Faculty Learning Communities
The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE), Faculty Affairs - in co-sponsorship with VCU’s Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs - is excited to offer a year-long Faculty Learning Community (FLC) Program. An FLC is a group of 8-12 faculty members from across a wide range of schools, colleges, and disciplines who come together to explore key issues related to teaching and learning. Each FLC is facilitated by 1 or 2 faculty members who agree to serve in this leadership role. At the conclusion of the academic year, FLC participants will share their insights, experiences, and recommendations with the wider university community.
FLCs are a very popular and effective way to empower faculty to explore teaching and learning issues that they frequently experience in their daily work. If you are interested, we recommend applying soon as the call for participants will close once each FLC reaches capacity.
2025-2026 Faculty Learning Communities
Call for Participants
The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE), Faculty Affairs - in co-sponsorship with VCU’s Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs - is excited to offer a year-long Faculty Learning Community (FLC) focused on inclusive teaching strategies and how to best integrate them into large enrollment introductory undergraduate courses (75+ students).
Possible Areas for Exploration
- What does ‘Inclusive Teaching and Learning’ mean and how can it be integrated into large enrollment courses
- Ways to mitigate student feelings of isolation and disconnectedness
- Approaches to reduce student disengagement and passive learning
- Methods for providing timely and meaningful feedback to a large number of students
- Support for a wide range of learning preferences
- Techniques to capture and maintain students' attention
- Best practices for supporting first generation students
- Approaches to improve student success
- Designing equitable assessments
- Fostering meaningful peer-to-peer interactions
Deliverables
- A written report outlining the work of the FLC, including recommendations
- Publication(s) in SoTL journals (optional, though highly recommended)
Who Should Apply
This opportunity is open to all faculty - tenured, tenure-track, term, and adjunct - who teach, or who have recently taught, large enrollment introductory undergraduate courses.
Participants will be expected to meet at least once a month for the remainder of the academic year and will receive a $500 stipend once the FLC has reached its conclusion.
We are able to support 10 faculty members in this FLC, so apply soon as the call for participants will close once we reach capacity.
Start Date: TBD
End Date: April 29th, 2026
Call for Participants
The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE), Faculty Affairs - in co-sponsorship with VCU’s Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs - is excited to offer a year-long Faculty Learning Community (FLC) focused on a wide range of opportunities and challenges related to teaching and learning in VCU’s general education program (ConnectED).
Possible Areas for Exploration
- Best practices for teaching general education courses
- Strategies to supporting student learning in general education courses
- Approaches to assessing student learning and tracking their progress in general education courses, and across a general education program
- Engaging more faculty in the general education program
- Promoting the value and relevance of general education to a variety of audiences (e.g. students, parents, employers, etc)
- Explore and develop a variety of learning activities that can target the student learning outcomes in VCU ConnectEd program
- Integrating innovative or high-impact teaching practices in general education courses
Deliverables
- A written report outlining the work of the FLC, including recommendations
- Publication(s) in SoTL journals (optional, though highly recommended)
Who Should Apply
This opportunity is open to all faculty - tenured, tenure-track, term, or adjunct – who teach in VCU’s ConnectED general education program.
Participants will be expected to meet at least once a month for the remainder of the academic year and will receive a $500 stipend once the FLC has reached its conclusion.
We are able to support 10 faculty members in this FLC, so apply soon as the call for participants will close once we reach capacity.
Start Date: TBD
End Date: April 29th, 2026
Questions?
Please contact Zachary Goodell, Ph.D. | zggoodel@vcu.edu
Faculty Director of Special Programs, CTLE
Faculty Director of ConnectED
