Learning Communities: CoPs and FPLCs

Overview

Professional Development supports two types of learning communities that are initiated by staff, professors, and/or administrators. Communities of Practices (CoPs) and Faculty and Professional Learning Communities (FPLCs) provide funded opportunities for members to learn and collaborate on topics that are important to them and to the institution. These communities generally start at the beginning of fall and run through mid-June. Please read below for more details about the communities and contact Melisa if you have any questions.

Communities of Practice

Definition

“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015).

Description

Communities of Practice (CoP) has three defining characteristics:

1. The domain: “shared domain of interest” among members that distinguishes them from others
2. The community: distinguished by interacting and learning together where members “build relationships that enable them to learn from each other”
3. The practice: “practitioners…[who] develop a shared repertoire of resources…in short a shared practice” (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015, p. 2)

Communities of Practice are long-term groups that can involve “various components such as workshops, microteaching, class visits, and regular meetings” (Ellis & Ortquist-Ahrens, 2010, p. 121). These groups have an indefinite lifespan but should last for a minimum of one academic year. Members may come and go in CoPs with no formal expert leading the group. The community is “inquiry based and collaboratively organized and facilitated” (Ellis & Ortquist-Ahrens, 2010, p. 121). The domain, community, and practice drive the continuation of the CoP rather than “institutional policy making or decision making” (Ellis & Ortquist-Ahrens, 2010, p. 121).

Faculty and Professional Learning Communities

Definition

A faculty and professional learning community (FPLC) is a “cross-disciplinary faculty and staff group of six to fifteen members (eight to twelve members is the recommended size) who engage in an active, collaborative, yearlong program with a curriculum about enhancing teaching and learning and with frequent seminars and activities that provide learning, development, the scholarship of teaching, and community building” (Cox, 2004, p. 8).

Description

For a learning community to qualify as an FLC/FPLC, it needs to be a group of 6-12 faculty, professional staff (and, in some cases, students) engaging in an active, collaborative, year-long program with a curriculum about enhancing teaching and learning and institutional effectiveness. The FLC/FPLC should have frequent seminars and activities that provide learning, develop multidisciplinarity, cultivate the scholarship of teaching and learning on campus, and build community.  According to Beach and Cox (2009), a participant in an FLC may select a focus course or institutional project to try out innovations, assess resulting student learning and prepare a course or project mini-portfolio to show the results. Participants engage in regular (twice monthly or tri-weekly) seminars and some retreats, and present results to the campus and at national conferences. 

As Beach and Cox (2009) described “FLCs [and FPLCs] are more structured and intensive than most approaches to faculty development that gather together a collection of faculty to meet and work on teaching and learning issues” (p. 9) such as in the case of CoP.  Faculty and professional learning communities meet for no fewer than six months but no more than a year, have voluntary membership, meet at designated, regular times, operate by consensus rather than majority and are holistic in approach. FLCs/FPLCs support building and working on teams while still consulting about and developing each participant’s project. Participants all share a common focus: how to improve the learning experience and learning outcomes of students.

Two types of FLC/FPLCs

1. Cohort-based FLCs/FPLCs:
   1. “address teaching, learning and developmental needs of an important cohort of faculty or staff”
   2. “group is defined by common attributes (part-time faculty, department chairs) or career stages (new, mid-career, or senior faculty)”
   3. “curriculum of such a year-long community is shaped by the participants to include a broad range of teaching and learning areas and topics of interest to them”
   4. Examples at TCC include the work of the Transitional Studies and STEM FLCs and the ctcLink staff-based FPLCs
2. Topic-based FLCs/FPLCs:
   1. “curriculum designed to address a special campus [or divisional] teaching and learning need, issue or opportunity”
   2. Faculty and professional staff members may propose topics that allow the program director to help advertise a call for applications college-wide
   3. “offer membership to and provide opportunities for learning across all ranks and cohorts” by focusing on a specific theme
   4. Examples include Inclusive Excellence, Blended Learning, and The Student Experience of Learning (Beach & Cox, 2009, p. 9)

 Differences in CoPs and FPLCs

Category	CoP	FPLC
Length of group	CoPs are intended to run over several academic years.	FPLCs are intended to run for one academic year.
Membership	CoPs have fluid membership, with members coming and going as interested.	FPLCs have defined membership, with members committing to participate the entire academic year.
End product expectations	The goals of CoPs are primarily focused on community building, rich discussions, and exposure to best practices. The end products are new/increased knowledge, engagement, and satisfaction.	FPLC members may each take on a project, such as a course redesign or an integration of new technology to a lesson plan, which they work on as part of the group. The group may or may not have an end product together, but regardless supports one another in building expertise, providing focused time, and encouraging motivation for the completion of projects. The goal of the FPLC is for each member to complete an individual project or contribute to a group project.
Assessment	CoPs will be assessed based on the learning, engagement, and satisfaction of members.	FPLCs will be assessed based on project completion, engagement, and satisfaction.
Funding	Funds are primarily spent on books or journals for the PD library, food for meetings, rental fees for off-site meetings, and conference travel/registrations.	Funds are primarily spent on food for meetings and rental fees for off-site meetings.
Renewal	CoPs are renewed after completion of an evaluation unless the community decides to end the group.	FPLCs must re-apply for funding each year to renew the group with updated goals and projects to demonstrate the need for continued funding.