Center for Academic Creativity

Faculty Learning Communities

• Are you interested in receiving peer feedback on innovative teaching strategies you're using or considering implementing?
• Would you like opportunities to meet and collaborate with faculty from across the campus?

• Faculty learning communities (FLCs) help enhance a sense of community among faculty and offer opportunities for interdisciplinary connections, collaborations, and discussions about teaching and learning.
• FLCs can provide effective “deep learning” that encourages and supports faculty members to investigate, attempt, assess, and adopt new methods of teaching.
• Faculty learning communities (each consisting of about 8-10 USI faculty) will meet approximately every three weeks during the semester.
• Each FLC will focus on a topic (e.g., promoting student engagement, effective teaching practices, teaching with technology, fostering creativity, experiential learning, distance learning).
• The faculty learning community (FLC), led by its faculty facilitator or co-facilitators, determines its own schedule and activities but may choose to discuss selected readings, share ideas and projects, solicit peer feedback, and attend activities together.

• FLCs typically are either a) theoretical and discussion-based or

  b) project-based. 

• Each FLC member is encouraged to identify a particular product or project he/she will work on and share with the FLC.  Just a few examples could include: incorporating experiential learning activities into course curriculum; designing a new course or enhancing an existing course; developing new assessment tools for a course; or implementing new technology applications in your teaching.
• For the FLC to be successful, each member should commit to active participation (at least 75% attendance of FLC meetings & activities) and contribute to discussions.

Faculty Learning Community Application

*deadline: 12:00 PM, Thursday, December 6

*applications will still be reviewed beyond deadline