Chapter 10: Implementing Change Strategies Through Faculty Learning Communities

Faculty learning communities (FLCs) are effective professional development spaces that provide faculty with opportunities to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning, share instructional ideas, and build community and trust. Existing research on FLCs primarily focuses on evaluating faculty satisfaction and self-reported benefits; less attention is given to characterizing the ways in which FLCs can be structures for changes. This chapter examines three year-long, discipline-based FLCs at one public, research-intensive university. Our analysis is guided by the four change strategies in professional development: (a) dissemination of curriculum and pedagogy, (b) development of reflective instructors, (c) development of policy, and (d) development of a shared vision. We used this framework to characterize the strategy each FLC facilitator intended to implement and the outcomes that FLC members reported as a result of their engagement. Additionally, we drew connections between how FLC structures and activities may have facilitated certain member outcomes. Our findings suggest that the FLCs in our study were organized in a way to promote change within individual FLC members (i.e., dissemination of curriculum and pedagogy, development of reflective instructors) rather than environmental change (i.e., development of policy, development of a shared vision). Furthermore, we suggest that certain FLC structures implicitly convey different sources of expertise (e.g., expertise held solely by the facilitator, group members, or outside resources), which may shape members’ expectations going into an FLC. We recommend that future FLC facilitators be mindful of their intended goals and consider the ways in which their program activities and structures communicate certain expectations to participants.