The purpose of the presentation will be to explore the effectiveness of the Faculty Learning Community (FLC) as a means to create collaboration among faculty, improve instruction, and ensure quality outcomes for students in satellite and online programs.
The Faculty Learning Community (FLC) forum was adopted as a strategy by universities to meet the needs of faculty who seek collaboration and community (Cox & Richlin, 2004). In the 2016-2017 academic year, Salisbury University began this initiative. The benefits of FLCs have been well documented (Cox, 2013; Christie, 2016; Sobrero & Craycraft, 2008 & Heath & McDonald, 2012). Blaisdell and Cox (2004) found participating faculty members created new relationships across disciplines, shared current teaching practices and collaborated on new ventures. While most of the research has focused on tenure track faculty, Banasik, & Dean (2016) highlighted the benefit of FLCs on non-tenure track faculty, including support, mentoring, and professional development.
For a variety of reasons, the number of non-tenure track faculty are increasing at four year institutions. Barnshaw & Dunietz (2015) conclude non-tenure track faculty comprise 79% of all faculty at four-year institutions. As a non-tenure track, satellite site, clinical faculty member, the facilitator wanted to develop relationships with other faculty across the university, learn instructional strategies and promote the development of best practices in distance education. The establishment of a FLC to include a variety of faculty – tenure and non-tenure track – instructional designers and staff served as a means to achieve this purpose.
The objectives of the FLC on Distance Education were to 1) promote interdisciplinary collaboration in the development of best practices for IVN and online technology; 2) for faculty to develop and share instructional strategies to optimize student involvement in the classroom, and 3) for students, Instructional Assistants, and adjunct faculty to have a mechanism by which they could share their unique perspectives regarding instructional delivery with members of the FLC. After applying for and receiving a grant offered by the Office of Innovation in Teaching and Learning, the facilitator sent a campus-wide invitation to faculty and staff at University to participate in an interest meeting. Twelve individuals, representing a variety of roles within the university, responded affirmatively to the invitation. Nine individuals participated in the initial meeting, including faculty from Social Work; Music, Theater, & Dance; English; History; and representatives from Instructional Design and Delivery, Advising, and Library Science. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the purpose of the FLC, participant interest and generate next steps. Participants expressed various aspirations for the FLC including, training in the field; learning how to retain students in distance education; sharing experiences and strategies in distance education; engaging students in satellite and online environments; providing additional support for instructors, including adjuncts who teach via distance; and preparing students for distance learning. Participants’ experience with distance formats varied from none to extensive. As a first step, participants agreed to focus on best practices for distance learning, including satellite education.
In anticipation of the next meeting, FLC members were enrolled in a newly created social work department initiative - COLT (Certification for Online Teaching). Salisbury University later adopted the COLT course for use across the university. Members of the FLC were asked to be involved in a pilot project prior to implementation. Participants were asked to review each module, complete the accompanying survey and provide feedback on the course’s effectiveness. Participation in the course provided a common starting point for all members of the FLC.
The formation of the Distance Education FLC created opportunities for collaboration across disciplines with the focus of improving instructional strategies. During meetings, FLC members shared insights, strategies and challenges in online teaching. FLC members supported one another in problem solving and experimented with different technology. Both inexperienced and experienced faculty examined and evaluated current teaching practices, adapting and modifying as warranted. At the time of this writing, the Distance Education FLC completed its first year. The facilitator and has applied for funding to continue and is currently awaiting notification.
The purpose of the presentation will be to explore the effectiveness of the FLC as a means to create collaboration among faculty, improve instruction, and ensure quality outcomes for students in satellite and online programs. Participant outcomes include: 1) To understand how the development of a FLC promoted collaboration, creativity, and community among various disciplines. 2) To learn from the participants of the FLC: what worked and didn’t work in spearheading the project. 3) To identify the importance of creating opportunities for non-tenure and tenure track faculty to engage, partner, and share instructional strategies. A brief outline of the presentation follows: 1) History of FLCs (2 minutes); 2) Development of distance education FLC at the University (3 minutes); 3) Results of participation - product and process (5 minutes); and 4) Lessons learned (5 minutes).