Hello Everyone,

  Here at Iowa State University, we have about 30 TBL faculty from across the university who are both interested in and have already initiated some scholarship on TBL. We call this newer group the TBL Scholars. Our (unofficial) "vision" for this group is that individuals/groups of faculty members will pursue both internal and external funding opportunities as well as produce scholarship on a multitude of aspects of TBL.    The TBL Scholars have a lot of energy, a lot of great ideas (well we think so at least!), and a high level of commitment.  At ISU we also have a new Grants Hub, which is a comprehensive research services hub available to assist faculty with (among other things) obtaining funding and managing projects. We are partnering with the Grants Hub, and feel it will be a huge help to us. 

We have a few questions for those who have experience with such a group and/or could provide insights into this new endeavor. 

  As we grow into this new group, we anticipate having individuals and/or small subgroups within TBL Scholars who will lead research projects on TBL (i.e. those who have the time and interest will be involved in a project about using technology in the TBL classroom, for example, while others who are interested in survey methodology and creating sound survey instruments for use in TBL classrooms may be on that project). This is what we envision. So here is one of our first questions: Has anybody else had a big group of faculty who have pursued projects/funding in smaller subgroups? If so, how did you manage this (i.e. balancing the big group with the smaller groups) and did you encounter any pitfalls? Anything that worked really well? 

  We have been advised by the Grants Hub to really establish ourselves as a group - i.e. to have a website, etc. so that we are visible to others - increasing our visibility and lending credence to our work within our own university but also being visible to others at different universities, potentially leading to cross-university collaboration.  Here's the second question: Does anybody know of a TBL Scholars-like group that has a website already, and could you send around the website? 

  We are open to any and all wisdom/comments/insights, even if it doesn't pertain to the questions above! We are a new group but are very much looking forward to taking the next steps in establishing some solid research projects surrounding TBL at our university. 

Also, we are looking forward to the TBLC newsletter - Research Roundup! Very exciting!

Thanks everyone for your time!

Meghan