Encouraging Faculty Development
through Learning Communities
AMY JESSEN-MARSHALL
VPAA, DEAN OF THE FACULTY
SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE
AJESSEN-MARSHALL@SBC.EDU
Learning Communities
 Definition
 Long history
 Faculty development
 Curriculum development?
 Examples of success
 Challenges and recommendations
Learning Communities
 What do you already know about
learning communities?
 Experiences?
Definitions
 What a learning community is not:
A
committee
A task force
Definitions
 What a learning community is:
A
COMMUNITY
 An opportunity for faculty/staff to explore a topic
of interest in an active, collaborative format.
Usually multidisciplinary
 Generally 8-12 people in size
 A way for faculty to share ideas and work on
pedagogy projects
Definitions
 What a learning community is:
A
group that meets for a set amount of
time (generally a year) and then disbands.
 Has an outcome/project
 Supportive and reflective
 Scholarship of teaching and learning
model
Long history
 Leader- at the University of Miami in Ohio- Milt Cox
http://www.units.miamioh.edu/flc/
 Lots of resources:
Creating Learning Communities: A Practical Guide to Winning Support, Organizing for
Change, and Implementing Programs. Shapiro, Nancy S.; Levine, Jodi H. Jossey-Bass
Higher and Adult Education Series, 1999
 Powerful Learning Communities: A Guide to Developing Student, Faculty, and
Professional Learning Communities to Improve Student Success and Organizational
Effectiveness, Lenning et al,Stylus Pub. 2013

 Common model for Centers for Teaching and
Learning
Learning Communities for Faculty Development
 Organizing learning communities
 Topical
interest and application
 Allow group to form and decide on own topic
 Book reading group/brown bag lunch meetings
Learning Communities for Faculty Development
 Examples:
 Scholarship
of teaching and learning (1-2 years)
 Using technology in the classroom
 First generation learning and pedagogies
 ePortfolio development
 Others?
Expectations
 Communities will meet biweekly or triweekly
 Facilitator identified to help organize (Not chair)
 Social component encouraged (Semester dinners)
 Summary or presentation at end of project
Expectations
 Resources important
Project
Books
FOOD!
funding
Curriculum development?
 Risky?
 CTL director really nervous.
 Global learning project for AAC&U
 Three learning communities
 Sciences
 Humanities
 Social Sciences
Curriculum development?
 Project based- global in classroom
 Social component
 Resources
 Summary at end with reflection
 NO SPECIFIC CURRICULAR
RECOMMENDATIONS!
Next steps for curriculum
 Used projects from global learning communities as




examples of successes.
Important for middle group of faculty for buy in.
Initial draft for learning outcomes.
Created leaders for next steps- core group
Core group charged with goals/outcomes and
modeling to share with larger faculty groups.
Challenges
 Common meeting times
 Accountability
 Facilitator training
 Could go horribly wrong
 Or could go fantastically well
Conversation and questions:
 Could you see a model like this working on your
campus?
 Timeline?
 Topics?