FLC Facilitation: Five Things to Know
So you're thinking about facilitating a Faculty Learning Community (FLC), here are five things to consider.
Community Membership
- How many members will you have? The recommend size is 8-10; the research on FLCs suggest that less than 6 or more than 12 does not provide optimal community experiences.
- How will you recruit members? Remember it is optimum for an FLC to be somewhat multi-disciplinary in nature.
- Is there anything that you want a potential member to submit in addition to their application?
- How will you decide who gets to participate?
- Who is appropriate for membership (full or part-time teaching faculty, library faculty, graduate assistants, staff, etc.)?
Frequency of Meetings
- What time of day will you meet?
- How often will you meet?
- Where will you meet?
- Will you meet in person or virtually or a mix of both?
- Will you start and/or end with a "retreat"?
- Will you pre-determine the meeting plans or decide with the group?
Budget Needs
- What books, reading materials or other materials might you need?
- Will you be hosting an event in which food will be served?
State regulations do not permit reimbursement of food/beverage expenses on a normal workday at any time (even after normal business hours). Meals for meetings can be covered with the use of special SU Foundation funds but cannot exceed per diem rates. However, if FLC participants meet on a Saturday or Sunday, meal expenses will be reimbursed. Review the per diem meal rates for State meal allowances. - Is there a relevant conference reasonable enough in terms of cost for the group to attend?
Deliberate Community Building
- Will you try to build community before your first meeting?
- What will do at the first meeting to build community?
- Will you include any non-meeting activities to build community?
- Will you have an end-of-the-FLC activity to bring closure to your community?
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- What kinds of teaching, learning and/or institutional projects might come from your FLC?
- Will any of the group projects need IRB approval?
- How will you build into your FLC meetings the opportunities for members to discuss their individual projects?
- What will be the group deliverables, such as curriculum change, white paper, presentations etc.?
- What are the expectations/possibilities to present on campus or at a regional/national conference?