New Adjunct Faculty Outreach: Making a Connection

All areas of education, faculty development included, are required to demonstrate their impact on learning. The Rothwell Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence-Worldwide (CTLE-W) provides resources to support new faculty; however, participation and utilization of these resources varies. This causal-comparative study sought to determine if targeted communication from CTLE-W to adjunct faculty during their first term teaching would increase utilization of CTLE-W resources. Results from this study showed that new adjunct faculty are more likely to continue seeking assistance from CTLE-W to ensure they are providing the best learning experience possible if they are contacted during their first term

Virtual Faculty Learning Communities: Making an Impact from a Distance

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are well-known effective faculty development experiences. However, how can you facilitate an FLC with a group of faculty that aren’t available at the same time or even in the same location? To solve this problem, we began facilitating virtual FLCs with remote adjunct faculty in 2016 through a grant funded research project. In this interactive session, we will share what worked well, what didn’t, what we wish we had known from the beginning, and what we plan to do moving forward. Participants will leave with a framework they can implement

Virtual Faculty Learning Community Implementation Framework

This framework is meant to be a useful guide for those interested in creating a V-FLC. You may skip around to the various sections or read the framework from start to finish. The framework consists of twelve questions to ask as you begin developing a V-FLC, answers to these questions based on our experience, as well as a visual representation of the framework

Creating a Virtual Community of Practice for Online Adjunct Faculty

ERAU-Worldwide created a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) for online adjunct faculty. This 8-week VCoP was faculty-driven and provided participants multiple opportunities to reflect on and improve their online teaching practice. The purpose of this VCoP was to increase a sense of belonging and community with the university. While many universities offer face-to-face learning communities, this virtual faculty learning community will contribute to the body of knowledge regarding best practices for other universities seeking to facilitate such an offering

Virtual Community of Practice: Connecting Online Adjunct Faculty

There is an increasing trend in higher education to hire adjunct faculty to teach online courses. While faculty at a traditional campus location can meet to collaborate with their peers, globally dispersed faculty, specifically adjuncts, who are teaching online may not be afforded this opportunity. To respond to this concern, the researchers conducted a grant-funded mixed-method study. The researchers created a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) to determine whether participation increased sense of belonging among online adjunct faculty. Findings revealed an increase in connection among peers. The results from this study are noteworthy, and research in this area should continue

Lessons Learned for Inquiry Learning Faculty Development

For the past year, the Rothwell Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Campus has offered FACD 802: Igniting Research in your Course. Throughout this course, faculty members are challenged to think about ways to integrate research and inquiry-based learning into their teaching. Based on experiences teaching this course and end of course evaluations, we have compiled a list of lessons learned about the challenges faculty face when considering research in the classroom, as well as common ways to address these issues. We will also include a list of recommendations to others advising, recommending, or implementing inquiry learning

New Adjunct Faculty Outreach

This study looked to determine if an increase in communication from the Rothwell Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE-W) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide (ERAU-W) campus to adjunct faculty during their first term teaching would increase utilization of CTLE-W resources compared to first time ERAU-Worldwide adjunct faculty who did not receive increased communication from CTLE-W. Results showed new adjunct faculty members will continue seeking assistance from the CTLE-W team if they are contacted during their first term teaching