Center for Teaching and Learning faculty Sarah Dalrymple, a clinical assistant professor, and Devshikha Bose, an instructional design consultant, facilitated a virtual, four day cross-institutional faculty learning community on planning a course for student success in May 2021. The FLC participants included 18 faculty – including three from Boise State – from five institutions belonging to the Western Cluster of the Association of Land-grant and Public Universities.
Participants were Karen Doty with the College of Innovation and Design, Ashley Nichols with the Department of Public Policy and Administration, and Sarah Hoglund with the College of Arts and Sciences. Five other Boise State faculty – Steph Cox, Joe Meredith, Chris Saunders, Shelly Volsche and Lisa Roggenbuck – supported the FLC activities as virtual breakout room facilitators.
The APLU Western Cluster Designing for Student Success FLC was directly informed by the experience of the Designing for Student Success Faculty Learning Community at Boise State, as well as expertise from the Office of Faculty Development and Academic Support at the University of Hawaii system. Funding was provided by the APLU Powered by Publics seed funding program.
The purpose of the WCDSS FLC was to explore how intentional course design and instructional strategies, which focus on student success, can be used to support students who might consider leaving the university without achieving their educational objectives. The experience was designed to help faculty add to what they are already doing to support students.