Creating a Supportive Culture for Online Teaching: A Case Study of a Faculty Learning Community

This case study describes the creation of a supportive culture for online teaching at a western university that was transitioning to a new learning management system. The case study highlighted the creation of a faculty learning community as one strategy to address the challenge of faculty working through a change process. The faculty learning community provided a space for the development of best practices in teaching, drawing from the pedagogical experiences of teachers from diverse disciplines. The learning community also provided a venue for expanding the technical knowledge level of faculty members with a range of comfort levels with varied technologies

Development of a Faculty Learning Community to support Scholarship and Feedback

In an effort to explore the ideas of Scholarship of Learning and Teaching, and to comply with Glasgow’s University’s career development programme, a small group of academics from the College of Medicine, Veterinary and Life Sciences established a Learning Community. The LC has several aims: • To create and design a Learning Community to support scholarship and progression for lecturers on learning & teaching track • To understand how a Learning Community can be used to support staff on career development pathways • To empower participants to engage in the University’s career development programme through peer support and peer mentorship within the Learning Community • provide practical support for scholarship projects (it is hoped that all members will be supported to drive their scholarship ‘from idea to manuscript’) It is hoped that through the sharing of ideas, and collaboration between schools, the LC hope to publish and disseminate scholarship, and provide a series of recommendations regarding scholarship support. Planned scholarship outputs include papers in educational journals, conference abstracts and presentations, and a significant ambition to influence policy within the university regarding scholarship and career development

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

Faculty Learning Community: Approaches to Teaching in Kinesiology

This is a syllabus for our new course in the kinesiology department for the semester system for KINE 3200, Principals of Human Movement. This course will go over basic mechanical principles and their application in the study of human movement and an introduction to basic principles of biomechanics. Specifically, this course is designed to provide an advanced analysis of human functional anatomy, with primary emphasis being placed on the articular, skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems. We developed a course outline related to specific joints (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, ankle, trunk and spine), our plan is to go over each section with content and have the students go into a weight room to practice movements in whichever module we are in and then create videos of them doing movements to present to the class. The course will also have quizzes and exam for assessment of content

IMPACT FLC Syllabus

Example syllabus for the IMPACT Faculty Learning Community (FLC) that outlines expected outcomes, materials and requirements

Q2S Faculty Learning Community, History Department (Murray, HIST 142)

Syllabus with writing intensive elements in a large lecture course

Building a Learning Community for Dental Hygiene Faculty

Have you ever felt isolated in your work environment that left you feeling perplexed and stuck only to find out that colleagues felt the same way you did but had no idea to work around it? Through this practioner’s narrative, I journey through my struggle of teacher isolation to my action plan to make it better. Finding a way to identify my feelings, strengths and weaknesses and move towards change to improve my own work environment describes my experience in the Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) graduate program. This new awareness changed the way I see myself as a leader and also gives me a new appreciation for the thinking styles of others. The main part of this synthesis paper is a faculty learning community process framework, which outlines the process of building a faculty learning community for dental hygiene educators who, like me, often feel isolated in their work place. The framework is a road map, outlining initial steps, planning, implementing and evaluating a faculty learning community. The philosophy of my faculty learning community is to create a safe, trusting environment where participants will develop in a new way through new ways of thinking, sharing, inquiry and reflection. The framework is my way to retain and use some of the skills, habits of mind, knowledge, and values I have been exposed to through my CCT experience—to keep CCT active and alive within me

International Students in the Classroom: A Faculty Learning Community

International students represent about 5.4% of the total student body at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh. However, roughly a third of academic dishonesty cases which have been reported since the 2010-2011 academic year have been international students. The needs assessment and literature review presented in this paper point to the importance of involving academic departments in strengthening support for international students not only in avoiding plagiarism, but also in being academically successfully. Furthermore, it is argued that international students’ cultural diversity holds incredible potential for enhancing the educational experience of all students. Based on that rationale, this proposal outlines the design of International Students in the Classroom, a year-long faculty learning community that seeks to support academic staff at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in adjusting to the teaching and learning implications of a growing international student population. Participants will particularly focus on developing pedagogical practices which create more culturally inclusive learning environments. By so doing, faculty will be in a position to help international students learn more effectively, and encourage their classmates to learn more effectively from them

Creating a supportive culture for online teaching: A case study of a faculty learning community

This case study describes the creation of a supportive culture for online teaching at a western university that was transitioning to a new learning management system. The case study highlighted the creation of a faculty learning community as one strategy to address the challenge of faculty working through a change process. The faculty learning community provided a space for the development of best practices in teaching, drawing from the pedagogical experiences of teachers from diverse disciplines. The learning community also provided a venue for expanding the technical knowledge level of faculty members with a range of comfort levels with varied technologies

IMPACT FLC Schedule

Schedule of topics for weekly meetings that are part of the semester-long IMPACT Faculty Learning Community (FLC) program