About us
The Teaching & Learning Community of Practice (T&L CoP) provides a space to continue and expand many of the discussions you are already having at teaching & learning events and amongst your own teams within the wider collegiate University. We hope that the community will provide a space for sharing ideas and experiences, and that it will serve as a network for colleagues to tackle shared challenges in a collegial and informal way across Cambridge.
We organise a range of opt-in opportunities to meet and engage in discussions relating to teaching and learning across the year. There will be a theme for each term, an associated webinar, a 'podcast club' (similar to a book club), and a mixture of other in-person and online activities and discussions to join, both synchronous and asynchronous. The extent to which you engage with the T&L CoP is determined by you and your interests and availability.
The T&L CoP is guided by its members and respond to colleagues' interests and needs.
Join us
Sign up to join the Cambridge Teaching & Learning Community of Practice here.
Upon registration for the T&L CoP, you will receive a welcome email. Registering means that you will automatically receive the termly newsletter containing all the information and joining links for the community's activities. Should you wish to participate in asynchronous discussions and have access to shared files within the community, you will also have the option to join our MS Teams site through a link in the welcome email.
What's on this term
Podcast Club: 'Tackling the destruction of perfectionism'
- Thursday 23 October
- 13.00-14.00
- Online
Just like a book club - listen to the podcast and join us for a facilitated discussion.
This term we're exploring the experience and impact of perfectionism. We'll be focusing our conversation on the first 33 minutes of the episode, though you can of course keep listening.
"I'm a perfectionist" is often offered as a glib response in job interviews when asked to identify a weakness: in reality presented as a desirable trait showing dedication, commitment and quality output. Yet what if, in fact, perfectionism was unattainable and damaging? In this episode, Jane explains that the internal critical dialogue can be extremely destructive in its relentless messaging of not being good enough and, worryingly, her study reports that it is on the rise in students. But there are things we can do to help.
Webinar: What constitutes an effective lecture?
- Wednesday 5 November
- 13.00-14.00
- Online
This session will go back to basics by asking: what makes a good lecture? Dr Mary Beth Benbenek (Associate Teaching Professor, CCTL; Tutor and Bye-Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College) will share a new guide on effective lecturing which presents a framework for thinking about both the purpose of lectures and how to design them.
Join us in discussing what lectures are meant to achieve, the common principles that underpin effective lecturing, and the importance of capturing students' attention - and holding it. The session will explore insights from actual educational practice alongside key scholarly works in education.
Webinar: Enhancing critical thinking through genAI: Student-centred approaches to ethical AI use in the humanities
- Thursday 20 November
- 13.00-14.00
- Online
We are pleased to welcome Dr Lorna Waddington for this session, Associate Professor of International History and Academic Lead for Academic Integrity at the University of Leeds.
Generative AI tools are now part of everyday life for many students, but how do we use them to genuinely enhance student learning rather than replace it? This talk shares a 9-week genAI 'plugin' built into a core first-year History skills module. Each session sits within a seminar and gives students space to try out genAI while building the core skills every historian needs.