton’s website, was “the creation of toolkits of evidence-based teaching techniques that faculty members can use to enhance student engagement in their learning. One aspect of the toolkit project—videos that illustrate campus activities and feature students and faculty reflecting on their experiences—exemplifies the kind of collaboration the center hopes to foster.”
The intentions of the CCTL are further explained in a “Lyons Lunch” video, in which the co-directors and student members spoke to President Hanno about the CCTL. As said by Professor Torres when speaking about the conception of the CCTL, “what made [alums’] Wheaton education special was the fact that they were able to establish long term learning relationships with faculty…and now we want to do that in an intentional way.” Gouldin further explained that the CCTL co-directors “are working on ways of trying to get all kinds of staff, from academic advising to residential life to coaches, because learning is happening in all of these spaces. You see the events that student groups are putting together, and you see that clearly they are excited about learning and are creating spaces for themselves to learn, and so that the more that we are able to create synergy between all that learning, the more we are able to engender learning and be intentional about that learning and make sure that it’s really inclusive and effective and exciting.” On March 20, the CCTL will host Tia Brown McNair, the vice president in the office of diversity, equity, and student success from the Association of American Colleges and Universities for a public event as well as small-group meetings to promote their message of collaboration and open dialogue.