Chapter 10: Improving Student Learning Through Research: Creating an Interdisciplinary SoTL Faculty Learning Community

Faculty learning communities (FLCs) center around diverse subject areas, including helping faculty to address controversial subjects; focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; and integrate new pedagogies into courses or curricula. I led an FLC, the Applied Learning Research Cooperative (ALRC), at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, that gathered interdisciplinary groups of faculty (9–14) to produce Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) about applied learning and resulted in over 15 scholarly publications, two conferences presentations, 21 internal grants, and participation in other campus applied learning initiatives. Additionally, faculty participants made research-informed pedagogical interventions in their courses leading to improved educational experiences for our students. The resulting research contributions made by ALRC members were validated by participants’ disciplinary communities through peer review in both local and national contexts. This chapter concludes that producing SoTL research is a generative model for FLCs with the potential to advance student success, support the research programs of faculty participants, and broadcast pedagogical innovations to a wider peer audience.