Faculty Development
CLA Document
This Common Learning Agenda should be perceived in terms of goals that the Arts and Sciences Faculty adopts for the courses and the curriculum of the College rather than simply in terms of requirements for students. Only the faculty can implement curricular change. Therefore, a successful program must include opportunities for faculty to develop and to share the knowledge and teaching strategies relevant to the goals of that program. Faculty development to support this program will address incorporation of the Common Learning Objectives throughout the program. Specific areas of attention include development of Foundation Seminars and Capstone Experiences, incorporation of the Pedagogical Goals in Disciplinary Breadth courses, discussions and implementation of divisional specifications for the Disciplinary Breadth component, development of courses to meet the Broadened Perspectives requirement and any new or revised Distributional Guidelines, and departments' and programs' discussions of Disciplinary Depth and the Common Learning Objectives.
A variety of faculty development activities will be necessary and will be funded in addition to existing programs currently administered by the Faculty Development Committee. The University recently has obtained funds from the NEH and from the Hewlett Foundation that will create an endowment to be used for this purpose if a general education program such as this Common Learning Agenda is adopted in a timely manner. Additional funds will be sought from sources that have already indicated interest in providing an initial impetus to curricular revisions. Funding for faculty will be available on the level of developing components of the program, on the level of addressing particular types of goals in a variety of courses, and on the level of development of individual faculty members' knowledge of sources or pedagogy in areas that are new to their teaching.
The types of activities will vary according to the need being addressed. It is anticipated that the total program of faculty development will support summer stipends for individual and group curricular development projects, stipends for faculty workshop presenters and participants, travel to professional meetings on teaching and curriculum, released time for faculty consultants and those intensely involved in course development, visits by outside consultants, and the like.
A base of faculty development addressing curricular and pedagogical development has been established at Bucknell by the Faculty Development Committee, the Faculty Advisory Committee on Teaching (FACT), the Writing Center, Bertrand Library User Education Services, Computer Services, the Race/Gender Resource Center, and programs funded by recent outside grants such as the Sloan Foundation technology program, NEHfunded development of the Writing Program and of Humanities courses, the Mellon Seminars, and the Pew Science Program. In addition, the effectiveness of using the expertise of our own faculty in collaborative processes of curricular and pedagogical development has been illustrated in the process of preparing faculty to teach HU98 and 150 (now 200), in workshops supporting the Writing Program, in Race/Gender Resource Center panels, and in "Nuts and Bolts" sessions sponsored by FACT. We have much expertise and many successful initiatives on which to build.
