Abstract
Drawing on lessons learned from ten years of developing and sustaining faculty learning communities and from participation in a Dean's Task Force on Curriculum Revision, SoTL practitioners from different disciplines (e.g., music, biology, English, chemistry) will demonstrate the value of SoTL as an integrative activity that accomplishes simultaneously several higher-education objectives: 1) building faculty morale through shared evidence of positive effects on student learning, 2) promoting assessment as a tool for teaching as well as for evaluation, 3) enabling faculty to teach and learn from each other, and 4) influencing the revision of the general education curriculum in accordance with the theme of “connected learning” commonly found in university strategic plans. Attendees will be asked to consider how the backward-design principles fostered by SoTL pursued in individual classrooms might influence curriculum design at the level of departments, schools, or colleges on their campuses. Audience participation will be engaged via a short questionnaire designed to elicit perspectives on curricular design and on faculty collaboration in classroom research.
Location
Room 1909
Recommended Citation
Wilner, Arlene; Mirchandani, Sharon; Lowrey, Phillip; Spiegelberg, Bryan; and Jacobs, Danielle, "SoTL and the Creative Power of Faculty Learning Communities" (2012). SoTL Commons Conference. 41.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2012/41
SoTL and the Creative Power of Faculty Learning Communities
Room 1909
Drawing on lessons learned from ten years of developing and sustaining faculty learning communities and from participation in a Dean's Task Force on Curriculum Revision, SoTL practitioners from different disciplines (e.g., music, biology, English, chemistry) will demonstrate the value of SoTL as an integrative activity that accomplishes simultaneously several higher-education objectives: 1) building faculty morale through shared evidence of positive effects on student learning, 2) promoting assessment as a tool for teaching as well as for evaluation, 3) enabling faculty to teach and learn from each other, and 4) influencing the revision of the general education curriculum in accordance with the theme of “connected learning” commonly found in university strategic plans. Attendees will be asked to consider how the backward-design principles fostered by SoTL pursued in individual classrooms might influence curriculum design at the level of departments, schools, or colleges on their campuses. Audience participation will be engaged via a short questionnaire designed to elicit perspectives on curricular design and on faculty collaboration in classroom research.
