Faculty Learning Communities

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Missed the FLC Facilitator Training? Click here to view the recorded Elluminate session

Important Dates:

• FLC Grant Application Process Opens: Monday, April 18, 2011
• FLC Grant Application Closes: Friday, May 20, 2011

System-wide professional development for faculty is necessary to achieve the following:

• HECB strategic master plan goal of “…providing training and professional development for … higher education faculty and staff to ensure strong, culturally competent educators."
• SBCTC system direction goal of using “…technology, collaboration and innovation to meet the demands of the economy and improve student success.”
• Technology Task Force goal of creating “…a system of lifelong learning and change management for faculty, staff and college leadership.”
• SBCTC commitment to increasing the cultural competence of all employees who work within the CTC system.

To build momentum toward achieving these goals, SBCTC faculty development staff will support the development of faculty learning communities - supporting ongoing instructional improvement with a strong emphasis on cultural competency, instructional technology, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

What are Faculty Learning Communities?

• "Faculty Learning Communities support collaboration, innovation, lifelong learning and, perhaps most importantly, create time and space apart from a hectic work week, allowing faculty time to reflect on their work and incorporate their learning into their classrooms to improve student learning.” Jane Lister Reis, faculty and FLC facilitator, North Seattle Community College.
• Milt Cox, facilitator of the Faculty Learning Communities Institute, describes an FLC in this way: “A faculty learning community (FLC) is a group of trans-disciplinary faculty, graduate students and professional staff group of size 6-15 or more (8 to 12 is the recommended size) engaging in an active, collaborative, year-long program with a curriculum about enhancing teaching and learning and with frequent seminars and activities that provide learning, development, transdisciplinarity, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and community building.” (http://www.units.muohio.edu/flc/whatis.php )
• Etienne Wenger, author of “Cultivating Communities of Practice”, calls faculty learning communities a “special kind of community of practice.” He defines communities of practice as “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” (Wenger, 2002)
• Ohio University’s Ohio Learning Network awards grants to learning communities which “collaboratively establish measurable student learning outcomes; create and utilize assessments that measure student learning that is within the scope of a course or course sequence; and, gain proficiency in using specific learning technologies, together with colleagues in a learning community, to support rich student learning environments.” (http://fpdc.kent.edu/regionalcenter/grants.html)

Why Faculty Learning Communities?

FLCs support three elements of the vision for faculty development created by community and technical college faculty development leaders. The three FLC-supported elements of the vision are:

• Regular opportunities for communication, collaboration, and reflection are provided for all faculty.
• All faculty belong  to one or more learning communities.
• Learning communities comprise cross-disciplinary, and cross-institution faculty, staff, students, and administrators - all share in the delight of being lifelong learners and teachers.

Faculty Learning Communities also support the HECB Strategic Master Plan, the SBCTC System Direction, The Technology Transformation Task Force and respond to the research on trends in higher education in the following ways:

• FLCs provide a structure that supports learning of any topic – instructional technologies, cultural competency, the scholarship of teaching and learning – which is necessary to keep faculty up-to-date with changes in the demographics of their students and the culture of higher education.
• Faculty participating in FLCs report increases in student engagement and student achievement.
• FLCs increase communication and collaboration amongst faculty who, by the nature of their work in individual classrooms, are often isolated from their colleagues. FLCs provide an experience which increases knowledge of, and appreciation for, learning communities (by faculty) which may translate into an increased use of a learning community model for their students.

Assessment of Faculty Learning Communities: Considering Social Dimensions of Participant Choice
Contacts: Paul Marshall, Everett Community College; Stanford T. Goto, Western Washington University; Shannon Gaule, Western Washington University

 

How do I start a new Faculty Learning Community, or join an existing one?

• Ask your campus Faculty Development leaders for information.
• Talk to others who are involved in FLCs by attending a monthly online discussion.
• Attend a Faculty Learning Communities facilitators’ training session.

Is funding available to support FLCs?

Yes, grants of up to $5,000 are awarded to individual FLCs. Click here to access grant information.

A few examples of FLCs as proven practice:

• The Ohio Learning Network (OLN), which assists colleges and universities in their capacity and effectiveness to use technology in instruction and research by supporting leading-edge activities, has adapted Miami's FLC model to accelerate Ohio institutions' work. To date, the OLN Learning Communities Initiative has facilitated practice-based professional development opportunities for approximately 550 participants at 24 Ohio institutions. Last year alone, 18,489 students were taught or “touched” by members of OLN funded learning communities (15,337 in classrooms and 3,152 at a distance). Faculty within these learning communities report improvements in student engagement, grades, use of critical thinking skills, use of learning technologies, technology proficiency, and teamwork skills. (http://www.units.muohio.edu/flc/whatis.php ) Contact: Sheryl Hansen
• Communities Learning Inquiry Practice (Clips), National Science Foundation grant funded project. http://www.insites.org/clip/index.html Contact: Beverly Parsons
• Diversity Teaching Lab, http://www.everettcc.edu/faculty_staff/tlc/diversityteaching/index.cfm?id=8658  Learning Teaching Labs, http://www.everettcc.edu/faculty_staff/tlc/cl/index.cfm?id=76 Everett Community College. Contact: Paul Marshall
• Pedagogy 101/102, a first year/second year learning community for new faculty, North Seattle Community College. Contact: Jane Lister Reis
• Professional Learning Communities, faculty and professional staff, Clark College. Contact: Gail Liberman

Want to learn more about Faculty Learning Communities?

Please contact the SBCTC Faculty Development Coordinator, Noreen Light.

 

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