Faculty Learning Communities: Collaboration to Lead Us Forward Toward the Future of Technology

• In Event: Faculty Learning Communities: Collaboration to Lead Us Forward Toward the Future of Technology

Short Description

A faculty learning community (FLC) is a small community of learners whose primary focus is to engage in academic discussions. It is a collaborate effort among colleagues with an objective to share a diversity of perspectives on topics of shared interest such as students, pedagogy/andragogy, technology, etc. Using the spirit of passion for learning a particular topic, the FLC establishes an encouraging culture, conducive to conducting respectful, deliberate academic discussions that prompt dynamic scholarship opportunities. The goal, and sometimes expectation, of the FLC is that each faculty member, with the support of the other members of the group, will use the learning community to develop a product specific to that individual’s particular scholarship needs. Depending upon the chosen topic of the FLC, the outcomes can vary from curriculum being written to improve instruction, achieving more meaningful integration of technology into the instruction, academic publications, etc. With what can sometimes be an overwhelming demand on faculty, the FLC provides a culture in which faculty can research, reflect, and conduct deliberate dialog with colleagues from varying disciplines, with the hope of prompting new thinking, ideas, and creations. This presentation shares the process used by a mid-sized university to initiate faculty learning communities on the university campus. Following those findings, presenters will open up the discussion to the audience, gathering their perspectives on past experiences and future hopes for FLC’s. Cox, M. D. & Richlin, L. (Eds.). (2004). Building faculty learning communities: New directions for teaching and learning. Jossey-Bass. Berg, M. & Seeber, B.K. (2017). The slow professor: Challenging the culture of speed in the academy. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2017.0400

Authors

• Presenter: Marilyn Rice, Sam Houston State University

• Presenter: Kimberly N LaPrairie, Sam Houston State University