The 2003 Hesburgh Award Winner
TIAA-CREF proudly presents the 2003 Hesburgh Award to a faculty development
program judged to have best met the three award criteria: significance
of the program to higher education; appropriate program rationale; and
successful results and impact on undergraduate teaching and student
learining.
Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Program
Certificate of Excellence Winners
Certificates Excellence have also been awarded to these four meritorious
faculty development programs:
The Faculty Learning Communities Program
Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Urban Teacher Program
University of Denver, Denver, Colorado
Sustainable, Programmatic Innovation in Undergraduate Curriculum
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts
The WPI Global Perspective Program
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Miami University |
Oxford, Ohio |
The
Faculty Learning Communities Program
Community is often missing in higher education, where isolation and fragmentation
partition faculty, the curriculum, and student learning. Miami’s
unique Faculty Learning Communities Program has reestablished these connections
and achieved the same outcomes as student learning communities: increased
retention, intellectual development, collaboration, active learning, civic
responsibility, and interest in learning.
With 21,000 undergraduates, 1,500 graduate students, and 980 full-time
faculty on its Oxford, Ohio, campus—plus two regional, urban commuter
campuses—Miami University has a tradition of commitment to faculty
excellence in undergraduate teaching and learning.
In order to raise the excitement and quality of learning for faculty
and students alike, Miami introduced its Faculty Learning Communities
(FLC) Program. Modeled on the successful concept of student learning communities,
Miami’s Faculty Learning Communities Program has achieved similar
favorable learning outcomes for its faculty.
The FLC Program was conceived to address fragmented learning and curricula
caused by several factors: a lack of faculty awareness about new learning
developments, including the scholarship of teaching and learning; a lack
of communication among faculty about different learning approaches, successes,
and failures; faculty ignorance about the roles of diversity in learning;
a lack of faculty civic responsibility at the institutional level; a lack
of understanding and expertise in assessment; and shortfalls in liberal
learning caused primarily by faculty loyalty to disciplines.
The Teaching Scholars Faculty
Learning Community for Early-Career Faculty discuss preparation of their
teaching portfolios. Pictured (l-r) are Rob Schorman, History; Elizabeth
Howard, Computer and Information Technology; Judy Hetrick, Journalism;
Patrick Paulson, Computer Science and Systems Analysis; Paula Boxie,
Teacher Education; Xiang Fang, Decision Sciences and Management Information
Systems; Joseph W. Dorsey, School of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Beyond a Conventional Response
Most faculty development
programs involve individual consultations and campus-wide workshops. Miami’s
FLCs are yearlong intensive communities resulting in deep learning rather
than surface learning.
Miami has implemented two kinds of FLCs: cohort-based and topic-based.
Its four cohort-based FLCs address the developmental needs of an important
cohort that has been particularly affected by change, isolation, fragmentation,
stress, or a chilly climate in the academy. These cohort FLCs are: the
teaching scholars learning community for junior faculty; the senior faculty
learning community for teaching excellence; the department chairs learning
community enhancing leadership and productive change; and the graduate
students learning community preparing future faculty.
An additional 14 topic-based FLCs have focused on particular themes and
are offered to all ranks of faculty across campus. Topics addressed to
date include team teaching, problem-based learning, diversity, ethics
across the honors curriculum, small-group learning, integrating arts into
the curriculum, and teaching writing-intensive courses.
Evidence of systemic change is abundant on Miami’s campus. Collegiality
has spawned joint faculty presentations, linked courses, and enhanced
student advising—colleagues now know someone to call in another
department when related questions arise. Major goals of the FLC Program
are being achieved: Retention rates for minority students have increased;
all departments have now implemented broad teaching evaluation plans;
the top reward for excellent teaching is based on teaching portfolios;
and more faculty are engaging new teaching approaches. Faculty have become
more highly motivated in the teaching process and have gained perspectives
on teaching, learning, and higher education that extend beyond their disciplines.
Faculty have become aware of increased student learning, as reflected
in better class discussion/engagement, better classroom atmosphere, and
successful achievement of new or existing learning objectives.
To date one third of Miami faculty have participated in these FLCs, and
over 100 faculty (over 10%) are engaged in these programs in 2002-03.
The success of Miami’s FLCs has generated $1.7 million in grants
from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE)
and Ohio agencies, enabling the establishment of FLCs at 30 other institutions,
for example, FIPSE institutions Claremont Graduate University and Consortium,
IUPUI, Kent State University, The Ohio State University, and the University
of Notre Dame.
Miami’s Faculty Learning Communities Program is a proven model
for enhancing student learning, the scholarship of teaching, transdisciplinarity
of faculty collaboration, civic responsibility, and the prestige of teaching
excellence.
This project has been supported in part by a grants from the US
Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education
(FIPSE) and the Ohio
Board of Regents.
