A Faculty Learning Community (FLC) is a peer-led team of six to twelve faculty members that participate in an active, collaborative program over the course of a year designed to offer motivation, support, and reflection. There are two primary types of FLCs:

Cohort—based: Cohort based FLCs address the teaching, learning, and developmental needs of an important cohort of faculty that has been particularly affected by the isolation, fragmentation, stress, neglect, or chilly climate in the academy. The curriculum of such a community is shaped by the participants to include a broad range of teaching and learning areas and topics of interest to them. These communities will make a positive impact on the culture of the institution over the years if given multi-year support.

Topic—Based: Topic-based learning communities have curricula designed to address a special campus teaching and learning need, issue, or opportunity. These communities offer membership to, and provide opportunities for, learning across all faculty ranks and cohorts, but with a focus on a particular theme. A particular topic-based FLC ends when the campus-wide teaching opportunity or issue of concern has been satisfactorily addressed.

To Enhance the Scholarship of Teaching

FLCs provide an excellent structure to help faculty members develop scholarly teaching and create the scholarship of teaching and learning, in part due to the deep learning that can take place in an FLC.5 Examples of scholarly activities that can be incorporated in FLC are course design, course redesign, teaching/course portfolios, presentations, and publications. Creating a safe, supportive environment or community of educators, mentoring new participants, providing structured forums for conducting presentations and disseminating projects will result in an effective development of scholarship of teaching.

To Transform Higher Education Institutions into Learning Organizations

FLCs have the potential to transform institutions into learning organizations by converting individual knowledge into explicit knowledge; involving faculty in periodic symposia and retreats; disseminating the culture of innovation; and encouraging project presentations in national and international conferences. Creating a faculty learning community program is one approach that engages the community to improve student and faculty learning and can transform our institutions of higher education into learning organizations.

To Improve Student Learning

FLCs shape the way learners are taught through creating new teaching and learning experiences. Designing and redesigning curricula, incorporating various instructional strategies and use of new technology to enhance learning, have contributed tremendously in improving the courses that enhance students' learning. Moreover, FLCs exert greater emphasis on student engagement and collaborative learning.

Peer to Peer consultation

Faculty learning communities can facilitate peer consultation and broaden the scope of its impact on individuals and institutions. They offer opportunities for faculty to seek advice from each other regarding teaching and learning concerns and furthermore enable them to identify their own needs through enrollment in discussions in the regular meetings, periodic seminars, retreats and conferences.

Can the need for an FLC be established?

Before formally implementing anew FLC program, key campus stakeholders must perceive a need to do so.The need can be established through conversations about opportunities to improve the teaching and learning process along with concrete benefits for doing so.

Can an FLC implementation team be sponsored?

A strategically appointed FLC implementation team has significant advantages over an individual or a weak committee that lacks the time or credibility to convince others. Mutual trust among members and a common purpose distinguish teams from weak committees and can be facilitated through carefully planned events characterized  by  candid  conversation  and  through  joint  activities  (for  example, retreats, seminars, conference attendance). 

Can a compelling FLC vision be drafted?

Vision refers to an imagined picture of a desirable and feasible future that includes a rationale for why people should strive to create an institution where effective teaching and learning take place routinely. Other chapters in this volume provide information on specific FLC outcomes, processes, and strategies that can be adapted for a vision statement. An effective vision will make it abundantly clear what the purpose of the FLC is and provide guidance for making it part of the campus culture.

Can the FLC vision be communicated? 

Ineffective or insufficient communication is one of the major reasons that organizational experts cite for failed change efforts ( Boyett and Boyett, 1998; Kotter, 1996). The FLC vi-sion and strategy should be repeated constantly through words and actions, in different campus settings, and in multiple media. Dialogue about the FLCis more persuasive than a monologue, so it is important to engage the key stakeholders in two-way conversation in order to build widespread commitment to the program.

Can tangible progress be demonstrated quickly?

Short-term tangible out-comes encourage continuation of the effort by providing evidence that the institution is on the right track. The FLC implementation team benefits from gathering data on the quality of their ideas. Openly rewarding and recognizing the people who contribute to making the change possible helps build support for the FLC program by turning ambivalents into supporters and resisters into ambivalents.

• • How can FLCs be integrated into the culture of the institution? How can they both build on existing collegiality and deepen that collegiality, especially across disciplines?

  • What in-depth teaching issues does the campus want to see faculty study in an FLC? What issues do the FACULTY want to study in an FLC? 

  • How might an FLC be part of a larger system of faculty development? Can it grow from workshops meant to introduce topics and build interest?

  • How might you be able to incentivize/reward faculty for participating? Who will facilitate, and what additional incentives might you provide to them?

  • How might you leverage the "give back" component of an FLCs to continue work around teaching on the campus?

• Obtain broad administrative and faculty support, including academic vice president and deans, a critical mass of department chairs, respected senior and junior faculty (control stays here); and university senate. Establish a respected advisory committee, part of university governance.

• Emphasize outcomes about increased faculty and student learning, interest in teaching and learning, etc. Select your "best" faculty to establish the initial FLC as prestigious, not remedial.

• Give the faculty participants a strong hand in designing the year's agenda. Design activities, accommodations, and recognitions to make participants feel valued and respected by the institution.

• Create a compensation strategy. The best compensation for faculty participants is to provide release time from one course for one semester. If an institution does not have the budget to provide release time, each participant could receive an honorarium of $500-$1,500 to use for professional expenses.

• Provide a means for assessing the effectiveness of the objectives of the community, both short- and long-term. Use evaluation surveys to gauge faculty development outcomes and the effectiveness of program components. Collect pre- and post-community syllabi to illustrate changes inspired by participation. Participants should prepare a course mini portfolio for their focus course.

Faculty learning communities, IU Bloomington 

Center for Teaching Excellence, Miami University

Learning innovation, Duke University

Institute for Learning and Teaching Excellence, Indiana University Southeast

Cox, M. D. (2002). Achieving teaching and learning excellence through faculty learning communities. Essays on Teaching Excellence: Toward the Best in the Academy, 14(4).

Shulman, G.M., Cox, M.D. and Richlin, L. (2004), Institutional considerations in developing a faculty learning community program. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2004: 41-49. https://doi-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/10.1002/tl.131