Lessons Learned from Year One FPLCS
Scheduling community meetings can be challenging as everyone is busy! We recommend
using something like doodle polls to get meetings on people’s calendars as early as possible.
Your participants may not read (or respond) to emails – try to make communication with your
community as easy as possible and use meetings to accomplish important decision-making.
More meetings = better community cohesion. The FPLCs that met more frequently reported
having better group communication.
Budget processes can take some time. We work with your paperwork as quickly as possible,
but because we rely on other offices to help us process your items, it’s best to get requests to
us as soon as possible.
Start the IRB process as early as possible. Whether you need to complete CITI training, or if
you are new to working on an IRB protocol, start the process as early as possible and ask for
help when needed.
Remember to learn. The FPLC program is a learning experience for all involved – make sure to
read and explore your topic, discuss ideas with your group, and experiment in your classroom
to see how best you can apply what you’ve learn to help your students learn.
Be sure to assign tasks/activities at meetings – it is easy for participants to assume that
someone else/the facilitator will take care of tasks and activities that need to be completed.
Make sure that everyone is involved and knows what they are doing by the time they leave a
meeting!
Order refreshments for some of your FPLC meetings – this is a good way to spend some of your
budget, and it can really help for the sense of community.