What is an FLC? A Faculty Learning Community is not a training or a workshop. It’s a community of invested faculty who work together to address big challenges facing instructors and students. Participation in an FLC includes monthly meetings and independent work on course materials and/or scholarship on teaching. Those who complete the FLC will receive a $500 stipend, a letter from the Provost, a feature in the CTL newsletter, and evidence of teaching excellence for MyVita and promotion dossiers.
Apply for 2027 Faculty Learning Community
Key dates:
- Information session for interested faculty members: 3:00 PM, Wednesday, October 28th on Zoom. Access the session here!
- FLC Applications close: Friday, November 20th
- Invitation to Accept: December 3rd
- Deadline to Accept: December 17th
- Tentative Program Kickoff: January 22nd
UMSL faculty are invited to apply for the Robust and Rewarding Online Courses FLC for the 2027 calendar year. This year-long Faculty Learning Community (FLC) will bring together 8–12 faculty members from across the university for monthly meetings and collaborative learning focused on strengthening online courses.
The FLC will focus on innovative, student-centered online teaching in high-enrollment courses, especially general education and major gateway courses. These courses can present particular challenges for student engagement and success, including high DFW (D and F grades and withdrawals) rates. Rather than focusing on deficit models or evaluating teaching quality, we’ll approach these challenges as a community of faculty who can learn from one another, reflect on our teaching, and co-design proactive strategies for supporting student engagement, motivation, and learning.
What do students in the post-COVID world need to be successful? How can we create online courses that foster engagement, connection, and motivation without blaming students or painting them with a broad brush? While faculty can’t address every reason students may struggle, we can make meaningful changes to our courses to support student learning and resilience.
The FLC will explore these questions through regular conversations facilitated by the CTL, while encouraging faculty leadership, shared expertise, and peer collaboration. CTL will provide the structured environment, resources, and community; faculty will bring their own experiences, perspectives, and ideas to the conversation.
All UMSL faculty who have taught online courses in the last year can apply here.
Fast facts
- UMSL faculty of all ranks, appointments, and colleges who have taught online courses in the last year are invited to apply. 8–12 faculty members will be accepted.
- The group will focus on online courses that enroll more than 20 students, serve as general education or major gateway courses, and have experienced challenges with DFW rates.
- The FLC will meet once per month from January–December 2027, with academic-year meetings in person and summer meetings on Zoom. July’s meeting will be replaced with asynchronous work.
- Faculty who attend 10 of 11 synchronous meetings and participate in the culminating project will receive a $500 stipend each.
- Participants will receive a letter from the provost acknowledging their contribution to this institutional challenge, as well as a feature in the CTL newsletter.
- Participants will set their own goals for strengthening and invigorating their online teaching, work toward those goals throughout the year, and share their work with the wider campus community. Possible projects include:
- A set of redesigned assignments, modules, or online course delivery strategies designed to improve student engagement and retention, with evidence-based artifacts that may be useful for promotion dossiers
- A shared conference presentation for a regional or national Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) conference
- A presentation of research or teaching materials for a UMSL audience, such as the Focus on Teaching and Technology Conference or Spring Forum
- The group will be facilitated by Ana Quiring, Senior Instructional Designer in the CTL, who will encourage faculty to lead sessions, select readings, share their expertise, and drive the group forward as much as possible.