Moraine Valley Learning Academy (MVLA)

The Moraine Valley Learning Academy (MVLA) offers courses taught by, and for, Moraine Valley faculty.

• What is an MVLA class?
• Workshop Topics Offered
• Upcoming Courses
• Registration Process

• Multi-session course about current and important aspects of teaching
• 9 contact hours (typically 1.5 hours per week for 6 weeks)
• Practical outcomes
• Taught by Moraine Valley faculty and other experts
• Modeling the innovative teaching that is being taught
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Workshop Topics Offered:

• Active Learning
• Critical Thinking
• Integrating Technology
• Motivating Students.
• Classroom Management
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Upcoming Courses

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
CTL-MVLA-101-FA08
This course is designed to present faculty with various techniques for recognizing and defusing behavioral situations in the classroom. This class is designed to offer all faculty additional techniques and resources to help create and maintain a positive learning environment. The purpose is to: (1) Present faculty with techniques to create a safe and positive classroom learning environment, (2) Strategies for behavior management, and (3) Campus support mechanisms available should additional support become necessary.

GREENING YOUR CURRICULUM
CTL-MVLA-103-FA08
The main objective of this course is to teach instructors how to properly incorporate sustainability into their curriculum. Sustainability is defined as: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  As professors our sustainability goal is to foster the development of knowledge, ethics and the skills necessary to make choices and decisions that will enhance the quality of our students’ lives without damaging the planet for future generations.  Incorporating issues of sustainability into the curriculum may include general issues dealing with recycling, discussing literature dealing with sustainability concepts like Garbage Land (the book chosen for One Book One College), researching how different societies approach issues of sustainability and social justice, analyzing the psychology, economics, history, science or math of sustainability, or analyzing current issues of sustainability in the different forms of media.  Professors from all disciplines will find connections to sustainability through this course.

Through online discussions, research and critiques, students will create a unit infused with sustainability. Assessment techniques will also be addressed. Discussion will take place addressing current issues of sustainability in light of the class participants’ disciplines.

 After completing this course, instructors will be able to: 

• define sustainability by first analyzing their own prior knowledge, having discussions with their colleagues, and then participating in online dialogue with classmates.

• discuss general sustainability issues.

• locate research that makes connections to sustainability to their curriculum.

• infuse sustainability into their curriculum by creating  well-defined assignments that teaches students about sustainability issues in the subject area.
   

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING: THE DYNAMIC CLASSROOM
CTL-MVLA-102-FA08
Collaborative learning involves students working together as part of a cooperative effort to understand material or complete a task. This course provides an understanding of collaborative learning from a variety of disciplines and classroom settings and encourages participants to consider activities, assignments, and projects within their own disciplines. The course includes assessment and evaluation of collaborative learning in the classroom and culminates with individual student projects.

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Registration Process
Please use Training Manager to register and view upcoming MVLA courses.

For more information, please contact Joe Chaloka at (708) 974-5320 or Barbara Martin at (708) 608-4044.

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