COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE: SUPPORTING FACULTY LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT THROUGH ORGANIC, DECENTRALIZED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

KRISTA HISER & CHARLES SASAKIKAPI’OLANI COMMUNITY COLLEGE

The Card Deck

Choose a facilitator to use the first technique in your card

deck. Please discuss some of the problems with professional

development on your campus. You have 5 minutes.

Problems with Professional Development

Limited impact Lack of follow through on new ideas Not enough time Low participation, esp. from seasoned

faculty Expensive Who chooses topics?

Models of Adult Professional Learning Based on social science & adult learning

theories: Professional Learning Communities Communities of Practice Apprenticeship Andragogy

Communities of Practice

“Self organized and selected groups of people who share a common sense of purpose and a desire to learn and know what each other knows” (Lave & Wenger, 1991)

Organic, sense of agency, self-motivating

Andragogy

Self concept Ability to self-direct Experience as a reservoir of

knowledge, readiness to learn as tied to social roles,

Problem- centered orientation to learning

Internal motivation to learn (Knowles,1984)

C4ward

Collaborative Circles

for Creative

Change = C4ward

The Irony

“Professional learning communities are postmodern organizational forms struggling to survive in a modernistic, micromanaged, and politicized educational world” (Giles and Hargreaves, 2006)

How to institutionalize while keeping the organic quality

How is a c4ward not a committee? Has an organic beginning and ending Members decide how long the

commitment will be Members determine the goal of the

group Two goals: learning, while achieving a

task C4wards have members, a concierge,

and a host

The Host

The host is a campus leader, enthusiast, or expert in the topic of the C4ward.

Provides expertise Understands campus

history & direction Enthusiastic “driver”

& “mover” & “shaker” for the topic

The Concierge

A trained facilitator who uses techniques to neutrally guide the goals of the group: Scheduling Summarizing meetings Reframing issues Inviting guests Communication on behalf of the group Connecting to campus resources Concierge is committed but unattached Facilitative leadership experience

Lifecycle of a C4ward

Determine a schedule and timeframe Discuss technology (meeting online, use

of email, Laulima, etc.) Create a goal Learn from & encourage each other Assess and share Renew or disband

Current C4wards

Hawaiian Pedagogy Social Networking in

the classroom PBL & S-L Health & Meditation Developmental Ed CCSSE measures iPad power users Parents of small

children Tenure & promotion

ePortfolio end users Social networking Sustainability Across

the Curriculum Gaming & Play New Faculty Lecturers Academic Writers

Groups New STEM faculty Gatekeeper courses

(Vanguard)

The Vanguard Faculty Initiative Data on Gatekeepers were released in 2008

and success rates announced as an institutional priority

Funds were available for “gatekeeper” course redesign but some eligible faculty felt singled out and stigmatized. There were only two takers – both were relatively new faculty

Vanguard was an effort to recognize and reward those faculty willing to innovate and take risks

How did it work?

35 applications were received from those seeking designation as Vanguard Faculty

Proposed interventions needed to be data-informed and directly tied to student success – 18 Vanguard Faculty were selected

Vanguard Faculty were provided release time to redesign their classes Dean leveraged four funding sources to cover

costs FT and associate faculty are all eligible

Vanguard Faculty Initiative

Faculty could redesign courses as they saw fit

Project focus is internal and focused on faculty behaviors

Interventions included: Collaborative study Peer-Assessed

homework Capstone project International Café Accelerated Courses Problem-Based Learning

By design, everyone was doing something different!

Vanguard C4ward

C4ward clusters (time, discipline, method)

C4ward shapes faculty’s release time: supportive, productive, & accountable

All Vanguard faculty participated in a c4ward except one

Culture of Inquiry

“Create an environment in which faculty and staff come together and speak from their hearts about issues of substance: student learning, new roles, and new learning strategies. These conversations of consequence can be part of a general culture of inquiry and quality…” (Mellow, Minding the Dream, p. 132).

http://tinyurl.com/kapiolanic4ward