Creating a Collaborative Teaching Culture: The Case Study of the Value of a Professional Learning Community

Abstract

In sport management higher education, doctoral students and early-career faculty are often tasked with teaching university courses, yet the training and support rarely match the demands of the job. This paper explores the utility of a professional learning community (PLC) within a sport management department at an American university using a case study methodology. A PLC creates space for colleague collaboration among faculty with similar objectives and goals. The PLC examined in this manuscript includes a mix of experienced (i.e., associate and full professors) and inexperienced professors (i.e., assistant professors and doctoral students) sharing their classroom/instructional experience at the undergraduate and master’s levels. PLCs represent a viable solution to help ease the classroom transition for early-career instructors and provide a platform for faculty to seek advice related to challenges. Findings suggest that the proper implementation of PLCs can lead to perceived increases in teaching effectiveness, self-efficacy, and collaboration amongst experienced and inexperienced faculty. Other benefits of PLCs include allowing faculty members to remain attuned to current classroom trends and maintaining a common philosophical mission/vision for the degree program.