Faculty Learning Communities
A faculty learning community (FLC) is an ongoing, active group of faculty who work together to explore new pedagogy, support one another as a cohort when at a similar stage of their career, engage in cutting-edge conversations about a topic in higher education or strategic planning initiative at the institution, research and write together, or share another identity that connects them professionally or personally. By design, faculty learning communities promote collegiality across disciplines, departments, and colleges, and they encourage energy, empowerment, and innovation among participants by providing a unique space to explore new ideas, experiment, and reflect with colleagues.
"Faculty learning communities build communication across disciplines, increase faculty interest in teaching and learning, initiate excursions into the scholarship of teaching, and foster civic responsibility... They change individuals, and, over time, they change institutional culture." -- Milton D. Cox, Miami University, founder of FLCs
FLCs typically involve 8-12 participants and are always facilitated by a faculty member. They are cohort-based or topic-based, or sometimes a combination. The Director of CELT (Dr. Jamie Landau) supports FLCs in a number of ways:
- Facilitating or co-facilitating
- Helping to select topics and readings
- Recruiting members
- Assisting with promotion and communication
- Coordinating schedules through Doodle polls
- Providing meeting spaces at CELT that can be reserved
- Offering financial support and computer technology whenever possible
- Reviewing the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) about topics
- Participating in a group
If you want to facilitate or form an FLC in collaboration with CELT, then please download and fill out this CELT FLC Proposal Form. Proposals are due approximately two months before the start of the semester when your FLC will run. If you have any questions, contact the Director of CELT, Dr. Jamie Landau (jlandau@valdosta.edu, 229-333-6032). If you are a faculty member in business, the arts, or a clinical field such as nursing, CELT is especially interested in creating faculty learning communities that serve the needs of those professional identities so please contact Dr. Landau with any ideas.
One faculty facilitator per FLC each semester will receive $1,500 in extra compensation from CELT, with payment made at the completion of the work. If two faculty co-facilitate an FLC, then they can request to split the $1,500, totaling to $750 each in extra compensation. Faculty with administrative appointments or staff who co-facilitate an FLC are not eligible for extra compensation since this work aligns with their job description. Whenever possible, CELT's annual operating budget and CELT's VSU Foundation account can offer additional funding for FLC supplies, such as to purchase books and food.
To join a faculty learning community, contact the facilitator(s) identified in the descriptions below to participate in their scheduling poll and then make sure to register for the program through the once the meeting dates/times are confirmed in the portal.
Registering through the VSU Training Portal benefits faculty because faculty can download attendance data from that portal to include in their Annual Faculty Activity Report and Action Plan (AFARAP) as well as their Promotion and Tenure dossier.
A faculty learning community (FLC) is an ongoing, active group of faculty who work together to explore new pedagogy, support one another as a cohort when at a similar stage of their career, engage in cutting-edge conversations about a topic in higher education or strategic planning initiative at the institution, research and write together, or share another identity that connects them professionally or personally. By design, faculty learning communities promote collegiality across disciplines, departments, and colleges, and they encourage energy, empowerment, and innovation among participants by providing a unique space to explore new ideas, experiment, and reflect with colleagues.
"Faculty learning communities build communication across disciplines, increase faculty interest in teaching and learning, initiate excursions into the scholarship of teaching, and foster civic responsibility... They change individuals, and, over time, they change institutional culture." -- Milton D. Cox, Miami University, founder of FLCs
FLCs typically involve 8-12 participants and are always facilitated by a faculty member. They are cohort-based or topic-based, or sometimes a combination. The Director of CELT (Dr. Jamie Landau) supports FLCs in a number of ways:
- Facilitating or co-facilitating
- Helping to select topics and readings
- Recruiting members
- Assisting with promotion and communication
- Coordinating schedules through Doodle polls
- Providing meeting spaces at CELT that can be reserved
- Offering financial support and computer technology whenever possible
- Reviewing the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) about topics
- Participating in a group
If you want to facilitate or form an FLC in collaboration with CELT, then please download and fill out this CELT FLC Proposal Form. Proposals are due approximately two months before the start of the semester when your FLC will run. If you have any questions, contact the Director of CELT, Dr. Jamie Landau (jlandau@valdosta.edu, 229-333-6032). If you are a faculty member in business, the arts, or a clinical field such as nursing, CELT is especially interested in creating faculty learning communities that serve the needs of those professional identities so please contact Dr. Landau with any ideas.
One faculty facilitator per FLC each semester will receive $1,500 in extra compensation from CELT, with payment made at the completion of the work. If two faculty co-facilitate an FLC, then they can request to split the $1,500, totaling to $750 each in extra compensation. Faculty with administrative appointments or staff who co-facilitate an FLC are not eligible for extra compensation since this work aligns with their job description. Whenever possible, CELT's annual operating budget and CELT's VSU Foundation account can offer additional funding for FLC supplies, such as to purchase books and food.
To join a faculty learning community, contact the facilitator(s) identified in the descriptions below to participate in their scheduling poll and then make sure to register for the program through the once the meeting dates/times are confirmed in the portal.
Registering through the VSU Training Portal benefits faculty because faculty can download attendance data from that portal to include in their Annual Faculty Activity Report and Action Plan (AFARAP) as well as their Promotion and Tenure dossier.
Faculty Learning Communities for Spring 2026
- Enhancing Faculty Productivity and Pedagogy with AI
- Learning from Conflict in the Classroom
- Excellence in Student Engagement
- FUEL (Faculty Uplift through Education and Learning)
- Faculty Writing Circle (1)
- Faculty Writing Circle (2)
- New Faculty Learning Community(1)
Enhancing Faculty Productivity and Pedagogy with AI
Facilitator: Dr. Forrest R. Parker III
This faculty learning community explores the potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, Notebook LM, Google Gemini, and Microsoft CoPilot, to enhance faculty work across teaching, scholarship, and service. Participants will experiment with AI tools to increase productivity in writing scholarly articles, streamlining service tasks like committee work or email communication, and supporting students through personalized advising, reference letter writing, and pedagogical innovation. Ultimately, participants will have a collaborative space to explore these AI tools, share best practices, reflect critically on ethical considerations, and generate a list of practical resources with key takeaways for campus-wide use.
This FLC is facilitated by Dr. Forrest R. Parker III, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education. The FLC will gather on the following six Fridays from 1pm – 2pm during the Spring 2026 semester at CELT (102 Georgia Avenue) or virtually via TEAMS video conference: 2/13 (F2F), 2/27 (V), 3/13 (F2F), 3/27 (V), 4/10 (F2F), 4/24 (V). Faculty can join this FLC by registering through the .
Learning from Conflict in the Classroom
Facilitator: Dr. Debi Carruth
Conflict between faculty and students is a common occurrence in the classroom, although those in the middle of it might feel alone and unsure about how to handle it. In a previous FLC on the topic, participants arrived at a series of preliminary general principles and specific pathways to prevent, mitigate, and resolve these conflicts effectively. The focus of the current FLC will be to refine these principles and pathways collaboratively, based on the lived experience of participants and known best practices. Specifically, we will organize this knowledge into an online learning module in BlazeVIEW that any VSU faculty, regardless of discipline, will find relevant and useful for pedagogical development. Participants need not have attended the previous FLC to benefit from participation in the current one.
This FLC is facilitated by Dr. Debi Carruth, Lecturer of Library and Information Science. The FLC will gather for one hour, six times during the Spring 2026 semester at CELT (102 Georgia Avenue) and via Teams video conference. To join this FLC and participate in a scheduling poll that will determine the specific meeting dates/times that fit best into faculty schedules, please e-mail Dr. Carruth (dlcarruth@valdosta.edu) by Dec. 12, 2025. Then later register through the .
Excellence in Student Engagement
Facilitators: Meagan Wood Hopkins and Debi Carruth
This learning community brings together faculty from across disciplines to explore strategies for enhancing student engagement in the classroom—that’s when the magic happens! Participants will examine student engagement challenges, share effective practices, and experiment with teaching techniques that foster deeper student engagement in face-to-face or online classes. Through discussions, peer feedback, and insights from research and faculty experience, we will develop workshops that could help colleagues create dynamic learning environments where students yearn to learn. By semester’s end, we will have produced an excellent set of ready-to-use teaching tips and faculty development workshops that promote student engagement.
This FLC is co-facilitated by Dr. Meagan Wood Hopkins, Assisstant Professor of Psychological Science, and Dr. Debi Carruth, Lecturer of Library and Information Science. The FLC will gather for one hour, six times during the Spring 2026 semester primarily at CELT (102 Georgia Avenue), although a meeting or two may be held via Teams video conference. To join this FLC and participate in a scheduling poll that will determine the specific meeting dates/times that fit best into faculty schedules, please e-mail Dr. Wood Hopkins (mmwood@valdosta.edu) by Dec. 12, 2025. Then later register through the .
FUEL (Faculty Uplift through Education and Learning)
Facilitators: Dr. Shantanu Gopal Gaurkhede and Dr. Arrington Stoll
FUEL (Faculty Uplift through Education and Learning) is designed specifically for junior faculty to navigate and thrive in their scholarly role leading up to promotion and tenure at VSU. This community will provide a supportive interdisciplinary space for early career VSU faculty to collaboratively explore key areas such as securing research funding, demystifying grant writing and IRB processes, advancing scholarly agendas (including goal setting and time management with heavy teaching loads), preparing for the AFARAP and third-year review, and understanding unique scholarly pathways at a regional comprehensive state university (e.g., community-based research, scholarship of teaching and learning). Participants will share experiences, learn from guest speakers, and ultimately develop actionable strategies to create a digital “VSU Early-Career Faculty Toolkit” to share across campus.
This FLC is co-facilitated by two junior faculty: Dr. Shantanu Gopal Gaurkhede, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Technology, and Dr. Arrington Stoll, Assistant Professor of Communication Arts. The FLC will gather six times during the Spring 2026 semester at CELT (102 Georgia Avenue). To join this FLC and participate in a scheduling poll that will determine the specific meeting dates/times that fit best into faculty schedules,, please e-mail Dr. Gaurkhede (sgaurkhede@valdosta.edu) by December 12, 2025. Then later register through the .
Facilitator: Dr. Jamie Workman
This is a writing group for faculty to get their writing done and maintain their research agendas with the support of one another across disciplines. Given heavy teaching loads during the semester, it can be a struggle for faculty to fit writing into their daily routines. Research in faculty development shows that writing groups have significant benefits. They help with motivation, goal-setting, time-management, and accountability. They are an opportunity to receive encouragement and feedback about current research projects. They help faculty be more prepared for performance reviews. And they foster interdisciplinary relationships among faculty, such as by forming writing buddies.
The Faculty Writing Circle (1) is facilitated by Dr. Jamie Workman, Associate Professor Higher Education Leadership. The FLC will gather on the following six Tuesdays from 11am – 12pm during the Spring 2026 semester at CELT (102 Georgia Avenue) and virtually via TEAMS: Jan. 20, Feb. 3, Feb. 24, Mar. 10, Apr. 7, and Apr. 21. Faculty can join this FLC by registering through the .
Facilitator: Dr. Jamie Landau
This group shares similarities with Faculty Writing Circle (1) but has a different structure. Like the first circle, it supports VSU faculty in advancing their research agendas despite heavy teaching loads, while fostering a collegial encouraging environment. What sets this second writing circle apart is its strategy-focused structure: at each session, the facilitator introduces a new writing strategy that participants practice. This approach empowers faculty to discover what writing strategy works best for them when the demands of their professional and/or personal lives may change each semester. Specific strategies include writing warm ups for the mind and body, setting small writing goals to achieve long-term writing goals, cultivating new writing habits, designing ideal writing spots, drawing inspiration from famous thinkers and writers, and more. Ultimately, this writing circle not only builds an interdisciplinary academic community but also empowers faculty to achieve their individual goals for scholarship.
Faculty Writing Circle (2) is facilitated by Dr. Jamie Landau, Director of CELT and Professor of Communication Arts. The FLC will gather for one hour, six times during the Spring 2026 semester in person at CELT (102 Georgia Avenue). To join this FLC and participate in a scheduling poll that will determine the specific meeting dates/times that fit best into faculty schedules, please e-mail Dr. Landau (jlandau@valdosta.edu) by December 12, 2025. Then later register through the .
New Faculty Learning Community (1)
Facilitator: Dr. Jamie Landau
This year-long cohort-based faculty learning community is designed to support faculty in their first year at VSU whether they are limited term faculty, lecturers, or on the tenure-track. Gathering every few weeks throughout the academic year, this group fosters cross departmental connections and provides a supportive space for new faculty to engage in professional development tailored to their early career stage. Sample topics include best pedagogical practices for student success in face-to-face classes and online courses (e.g., active-learning, experiential learning), strategizing service, collecting and responding to student feedback, and preparing for the first-year review. The facilitator conducts a needs assessment of participants to determine which topics to offer including whether to invite guest speakers for specific sessions and when to incorporate them into the schedule.
The New Faculty Learning Community is facilitated by Dr. Jamie Landau, Director of CELT and Professor of Communication Arts. The FLC will gather for one hour, six times during the Spring 2026 semester in person at CELT (102 Georgia Avenue). To join this FLC and participate in a scheduling poll that will determine the specific meeting dates/times that fit best into faculty schedules, please e-mail Dr. Landau (jlandau@valdosta.edu) by December 12, 2025. Then later register through the .
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
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102 Georgia Avenue
Valdosta, Georgia 31698
Email Address
celt@valdosta.edu -
Mailing Address
1500 N. Patterson St.
Valdosta, GA 31698 - Phone: 229.253.4079