Creating a Faculty Learning Committee

Abstract

The goal of this special session is to describe the design and implementation of faculty learning committees focused on disseminating information about the application of inclusive pedagogical practices in engineering classrooms. Assisted by funding from the National Science Foundation via the REvolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments (RED) grant program, we developed multiple approaches to create change in ways that all members of the biomedical engineering department could participate. In one approach, we established a new kind of permanent faculty committee within our department: the Faculty Learning Committee (FLC). The FLC constitutes a completely different kind of experience in which faculty can fulfill their service commitment to the department. Unlike other committees which are almost exclusively focused on completion of tasks assigned by leaders in the department’s administration, the FLC engages faculty in reading, discussion, and project planning around a shared topic of interest. FLCs are designed to engage faculty, create buy-in for change within the department through participation, create a community of fellow engineers that can rely on one another for discussion and ideas, and give the facilitators a platform to address difficult but necessary topics to support wide-spread departmental change. This session will review the success and challenges experienced through two iterations of this program. Participants will leave with resources to create their own effective faculty learning committee.