PROGRAM

Thursday, June 19th 2003

8:30am - Registration Opens

In Front of Valley Vista

9:00am-10:30am

Valley Vista

1 - Keynote
An FLC Potpourri: Problem-Based Learning, Saturday Night Live, Research Opportunities, Limits, and Hurrahs!
Milton D. Cox, Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
Miami University
As we celebrate, initiate, and share our faculty learning community successes and challenges, it is time to recognize how broad and deep their influence has been. Opening a new frontier in higher education brings exciting opportunities in teaching, research, and service. As we begin our conference, let’s explore some of these and the potential of community, partnerships, and change. I will pose problems for you to explore during the conference (answers provided at closing Town Meeting). And I raise a grand hurrah for your ongoing FLC efforts and accomplishments and offer best wishes for successful outcomes in the future.

Concurrent Sessions

10:45am-11:30am

Campus Vista
2A - Roundtable
Senior Faculty Learning Community
Muriel L. Blaisdell, Interdisciplinary Studies
Miami University
This roundtable provides an opportunity for those who may be interested in establishing a faculty learning community for the mid-career and senior faculty cohort to hear a brief presentation of the Miami University program. Group work will follow on the question, "Why does a faculty person in the middle or later stages of his or her career need a faculty learning community experience?" The session will also discuss activities to meet those needs.

Garden Vista
2B
Curricula Re-Design: The Case for Faculty Learning Communities
Harry Hubball, Curriculum Studies
University of British Columbia
Contemporary learning-centered approaches to curricula re-design place emphasis on interdisciplinary, integration, innovative learning strategies, and clearing defined learning outcomes. At the heart of this complex process is the development of faculty learning communities. This presentation outlines successful learning-centered strategies that fostered a faculty learning community and enhanced curriculum and re-design. Potential barriers and solutions will be discussed in this interactive presentation.

Campus Vista
2C
Changing Faculty Through Learning Communities
Kim Covington, NSF Gender Diversity Project
Texas A&M University
Faculty members play a significant role in determining the learning and working environments at institutions of higher education; therefore, changes in these environments will occur when faculty members see the need for changes, see what changes are necessary, and decide to implement the changes. This session will explore the development of a program designed to bring faculty together to investigate changes that can be made on a personal level in an effort to create and promote gender equity in the physical sciences and engineering.

11:45am-1:15pm

3 - Lunch - Tables by FLC Topic Dining Room
Join your colleagues to discuss your experiences and interests in these FLC topics.

• Assessment
• Cooperative/Collaborative/Group Learning
• Diversity/Difference in Teaching and Learning
• Problem-Based Learning
• Teaching With Technology
• Teaching Writing-Enriched Courses
• The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Other? Come to the Registration Desk to make a sign for your own topic.

1:30pm-2:15pm

Campus Vista
4A
Seven Years to a Successful Faculty-Generated Learning Community
Margaret K. Snooks, Human Sciences and Humanities
Sharon P. Hall, Computing and Math
University of Houston - Clear Lake
You are invited to hear the story of a successful FLC and apply our model to your institution. Faculty members from across our institution, with the encouragement and support of the Provost, voluntarily created a true faculty learning community dedicated to the scholarship of teaching and learning. We began seven years ago and have developed 3 distinct and powerful levels of activity: discussion groups, mid-term student assessments and a research consortium.

Garden Vista
4B
A Faculty Learning Community Experience With The Harlem Renaissance
Marc P. Lynn, Center for Teaching and Learning
John Carroll University
This session will describe the development of a faculty learning community that included faculty members from the seven academic departments, created to provide a diversification in the curriculum. Over the summer of 2002, community members developed an interactive, multimedia, web-based resource focusing on artists, scholars, and social/political movements of the Harlem Renaissance. Pedagogical emphasis was placed upon inter-connected links, providing true multidisciplinary resources to faculty and students. This experience resulted in continued interest in developing multidisciplinary course and faculty interaction.

Valley Vista
4C
Personal and Institutional Obstacles to the Development of Faculty Learning Communities
Neil Davidson, Curriculum & Instruction
University of Maryland College Park
The idea of faculty learning communities is attractive and supported by compelling research data. Yet, many faculty choose not to participate and some institutions do not accept the notion or have difficulty in implementing it. In this session, we will share anonymously two case studies of obstacles and resistance to participation in faculty learning communities. Several sources of resistance will be presented, and there will be a dialogue among the participants to identify additional contributing factors at their own institutions.

2:30pm-3:15pm

Campus Vista
5A
Into the Thick of It! First Year Experience for All
Terri Capellman, Residence Services
Mary Lou Holly, Faculty Professional Development Center
Kent State University
Getting into the thick of it. As the story unfolds, several senior faculty members, and those just beginning their college teaching set off together to learn what it is like to be a college freshman. Suddenly, the worlds of the faculty and our freshmen have collided, resulting in one community that truly embraces teaching, learning, and everything in between. Come join us on our journey to becoming a teaching and learning institution and feel the synergy that it has brought to our institution and the possibilities it can bring to yours!

Garden Vista
5B
Reflective Teaching by Watching
Kent L. Zimmerman, Communication Arts
Sinclair Community College
In this session, the presenter will examine the primary aspects of the “Teaching Effective Project,” a four-year effort at improving the presentation skills of an FLC of volunteer college faculty and high school teachers through videotape analysis. Session participants will learn what constitutes an effective presentation, and will be given an opportunity to analyze a videotyped teaching sample as a group. Participants will be encouraged to analyze their own teaching styles by videotaping their efforts.

Valley Vista
5C
Initiating an FLC on Your Campus
Rebecca Carlton, Communication Studies
Linda Christiansen, Business Administration
Michele Zimmerman, Anatomy
Linda Gugin, Political Science
Annette Wyandotte, Writing
Indiana University Southeast
The initial thought to develop our own FLCs came after attending the POD 2002 presentation by Milt Cox. We soliticited Milt’s expertise as our keynote speaker at our Symposium and are using the FLC Program Director’s Handbook and Facilitator’s Handbook. Part of the charge for the facilitators of the first FLCs will be to create relevant campus materials to augment the handbook. We will bring all relevant information amassed thus far to the conference and offer it to interested attendees.

3:30pm-4:15pm

Campus Vista
6A
Problem Based Learning and the Space Between Blackness and Whiteness
Larry E. Greeson, Educational Psychology
Miami University – Middletown
This session will model problem-based learning for use in FLCs, beginning with the exercise, “What Do You See In the Space Between Blackness and Whiteness? Images and Perceptions of Sports, Culture and Race.” The exercise uses poster images specifically selected to lend themselves well to encouraging engagement with problem-based learning issues such as sports performance and race, heredity versus environmental influences and IQ, affirmative action and equality of opportunity. A “think-pair-share” paradigm will be employed to model the beginning stages of problem-based small group cooperative learning.

Garden Vista
6B - Roundtable
An FLC on Teaching Effective Writing
Theodore C. Wagenaar, Sociology and Gerontology
Miami University
In this session, I will share the mechanics and outcomes of my participation in a faculty learning community on teaching writing-enriched courses. This community also involved writing coaches, students who had completed the course previously and who received some training on helping students with their writing. I talk about successes and limitations in the experience.

Valley Vista
6C
From 0 to 6(0) in 3 Years: Determining Positive Environments for Initiating FLCs
Rebecca Carlton, Communication Studies, Indiana University Southeast
Milton D. Cox, Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, Miami University
Mary Lou Holly, Faculty Professional Development Center, Kent State University
Alan Kalish, Office of Faculty and TA Development, The Ohio State University
Laurie Richlin
Preparing Future Faculty Program and Faculty Learning Community Program
Claremont Graduate University
Elizabeth Rubens, Instructional Technology FLC
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Karin Sandell, Center for Teaching Excellence, Ohio University
Joy Vann-Hamilton, Kaneb Teaching and Learning Center, Notre Dame University
In this session we will provide insights from institutions now in their first year of starting several Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) and from those jumping from one to 8 or 9 after one year. Why are some institutions so optimistic and successful so early in their FLC development? How do their situations -- institutional type, size, faculty support, administrative support, budgets, concept of community, FLC components adopted, etc. -- compare to those at institutions where development has not been as easy? Panel members include participants in a FIPSE-sponsored "fast start" FLC project.

6:00pm - Dinner

Dining Room

7:00pm-8:30pm 7 - Plenary Session

Valley Vista

Going Statewide: The Ohio Learning Network Learning Communities Initiative
Catherine M. Gynn, Technology Enhanced Learning and Research
The Ohio State University
Sheryl Hansen
Ohio Learning Network
Mary Lou Holly, University Faculty Professional Development Center
Kent State University
Alan Kalish, Faculty and TA Development
The Ohio State University
We will share our challenges and successes in aligning the layers of learning (personal, community, institutional super-community, state), the dynamics of engagement among participants, and insights about conditions that enable group learning. We will exchange ideas with conference attendees about learning community models that can support a variety of change projects. Over the past 18 months, the Ohio Learning Network (OLN) has planned, developed, and implemented a multi-layered learning communities initiative. This collaborative network of FLCs, and those who support them, have three major outcomes: 1) faculty enabled to enrich student learning via technology; 2) reusable, sharable digital resources and 3) improved practice through deep learning, collaboration and reflection. During the past academic year OLN awarded $28,000 in a two-part RFP process to 31 FLCs, and provided funding to six campuses to offer institutes and provide Web resources.

Friday, June 20th 2003

8:30am - Registration Open

In Front of Valley Vista

9:00am-9:45am

Campus Vista
8A
The Eye of Yin: Interdisciplinary Thinking for Faculty Community
Muriel Blaisdell, Interdisciplinary Studies
Miami University
In this session we will think carefully about the community building process in faculty learning communities. One component of building linkages among the members is to recognize the potential for interdisciplinary teaching across various disciplines. Community among faculty members in a learning community or teaching team may be built on the basis of seeing, for example, that there is science in art (the eye of yin) and art in science (the eye of yang).

Garden Vista
8B
Learning Communities for Preparing Future Faculty
Cecilia Shore, Psychology
Miami University
Laurie Richlin, Preparing Future Faculty & Learning Communities Programs
Bettina Casad, Psychology Graduate Student & FLC Participant/Co-coordinator
Claremont Graduate University
This session will provide a brief introduction to PFF programs and reflect on how learning communities are especially appropriate for such programs. We will compare and contrast two different learning community PFF programs, and describe some of the successes/challenges experienced by these programs. We will share our ideas, and invite participants to contribute theirs, regarding advice for similar efforts, and unique features of this type of learning community.

Valley Vista
8C
Learning From Experience: Learning Community Facilitators Share Stories
Mary Louise Holly, Faculty Professional Development Center
Terri Capellman, Residence Services
Kent State University
In this session participants will explore the terrain of learning community facilitation; we will hear the stories of new facilitators, identify key issues and challenges, and discuss how facilitators and leaders have dealt with them and can deal with them. We will imagine possible futures for learning communities on your campus, and, using the experiences of session participants, design structures to bring these into being.

10:00am-10:45am

Campus Vista
9A
Reinventing the Classroom as a Mirror and a Window: Engaging Faculty in Creating More Inclusive Classroom Climates
Marty Petrone, Communication
Miami University Middletown
As colleges and universities embraces the importance of diversity as a cornerstone for academic excellence, faculty in learning communities about difference are seeking pedagogical and curricular strategies that help to create inclusive classrooms. Although faculty operate at a deep level of thinking in their discipline, in discussions related to diversity in the classroom, faculty exhibit a range of worldviews, leading to potential discomfort and internal and external barriers. Using an interactive formal, this session will raising some of the challenges that facilitators of a community on difference may face when engaging faculty in efforts to diversify their curriculum and to create a more inclusive classroom climate, as well as suggest possible interventions.

Garden Vista
9B
Exploring How Technology Can Best Support Inquiry Within a Faculty Learning Community
Norm Vaughan, Academic Development Centre
Mount Royal College
This presentation will provide participants with a “hands-on” opportunity to explore and discuss how technology can be used to support the process of inquiry within a faculty learning community (FLC). The session will begin with a visible knowledge (concept) mapping activity. Visible knowledge mapping can be very useful for documenting and reflecting on the learning that takes place within an FLC. Participants will also be introduced to a community of inquiry model developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2001). The appropriate application of technology to this model ensures that an FLC has a strong cognitive, teaching and social presence. Throughout the session, participants will be encouraged to share their own “lessons learned” about the use of technology to support faculty learning communities.

Valley Vista
9C
A Model for Building Scholarly Communities of Practice
Karin Sandell, Center for Innovations in Technology for Learning
Ohio University
In this session, I share the challenges and successes we experienced in transforming nine faculty members into future FLC leaders. Key to our success was an experiential model where the faculty members formed their own FLC on faculty learning communities and were thus able to connect the FLC literature to their own challenges and successes. This session will describe the conceptualization and achievements of a capacity-building initiative lead by eight faculty members and administrators to facilitate a six-month residency for nine competitively selected faculty Community Leaders-in-Residence. I also will provide copies of some of the materials we designed to assist our developing FLC leaders in their task, including a goals inventory and an FLC planning document.

11:00am-11:45am

Campus Vista
10A
Developing a Learning Community for Department Chairs
Gary M. Shulman, Communication
Miami University
The demand on department chairs to assume multiple roles can result in an identity crisis or even burnout. Many chairs feel besieged and under-appreciated. The Chair Learning Community program remedies this with opportunities for continuous learning about leadership and a peer support system. This presentation describes the program that provides transformational benefits for participants. Participants might consider proposing this kind of professional development opportunity to enhance their campus.

Garden Vista
10B
Faculty Learning Communities
Jean E. L. Layne, Faculty Learning Communities/Center for Teaching Excellence
Texas A & M University
Faculty learning communitites (FLCs) offer time, space, and support for faculty members to be learners engaged in the topic of learning. This session will share information about the background and development of our program. It also will reveal feedback from participants on what a learning focus means to them in their interactions in FLCs and in their work. The presenter will lead a process activity to provide a “snapshot” of the program for session participants.

Valley Vista
10C
Multiple FLCs: Organizing the Organizers
Melody Ayn Barton, Teaching Effectiveness Programs
Miami University
As your FLC program grows from one FLC to multiple FLCs, organization becomes more complex, yet more important. In this session we will discuss the importance of gathering information early and efficiently while building a rapport and a sense of community with each FLC member. Participants also will be provided with organizational tools and ideas to help FLC program directors and their support staff maintain an efficient and effective program.

12:00 noon-1:30pm

Dining Room

11 - Lunch - Tables by FLC Cohort
Join your colleagues to discuss your experiences and interests in these cohort FLCs.

• Preparing Future Faculty
• New/Junior Faculty
• Mid-Career Faculty
• Senior Faculty
• Department Chairs

1:30pm-2:15pm

Campus Vista
12A
Making ArtWork: Incorporating the Arts Into the Curriculum
Roxanne R. Reed, Fine Arts
Miami University
Incorporating the arts into the curriculum has proved an effective tool of learning at the elementary and secondary school levels. Virtually non-existent, however, is any parallel model at the university level. In this session, I propose that an examination of the creative process, in which the arts are central, is one key to learning in the university classroom. I further explore the creative process in suggesting that the arts offers ways to forge connections across disciplines in order to build a common vocabulary and will report on the formation of an interdisciplinary FLC for arts across the curriculum.

Garden Vista
12B
Faculty Learning Communities and the Scholarship of University Teaching
Harry Hubball, Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education
Simon Albon, Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of British Columbia
The UBC Faculty Certificate Program on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education is designed to meet the diverse needs and circumstances of multi-disciplinary faculty members, at various ranks at the university. The innovative 8-month certificate program is now in its fifth successful year of implementation, and was developed by integrating a wide range of pedagogical frameworks. This presentation outlines specific learning-centered strategies that enhanced a cohort learning community and the scholarship of university teaching.

Valley Vista
12C
For Love of the Game: Initiating Our FLCs
Michele Zimmerman, Anatomy
Rebecca Carlton, Communication Studies
Linda Gugin, Political Science
Annette Wyandotte, Writing
Linda Christiansen, Business Administration
Indiana University Southeast
Acting as an energizer for attendees, this session will serve as an opportunity to discuss the process of developing interest in our inaugural FLCs and functioning within a tight budget. We have a core group of facilitators who, despite small financial incentives, have a “love of the game,” and are committed to helping the campus meet our general education goals.

2:30pm-3:15pm

Campus Vista
13A
Practicing Inclusion in a Faculty Learning Community: A Model for Classrooms
Michael Hieber, Art
Miami University Middletown
This interactive presentation will demonstrate how a faculty learning community, formed to create new courses on diversity, established and practiced inclusion within a diverse group. A general context for looking at inclusion will be established, but in particular we will focus on one area in which the community fell somewhat short of inclusionary practices, due in part to hegemonic restraints that may also unintentionally come into play in our classrooms. The presentation will start with a brief introduction and overview of our community formed to create new U.S. Cultures diversity courses. We will have a short small-group discussion based on a question related to diversity and inclusion and then will reflect on patterns of inclusion within the discussion groups, using the resultant modes of communication based on theories of Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule as a sort of apriori case.

Garden Vista
13B
The "Accidental" Faculty Learning Community
Alan Kalish & Kathleen A. Harper, Faculty and TA Development
Roger D. Woodard, Statistics
The Ohio State University
Different people have varying definitions of what constitutes a faculty learning community. We modified some of our thoughts on the issue when a faculty learning community evolved from an interdisciplinary committee convened by our statistics department to support revision of a large, introductory course. In this session, participants will reflect on what constitutes an FLC, hear (briefly!) about our “accidental” FLC, and determine what aspects of our experience can be applied at their home institutions.

Valley Vista
13C
Taking the Next Step: From FLC to SoTL
Gregg W. Wentzell, Journal on Excellence in College Teaching
Miami University
This session will explore how members and facilitators of faculty learning communities can develop and publish the scholarship of teaching based on their FLC experiences. We will consider publication opportunities from both faculty teaching and faculty development perspectives and will review the scholarly process as it pertains to FLCs. Most importantly, we will consider how participants might shape their work in an FLC to fit the needs of professional journals, such as the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, devoted to publishing the scholarship of teaching and learning, and we will review examples of the scholarship done by former FLC members. Participants will have the opportunity to give and receive feedback on their ideas for FLC-based scholarship.

3:30pm-4:15pm

Valley Vista

14 - FLC Town Meeting
Laurie Richlin, Preparing Future Faculty & Faculty Learning Community Programs
Claremont Graduate University
Milton D. Cox, Teaching Effectiveness Programs
Miami University
Join your colleagues for the conference wrap-up and planning for the future of Faculty Learning Communities. Bring the best ideas from your own work and from your conference experiences. We will have an open microphone in the spirit of New England town meetings. What do we know about best practices for developing, facilitating, and assessing FLCs? What are your answers to the problems Milt raised in the Keynote? Join the forum and give us your opinions.

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.