The Teaching Academy

A Larner Learning Commons Open House & Celebration, hosted by the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, College of Nursing and Health Sciences and Libraries was held on Thursday, August 3, 2017, at 2:30 p.m. 

Remarks were made by UVM President Tom Sullivan, Deans Rick Morin, Patty Prelock and Mara Saule, and others and were followed by an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Self-led tours were available following the ribbon-cutting.

Located on the Larner Medical Education Center concourse that connects the College of Medicine and the University of Vermont Medical Center, the Larner Learning Commons opened in early summer 2017. This “hub” for medical and health science education co-locates learning activities and resources, including the Teaching Academy, Instructional Technology (IT), the Dana Medical Library and study space, along with the Larner Classroom. 

If you were unable to join us in person but would still like to hear the remarks and watch the ribbon cutting, you can watch a playback of our Facebook live-streamed video here.  The Dana Medical Library also offers a Self-Guided Tour Information Sheet available for download here.

LARNER LEARNING COMMONS FACTS & HIGHLIGHTS:

• The construction of the Larner Learning Commons was supported by late College of Medicine alumnus Robert Larner, M.D.’42 and his wife Helen.
• The Larner Learning Commons construction project – launched in November 2016 – involved the renovation of space that previously housed IT personnel, as well as books and reference materials. 
• The architectural team of Freeman French Freeman and Jones Architecture designed the Larner Learning Commons. 
• The Larner Classroom supports active learning for medical students including Team-Based Learning (TBL), dry laboratories, simulations, flipped learning, skill sessions and interprofessional team development.
• The Teaching Academy, launched in 2015, ensures a scholarly approach to teaching and supports faculty to acquire new skills needed to teach in an active learning environment.
• The IT team supports faculty, instructional technology and ensures continuous updates of curated information.
• The Dana Medical Library supports information needs of the colleges of medicine and nursing and health sciences, and the adjoining medical center. 
• By reducing the book storage in the library and adding unused adjacent space, new space was created for office suites, a production studio, two Quiet Study rooms, and a 25 percent increase in the number of seats in the library.