Strength in Numbers: Facilitating Faculty Learning Communities for General Education Student Learning Outcomes Assessment

Abstract

Reaching consensus on curricular issues and learning outcomes is challenging, especially in attempting to achieve campus-wide agreement on issues pertaining to General Education. In order to build a shared vision of student learning assessment of the various General Education areas and increase faculty governance of General Education, the UHM General Education Office developed a model for collective inquiry based on the formation of Faculty Learning Communities or FLCs (Cox, 1999). The poster presents the contexts in which the Foundations Global and Multicultural Perspectives FLC and the Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Issues FLC were established. We share the process we used to invite faculty members, determine discussion topics, and provide targeted resources. Because the two FLCs had different objectives and membership, we highlight similarities and differences between them. Finally, we offer recommendations on how FLCs can be effectively implemented for student learning assessment in other contexts.