COLA Interdisciplinary Program Instructors' Community of Practice

This project organized a community of practice for instructors in the Liberal Arts Honors program in the College of Liberal Arts. This community of practice held regular meetings during the academic year to discussion teaching practices, hear from guest speakers, and to share ideas on topics that relate to program goals, student engagement and wellness, pedagogy, and promoting effective student learning. Meetings were initially held via video following the pandemic, then shifted to in-person lunches and social hours in response to the need to create a tighter-knit community that respected instructors' limited availability. Members of the group communicate via an email listserv and share notes and materials related to topics of discussion on a shared Canvas page. Members also are encouraged to do peer observations with and for each other.

While I had hoped to expand the initiative to other interdisciplinary programs, and to do so with set of replicable procedures that can be transferred and adapted to teaching divisions throughout COLA, I did not find any other interested programs or group leaders. That said, I hope to see this program continue at LAH under a new leader in the coming years.