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Overcoming Pedagogical Solitude: The Transformative Power Of Discipline Specific Faculty Learning Communities, Mariela Tovar, Rosalie Jukier, Jennie Ferris, Kristen Cardoso

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article describes a multiyear Faculty Learning Community (FLC) program as a strategy to overcome pedagogical solitude (Shulman, 1993) in a discipline specific context. Participant interviews shed light on their FLC experiences and perceived impact on their teaching and students’ learning. Grounded within the particularities of the disciplinary context and based on the results of interviews reflecting a highly positive experience, key factors that had a major role in the success of the FLCs are articulated, framed within V. Lee, M. Hyman, and G. Luginbuhl’s (2007) concept of readiness. The authors also suggest contextual questions to consider when transferring their …