Faculty Learning Communities - Pilot

Because faculty play an essential role in providing an educational foundation for students - especially through gateway courses - we created pilot learning communities to support faculty in creating inclusive, engaging, and effective learning environments for students.

Two compensated opportunities were available in the spring 2022 semester for faculty from Clemson University and Tri-County Technical College. Applications are now closed, but the information below may be useful to those interested in applying to future learning communities in subsequent semesters.

Option 1: Teaching STEM Online Faculty Learning Community
The goal of the class and learning community is to better equip participants to create inclusive learning environments, teach STEM content online, adapt assignments and activities for online modalities, and facilitate course redesign for student engagement in an online environment. Faculty participate in an asynchronous course designed to address topics related to effective STEM online teaching and learning. The learning community is blended, where Clemson STEM graduate students are enrolled along with the faculty participants. This expands the learning opportunity for faculty participants, who engage with each other and with the graduate student participants. For the spring 2022 iteration, four synchronous meetings were scheduled with the learning community, based upon members' availability and scheduled in advance. Approximate time commitment: 4 hours/month, January-April 2022. For more information, contact Dr. Karen High (khigh@clemson.edu). 

Option 2: STEM Design and Faculty Learning Community
The goal of the design and learning community is to enable participants to design/redesign components of a STEM course: assignments, classroom activities, and syllabi. Faculty participate in 7-8 synchronous sessions in both large and small groups. The STEM design and faculty learning community has sessions to learn about design/redesign within an equity framework and to practice peer review of one's assignments, classroom activities, and syllabus within the learning community. For the spring 2022 iteration, synchronous meetings were scheduled based upon members' availability. Approximate time commitment: 4 hours/month, January-April 2022. For more information, contact Dr. Taimi Olsen (taimio@clemson.edu). 

Additional Information

• Spring 2022 pilots were funded through the HHMI's Inclusive Excellence initiative learning community grant. 
• A summary of the spring 2022 pilots can be seen in our Presentation Link, created by graduate research assistant Abby Boyd and presented at the August 2022 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) and February 2023 National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) conference. 

For general questions about the pilot faculty learning communities, please contact Dr. Bridget Trogden (trogden@clemson.edu).