Communities of Practice

What is a Community of Practice?

A Community of Practice is a faculty learning group of 8-12 people who share a common concern, passion about a topic and come together with a facilitator to deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting with each other on an ongoing basis (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002 p. 4). 

At Weber State, these communities of practice are groups of faculty and staff who commit to exploring areas in teaching and learning in regularly scheduled sessions followed by actions such as planning and trying out the techniques discussed in the group. 

Your community will provide a supportive environment where members can experiment with new approaches to teaching and learning, share successes and challenges, and/or engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).
(Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, & William Snyder, 2002).Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.)

 

What are the goals of a Faculty Learning Community?

  • To promote faculty interest in teaching and learning, especially for undergraduate students.
  • To create collaborative spaces in which faculty connect with colleagues across disciplines.
  • To promote the exploration and study of theoretical and practical perspectives on teaching and learning.
  • To pilot short term or semester-long activities in classes or in our broader work with students.
  • To increase faculty capacity to apply evidence-based research to undergraduate education.
  • To cultivate reflective practitioners by reflecting upon individual and collective experiences.

Participant Outcomes:

Participants in learning communities should be able to demonstrate at least two of the following:

  • Integrate research-based, learner-centered, and/or welcoming pedagogies in their teaching.  Related activities could include reviewing and revising course materials such as syllabi, learning outcomes, and class activities.
  • Leverage collaborative relationships with colleagues across disciplines on topics related to learning-centered instructional innovation and student success.  Related activities could include sharing experiences, successes, and challenges with colleagues in the learning community; providing feedback on observations and/or research design and implementation.
  • Build supportive collegial and informal mentoring structures that help to support the intellectual, emotional and mental wellbeing of the faculty member.
  • Disseminate practices and scholarship with the broader teaching community at and beyond WSU.  Related activities might include sharing work through presentations, sharing instructional resource materials, and/or presenting findings at a CETL event, an external venue or through publication.

What are the Benefits of Joining a Community of Practice?

  • Participants become members of a community of peers with shared interests in teaching and learning at WSU.
  • The community provides a space where members share experiences, ideas and strategies about teaching; experiment with evidence-based practices; build skills; engage in SoTL research; and reflect on their roles as educators. 
  • Each group has $200 to spend on food, snacks, etc. to facilitate group meetups over the course of the academic year. Modest (and varied) stipends will be awarded to group members following successful completion of the community of practice. 
  • Members of learning communities can include their participation as professional development efforts to improve teaching on tenure and promotion documents and faculty annual reviews.  When you make changes to your teaching based upon your participation in a faculty learning community, you can explain those changes as innovations in the aforementioned documents.
  • Participation in a Faculty Learning Community is part of the “Ten Before Tenure” initiative.

Community of Practice Expectations

  • COP members will actively prepare for, attend, and participate in community meetings.  (COPs will likely meet at least twice a month, depending on the group and its goals.  The semester schedule will be set during the first meeting).
  • Each group will submit an executive summary and reflective analysis of their COP participation by May 1, 2024.
  • COPs will be expected to share their learning, activities, and their reflections at the Thrive Symposium during the Fall 2025 semester.
  • Each COP will also provide some sort of deliverable that can be shared with a larger audience (either at WSU or an external venue). For example, you could select one or more of the following options:
    • Provide instructional resource materials (instructional tools, teaching strategies, videos,  annotated bibliographies,  presentational materials, etc.) on the topic of their COP for the larger teaching community at WSU.
    • Present their work at a conference venue beyond WSU.
    • Publish the findings of their work (through portfolios, white papers, academic journals, etc.)

2024-2025 Communities of Practice

 

Brave Conversations

Facilitator: Megan Van De Venter

Description: Brave Conversations holds space for faculty to discuss and debrief the courageous conversations that emerge in our classrooms. This community of practice will explore best practices for facilitating constructive learning experiences in ideologically complex contexts. As a collective, we will navigate the current legislative requirements while supporting each other to be responsive and intentional during critical teaching moments that serve our students and our content.

 

Community Engaged Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship

Facilitator: Alexander Lancaster

Description: Our community of practice will explore foundational theories of community-engaged teaching, learning, and scholarship, with a focus on providing participants tools and resources they can use in their classrooms and in their professional development as faculty members. Our goal is to work collaboratively to develop one of two final pieces:

1) an engaged-teaching strategy, lesson, or assignment; or

2) an engaged-scholarship project that the faculty member will complete. We will also explore how to foster partnerships with community organizations, non-profit organizations, governmental agencies, and local businesses. Over the course of this community of practice, participants will learn how to connect their teaching, research/scholarship/creative activities, and service to community-engaged theories and applied practices. We also will include a group project that will be submitted to the faculty symposium and a publication outlet at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.

 

Faculty Writing Group

Facilitator: Sarah Steimel

Description:  This community of practice is designed to carve out a dedicated, supportive space for individuals who are striving to complete writing projects and successfully submit them for publication or presentation. Whether you’re working on a journal article, a conference paper, a book chapter, or any other scholarly writing project, this group is here to help you overcome the obstacles that often stand in the way of finishing your work. We understand that academic writing can be a solitary and daunting task, filled with challenges such as procrastination, time management, and self-doubt. Through a combination of best practices in writing group productivity and journal article writing, we aim to create a structured yet flexible environment where participants can set goals, track their progress, and hold themselves accountable.

 

Innovations for Student Success

Facilitators: Robin Haislett, Colleen Packer

Description:  Do you want to help your students be more successful in your classroom?  Would you like to enhance student success through innovative teaching strategies?  Then this community of practice is for you.  Innovations for student success builds on the strategies learned in ACUE courses offered by CETL. As a participant, you'll have the opportunity to:

  • Collaborate with colleagues across disciplines
  • Develop and conduct an action research project in your own classroom
  • Implement cutting-edge teaching strategies
  • Share your findings at the Thrive Symposium and other conferences
  • Receive stipends for presenting your research (amount based on participation)

Together, we'll explore, apply, and refine evidence-based teaching methods to boost student engagement and achievement. Whether you're new to innovative teaching or a seasoned pro, this community of practice offers a supportive environment to grow your skills and make a real impact on student success.

 

Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL)

Facilitator: Tim Herzog

Description: POGIL is a pedagogy that focuses on the development of process skills while working in teams on inquiry based activities. There is an emphasis on effective teamwork strategies with students taking on different specific roles in their teams. The plan would be to share experiences with people who are practicing POGIL in their classrooms or are interested in learning more about active learning and the development and assessment of process skills.

 

Purple Love

Facilitator: Shernavaz Vakil

Description: The Purple Love community of practice is dedicated to fostering a supportive and nurturing environment for WSU faculty as they navigate the complexities of the academic space. In today's demanding and ever-changing education landscape, faculty face a myriad of challenges, from balancing teaching, research, and service to addressing student needs and administrative responsibilities. This community provides a safe and collaborative space where faculty can come together to share experiences, seek advice, and develop strategies for self-care and professional growth. Our focus is on holistic support, recognizing that faculty well-being leads directly to a thriving academic community. Through peer support, resource sharing, and ongoing dialogue, the Purple Love community aims to empower faculty to not only succeed in their academic roles but also to find fulfillment and balance in their personal and professional lives.

 

Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Facilitators: Heather Root, Alice Mulder, and Chris Scheidler

Description: The Sustainability Community of Practice will focus on fostering sustainability teaching and learning by faculty from across campus. The facilitators (from Geography, Botany, and English) of this COP include faculty who have been engaged in sustainability teaching and training. The Sustainability COP will meet 8 times during the year, with fall semester meetings scheduled monthly 12:30-2, beginning Friday September 13. We like to meet in person to best foster a sense of community (and share treats!). Sessions will include:

  • Definitions of sustainability, in its most expansive sense, including the social realm and social/environmental justice; Intersectional points of connection and relevance across the curricular landscape
  • Connections to our place: campus, community and region
  • Connections to high-impact educational experiences
  • Possible brief content area presentations (particularly relevant to our locality/region)
  • Reflection
  • Dialogue and sharing of resources, challenges and solutions, as well as opportunities with fellow faculty from an array of disciplines across campus
  • Time to workshop, learn and implement with colleagues a step-wise process to help include sustainability in some way into your own course (the articulation of learning outcomes, the collection of resources and strategies for assessment).

This process is also geared towards a successful application for the SUS course attribute. For the 2024-2025 year, faculty who attend at least 7 of the 8 COP sessions and successfully apply during the spring semester to have one or more of their courses listed with the SUS course attribute (which indicates that course includes sustainability in some way) will be eligible for a $750 stipend at the end of the academic year. Space is limited to 10 faculty. To sign up please use the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning CoP form: https://weber.edu/cetl/cop.html. If you have any questions please contact Alice Mulder, amulder@weber.edu.

 

Teaching and Grading Writing in the Age of AI

Facilitator: David Robb

Description: In this new era of AI, the landscape of teaching and assessing writing in higher education is rapidly evolving. As artificial intelligence continues to influence the ways students approach writing tasks, educators must rethink traditional methods of instruction and evaluation. This community of practice is a collaborative space where faculty can come together to explore the complexities of supporting student writing in an AI-enhanced world. We recognize that there are no easy answers, but through shared inquiry, experimentation, and reflection, we aim to develop innovative strategies that uphold academic integrity while fostering student creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills.In this new era of AI, we must rethink how we teach and grade writing. Although we do not come with all of the answers, this group will work on figuring out together the best ways to support student writing across the curriculum.