Changes

A Community of Practice solidifies a reason to be passionate about knowledge in a subject and serves as an enterprise of collective actions to support it. As described by Wenger below, the degrees of community participation align with my idea of having UIF in the center, but still engaging with entities on campus that supports the goal in providing authentic learning experiences for students at Mines. “Authentic learning is learning designed to connect what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications; learning experiences should mirror the complexities and ambiguities of real life” (ACEL)

There are already pathways to innovation and learning defined by the University Honors and Scholars Program. They support students in their interests in learning research, entrepreneurship endeavors, scholarly honors pedagogy, leadership skills, etc. Formal ways to support authentic learning will still be needed in spite of the CoP. This CoP would enhance these efforts and also involve other perspectives from staff and/or alumni who would also like to invest their time and efforts to the cause. Another example of existing efforts is the signature students experience/core curriculum committee who is formulating a new way to approach the first couple years distinctive learning at Mines. This CoP can be a sounding board for the various proposals being made.

While all of these entities potentially can be the core group/active members, the alumni group and staff might be good peripheral members, especially with practical experience in their respective fields. One particular practice that comes to mind is reflective practices in the workplace and how it benefits ones’ career in the long run. To add to this group, there is our are the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, Trefny Innovative Instruction Centerand the Career Center at Mines. Though the degree of participation ultimately becomes an individual commitment. As a Faculty Innovation Fellow, I aim to coordinate and cultivate the start of this CoP. Examples of activities/work to be done: guest speaker series, round table discussions, pop-up classes, a wiki site to sustain/maintain ongoing student projects, a list of references and best practices hosted by Mines library, a sustainable scholarship fund, story-telling/open mic night in collaboration with student activities, hands-on workshops. </br>

In our Integrative Design Studios class for our Bachelor's of Science in Engineering degree, I created a curriculum for the first year studio -- part of a 4 yearlong studio series. This is what we named the “Choose Your Own Adventure” (CYOA) module- borrowing the term CYOA, also used in the Thorson First Year Honors Program. For context, we have a series of design sprints students do in their teams, i.e. SDP or Social Design Pathways and DFF or Design for the Future -- This is loosely connected with the CoP, I am showcasing my ability to create a lesson plan that displays authentic learning, which gives students opportunity for agency, latitude and creativity.