In academic year 2004-2005 the Faculty Professional Development Center has eleven Learning Communities (Faculty Learning Communities and Professional Learning Communities with faculty & staff) under its auspices. Learning communities are usually comprised of between seven and fourteen people and offer a more flexible format for collegial exploration than do most committees. They are designed to provide opportunities for members to focus on a topic area and to try-out, study, imagine, and discuss ways to improve teaching and learning. Questions such as who are our students, how do they learn, and how can we facilitate their learning are the focus of these multi-disciplinary learning communities. 

Funding for the learning communities includes money from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), the Ohio Learning Network (OLN), the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), the Office of the Provost, and the Faculty Professional Development Center. 

The third annual Learning Institute will be held January 13th and 14th in the Moulton Hall Ballroom.  For more information check out the Learning Institute website.

The eleven learning communities for the 2004-2005 academic year include:

Adult Learner and Workforce Development

This learning community will explore how the University can further develop its infrastructure and capacity to respond to current workforce development and training needs. Particular attention will be given to identifying the workforce development needs of Northeast Ohio, and what initiatives the University might undertake that would have the greatest impact.

CCI Residential College

The College of Communication and Information is in the process of writing a project description.

Collaborative Technologies

The Collaborative Technologies FLC is studying the technologies available to support group collaboration. Everyone, students included, are experiencing more demands on their time and often this makes it more difficult to engage in group efforts. This learning community was started to identify and study better ways to use technology in collaborative endeavors. Earlier, this FLC gathered information about a variety of technologies to facilitate online collaboration and did one study about how classes make use of WebCT and Groove in particular. In that process, we realized that we had not understood the process of collaborative learning as it relates to collaborative technologies.  This year we wish to go beyond the technical questions of how collaborative technologies work and engage in the academic questions of how they support student learning. The FLC is carrying out its effort in partnership with KSU Information Services, providing even more access to collaborative learning environments and a wider constituency with which to share our results.

The Collaborative Technologies FLC is seeking new membership. Expertise in the technology is not required. Interest in learning (yours and students) is.

Competing and Cooperating with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - Online Tutorial and Competition/Cooperative Case Series

This learning community will launch the research/teaching partnership recently agreed to by the University of the Americas (Puebla, Mexico), Laval University (Quebec, Canada) and Kent State University (Kent, Ohio). The project will involve constructing an online module that would provide an overview of the NAFTA agreement, how it works in principle as well as an appraisal of the trade agreement as it enters its 10-year anniversary. Additionally, the module will include a case series to help students explore how to compete as well as cooperate in an integrated economic region like NAFTA. This module will provide students with a deeper understanding of the “trading realities” facing the firms that are conducting business within the trade agreement. A portable and scalable format will allow educators to selectively use material to address student-learning goals. An additional aim of this module is to advance the practice of E-learning for members of the learning community by considering what skills are needed by students to work cross-culturally.

Education Psychology in Higher Education

The goals of our learning community are of three-fold. Our first goal is to improve and revitalize the Educational Psychology program at Kent State University. Our second goal is to contribute to improved understanding of learning and development at KSU, leading to increased learning among KSU students and greater appreciation for what Educational Psychology can do for the university. Lastly, we will provide high-quality learning experiences and research opportunities for Educational Psychology graduate students.

The efforts of our learning community will be directed toward disseminating information about learning and teaching to KSU faculty, students, and the broad education community. A second and third objective is to explore current knowledge and collaborate on research and employ technology to interact with experts in the field (examples include videoconferencing and Internet collaborative technologies such as Sharepoint and Groove).

Faculty & Future Faculty  -  F-Cubed

The Faculty and Future Faculty FLC is devoted to improving both the teaching of graduate teaching assistants and the teaching by such TAs at Kent State University. We are creating teaching modules for use in the various College Teaching Seminars offered by academic departments around KSU. These are designed to be used by TAs inside and outside college teaching courses as well as by new faculty members, continuing faculty members, adjunct faculty members, and others at KSU and around Ohio. We are looking for KSU faculty members who want to share their enthusiasm for and knowledge of teaching by continuing their scholarship of teaching and learning as they work together on these modules and other projects.

Great Starts:  Connecting the Mosaic

The Great Starts: Connecting the Mosaic PLC is designed to focus on helping to enable students to have a great start in college.  Considering all new freshmen, this community will work with freshmen as tesserae of the larger student body mosaic.  How do we enable students, as elements of the mosaic, to make connections to the whole: their roles in the residence halls, as commuters, students in large classes, using technology, pursuing a major, making friends, maintaining family relationships, finding independence, and participating in the myriad of activities that comprise campus life.  Using principles of learning and development, and the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education as a jumping off point, members of this learning community will explore student perspectives and share ideas for working with freshmen.

Information Literacy

Members of the Information Literacy FLC participate in this community in teams. Each team works on a project that focuses on developing information literacy curricula and modules within a specific field of study (English, Middle School Education, Nursing. . .).  Linked with Bowling Green State University, and in a collaborative effort between the Libraries and Faculty Professional Development Centers at the two schools, this FLC is linked with a larger Ohio Board of Regents Initiative that will include several other Ohio institutions in sharing materials.

Learning and Teaching in Large Classes

This new FLC is designed to enable participants to explore student learning in large classes. Drawing on the experiences of members, the growing literature and research on teaching large classes, and on students who learn in large classes in a diversity of disciplines, FLC members will develop individual projects tailored to their current teaching assignments but that will have implications for other courses as well. We are seeking faculty members in many disciplines and with different levels of experience to become part of this FLC. 

Online Learning and Teaching

The Online Learning and Teaching FLC is forming for the first time this Fall. We will focus on individual projects to develop and improve online and blended courses within the community context. Members will supply the projects, and the group will provide support, discussions, and feedback. We seek new members from a variety of backgrounds, both experienced online teachers and those just getting started, and who want to work with colleagues to develop courses and/or course materials.

Teaching Scholars for Early Career Faculty

The Teaching Scholars are a group of pre-tenure faculty members who are committed to studying their own teaching and to enhancing their students’ learning. They focus on individual projects, engage in bi-weekly seminars and workshops on teaching and learning, and participate as a community in at least two conferences on college teaching, one at KSU and in one or two of the Lilly Conferences. Scholars select and work with faculty mentors and student associates who provide alternative perspectives on teaching and learning.

Membership

Those with an interest may apply to participate in one of Kent’s learning communities as either a core member or as an associate member (see membership categories below). For more information call the Faculty Professional Development Center at 330-672-2992 or email fpdc@kent.edu.