Belonging & Inclusive Teaching Fellowship

 

Foster Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging in All Learning Environments

In this circle, relationships matter. We all enter with experience, expertise, aspirations, and imperfections. We will find commonalities and differences. This is a space for examining ourselves and our teaching choices – and for learning from each other. By engaging in a community of practice, you will feel more connected. Throughout the process, we hope you will find new confidence in your teaching and renewed validation as an educator

Expected Outcomes of Belonging Fellowship

  • Identify goal(s) for creating an inclusive learning environment that fosters a sense of belonging

  • Evaluate the ways your intersecting identities and positionality influence your teaching philosophy, course materials, design and how they impact the learning environment

  • Identify ways to build belonging in informal learning spaces

  • Synthesize lessons learned from time in the Belonging & Inclusive Teaching Fundamentals Circle

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Belonging in Action

We believe in taking steps to bring equity into all learning environments, that is why we launched our Belonging Webinar Series to help demonstrate Belonging in Action.  The goal of this series is to amplify diverse faculty and student voices, shining a light on their unique experiences to improve campus communities and create more inclusive environments for all.

The Belonging webinar series features faculty and student panelists who will share their lived experiences and ideas on how faculty can create a sense of belonging for their students, especially those who come from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Our goal is for participants to leave each session with valuable insights as well as strategies to implement in their work with students.

You can register and access recording on our Belonging Webinar series page. Click Below to learn more.

Belonging Webinar Series

Brief Overview of the 9-Week Fellowship Curriculum

Complete your profile, familiarize yourself with the platform, your Circle mates, and the Circle focus. Meet with your facilitator and get ready to start your Circle.

Explore and Connect: Explore the platform, complete your profile, learn about the Lumen Reflective Practice model including using Appreciative Inquiry (a strength-based approach), CoP, Evidence-based teaching, and our EBIP framework, and meet each other. Write your first reflection and comment on your 2 assigned reflections and with the 2 fellows reviewing your reflection.

Reflect and Plan: Review the DEIB Glossary, and explore how identity and positionality influence the learning environment. Focus on the Belonging EBIP/tag of Engaging Intersectionality. Write a plan to add Engaging Intersectionality to a learning activity you will teach over the next week. Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections.

Teaching Reflection: Report on how your plan went using the platform template. Describe your teaching using the Lumen EBIP framework.Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections.

 Meta-Reflection: Create 1-3 SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely) goals to focus on for the remainder of the fellowship. Review any resources from previous weeks. Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections.

 Reflect and Plan: Learn about what constitutes a Brave Space and how to create one within your classes as well as kairotic spaces (informal learning spaces). Focus on the Belonging EBIPs/tags Representation and Pedagogical Partnerships. Write a plan to add Representation and/or Pedagogical Partnerships to a learning activity you will teach over the next week. Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections.

Teaching Reflection: Report on how your plan went using the platform template. Describe your teaching using the Lumen EBIP framework.Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections.

Reflect and Plan: Learn about implicit and explicit bias, structural racism in higher education, and microaggressions. Focus on the Belonging EBIPs/tag Mitigating Bias. Write a plan to add Mitigating Bias to a learning activity you will teach over the next week. Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections.

Teaching Reflection: Report on how your plan went using the platform template. Describe your teaching using the Lumen EBIP framework. Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections. 

Meta-Reflection: Reflect on your fellowship experience. What did you learn? What changes have you made in your teaching? What do you want to learn and do next? Write a reflection noting changes and growth in your teaching, new ideas and concepts you learned, and where you want to go next. Respond to your reviewers, and review your 2 assigned reflections.

I am now more thoughtful and curious about my students. I was able to learn new techniques that were easy to use in my classroom that foster a sense of belonging. The course offers ways to make small changes in your teaching. So, even if you are pressed for time you can still make improvements!

Holly Currie, Lumen Fellow, Frostburg State University

Lumen Circle benefitted my teaching in several aspects. It confirmed that methods of teaching that I engage in are appropriate and that I create belonging and engagement in my class. My students benefitted from hearing about my experiences in the Lumen Circle and serving as pedagogical partners as I completed the Lumen Circle modules each week. My advice for other educators is to take advantage when the opportunity to participate in a Lumen Circles group presents itself. I felt respected and able to ask questions in a safe environment.

Jamelyn Tobery-Nystrom, Lumen Fellow, Frostburg State University

When addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) there is no cookie-cutter formula to follow, Building and executing an effective, transformative strategy that improves the experiences of underrepresented and underserved groups in dental health care is a dynamic process that must be fluid and amendable as needed. There are unfortunately inequality and disadvantage based on ethnicity, races, gender, wealth, religion as well as other social identity are deeply rooted in our shared culture. As your classes change annually with the entrance of freshmen, your strategic planning must adjust accordingly. The prevalence of exclusion and inequitable practices may promote the feeling of “hopelessness” and “helplessness.”  Our goal as educators should be to improve the learning conditions for anyone in a marginalized social identity group. The problem itself is far-reaching and multi-faceted, which means the solution should be approached from several angles.

Alayna Smiley, Lumen Fellow, Howard University

I found it was very helpful for me to have this experience when teaching a Diversity course at the same time. I was able to integrate practice and activities with the students and assess and observe their reactions and comments to the experience. I feel that this experienced enhanced my ability to create a sense of inclusion, belonging, and brave space for my students to explore these issues.

Carrie Steinman, Lumen Fellow, SUNY Empire State College

I do not think there can be teaching without reflection, without thinking about your goals in the classroom (goals both for your students and yourself), and how you are designing instruction to accomplish them. It seems like a simple notion, doesn’t it? and yet we don’t always pay careful attention to it. It is essential to consider how your course design process, classroom-building practices, and lesson planning aligns your goals with the course material and the student learning outcomes for the course. If this sounds complicated to you, you are in need of a Circle!

Isabel Quinta Wulf, Lumen Fellow, Salisbury University

What are Lumen Circles?

Lumen Circles are professional development experiences that use virtual learning communities to connect faculty members with peers and help them hone their expertise as student-centered teachers.

Grounded in evidence-based teaching practices and self-reflection, Lumen Circles work well for any faculty member, in any discipline, and at any stage of career.

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Program Descriptions & Schedule
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How Do Lumen Circles Work?

  • Set goals. Identify how you want to develop your teaching practice and pedagogical profile.

  • Build skills. Virtual, workshop-style learning opportunities expand your teaching repertory, help you work smarter through teaching “hacks,” and deepen your understanding of evidence-based practices.

  • Teach and reflect. Apply what you’re learning, consider how it’s working for your students and where to improve.

  • Share via virtual learning circles. Connect with peers, exchange feedback, and collect new ideas through expertly-facilitated learning circles. Our user-friendly platform makes it simple to connect and collaborate.

  • Recognize growth and progress. Track progress towards goals and see your teaching evolve as you incorporate new practices with students.

Pick the Offering that Works for You

We offer Lumen Circles experiences with different areas of focus, levels of depth and duration.

  • Lumen Circle Fellowships: Build skills in targeted areas, apply what you’re learning, and collaborate within a virtual learning circle
  • Success Accelerator: Engage with peers and accelerate the path to effective teaching and learning using Lumen courseware

Learn more about which fellowship is right for you in a Lumen Circles: What to Expect Webinar.

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What’s Your Role?

Your connection with students is paramount to their success, but knowing how to reach them can be challenging. Lumen Circles provide opportunities to expand your teaching repertory in areas you want to grow. You can join colleagues to learn, share ideas, compare experiences, and be part of a thriving community focused on evidence-based teaching for today’s students.

Lumen Circles complement your center’s resources and priorities. Some centers offer a full menu of programs but struggle to generate meaningful evaluation data. Others cater to new faculty, but they sometimes overlook faculty who are later in their careers. Still others struggle to meet the needs of part-time faculty or graduate students. We can tailor offerings to fit the faculty members you want to reach with skill-building and professional growth focused on teaching practices that impact student success. We also offer flexible options around pricing and scale.

Recognizing student success is a result of faculty success, Lumen Circles can help you provide a broader foundation of faculty support to transform teaching and learning with a focus on evidence-based instructional practices. We can also help you track alignment and measure progress towards institutional and faculty goals for improving teaching practice.

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Lumen Circles FAQs

Do you have a question we don’t answer here? Contact us or send a note to info@lumenlearning.com.

Lumen Circles’ evidence-based teaching framework uses a methodology and process originally adapted from research published in Taking College Teaching Seriously: Pedagogy Matters by Gail Mellow, Diana Woolis, Marisa Klages-Bombich and Susan Restler. In work funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumen expanded the framework to add a “Belonging” theme that fully incorporates practices associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion into the Lumen Circles model. The framework identifies practices that increase student success, according to research evidence. Lumen Circles’ methodology guides faculty members through a process to recognize, explore and apply these effective practices in their teaching. It helps them become more aware and purposeful about making pedagogical choices that support student success.

Primary principles include:

  • Self-reflection: Faculty fellows examine their own teaching practices to become more aware of pedagogical choices and their impact on student success.
  • Appreciative Inquiry: This inquiry method invites educators to recognize and celebrate their strengths and what’s working in their teaching practice, and then using this as a foundation for self-directed growth and improvement.
  • Evidence-based Instructional Principles: To help faculty make the learning environment more student-centered, we encourage them to explore and try out specific practices aligned in four distinct dimensions of teaching practice: Supportive, Challenging, Organized, and Varied.
  • Pedagogical Analytics: As fellows progress through the Lumen Circles experience, we measure changes in faculty teaching patterns, progress towards their teaching goals, and how this aligns with institutional goals and changes in student outcomes.

Yes. The Lumen Circles professional development platform and learning circle-focused methodology are based the work of Faculty Guild, a faculty-focused coaching service created by serial education technology entrepreneur David Yaskin and a talented team of educators. As part of a strategic decision to expand our support for effective teaching and learning practices with professional development services, Lumen Learning acquired intellectual property and the higher education assets of Faculty Guild.

We construct virtual learning circles with careful attention to the goals and context of faculty members participating in Lumen Circles fellowships. Learning circles always align with the theme of the fellowship to connect faculty with peers working to expand their teaching practice in similar directions. As a rule, learning circles include faculty from multiple institutions teaching in related disciplines, such as STEM or social sciences. We may make exceptions to this rule in order to support specific institutional objectives, such as learning circles to connect faculty with peers from their own institution.

We coordinate start and end dates for Lumen Circles fellowships and other professional development programs to align with the academic calendar and windows when the experience will be most productive for participating faculty members. Staggered start dates generally coincide with the start of term for spring (winter), summer, and fall. Depending on interest, faculty availability, and demand, we can add additional fellowship terms as needed.

Note the Lumen Circles experience does require that faculty are actively teaching during a majority of their fellowship term because reflective practice is most beneficial when there are immediate opportunities to consider teaching choices, evaluate what’s working and try out new pedagogical directions.