Faculty Learning Communities
Faculty Learning Communities are small, year-long cohorts where PCC faculty meet regularly to explore a focused teaching theme, apply new approaches in their classes, and share what works. Programming is coordinated by the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE), and each group is led by a peer-facilitator instructor. Part-time faculty are eligible for stipend compensation.
Register Now for Fall Term Faculty Learning Communities – Via Workday Learning
Workday Learning is now PCC’s Professional Development platform (replacing Cornerstone). All FLC enrollment happens in the Workday Learning dashboard. Links for registration in description for each FLC – click on arrow below title to expand.
Expand FLC titles below to read FLC descriptions and get registration links. Questions? contact us at ctle@pcc.edu.
- Step-by-Step guide: Sign up for your FLC in Workday (login needed) – program and course offering enrollment required. This guide will show you each step required for full enrollment, and calls out the one-time pre-requisite for session sign-ups. Please use this guide. You must do all three steps: 1) Enroll in the Program, 2) Complete the digital prerequisite (5 minutes – only need to do once), and 3) Enroll in the specific Course Offerings (meetings) for your FLC.
- Zoom Drop-In Enrollment Assistance: Zoom drop-in sessions for guidance available Sept.29 – Oct.7 – please see our calendar. The CTLE calendar includes FLC sessions, adding these to your calendar will not enroll you in the FLC program or meeting session – this must be done through Workday.
- Deadline Extension: Dates listed in Workday will not apply to sessions before Oct. 13th – please register at least 1 day in advance of your session – if 24 hours or less before your event, please email your instructor for advance materials.
- Calendar Notifications: Workday does not have email calendar notifications. Our Step-by-Step guide includes instructions on adding meeting events to your calendar, we recommend that you do this in addition to enrolling.
- More Info: FLC Enrollment Guidelines for detailed information and Enrollment FAQs.
Between a Bot and a Hard Place
About this FLC
This FLC is designed to increase GenAI literacy and to create a resource for our colleagues to help them decide how they want to incorporate GenAI in their classrooms.
Instructors: Jessica Lee, Elizabeth Smith
Participation Modality: Hybrid — In-Person (SE Campus) or via Zoom
Sessions:
Wednesday, 10/08, 10:00am – 11:30pm
Monday, 11/17, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Duration: 1.5 hour sessions + 1.5 hour prep per session
Culture & Clicks: Fostering Belonging Through Technology
About this FLC
Looking for practical, engaging ways to build classroom communities while embracing technology?
Join this Faculty Learning Community to explore how digital tools—including AI and ChatGPT—can support inclusive teaching, spark connection, and create environments where all students feel they belong.
Each session offers hands-on strategies, collaborative reflection, and a chance to test out fun, low-barrier tools that blend culture and clicks to energize your course design and classroom practices.
Instructors: Josh Evans, Ceci de Valdenebro
Participation Modality: Remote via Zoom
Sessions:
Wednesday, 10/08, 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Wednesday, 10/15, 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Duration: 2 hour sessions + 1 hour prep per session
Enhancing the Role of Reading in the Composition Classroom and Beyond
About this FLC
This FLC explores the theory and practice of integrating reading pedagogy into the teaching of writing particularly for first-year writing courses, (but also applicable to any courses asking students to read and write regularly). In the Fall term, we will focus on scholarship about teaching reading in the writing classroom, including theories and studies on reading pedagogy for first-year writers and the relationships among reading, thinking, and writing.
Expect to read and briefly reflect on one or two articles per session in Fall term. Synchronous sessions will include discussions of the readings and our own reading practices. Participants will also complete a brief survey reflecting on current thoughts and practices on reading in their teaching of writing.
Instructors: Danica Fierman, Calin Anderson
Participation Modality: In Person (CLIMB)
Sessions:
Friday, 10/10, 9:00am – 11:00am
Friday, 11/07, 9:00am – 11:00am
Duration: 2 hour sessions + 1 hour prep per session
Exploring Reflective Practice
About this FLC
Join Christine Fanning and Colleen Latimer as we explore using reflective practice (RP) to guide, inform, and enhance our teaching.
We will be meeting twice per term and using that time to begin writing reflections about our teaching and talking about using those reflections to implement changes to our classroom. We want to give you freedom to explore RP in any way you want. You might want to reflect on a specific teaching topic or reflect broadly on items as they come up. We will be learning by doing, this will require you to commit to writing (or perhaps recording) a private reflection once or twice a week.
Instructors: Christine Fanning, Colleen Latimer
Participation Modality: Remote via Zoom
Sessions:
Friday, 10/10, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Friday, 11/07, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Duration: 1.5 hour sessions + 1.5 hour prep per session
Lived Experiences in the Classroom
About this FLC
In Lived Experiences in the Classroom, we will explore how lived experiences influence curriculum and teaching/learning community while honoring identity and culture. In addition, we will examine learners’ sense of academic belonging with funds of knowledge and on how to build classroom communities.
Outcomes:
- Identify learners’ and instructor’s lived experiences
- Develop instructor’s cultural competence
- Recognize adult learning principles in the learning environment
Instructors: Sam May-Varas, Susan Stober
Participation Modality: Remote via Zoom
Sessions:
Friday, 10/03, 12:00pm – 2:00pm | Session Topic: Identity in The Classroom
Friday, 10/17, 12:00pm – 2:00pm | Session Topic: Adult Learning Theory Introduction
Duration: 2 hour sessions + 1 hour prep per session
Seeing the World Through Deaf Lens
About this FLC
This FLC is about recognizing and respecting the unique ways Deaf people experience and interact with the world. It means valuing Deaf language, culture, and perspectives, while also working together to build a society that is more inclusive and accessible for everyone.
Instructors: Rosemary DiSiervi, Anne Grey
Participation Modality: Remote via Zoom
Sessions:
Friday, 10/24, 1:00pm – 2:30pm, The Medical Model of Deafness explains how deafness is treated by health professionals
Friday, 11/07, 1:00pm – 2:30pm, The Cultural Model of Deafness explains how Deaf people see themselves
Friday, 12/05, 1:00pm – 2:30pm, The Social Model of Deafness explains how society can make life more equal and accessible
Duration: 1.5 hour sessions + .5 hour prep per session
Social Change in the Classroom: Community Engagement through a Mutual Aid Lens
About this FLC
In this Faculty Learning Community, facilitated by the Community-Based Learning (CBL) team, we are hoping to expand our definition of community engagement to include mutual aid (Fall 2025), advocacy (Winter 2026) and storytelling (Spring 2026).
For Fall 2025, our goal is for attendees to connect with others who are interested in this form of social change and leave with a deeper understanding of mutual aid, recognizing both the benefits and constraints of the model. Participants will gain hands-on experience with mutual aid and build confidence in incorporating community engagement into their own classes.
Programming note: This FLC follows a cumulative sequence through Fall Term; sessions build on prior meetings and activity.
Instructors: Taryn Oakley, Catherine Thomas
Participation Modality: Remote via Zoom discussions + In-Person Activity*
Sessions:
Monday, 10/27, 4:00pm – 5:30pm (Zoom)
Saturday, 11/01 (2 hours, morning) or Thursday, 11/6, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm (In-Person Activity)*
Monday, 11/10, 4:00pm – 5:30pm (Zoom)
*Material is cumulative. In-Person activity required for discussion meetings. If activity times do not work for your schedule, register for one of two Workday offerings and contact instructors for other options.
Duration: 1.5 hour sessions +.5 hour prep per session, 2 hour community activity.
Supporting Teaching and Learning in a Second Language Environment
About this FLC
Do you teach students who are still learning English? Do you want simple, effective ways to help them succeed? Curious about how to better support ESOL, international, multilingual learners, ASL students — or even how to thrive as an instructor teaching in a second language yourself?
Join a friendly group of instructors from all disciplines as we share tips, try out new teaching strategies, and support each other. This is a space to learn, grow, and make your teaching even more inclusive.
Everyone is welcome — no second language needed!
Supporting Teaching and Learning in a Second Language Environment is a cohort of instructors from across disciplines who work with students for whom the language in which the class is taught is not their first language. This includes ESOL students, many International students, and World Language students. We work together to identify and explore creative implementation of best practices for teaching and learning in second language environments, and in mixed environments, where only some of the students may be using a second language.
We will also explore best practices for instructors teaching in a second language.
The FLC will include opportunities to apply and report back on teaching methods.
Instructors: Blake Schmidt, Jonathan Bilbao, Martha Bailey
Participation Modality: Remote via Zoom
Sessions:
Thursday, 10/09, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Thursday, 11/13, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Duration: 2 hour sessions + 1 hour prep per session
What the $#!^ Do Grades Mean Anyway? A Critical Interrogation of Grading Practices
About this FLC
Traditional grading practices often reflect historical inequities more than they reflect learning. How do we assess student work to encourage learning?
This faculty learning community invites you to explore alternative approaches to grading that center student growth, transparency, and inclusion. Together, we’ll investigate what traditional systems reward and how we can bend grading practices to serve student learning.
Our goal is to mix the theoretical with the practical, exploring ideas and their implementation in the classroom. We’ll read and discuss emerging research, learn about approaches like ungrading, labor-based contracts, and standards-based grading, and anchor into our own classroom practices. Our goal is not to prescribe a single method but to open space for critical reflection, experimentation, and collaboration in a supportive and reflective community.
This FLC is primarily for those who have already implemented new grading systems, but anyone with an interest in equitable grading is welcome to attend. This group will offer a supportive, interrogative environment for exploring the connections between equity and grading.
These sessions will be facilitated by Michelle Kutter, temporary full-time Math faculty and Samm Erickson, CTLE coordinator and Reading/Writing/English faculty member.
Instructors: Michelle Kutter, Samm Erickson
Participation Modality: In Person (Southeast Campus)
Sessions:
Friday, 10/17, 9:30am – 11:30am
Friday, 11/07, 9:30am – 11:30am
Duration: 2 hour sessions + 1 hour prep per session
Information: A Conversation about Creation, Influence and Consumption
About this FLC
Where does information come from? How does it reach us? How do we know if we can trust it? For the last 10 years, the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has provided a foundation for librarians’ work with students in navigating these questions. This FLC will use the Framework as a touchstone as we explore some of the complexities and currents in our information ecosphere.
This FLC is for anyone interested in thinking about information in the current day, not just librarians! Information touches us all; let’s try to make sense of it!
Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
Instructors: Tori Scott, Kerry Leek
Participation Modality: Hybrid — In-Person (CLIMB), and Remote via Zoom
Sessions:
Friday, 10/24, 9:00am – 11:00am (In-Person, CLIMB)
Wednesday, 11/12, 2:00pm – 4:00pm (Hybrid, at CLIMB or via Zoom)
Duration: 2 hour sessions + 1 hour prep per session