Creating Community and Solving Problems of Practice: Examining PLCs’ Impact on College Composition Instructors (Poster 18)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 9:50 a.m.
  In Poster Session: Faculty Teaching, Evaluation, and Development

Abstract

Research shows that professional learning communities (PLCs) foster meaningful professional learning and development for K-12 teachers (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2010). However, the benefits of PLCs for higher education instructors are less well-known (Clark et al., 2023). Responding to this research and practice opportunity, we formed a research practice partnership (RPP) with six college composition instructors at a large, land-grant institution in the Midwest. Adopting a design-based research (DBR) methodology to facilitate collaboration among researchers and participants, the RPP took the shape of a PLC, focused on integrating human-centered design (HCD) in college composition courses. Findings suggest that a PLC in a university context facilitates instructors’ ability to address problems of practice through collaborative co-design of instructional plans.

Authors

• Weronika Kaczmarczyk-Smith, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Andrew Moss, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Carrie L. James, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Elizabeth Matresse, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign