Chapter 8: The Renaissance Foundry: A Self-Guided Instrument for Holistic Centered Faculty Development

This chapter features a faculty development approach guided by the Renaissance Foundry Model (herein the Foundry) for educators interested in acquiring a comprehensive strategy to facilitate the development of holistic professionals. The Foundry is an innovation-driven learning platform that leverages knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer as cognitive paradigms that anchor student experiences in iterative, collaborative, and constructionistic learning processes. Training in the use of the Foundry requires access to the minimal resources associated with the platform (i.e., the core and guiding article, the Foundry engine, and access to available online resources), coupled with interdisciplinary interest, skills in lifelong learning, and awareness of holistic education. This contribution presents the Foundry as a budget-friendly professional development strategy that enhances faculty understanding of teaching and research practices related to the formation of holistic professionals while addressing challenges in professional development training.