Join us to learn about two different institution’s solutions to an interest and need to provide a network for online instructors to connect, mentor each other and share best practices, while reducing the isolation sometimes inherent in online teaching. We will also engage in a community brainstorming session to explore ways to sustain faculty buy-in, promote online pedagogical excellence, foster peer-to-peer community, and encourage continued improvement in online instruction.
This presentation will share the solutions that two different institutions developed to facilitate opportunities for faculty to participate in communities of practice (CoP). These communities were formed to with different purposes in mind, but within the same framework of providing an avenue for instructors to connect with each other, share best practices, mentor one another, and help each other grow as professionals. At the University of Arizona instructors participated in CoP modeled after the ID2ID program that matched instructors with each other based on level of experience and then provided professional development opportunities throughout the year for all participants in the program. At Madison College, online faculty self-selected into a community of practice that focused on sharing strategies, expanding expertise, and providing supportive dialogue. The presentation will share the details of developing and supporting the models as well as instructor feedback and future steps.
Attendees in this session will attain the following objectives:
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Identify whether a community of practice is the best fit at their institution.
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Identify strategies for how best to build and support a faculty community of practice.
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Implement a faculty community of practice at their institution.
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Learn lessons on dos and don’ts in building a faculty community of practice.
The plan for the 10-minute Q&A/group discussion in this Educate and Reflect session is as follows:
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Utilize polling technology and back channel social media to engage participants and collect questions both for the Q & A and for post-session and conference discussion.
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Collaborative brainstorming for solutions, strategies and considerations to sustain faculty buy-in, promote online pedagogical excellence, foster peer-to-peer community, and encourage continued improvement in online instruction.