The impact of communities of practice in support of early-career academics

Cox, Milton D.

doi:10.1080/1360144x.2011.599600

Cited by 83 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…With their university's emphasis on research, the lecturers were able to discuss discipline-based research and develop scholarly projects in their fields. Cox (2013) summarized a series of studies that he conducted over a 30-year period that focused initially on cohort-based FLCs for early-career academics. In the 1980s, the FLCs for these beginning professors were successful and received national recognition for generating positive results on undergraduate teaching and learning.…”

Section: Cohort-based Faculty Learning Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, he found that FLCs increased professors' interest in the teaching process, their comfort as members of the university community, and their understanding of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Cox (2013) concluded that if a university wants to become a learning organization that is continually gaining new knowledge and improving its outcomes (Senge, 1990), then it must connect faculty, especially the early-career academics, to its mission and give them opportunities to learn in groups such as cohort-based FLCs.…”

Section: Cohort-based Faculty Learning Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developing a Faculty Learning Community for Non-Tenure Track Professors

Bond¹

2015

IJHE

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Non-tenure track faculty vary greatly in terms of their ranks, teaching abilities, workloads, and motivational levels and have unique professional development needs. In response, universities are differentiating professional development for these professors. This case study examined an emerging research university's efforts to provide a faculty learning community (FLC) for its non-tenure track professors. Data were collected during an academic year from interviews with the participants, evaluations completed by the participants after the meetings, and the facilitators' curricular materials. The participants learned useful instructional strategies and felt more connected to their colleagues, more supported by the university, and more confident in their teaching. The findings suggest that FLCs are a viable method of professional development for non-tenure track faculty.

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Section: Cohort-based Faculty Learning Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cohort-based Faculty Learning Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing a Faculty Learning Community for Non-Tenure Track Professors

Bond¹

2015

IJHE

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“…We took a leading role in our professional learning and development, which also helped us realise that there are senior academics who are willing to offer mentorship to us. Moving forward, there is a need to form coordinated university communities of practice to facilitate the engagement, learning, development, and promotion of ECAs (Cox, 2013;Remmik et al, 2011). Networking will bring with it the added advantages of confidence building and a sense of belonging to the institution.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

"Hear our voices": a collective arts-based self-study of early-career academics on our learning and growth in a research-intensive university

Masinga

Myende

Marais

et al. 2016

Educ. res. soc. change.

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Early-career academics (ECAs) experience challenges with their integration into higher education institutions due to what is considered inadequate (or lack of) provision for effective professional development. In this article, we present our journey through a collective arts-based self-study project as ECAs guided by three seasoned academics: Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan, Daisy Pillay, and Inbanathan Naicker. We share our personal experiences and challenges faced as ECAs at the University of KwaZulu-Natal; to achieve this, we used a social constructivist lens to collectively engage in conversations as we constructed new understandings of ourselves and experiences as ECAs. We show how, through the research, we learned to form and position our learning and growth within the changing university setting. We adopted a collective arts-based, self-study approach to explore our experiences and what we felt needed to happen to provide meaningful development for the newly appointed as we journey through the unclear grounds of university life. We make visible how we as ECAs feel overwhelmed when entering higher education institutions because of the need to balance research, teaching, and other demands of academic life. We find a strong need for collaborative engagement between ECAs and experienced academics. In addition, establishment of a healthy working environment and policy specific to addressing the needs of ECAs would assist in providing clear support as ECAs transition into experienced academics. Finally, we demonstrate how we took our findings forward, and describe both the resistance and support we experienced.

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“…They also leave the FLC better informed and equipped to manage faculty work (Wicks, Craft, Mason, Gritter, & Bolding, 2015). Cox (2013) began offering FLCs in 1979 at Miami University of Ohio. He initially focused on early-career academics who later in mid-career flourished in the area of teaching and learning.…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These qualities are promoted through effective facilitation and engagement among the FLC participants. Unlike committees or seminars, a FLC forms according to a commonality of scholarly interests or concerns and sets out tangible goals from its outset, thereby promoting scholarly growth and participation amongst members (Cox, 2013). The FLC model emphasizes participant autonomy to initiate discussion and influence direction from the first meeting onwards (Cox, 2004, p. 44).…”

Section: Description Of Flcsmentioning

confidence: 99%