What is a Faculty Learning Community?

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are peer-led groups of faculty, staff, and graduate students who engage in an active, collaborative, year–long program structured to provide encouragement, support, and reflection.

  • Stimulate innovation and create experiential, collaborative learning environments
  • Increase collaboration and make the best use of limited funding
  • Provide a flexible professional development structure to support learning of any topic
  • Increase communication and collaboration among faculty who, by the nature of their work in individual classrooms, are often isolated from colleagues

Participant Expectations

  1. Attend all required meetings, and attend 75% of optional meetings. FLC leaders may decide with their group to attend a workshop in replacement of or in addition to the normal monthly meetings.
  2. Propose and construct your “Big Idea Project.” The Big Idea Project can be one project completed by the entire group or each member can have their own project. Some examples of what this project could be are:
    • Course specific improvements
    • Creating a teaching resource for the UF teaching community
    • Conducting research that can contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning
  3. Attend the wrap-up session in which each FLC will present their Big Idea Project (individual or group)

Registration

The link to each FLC’s registration form is located in the drop-down menu below. Some forms will require you to login with your UF Google Account. Once you’ve registered, you will be added to the Faculty Learning Communities Canvas course. If you’re interested in hosting a future FLC, start planning your session with our campus collaborators form. Please contact Zaina Sheets if you’d like to become an FLC facilitator.

2023-2024 FLCs

Formative Assessment Rubric for Peer Evaluation of Teaching (FARPET)
Overview

The FARPET Crew has created a flexible research-based tool for the Peer Evaluation of Teaching, specifically for lectures. The Formative Assessment Rubric for Peer Evaluation of Teaching has been piloted for use within the veterinary academic community but we believe that it is applicable to other health science and non-health science fields. This FLC was created to provide a collaborative space for educators from various fields who are passionate about peer evaluation of teaching and faculty development. Participants in this FLC will get to expand, adapt, and customize the FARPET peer evaluation tool for use in a broad range of disciplines. Register for FARPET.

Goals
  • Create opportunities for collaboration among diverse educators
  • Expand and customize the peer evaluation of teaching tool for broader use across diverse fields
  • Maximize ease of use and adaptability of the instrument to meet the needs of educators
Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellows
Overview

The Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellows are a group who demonstrate excellence in online teaching. The Fellows provide guidance to members of the UF teaching community who wish to improve their online courses and complete online course reviews. Fellows also serve as ambassadors and reviewers for the Pathways Online Course Reviews process.

Teaching Excellence Fellows advise in these areas of the course review process:

  • Best practices for writing and submitting a self-review
  • How to interpret and incorporate feedback from your review team
  • How to efficiently “pay-it-forward” as a Reviewer

*Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow applications will be accepted April-May of each year.

Sustainable Development Goals in the Classroom
Overview

To connect faculty and staff committed to integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in educational environments at the University of Florida. Register for the Sustainable Development Goals in the Classroom FLC. 

Goals
  • Create awareness of the SDGs, their importance, and application in their classroom(s), department, college, and/or community affiliation(s).
  • Actively collaborate with others to share relevant resources and research surrounding sustainability and the SDGs.
  • Develop a classroom resource during your time in the SDG Faculty Learning Community.
Schedule

Kick-Off Workshop – Sept 19 @2pm 

Learning Community Dates (Fall) – Tuesdays @Noon-1pm:

Oct 4 – Initial meeting & Introductions

  • Resource highlight
  • Overview of “Big Idea Project” 

Oct 18 – World Food Day (celebrated Oct. 16) Discussion

  • SDGs connection to Food  
  • SDGs overall role

Nov 1 – Virtual Exchange as a tool for the integration of SDG related challenges into the classroom

Nov 15 – SDG resource show & tell and project development discussion

Nov 29 – Thinking forward to Spring and beyond

  • Reflect on resource development progress
  • Guest speakers from across campus 

Dec 13 – Project development and social time

Affordable Access for Student Success: An OER Learning Community

Open educational resources (OERs) have flourished as institutions and educators respond to soaring textbook costs and the potential for teaching with customized, free online resources. To promote the adoption of OERs and other affordable materials that make an education at the University of Florida less expensive and more equitable, Affordable UF is seeking applicants for the Fall 2023/Spring 2024 OER Learning Community.  

Five participants will earn a $1000 stipend to join facilitators and guest speakers from across disciplines in their efforts to make their courses as financially inclusive as possible by eliminating or substantially lowering course material costs. The emphasis of the community will be OER, which are learning materials that carry open licenses and allow anyone to freely read, share, and modify them. These permissions also enable instructors to adapt OER for greater cultural responsiveness and accessibility. The OER Learning Community is supported by the Center for Teaching Excellence in partnership with the UF Smathers Libraries, the UF Center for Instructional Training and Technology, and University Press of Florida. Experts from these units will work closely with participants throughout the program. External guest advisors will complement expertise available at UF. 

If you have been interested in taking first steps to transitioning your course to free or low-cost materials but need support to do so, consider applying to this learning community.  

About the Program 

Learning Communities are peer-led groups of faculty, staff, and graduate students who engage in an active, collaborative, year–long program structured to provide encouragement, support, and reflection. Over the course of the OER Learning Community, you will engage with the cohort to:

  • Understand the spectrum of affordable learning materials available openly through UF Libraries Services, with an emphasis on OER 
  • Search for OER that may be relevant to the courses you teach in one or more repositories 
  • Evaluate course materials for basic accessibility best practices and cultural responsiveness; identify opportunities to enhance and customize these aspects of OER you find or develop 
  • Identify and interpret open licenses associated with OER created by others and those you wish to apply to your own materials 
  • Connect with both internal and external expertise to facilitate successful adoption and evaluation of OER 
  • Create an openly licensed learning object  
  • Develop an initial course map matching your course objectives to existing OER and other free and affordable material options 

Participant Expectations 

Attend all required meetings. Participants must attend all 8 required meetings and attend 75% of optional meetings. Facilitators or guests may decide with their group to attend a workshop in replacement of or in addition to the normal monthly meetings. 

Create a sharable OER activity. One of the requirements for the learning community is to share something beyond the cohort in the spirit of actively contributing to the open education movement. This can take several forms, such as openly licensing a learning object (such as a syllabus, lesson plan, or module) or a proposed alternative. 

Propose and construct your final project. Each member of the learning community should complete one of the final projects based on their own personal goals: 

  • A course map matching some of your course objectives to existing OER and other free and affordable material options 
  • A project roadmap that charts your course for adapting or developing new OER 

Attend the wrap-up session. Each learning community member will present their final OER project at an event hosted by the UF Center for Teaching Excellence.  

Registration 

Acceptance into this FLC is by application only. The application period closes July 31, 2023. 

Apply now!

 

Harnessing AI for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Instructional Technology and Training and the Center for Teaching Excellence are sponsoring a faculty learning community tilted “Harnessing AI for Teaching & Learning.” This FLC collectively explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for teaching and learning. In the fall, members of this FLC will participate in a series of active learning workshops to apply AI within a diverse range of educational contexts. In the spring, members will develop or revise course content with AI in mind, leveraging the new opportunities created by AI tools. The FLC will collaborate on Research in Teaching & Learning (RiTL) projects that will be shared with the wider UF community at the semi-annual symposiums.  

Goals  

Members of the FLC will be able to:  

  • Describe Generative AI (Gen AI), its implications for teaching, and how it is situated within the larger field of AI 
  • Create content for courses with Gen AI  
  • Design assignments and assessments that leverage Gen AI 
  • Discuss ethical and accessibility considerations of using Gen AI tools 
  • Evaluate emerging AI tools for appropriate learning applications 

Criteria for Accepting Participants   

We are looking for an engaged community of learners who are excited about harnessing the power of AI for teaching in learning. A diversity of colleges, teaching levels, and technical expertise  

This learning community is for you if:  

  • You like trying new technologies for teaching and learning  
  • You love to discuss and share new ideas with your colleagues  
  • You are from any college and department at UF, with any level of experience with AI  
  • You are available in the fall to meet bi-weekly on Wednesdays from 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM in the Bryant Space Center  

Registration 

Acceptance into this FLC is by application only. The application period closes Friday, August 25, 2023.

Apply now! 

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RiTL FLC

Overview 

RiTL FLC is a reading, learning, and writing community centered on teaching-as-research: the deliberate, systematic, and reflective use of research methods to develop and implement teaching practices that advance the learning experiences and outcomes of students and teachers. UF instructors, staff, graduate students and postdocs will develop their knowledge of scholarship on teaching and learning, as well as available resources on campus, in order to create educational research proposals, applying what they have learned in the FLC to their unique disciplines.   

Goals 

  • Participants will learn about RiTL, its related acronyms, and relevant UF campus resources, as well as read and research RiTL approaches and methods in their own discipline / field. 
  • Participants will create potential research questions, a research plan, and a final RiTL research proposal based in their unique teaching experience, coursework, and pedagogical interests. 

Participant expectations 

The RiTL FLC is for you if: 

  • You appreciate teaching as a practice that is constantly changing based on pedagogical evidence. 
  • You want to research and identify evidence-based learning techniques to apply and assess in your own classrooms. 
  • You love to hear what other instructors are doing on campus and share your ideas with colleagues. 
  • You are excited to be a part of a teaching community where we are all learning and contributing to the RiTL knowledgebase. 
  • You are available and willing to commit to meeting bi-weekly on Mondays 1:00-3:00 p.m. in the Teaching Center starting September 18 during the Fall 2023 semester, continuing this work and your projects during the Spring semester 2024 both together - as a FLC - and individually. 

Resources/Topics: 

  • SoTL, ISETL, & ISSOTL 
  • CIRTL: Teaching-as-Research (TAR) 
  • Bridging Theory to Practice (BT2P) 
  • Qualitative vs Quantitative Research 
  • Funding Sources 
  • IRB and Ethical Practices 

Apply now! 

RiTL CoPA

RiTL CoPA 

Overview 

The Teaching and Learning Research Community of Practice in Action (CoPA) aims to advance teaching and learning research in higher education. Biweekly meetings held during Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 will provide the opportunity to collaborate, receive institutional support, and engage with guest speakers. By joining this community, you will have the chance to conduct research from inception to publication or presentation, improving your teaching practices and student outcomes. Connect with passionate educators today and make a lasting impact on higher education.

Schedule 

Sessions: Tuesdays 10:30-12:00 pm (90 mins) 

Date 

Topic 

Location 

Sep 12 

CoPA intro 

Hybrid 

Sep 26 

What is SoTL? 

Zoom 

Oct 10 

Research Questions & Design 

Zoom 

Oct 24 

Gathering Data 

Zoom 

Nov 

Publication 

Zoom 

Nov 21 

Resources 

Zoom 

Dec 5 

Preliminary Research Design 

Zoom 

 

Teaching with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the SEC Faculty Learning Community (FLC)

Teaching with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the SEC Faculty Learning Community (FLC):

In this FLC, we will develop a comprehensive understanding of AI and its implications for teaching and learning in higher education. This eight-module course and the accompanying discussion sessions will cover topics such as how AI impacts academic integrity, ethics, legal issues, and student learning. You will have an opportunity to experiment with AI tools, develop an effective AI syllabus statement, and incorporate AI tools and applications into your practice. This FLC meets every three weeks on Wednesdays from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM starting September 27. For more information and to apply click here.

Sponsored by the Provost Office

Past FLC Resources

Select a topic of interest below and view the resources developed by previous FLCs.

Tools for Active Learning in Large Enrollment

Resources

Participants

  • Dr. Diba Mani
  • Megan Mocko
  • Dr. Martina Sumner
  • Dr. Norman Douglas
Group Activities for STEM and Engineering

Resources

Participants

  • Dr. Lilianny Virguez
  • Dr. Amie Baisley
  • Dr. Theresa Benitez
  • Dr. Johannes Van Oostrom
  • Kwansun Cho
  • Dr. Pamela Dickrell
  • Dr. Ana Martin-Ryals
  • Dr. Melanie Correll
  • Dr. Jian Zou
  • McKenzie Landrum
Affordable Access for Student Success

The UF Faculty Handbook for Adding AI to Your Course

The UF Faculty Handbook for Adding AI to Your Course