The Teaching & Learning Center

Professional Learning Communities

Faculty learning communities (FLCs) provide a space for educators to engage with an interdisciplinary group of peers over an extended period. They provide a platform for meaningful collaboration, peer learning, and support for enhancing teaching practice. FLCs meet regularly in a semester or year-long program to collaborate and engage in reflection on topics connected to teaching improvement. As a specific form of community of practices, these opportunities help educators connect to peers across disciplines, engage in scholarly dialogue on evidence-based pedagogy, and share feedback and support while exploring specific topics and projects.

Questions about FLCs may be directed to the Teaching and Learning Center at tlc@wcupa.edu. 

Teaching Circles

A teaching circle is a group of faculty who collectively explore a teaching topic of interest and work together to create products reflecting their learning experience. Products can be research, teaching plans, workshops, presentations, or any other items.

Summer 2025

The summer 2025 teaching circle will focus on creating a lesson to teach students about generative artificial intelligence.  

Because disciplinary expertise is a critical component of effective generative AI use and AI tools have become ubiquitous, all courses have the opportunity to incorporate generative AI into their instruction.  Lessons can teach generative AI tool use or avoid AI tool use and instead focus on critical concerns.  All ideas related to generative AI are welcome. 

Format and Schedule

The time commitment is approximately 10 hours over a month split between four 1-hour Zoom gatherings and independent time for reading and product creation. This offering is a structured method, with built-in accountability to help you create a generative AI lesson.  

Meeting times may be adjusted based on participant availability after the first meeting.

Registration

To express interest in participating, please complete the Teaching Circle registration form by June 2, 2025. For questions or additional information, please contact the TLC at tlc@wcupa.edu.

Fall 2025

Have you ever wondered about the distinct pedagogical roles that discussions, debates, and dialogues play in your classroom? Join our teaching circle to explore these powerful conversational approaches and their applications in higher education.

Effective classroom conversation is fundamental to student learning—it helps develop critical thinking skills, deepens content understanding, and teaches students to engage constructively across differences. Yet structuring these interactions to facilitate meaningful exchanges, particularly around sensitive topics, is sometimes challenging.

In this monthly teaching circle, we will explore the unique characteristics of discussion, debate, and dialogue as different pedagogical tools. We will share what works (and what doesn’t) in our classrooms and consider which approach best suits specific learning contexts. We will collectively create a toolbox of strategies for facilitating each conversation type to get students thinking and talking, and methods for assessing student engagement in these interactions. 

Format and Schedule

The Teaching Circle will meet the 2nd Thursday of every month, and topics discussed will include: 

• September: Distinguishing differences between discussion, debate, and dialogue 
• October: Discussion strategies and applications 
• November: Debate frameworks and facilitation  
• December: Dialogue approaches 

This teaching circle is a collaborative space where faculty learn from each other through sharing experiences and strategies for engaging with students meaningfully. No expertise required - just bring your curiosity and classroom stories! 

Registration

Our first meeting takes place on Thursday, September 11 from 2:30 – 3:30.  Register for the Classroom Conversations circle here. Please direct questions to tlc@wcupa.edu.  

Teaching Triangles

The Teaching Triangles program involves three faculty members in a triad who agree to visit each other’s classes over the semester and meet to discuss what they have learned about their own teaching from the observations. The process is non-evaluative and is based on reciprocity, shared responsibility, and mutual respect. Modeled after the program developed by Anne Wessely of St. Louis Community College, the focus is on self-reflection, rather than peer evaluation, critique, or providing feedback or advice about their teaching. Partners observe each other to gather ideas on different teaching approaches that might be used in their own classes. 
 
This is an opportunity for faculty members to learn from each other’s teaching practices in a respectful and supportive environment. As partners observe each other's teaching, they will reflect on and later dialog with each other on questions such as:

• Could I do something like that?
• Would that approach work with the content I teach?
• I might be able to use that, but what would I need to change so that it better fits with my teaching style?
• Are my students ready for a strategy like that?

The intent of the Teaching Squares program is to help you contemplate current teaching practices as you consider some potential alternatives. 

This opportunity is open to all faculty (including adjunct professors) at West Chester University; selection is based on teaching schedules. If you are interested in participating in this program in Spring 2025, please complete the Teaching Triangles registration form. You will be notified of your acceptance and triangle assignment in January.   
 
If you have any questions about the program, please contact the TLC at tlc@wcupa.edu.

Pedagogical Innovations Faculty Learning Community

The Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) are pleased to invite applications for the 2025-2026 Pedagogical Innovations Faculty Learning Community (FLC). This program is an opportunity for faculty to investigate innovative teaching strategies that enhance student learning experiences and outcomes. Drawing on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) framework, participants will design and conduct research on the effectiveness of specific teaching innovations. Participants will join an interdisciplinary community of practice that will engage in collaborative planning and research, utilizing the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) framework to investigate pedagogical practices.

The year-long program will run from Fall 2025 through Spring 2026 and is structured in two phases: 

• Fall 2025: Participants will design their pedagogical innovation and research methodology through collaborative planning and development. 
• Spring 2026: Participants will implement their innovation in courses and collect data on its effectiveness.

Questions about the FLC or the application process should be directed to tlc@wcupa.edu.

Diversity and Inclusion Faculty Learning Community

Our campus reflects the diversity of our world. Students bring varied backgrounds, experiences, aspirations, and talents to our classrooms, along with differing needs for navigating academia and achieving success. 
 
As instructors, we can support this diversity by creating learning environments where every student thrives. Inclusive teaching is key to this goal. This approach recognizes our students' diverse needs, celebrates their unique identities and experiences, and focuses on reducing barriers while providing targeted support to enhance learning. 

The deadline for WCU faculty interested in participating in this FLC to submit applications is September 20, 2024.

General Education ePortfolio Faculty Learning Community

The General Education Council and CAPC Executive Committee, with support of the Provost’s Office, invite applications for faculty to participate in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) centered on the Gen Ed Google Sites ePortfolio. This cohort of instructors will share experiences and provide feedback on e-portfolio artifacts, reflection prompts, and completed portfolios over the course of the fall semester.  
 
WCU has been participating in the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) 2023 Institute on e-Portfolios, with a 5 person team of faculty and staff members working closely with an AACU faculty advisor to learn and apply best practices regarding the use of e-portfolios in higher education. The design of this FLC is an outgrowth of the Institute team’s experiences.  
 
WCU uses Google Sites as its General Education e-Portfolio (GEP) platform. When fully implemented, students will be required to upload artifacts from each General Education course to their GEP and, during their capstone course, will review the collected artifacts in order to reflect and to make connections across the courses. In order to continue a successful roll-out of the GEP requirement across the curriculum, we seek instructors teaching one or more general education courses during the Fall 2023 semester to share assignments designed to meet targeted general education goals, to develop reflection prompts, and to provide feedback on their experience teaching with GEP. The cohort will meet 3 times, share examples of GEP artifacts, reflections, and in-process portfolios, work with WCU’s e-Portfolio team to develop a bank of model portfolios and related resources to assist with the GEP full-scale roll-out, and otherwise provide formal and informal feedback.  

The deadline for WCU faculty interested in participating in this FLC to submit applications was August 25, 2023.

Questions about this FLC or the application process should be directed to

Janneken Smucker, ePortfolio Director.