Professional & Faculty Learning Communities

The CTL's Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Program will include ongoing professional development opportunities for faculty and staff within a learning community model.  

Each community is comprised of 8-12 multi-disciplinary faculty and staff who actively engage in a semester or year-long, collaborative community focused on improving and/or enhancing teaching and learning through SoTL (scholarship of teaching and learning) (Cox & Richlin, 2004). A significant element of SoTL is the collective exploration of pedagogy and discipline among participants (McKinney, 2006). These PLCs will provide ongoing learning and exploration into opportunities in higher education.

The PLC Framework and Outcomes

• Engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) - inquiry, exploration, application, peer review, reflection, presentation of findings
• Implement an identified change into practice
• Share findings with the campus community
• Participate in PLC pre and post assessment

Cox, M.D. (2003). Proven faculty development tools that foster the scholarship of teaching in faculty learning communities. To Improve the Academy (21), 109-142.
 

Cox, M.D., & Richlin, L. (2004). Building faculty learning communities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
 

McKinney, K. (2006). Attitudinal and structural factors contributing to challenges in the work of the scholarship of teaching and learning. New Directions for Institutional Research, 129 (Summer), 37-50.

Professional Learning Communities Background

Fall 2024

• Faculty Learning Community on genAI (Generative Artificial Intellegence) in Teaching and Learning

Fall 2023

• Faculty Learning Community on Ungrading
• Faculty Learning Community on Digital Humanities

Spring 2022

• Faculty Learning Community on Teaching Climate Change & Resilience
• Faculty Learning Community: Engaged Writing Intensive - Teaching & Researching Disciplinary Writing

Spring 2021

• Faculty Learning Community on Academic Integrity
• Faculty Learning Community on Writing Across the Disciplines

Spring 2020

• Faculty Learning Community on Integrating Sustainability
• Faculty Learning Community on Equitable Approaches to Teaching and Assessing Writing

Fall 2019

• Faculty Learning Community on Inclusive Teaching
• Faculty Learning Community on Scholarly Teaching

Spring 2019

• Faculty Learning Community on Scholarly Teaching
• Equity in Community Engagement Learning Community

Fall 2018

• PLC Implementing Asset-Based Equity in Your Practice
• PLC Infusing "Alert Alert" Into Learning Environments
• PLC Inquiry Sessions Equity in Community Engagement: Identifying Barriers to Student Success

Spring 2018

• Designing and Facilitating A Professional Learning Community (PLC) (preparing future PLC facilitators)