Faculty Learning Communities

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are cross-disciplinary cohorts of faculty who come together for a semester- or year-long exploration of a central topic related to teaching and/or scholarship. The FLC program offers faculty an opportunity to go beyond one-off workshops or discussions and build an interdisciplinary community around a guiding topic (Cox, 2004). FLCs can take many forms including monthly conversations guided by readings; working groups focused on a common problem (e.g., transitioning to R from other statistical programs, best practices for student peer review); or the development of a toolkit or other product to meet goals related to teaching, research, and learning.   

2020-2021 Faculty Learning Communities

All AU faculty are welcome to apply to lead and be a part of CTRL FLCs. If you are interested in proposing and leading a Faculty Learning Community in the 2020-2021 academic year, please submit a proposal application. Given AU Fall 2020 plans and the need to continue physical distancing, CTRL can provide logistical support to ensure successful online facilitation including scheduling, recruitment, and other session facilitation support (e.g., chat moderation). Please feel free to view past AU FLCs for additional ideas, though all ideas are welcome for consideration.

Applications to participate in 2020-2021 FLCs will open Wednesday, August 26th, 2020.

Timeline
  • FLC Topic Proposal Applications: Wednesday July 1st, 2020 – Wednesday August 12th, 2020
  • FLC Topics Announced: Wednesday, August 19th
  • Applications to Participate in FLCs: Wednesday, August 26th, 2020 – Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020
  • FLC Participant Decisions Announced: Wednesday, September 16th, 2020

Goals

The FLC creates a space for faculty to collectively think through and actively respond to these issues in our classrooms. Participants will:

Understand how power dynamics, including systemic racial, class, disability, sexual & gender expression inequalities and their intersections, shape our classrooms and our lives;
Recognize culturally sustaining pedagogy as a self-reflexive ongoing practice, rather than only as a set of skills and tools;
Build some nuanced culturally sustaining curricular and pedagogical strategies including syllabi, assignments, and classroom policies;
Develop a community of practice to engage these questions in an ongoing and critically supportive manner.

Past Faculty Learning Communities

FLC 2019 - 2020
Three FLCs were facilitated during the Spring 2020 semester. Each FLC includes the description, facilitator, and final products if applicable. 
FLC 2017-2018

CTRL launched the first Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) in the fall of 2017.

2017 – 2018 Faculty Learning Community

Contact us for more information on FLC’s

5 + 3 = ?