Past Faculty Learning Program and Pods

Overview

The Faculty Learning Program (FLP) is a professional development program designed to improve faculty’s instructional practices. Designed by UC Berkeley STEM faculty, this program has been adopted by over 50 UC, CSU, and CA community colleges.

The modules in the FLP course consist of 7 video lessons alternating with 7 meetings of participants to discuss each lesson's content and how it applies to one’s own teaching practices.  These discussions are essential to building a common language and expectations.  Topics include: prior knowledge and conceptual change, self-regulated learning, motivation, growth mindsets, stereotypes, and active learning designs.

The program continues with lesson planning for their classes by Community of Practice (CoP) members, training in observation technique under tutelage of the Lead Coordinator, classroom observation and video recording, as well as full debriefing and productive feedback. Each participant is encouraged to develop their practice of reflective teaching.

Success is dependent on the expertise of the Lead Coordinator and the faculty who have already participated in the program.  Ideally, each CoP would contain an FLP-experienced faculty member, but that will depend on exactly which faculty participate. All members of each CoP are essential contributors to establishing trust and a safe space in which faculty can try new pedagogies.  

The FLP program is well described on the website: https://teaching.berkeley.edu/programs/transforming-stem-teaching-faculty-learning-program 

Goals & Objectives

The overarching goal of the FLP is to improve student achievement in undergraduate courses. This is achieved through five faculty-focused objectives:

  1. Deepen faculty understanding of how people learn
  2. Change teaching behavior to support student learning
  3. Engage faculty in habits of reflection
  4. Nurture a tradition of continued learning about teaching
  5. Build faculty learning communities

This program directly aligns with increasing student achievement and eliminating equity gaps. These objectives will lead to enduring improvements in teaching effectiveness and contribute to maintaining continuous improvement in teaching among established and new faculty. 

Archived Program Participation

Cohort #2: Spring 2023 - Fall 2023

  • Kristina Brower – Education & Human Development
  • Maria Mendoza – Engineering
  • Hongyan Meng – Math
  • Bridget Love – Communication Studies
  • Leonor Cabrera – Accounting
  • Julie Luu – Biology
  •  
  • Ray Lapuz - Facilitator
  • Candice Nance - Facilitator

Cañada Cohort #2: Fall 2020

  • Milena Angelova - PRIE Office / Physics
  • Alex Cabrera - Chemistry
  • Sarah Harmon - Linguistics
  • Ramki Kalyanaraman - Engineering
  • Jessica Kaven- Communications
  • Althea Kippes - Paralegal
  • Doniella Maher - English
  • Lisa Palmer - English
  • Eileen Pippins - Communications
  • Elizabeth Terzakis - English
  •  
  • Gampi Shankar – Assisting
  • David Monarres – Assisting
  • Sumathi Shankar – Assisting
  • Lezlee Ware – Assisting
  • Ellen Young - Assisting
  • Nick DeMello - Assisting
  • David Eck – Faculty Lead
  • Candice Nance – Faculty Lead

Cañada Cohort #1: Fall 2019 - Spring 2020

  • Michelle Beatty - Mathematics
  • Cheryl Cathey - Engineering
  • Nick DeMello - Chemistry
  • Jeanne Digel - Astronomy
  • David Eck - Philosophy
  • Nadine Ferguson - Computer Science
  • James Hoffman - Computer Science
  • Vera Klimovsky - Mathematics
  • Hongyan Meng - Mathematics
  • Gampi Shankar - Business
  • Lezlee Ware - Political Science
  • Susan White - Biology
  • Ellen Young - Biology
  • Guibo Zhu - Chemistry
  •  
  • David Monarres – Assisting
  • Sumathi Shankar – Assisting
  • Douglas Hirzel – Assisting
  • Ray Lapuz – Facilitator

Cohort: Spring 2018 - Fall 2018

Cañada Paricipants in San Jose State University

  • Dani Behonik - Biology
  • Doug Hirzel - Biology

Cañada Particpants in CSU East Bay

  • David Monarres - Math
  • Sumathi Shankar - Math

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