Lumen Awards Certificates in Effective Teaching Practice to Fall 2020 Lumen Circles Faculty Fellows
Last June Lumen Learning purchased the higher education assets of Faculty Guild, an organization that facilitated virtual communities of practice to help faculty hone their expertise as effective teachers.
We took this step because it moves us further toward accomplishing our mission, “To enable unprecedented learning for all students.”
Expanding Lumen’s Focus on Teaching
Several years into a grand experiment around OER courseware, we recognize that achieving dramatically improved student learning requires more than giving students access to affordable and well-designed course materials. It also requires investing in teachers to help them get better at creating classroom environments that support learning and engage students effectively in the learning process.
In the great tradition of open education, we have adopted and adapted Faculty Guild’s original community of practice model. The result is Lumen Circles, a uniquely hands-on approach to faculty professional development that involves exploring and applying evidence-based teaching practices as part of a virtual learning community made up of fellow faculty members.
Supporting a Fellowship of Educators
To join a Lumen Circles virtual peer community, faculty members apply to participate in a Lumen Circles Fellowship. Every fellowship is grounded in a common set of evidence-based teaching practices derived from research about the types of instructional strategies that result in increased student success. These practices provide a common language all community members can use to talk about their teaching choices and what they are doing to impact student learning. This “Fellowship” structure should sound familiar to anyone who has prior experience with the Faculty Guild model.
One significant adaptation we introduced is to create “themed” circles – circles that align faculty members with peers who are growing in similar directions professionally. Circle themes invite faculty fellows to explore evidence-based teaching practices in the context of areas they are explicitly trying to innovate and expand their professional capabilities. In virtual communities of practice, they have opportunities to share ideas, offer feedback and build their capabilities as teachers through reflecting on their own experiences and by learning from each other.
For Fall 2020, Lumen Circles themes included:
- Active Learning
- Evidence-based Teaching
- Online Teaching Foundation
- Teaching with OER & Open Pedagogy
Recognizing Achievements of Lumen Circles Faculty Fellows
During fall 2020, we welcomed our first cohort of Lumen Circles Faculty Fellows. They participated in virtual communities of practice focused on each of the themes above. Despite the challenges and uncertainties of this pandemic-ridden term, nearly 200 faculty members opted to participate in Lumen Circles Fellowships.
We are honored to award the Lumen Circles Certificate in Effective Teaching Practice to the many of these fellows who persevered to complete the fellowship program. Certificate recipients completed at least 80% of the assigned fellowship activities, which typically take about two hours per week. These activities include exploring materials and best practices associated with their circle theme, applying evidence-based practices and reflecting on their impact, and sharing ideas and feedback with peers.
What’s truly inspiring about this achievement is how, despite the chaos swirling around them this term, these faculty members made time and space to think deeply about their teaching and its impact on students. By choosing a deliberate focus on how to support their students’ success, they undoubtedly made a huge difference for thousands of learners this term.
Fall 2021 recipients of the Lumen Circles Certificate in Effective Teaching Practice include:
Fellowship Program: Active Learning
Peter Carroll, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Ariel Goodman, SUNY College at Plattsburgh
Odessa Jordan, Calhoun Community College
Amanda Miller, Mohawk Valley Community College
Orquidea Morales, SUNY College at Old Westbury
Rachael Mulvihill, SUNY College at Brockport
Steven Murphy, Binghamton University
Andrew Perron, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Tony Podlaski, Hudson Valley Community College
Pat Rind, SUNY at Purchase College
Paul Szwed, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Fellowship Program: Evidence-based Teaching
Robert Faivre, Adirondack Community College
Ron Keeney, SUNY College of Technology at Alfred
Andrew Wood, SUNY College of Technology at Canton
Trudi Jacobson, SUNY at Albany
Yibin Liu, University at Buffalo
Bhakti Sharma, SUNY Buffalo State
Fellowship Program: Online Teaching Foundation
Karen Arnold, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Renee Arnold-O’Regan, SUNY Orange
Laura Bailey, Onondaga Community College
Mike Gutierrez, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Stephanie Huffnagle, Erie Community College
Jung-Whan de Jong, Fashion Institute of Technology
Julianne Messia, Hudson Valley Community College
Becky Norton, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Gail Stephens, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Victoria Vieira-Potter, University of Missouri-Columbia
Fellowship Program: Teaching with OER & Open Pedagogy
Christopher Ankney, College of Southern Maryland
Emily Bailey, Towson University
Paul Bernhardt, Frostburg State University
Peggy Biser, Frostburg State University
Sam Bloom, Fashion Institute of Technology
Jacqueline Bollinger, Erie Community College
Tammy Bowers, Towson University
Sara Cano, College of Southern Maryland
David Caskey, Anne Arundel Community College
Ruth Childs, SUNY College at Brockport
Michelle Christian, College of Southern Maryland
LaPorchia Davis, Morgan State University
Gauri Desai, University at Buffalo
Brigitte Desport, SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Deborah Devlin, Frostburg State University
Thane Doubet, Tompkins Cortland Community College
Christine Dubowy, Hagerstown Community College
Debora Faccion Grodzki, Binghamton University
Katharine Fernstrom, Towson University
Lakisha Ferebee, College of Southern Maryland
Heather Gable, Frostburg State University
Pallavi Guha, Towson University
Mary Guzzy, Corning Community College
Jennifer Hawley, Chesapeake College
Christopher Hollister, University at Buffalo
Karen Huffman, Erie Community College
Steve Hymowech, Fulton-Montgomery Community College
Jennifer Jones, SUNY Westchester Community College
Lauren Liburd, Suffolk County Community College
John Lombardi, Frostburg State University
Katie Lynch, Rockland Community College
Eileen MacAvery-Kane, Rockland Community College
Theresa Mastrodonato, Frostburg State University
Lorena Mathien, SUNY Buffalo State
Patsy McKenzie, Allegany College of Maryland
John McMullen, Frostburg State University
Kenneth Nichols, SUNY College at Oswego
Jillian Nissen, SUNY College at Old Westbury
Kristin Osborne, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Marjorie Paoletti, Anne Arundel Community College
Daphne Powell, College of Southern Maryland
Danna Prather Davis, Suffolk County Community College
Petita Rentz, College of Southern Maryland
Christine Robinson-Cooley, Hudson Valley Community College
Mary E. Robinson, EdD, Montgomery College – Germantown Campus
Julio Rodriguez, SUNY Westchester Community College
Nazik Roufaiel, SUNY Empire State College
Duncan RyanMann, SUNY Empire State College
Doris Santamaria-Makang, Frostburg State University
Roberta Schlehr, Erie Community College
Jennifer Scott, Towson University
Alyxandra Sherwood, SUNY College at Geneseo
Grace Sikorski, Anne Arundel Community College
Nicole Simon, Nassau Community College
Michelle Speach, Mohawk Valley Community College
Kathleen Speicher, Corning Community College
Patricia Szobonya, Rockland Community College
Trang Thai, SUNY College at Brockport
John Thompson, SUNY Buffalo State
Sonja Thomson, SUNY Empire State College
Lynwood Townsend, College of Southern Maryland
Mari-jo Ulbricht, University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Brandy Whitlock, Anne Arundel Community College
Sarah Young, Binghamton University
Congratulations!
Please see the Lumen Circles Certificate in Effective Teaching site for more information about the requirements and specific accomplishments associated with this certificate program. We learned a tremendous amount this term about where our maiden-voyage fellowships hit the mark and how we can continue to iterate and continuously improve. We’re excited to see Lumen Circles Fellowship programs expanding and improving for spring 2021 and beyond.
Are you interested in learning more about Lumen courseware, professional development, or Lumen Circles Fellowship programs? Visit our website or send us a note: circles@lumenlearning.com.