As soon as you have the list of team members, a meeting schedule, and a location, use Outlook to send recurring meeting to all of the team members so that the C3 meetings are scheduled on everyone's calendar.
Previous C3 teams have found off-site meetings/field trips contribute to the overall quality of the C3 Lab experience. Ideally, the off-site meeting will happen prior to the C3 Semester, or within the first 4-5 weeks. Here are a few ideas to get you started
- Least disruptive to classes and dept. meetings as possible
- Should not require flights
- Should be within a 4-hour drive
- Should provide team time to talk, discuss, plan, etc.
- Should not exceed 1 night away from Rexburg.
- Should take place prior to or during the first weeks of the C3 semester.
Course facilitators and stewards can apply for travel funds using this form linked here:
Send the document to ashbyd@byui.edu.
#3: Pre-C3 Meeting
Timeline: 3-6 weeks before the C3 Lab
Attendees: The Steward, Facilitator, and Designer
The purpose of this meeting is to have the steward, designer, and facilitator finalize plans, goals, and expectations for the C3 Lab. Below are a few guiding questions to help you get started:
- Who is on the final list of C3 team members?
- Have meeting invitations been sent to everyone on the team? (Times and locations?)
- Does everyone have access to the C3 Lab in Canvas?
- Does the course steward understand the vision of the C3 Lab?
- Is the course steward familiar with the C3 topics? How should we divide up the topics and work?
- What should the 3 of you know about the course? Course history? Course data?
- Does the course steward have any goals or needs for the course that the designer and facilitator should be aware of?
- How will you bring the team together and kick off the work in the first meeting?
#3a: Team Activity
Timeline: Anytime before the C3 Lab begins until the first week or two of the C3 Lab.
Person(s) Responsible: Facilitator and course lead
Attendees: All C3 Team Members
The purpose of this meeting is to invest in our team members and build unity. This activity could be combined with #3 above. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Bowling
- Hatchet throwing
- Batting cages at the red barn
- Rock Climbing
- Golf
- Ropes Course
- Pickelball
#4: Seek Student Input - Focus Groups, Surveys, & SCOTs
Considering the perspective of the student has become a fundamental part of the C3 Lab.
"As scholars of our teaching, we must attend unremittingly to the responses of our students. We must use what we learn about their learning as data that justify or require us to change our practices..." Pres. Bednar quoting Bender and Gray
Each C3 team should have 1-2 student members on their C3 team. The student(s) you choose should be willing to speak up and actively contribute to the project. If the student(s) will be attending team meetings regularly, they should be paid for their time. If the department cannot pay for them, contact David Ashby for more funding options. Here are a few places you might find students to contribute to the C3 team:
- Current or past Teaching Assistants
- Current or past course tutors
- Student employees of the Campus Curriculum Design team
- Students who may have withdrawn or failed the course
Here are a few more ideas to gather the student perspective on your course:
- Hold a student focus group (recommended early in your C3 experience).
- Survey past, present, or future students
- Use the SCOT program to gather and highlight course strengths and gaps.
- Interview individual student
#5: Weekly Team Meetings
During the weekly meetings, the facilitator wears multiple hats. Below are some of the key objectives and tasks you will attend to:
- Engagement in the scholarship - Help team members prepare for the weekly discussions by encouraging/reminding the team of the reading assignments.
- Connect the team to resources - Be aware of the resources that the team may need. Communicate with David Ashby to connect the team to resources as needed. Here are some examples: library, technology (FTC), student support, academic support, online learning, etc.
- Validate all team members - Creativity, collaboration, and innovation can be stifled if members of the team feel marginalized or ignored. Help the team see the importance of everyone's opinions, especially the perspective of those who do not teach the course. The cross-curricular perspective is a key element of the C3 Lab.
- Move the work forward - Discussion and debate are encouraged. However, if the discussion begins to delay the progress of the C3 lab, it is up to you to move the work forward. Consider some of these interventions:
- Meet as a smaller group of stakeholders to make plans and decisions
- Bring in department chairs, deans, or persons who may be better equipped to provide guidance and direction.
- Move on to another topic.
- Document innovations and interventions - Ensure that someone on the team (ideally the steward or the designer) has documented the team's responses to each of the 11 C3 topics.
#6: Facilitate C3 Topics & Discussions
Each topic discussion guide is designed to help you and the course steward answer the driving question(s) at the top of the page. The rest of the resources in the guides are to help you and the team get started. Each team has the liberty to gather and share quality resources. If new resources are found, you should share those with the C3 Facilitators and decide if the guide should be updated.
Here are the principles for facilitating the guides and discussions. Each C3 facilitator should...
- Help the team move toward resolving the driving question. Some teams get hung up in the discussion phase with no real solution(s) created. Know your team well enough to know when a discussion needs more information or time, and when a decision needs to be made.
- Document the solutions and innovations. These will be added to the course teaching notes and communicated to the rest of the teaching team. (Can be done by the course lead.)
- Help the team create resources to support the solutions and plans made. Some innovations and plans need additional resources to bring them to life. You may need to bring in additional people or fewer people to bring focus and effort around the course needs. The course steward and facilitator have the freedom to alter meetings to meet the team's goals and needs. This includes changing the purpose, invite list, agenda, etc, of various weekly meetings.
#7: Seek Student Input - Focus Groups, Surveys, & SCOTs
Considering the perspective of the student has become a fundamental part of the C3 Lab.
"As scholars of our teaching, we must attend unremittingly to the responses of our students. We must use what we learn about their learning as data that justify or require us to change our practices..." Pres. Bednar quoting Bender and Gray
Each C3 team should have 1-2 student members on their C3 team. The student(s) you choose should be willing to speak up and actively contribute to the project. If the student(s) will be attending team meetings regularly, they should be paid for their time. If the department cannot pay for them, contact David Ashby for more funding options. Here are a few places you might find students to contribute to the C3 team:
- Current or past Teaching Assistants
- Current or past course tutors
- Student employees of the Campus Curriculum Design team
- Students who may have withdrawn or failed the course
Here are a few more ideas to gather the student perspective on your course:
- Hold a student focus group (recommended early in your C3 experience).
- Survey past, present, or future students
- Use the SCOT program to gather and highlight course strengths and gaps.
- Interview individual student
#8: Document the most notable improvements
During the C3 lab be mindful of the improvements and innovations that may be most beneficial to a wider audience. There are two summary documents that need to be completed by the end of the C3 Lab. See the "Wrap it Up" page for a full explanation of the C3 Summaries.