Faculty Learning Communities: Recommendations for Initiating &

Implementing a FLC within your Department

Marian Moore, Career Services 

Objectives

• Describe what a Faculty Learning Community (FLC)is and summarize the different types• Discuss what is entailed in the initial planning and implementation of FLCs• Identify the characteristics of building an effective FLC

Faculty Learning Community (FLC)

Consists of a community of “cross-disciplinary faculty and staff group of six to fifteen members (eight to twelve members is the recommended size) who engage in an active, collaborative, yearlong program with a curriculum about enhancing teaching and learning and with frequent seminars and activities that provide learning, development, the scholarship of teaching, and community building” (Cox, 2004).

Types of Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs)

1. Cohort-based 2. Topic-based

Types of Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs)

Cohort-based• Address the teaching, learning, and developmental needs of an important group of faculty or staff that has been particularly affected by the isolation, fragmentation, stress, neglect, or chilly climate in the academy.

• Include a broad range of teaching and learning areas and topics of interest to them• Ex. junior faculty, midcareer and senior faculty, department chairs, deans, and 

graduate students preparing to be future faculty

Types of Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs)

Topic-based• Address a special campus teaching and learning need, issue, or opportunity.

• Ex. Internationalization of the curriculum, First-Year Experience, Problem-based learning, Technology

Initiating and Implementing a FLC

Tips for Creating a Customized Learning Community

Decide which faculty members will be involved• Established and respected faculty members• Be cognizant of demands on untenured faculty members• Seek diversity in status and perspectives, if possible

Examine how learning communities can fit in with existing campus initiatives• Take advantage of writing-across-the-curriculum or first year experience programs

Decide which administrative and professional staff personnel should be involved in implementing and maintaining the learning community• Work with academic and student affairs• Maintain a good working relationship with the registrar’s office

Tips for Creating a Customized Learning Community

Discover what types of internal and external resources are available• Consider asking for some compensation (course release, stipend, travel money)

• Consider writing a grant proposalConsider how the learning community will become institutionalized• Consider developing a steering committee

Consider how you will evaluate the effectiveness of the learning community• Design assessment mechanisms when you design the goals of the learning community

• Use both qualitative and quantitative data (focus groups, surveys, institutional data) (Thies, 2005).

Qualities of Building Community

1. Safety and trust. Must have a sense of safety and trust.2. Openness. Participants can feel free to share their thoughts 

and feelings without fear of retribution.3. Respect. Members need to feel that they are valued and 

respected as people. 4. Responsiveness. Members must respond respectfully to one 

another. 5. Collaboration. Centers on group members’ ability to work 

with and respond to one another.

Qualities of Building Community

6. Relevance. Learning outcomes are aligned with the subject matter of the FLC to the participants’ teaching, courses, scholarship, professional interests, and life experiences.

7. Enjoyment. Activities must include social opportunities to lighten up and bond and should take place in invigorating environments. Ex. a retreat off-campus.

8. Esprit de corps. Sharing individual and community outcomes with colleagues in the academy should generate pride and loyalty. 

9. Empowerment. Faculty members leave with better courses and a clearer understanding of themselves and their students. Key outcomes include scholarly teaching and contributions to the scholarship of teaching (Cox, 2004).

Sources

Cox, M. D. (2004). Introduction to faculty learning communities. New Directions For Teaching & Learning, (97), 5-23. 

Thies, C. G. (2005). A Crash Course in Learning Communities for the Political Scientist. Journal Of Political Science Education, 1(1), 129-141. doi:10.1080/15512160590907658

Thank You!

Marian MooreCenter for Teaching and LearningJanuary 30, 2014 Teaching Symposium