Milt Cox has been involved with Faculty Learning Communities for over forty years! Cox is also the Director Emeritus and Founder of the Original Lilly Conference. Cox spoke at the Lilly Conference online about Faculty Learning Community (FLC) learning efforts. The learning objectives for the twenty-minute session were to describe FLCs, the positive impact that FLCs have on student learning, and how FLC participants were aware of the changes in student learning. Cox defined FLC:
A faculty learning community (FLC) is a specifically structured learning community of faculty and staff in higher education that includes the goals of building community, engaging in scholarly (evidence-based) teaching, and the development of SoTL. Note: An FLC is a specifically structured community of practice.
Milton Cox, 2022, Lilly Conference Online
Cox provided sixteen recommendations for designing, implementing, and facilitating FLCs. The presentation included a photo I had seen before in another previous presentation by Cox: a group of faculty around a table discussing a text. I thought it was interesting to learn about the transition and roles of leadership in FLCs. Cox shared the history of FLCs, starting in 2001-2005 with support from a FIPSE Grant that established FLCs. Members of the FLC are usually based on topic or cohort. The first term is devoted to planning intervention and assessment, while the second year is centered on the course. Cox recommends inviting like-minded colleagues to join and providing an FLC for facilitators. Cox also shared data from Hong Kong Baptist University (2013-2015) and a five-university study. They also did a comparison of the US Study and the HBKU study. Cox concluded by inviting participants to share questions and information. Every time I watch a session by Cox, I learn about the history of FLC!
