CRTLE Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): A Modern Teaching Salon for the 2026-27 Academic Year

CRTLE Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are inspired by the tradition of the Salons of Paris—regular gatherings where thinkers, creators, and practitioners came together to exchange ideas, explore emerging questions, and learn through conversation. Like those salons, CRTLE PLCs are designed as intellectual commons for teaching: spaces where faculty engage in dialogue, experimentation, and collective sense‑making around pedagogy.

Rather than one‑time workshops, PLCs function as sustained, faculty‑driven communities that emphasize:

- Knowledge sharing across disciplines and teaching contexts

- Pedagogical innovation grounded in real classroom practice

- Think‑tank–style discussion of emerging challenges and opportunities

- Crowdsourcing and piloting new ideas in courses, with space to reflect on what works—and what doesn’t.

Faculty are encouraged to bring works‑in‑progress into the PLC: teaching ideas, assignments, questions, experiments, and even uncertainties. Through regular meetings, guest speakers, and shared reflection, participants collectively surface patterns, refine practices, and contribute to broader campus conversations about teaching and learning.

Across the academic year, PLC participants:

- Engage in structured discussion and peer‑led knowledge sharing

- Learn from guest speakers and campus partners

- Pilot new pedagogical approaches in their own courses

- Create microcontent (e.g., short reflections, examples, templates, or teaching tips) to share insights with the wider faculty community

- Participate in the April CRTLE Faculty Showcase, sharing lessons learned and ideas in progress

Participation in each PLC is intentionally capped at 12 faculty (waiting list available) to preserve the conversational, collegial nature of the group and to support meaningful dialogue—mirroring the salon‑style environment that inspires this work.