Office for Faculty Excellence

Community of Practice on Belonging

Join a community of peers across disciplines to develop your pedagogical knowledge and practice.

Community of Practice on Belonging

Fall 2023-Spring 2024

Facilitator: Catherine Keohane, OFE’s Associate Director for Teaching and Learning

Research shows that learning environments that foster belonging help support success across student populations, increasing persistence (Gopalan & Brady, 2020; Hausmann et al, 2007; NASEM, 2017), motivation, engagement, and achievement (Strayhorn, 2012; Zumbrunn et al., 2014). What can instructors do to create such environments?

Join the Office for Faculty Excellence’s Community of Practice (CoP) on Belonging to learn and work with colleagues across the University to develop answers to this question. CoPs bring together a group of faculty who are interested in a particular topic and who wish to explore it further together, ultimately developing a shared set of resources, tools, and knowledge. Participants will explore and develop strategies for fostering belonging. Along the way, there will be opportunities for participants to cultivate their own sense of belonging. 

Beginning in October 2023, the CoP on Belonging will focus on exploring strategies and developing an intervention. In Spring 2024, CoP members will implement their intervention(s), share their experiences with fellow participants, and contribute ideas to a community repository.

When?

Spring 24 meetings:

Fall 23 meetings:

  • Kickoff event Friday, October 6 at 11.
  • Tuesday, October 31 @ 10
  • Tuesday, November 28 @ 10 (hybrid)

Interested but can’t make it? Please contact Catherine.

 

First meeting in October. We’ll begin by setting community guidelines and begin discussing Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides by Geoffrey L. Cohen. OFE will provide the first 30 participants with a copy of the book.