In an age of limited resources for contingent faculty professional development, the composition program at Mason has continued to provide creative solutions by providing faculty with a model of professional development that engages in scholarship and course redesign, while taking into account the financial constraints faced by faculty.
The learning communities, which began in the Fall of 2016 and are funded by the OSCAR program, aim to provide a space for faculty to discuss composition theory and pedagogy scholarship, facilitate assignment and course redesign, and cultivate relationships among contingent faculty. During the 2016-17 year, the administrative staff at Mason facilitated four learning communities, with three more scheduled for 2017-2018.
Jessica Matthews, Lisa Lister, Stephanie Liberatore, Jennifer Messier, and Lourdes Fernandez presented preliminary findings from a related research study on the learning community initiative at the regional mid-Atlantic CCCC’s conference in June 2017 in Richmond, VA, focusing on the peer-to-peer aspects of the initiative. Jessica Matthews, Jennifer Messier, and Lourdes Fernandez presented on the programmatic challenges and opportunities posed by a long-term professional development initiative, including sources of funding, types of learning communities, and faculty perceptions regarding the initiative at CWPA in July in Knoxville, TN.
September 26, 2017
