WVU Potomac State College
A collaborative community studying focused and evidenced informed strategies that
support learning.
Facilitator: Andrea Schafer, Senior Engaged Teaching Scholar
Eligibility: WVU PSC faculty and instructors. Please inquire by Friday, October 2, 2026.
Meets In Person: Meeting times will be determined by the group's availability. (Fall 2026 semester, approximately every other week beginning in October; Several follow up meetings in Spring 2027.)
What is working in our classrooms—and what might we try next?
WVU-PSC faculty are invited to participate in a collaborative community group focused on exploring high-impact, evidence-informed strategies for college classrooms.
Faculty who are interested in exploring a strategy, tackling a challenge, or investigating
a question related to their teaching practice are encouraged to consider this opportunity.
The goal of this group is to identify meaningful classroom practices that yield
student engagement, enhance opportunities for interacting with material, and support
learning. While faculty are welcome to explore strategies that meet the needs of
a variety of disciplines and subject matters, the goal of this community is not
to redesign an entire course, but rather to be intentional about designing opportunities
for learning.
What will we do?
Over the course of the fall semester, participants will:
- explore current literature related to effective teaching and learning, including research relevant to their own disciplines, courses, and students.
- identify a teaching or learning question, challenge, or opportunity within one of their courses.
- design a manageable strategy, activity, intervention, or learning experience informed by what they discover in the literature.
- try the strategy in their own classroom or course.
- consider what happened by gathering appropriate evidence of student learning, engagement, experiences, or outcomes.
- reflect on what was learned and how the experience might influence future teaching.
- develop an accessible way to share insights, discoveries, and successful practices with the broader campus community. The emphasis of this experience will be on exploration, application, and sharing.
What might I explo re?
Example inquiries that may lead to evidence-based best practice classroom integration include the following. Faculty are encouraged to explore any area of interest that could potentially support student learning.
- How can I get students to participate more meaningfully in class?
- What strategies might help students retain course material longer?
- How can I help students make connections between concepts rather than simply memorize information?
- Would a change in one of my assignments improve student learning?
- What does research in my field suggest about how students learn this particular content?
A focused question about one activity, assignment, unit, or teaching practice may be the perfect place to begin.
How will the group work?
The group will begin meeting in mid October and continue meeting over several weeks during the fall semester. We anticipate meeting approximately every two weeks, although the final meeting schedule will be developed with participant input.
Meetings will provide time to explore resources, exchange ideas across disciplines, discuss what the literature suggests, develop individual plans, troubleshoot challenges, and learn from one another as participants put their ideas into practice. Time commitment expectations of research and guide document completion between meetings is approximated at 1-2 hours.
Because participants will come from different disciplines, one of the strengths of the group will be the opportunity to see how effective teaching and learning principles can take different forms across courses and content areas.
Where will this lead?
By the end of the experience, each participant will have explored an evidence-informed teaching question, put an idea into practice, and reflected on what was learned. Your project is suitable for inclusion in Digital Measures.
Each participant will share findings and insights from their investigation with our campus community. A celebration event will be planned during which participants will exhibit findings and give a brief, informal presentation to our colleagues. The goal is to contribute to conversations about teaching and learning by sharing practical ideas and experiences, encouraging other faculty to explore adaptation for their own classrooms.
Interested?
Faculty from all disciplines, course formats, and levels of teaching experience are encouraged to participate. Meeting times are scheduled based on the group’s availability.
Interested faculty should contact Andrea Schafer, Engaged Teaching Scholar, at agschafer@mail.wvu.edu by Friday, Oct 2, 2026 4:00 pm.
Please include your intended targeted course (and content, if you have any preliminary ideas) along with your expectations for your own learning through this experience and what you hope to gain from it.
Come explore a question about your teaching—and see where it leads.