Introduction

September 18, 2020

 

Congratulations on being selected to be a part of SAC's Research and Engagement Academy (REA)!  We look forward to collaborating with all of you this year and hope everyone enjoys the experience.

 

The Research and Engagement Academy's Place in the College

 

The Research and Engagement Academy is a central part of SAC's new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Fearless Learning.  The Fearless Learning program was developed by a cross-campus team of faculty, staff, and students to address a key student learning area at SAC: the support and development of SAC's first-time-in-college students’ information literacy skills.  The QEP Development Team more narrowly defined information literacy as integrated reading, writing, and researching skills.  To start examining and testing collaborative means of supporting our students' further development of these skills, SAC Leadership sponsored the creation of a professional development vehicle, the Research and Engagement Academy, where a working group of faculty and staff can continue these important conversations. 

 

REA Goals

 

The Research and Engagement Academy's goals are to assemble a group of instructors, tutors, and librarians who will examine, develop, and test collaborative means of empowering students to 1) more comfortably engage diverse texts from across the curriculum as critical readers and writers and 2) view more class projects, assignments, and/or activities as empowering means of understanding and contributing to discipline/profession specific conversations.

To achieve these goals, tutors, instructors, and librarians in the REA will 1) support and learn from each other; 2) study, discuss, and test various curricular and co-curricular means to help student writers and readers attain a greater sense of agency in their courses and disciplines; and 3) employ some shared language and strategies to support these goals in the classroom, the reference area, and the tutoring labs.

 

The Spirit of the Program

 

A Community of Engaged Researchers:  Reading, writing, speaking, and listening--those four communal means of critically engaging and shaping ideas and conversations will drive ALL of our REA collaborations.  Please notice we refer to these four activities as communal.  As researchers in the REA, we will use these more interpersonal modes of active learning to enter and sustain ongoing conversations about our efforts to support our students.  We promise that with our colleagues from the REA close by, learning and studying won't be such a lonely experience. : )    

 

A Culture of Mutual Respect:  We believe that conversations and collaborations between peers about our own best practices are as important as our examination of published practices and approaches championed by colleagues at other institutions. Each member of the REA working group brings invaluable insights and experiences to our conversation.  We are eager and excited to share and really learn from each other.  Please know that as we work together, we will do so with a firm respect of each member's professional authority and autonomy.  In other words, nobody at the REA will dictate or force any REA participant to make any changes to the curricular or co-curricular support they provide the students. Whatever smaller or larger changes REA participants choose to make or not make as a result of these conversations is completely up to them.  Each member of the REA retains their right to decide how deeply they get involved in the REA's collaborative opportunities.  

 

A Culture of Support:  The support provided by your peers during our REA sessions and events also extends to the participating programs.  Please know that the Writing Center, Library, SLAC, other tutoring centers, and Fearless Learning staff are happy and ready to help support you and your students in any way possible.  As a member of the REA team, each of you can find comfort knowing you just inherited a sizable support staff ready to make the SAC experience more exciting and enriching for you and your students.  In your binder you will find information about these supporting programs, and of course our current REA class is filled with ambassadors from those services who will be happy to share how you and your students can make full use of their services. 

 

A Team Who Values Your Job and Your Time: Since the REA team is very aware of the busy schedule of our fellow instructors, librarians, and tutors, we took the following steps to ensure your REA commitment does not unintentionally fatigue any of you, our valued REA participants:

  • compensate participants and/or release them from other duties;
  • make additional support for participants and their students available;
  • ensure teaching and tutoring schedules don't conflict with REA obligations

If you have any concerns or questions about our supporting your participation in the program, please let one of the co-directors know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

 

Research and Engagement Academy Faculty Fellows will:

  • be granted release time needed to participate in  theprogram;
  • have extra tutoring and library support available for their students;
  • collaborate with and learn from other instructors and learning support professionals from other curricular and co-curricular programs from across campus;
  • be eligible to receive future Research and Engagement Awards/Grants;
  • get enrollment priority for all their classes;
  • and be able to list a Research and Engagement Academy Faculty Fellowship and other related support of their college's Quality Enhancement Plan on their CV, their Alamo Talent transcript, and their Faculty 180 portfolio.

 

REA Faculty Fellows will be required to:

  • participate in six Friday morning REA sessions in the fall and five sessions in the spring;  
  • complete a small number of tasks and readings between REA sessions online in Canvas;
  • have their classes participate in the library instruction program for the next two academic years;
  • revise and submit one assignment and lesson plan by the end of the Spring 2021 semester and commit to including them in their Fall 2021 and Spring 2022;
  • provide access to student work connected to the revised assignment.

 

REA Fall 2020 Calendar

We will meet in our Canvas Course Zoom room on the following Fridays from 10am-11:30am:

Session One:  September 18

Session Two:  October 2

Session Three: October 16

 

Session Four: October 30

Session Five: November 13

Session Six: TBD week of December 4

 

REA Spring 2020 Calendar

Session One: TBD

Session Two:  TBD

Session Three: TBD

Session Four: TBD

Session Five: TBD

 

 

Your fearless co-directors,

Ernest Tsacalis, MFA, English

Celita Avila, MLIS, Library