“The Faculty/Faculty Conundrum”: Organizing Faculty Learning Communities to Support “Singular” and “Plural” Faculty Development

Abstract

This chapter outlines the use of a modified Faculty Learning Community (FLC) model for faculty development employed within a large academic department to create communities of practice. This model promotes faculty reflection and learning about pedagogy and also serves as a means for developing projects in different aspects of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Current intra-departmental discussion of this modified FLC model revolves around a question at the heart of faculty development—what exactly is being developed? There is a sense that faculty development should be about providing faculty members the opportunity for individual development (singular “faculty”), but this can be in tension with developing the collective strength of the faculty as a whole (in the plural sense) in fulfilling its mission to the University. We use an FLC model for faculty development in this multivalent sense, to address this dilemma that we have named “the faculty/faculty conundrum.” FLCs are smaller circles within a larger community of practice intent on two goals: (1) developing individual projects in pedagogy and scholarship and (2) supporting the department mission by stimulating collaboration and creating knowledge. Our FLC model promotes faculty development in a multivalent (plural and singular) sense.