Who we want to hear from:
- Faculty and staff members of institutions who are a part of the Appalachian College Association;
- Those observing new trends in higher education;
- Educators who have successfully implemented new, innovative strategies or tactics for teaching - in and out of the classroom;
- People working to build community and connection on and beyond their campuses; and
- Colleagues writing or sharing information specific to teaching and learning within the context of independent colleges and universities in the Appalachian region.
Resources we publish are:
Brief and easy to implement:
- Reviews of books or resources in the scholarship of teaching and learning;
- Micro video tutorials and trainings on using resources or implementing tools;
- Technology reviews; and
- Toolkits related to classroom or student support and development.
Longer and more in-depth:
- Case studies based on your experience in or out of the classroom;
- Webinars/web sessions over 30 minutes long;
- Personal essays on teaching & learning; and
- Scholarly articles.
Where we publish content:
The Virtual Water Cooler
The Virtual Water Cooler is a unique, user-friendly library of brief toolkits, resources, ideas, micro-videos, strategies, and conversations around educating students within the Appalachian region.
The Water Cooler is a collaborative project for members of the ACA to share their knowledge and experiences in short, easy-to-use formats with other ACA members. This teaching and learning co-op helps staff, faculty, and administration or team members build a range of teaching and learning knowledge.
Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper is a well of in-depth scholarship related to teaching and learning, such as articles, case studies, robust web-based resources, and webinars with topics around educating students within the Appalachian region.
Digging Deeper is a collaborative project for members of the ACA to share their rich, in-depth knowledge and experiences with other ACA members. This evidence-based resource helps staff, faculty, and administration or team members reach further depths of teaching and learning expertise.
What we advance for review:
We’re all limited on time and focus. We need to quickly consume so that we can quickly implement. With that in mind - we’re looking for:
- Clear and concise, actionable strategies to implement;
- Approachable and digestible;
- Easy to interact with through embedded hyperlinks to citations or references;
- Created through a lens of collaboration and community support and fully representative of our diverse membership backgrounds and experiences;
- Resources that reference other work published within the ACA CTL initiatives, drawing connections and creating dynamic conversations; and
- Resources that have been submitted using the templates we’ve provided.
How to submit:
We know that examples will help contributors visualize and create content. Here you’ll find a folder of templates. You can make a copy of the templates and work from them using the steps below. There is also a set of resources with the Building Classroom Community topic in common so that you can compare how a single topic may be applied to multiple resources. See the tutorial below.
Topic suggestions (among others):
- Teaching Strategies
- Building Classroom Community
- Collaborations Across Campus
- Popular Issues and Controversies
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Digital Literacy
- Student Development
- Resources for New ACA Members
- Open and Affordable Resources
- Appalachian-Related Teaching and Learning
- Working with Communities Outside of Campus
- Teaching and Learning Technology
- Assessment Strategies and Resources
- Engaging Students in the Learning Community
- Online Course Design and Delivery
- Experiential Learning
- Course Design and Content
- Student Advising and Support
Examples of submissions:
We know that examples will help contributors visualize and create content. Here you’ll find a folder of templates. You can make a copy of the templates and work from them using the steps below.
- Open the video with instructions on how to use the templates.
- Go to the templates folder (see link in the top right corner of this video or on the form) - found in the video at 0:00;
- Choose a template - found in the video at 0:11;
- Make a copy of the template- found in the video at 1:33;
- Plug in your information- found in the video at 2:25;
- Set the document to "anyone with a link can edit" - found in the video at 2:50;
- Share that link with us on the submission form - found in the video at 3:21.
Here you’ll find examples of resources that use the provided templates. There is also a set of resources with the Building Classroom Community topic in common so that you can compare how a single topic may be applied to multiple resources.
