Implementing the scholarship of teaching and learning in the Community College Office Administration classroom a faculty learning community initiative
The community college enrolls over 40 percent of all higher education undergraduate students (Mullin, 2012) Recent calls for educational reform and demands for accountability within higher education have placed increasing pressure on community colleges to produce learning and increase student success. Professional development has become necessary to assist faculty in improving teaching practice. Faculty learning communities are a faculty development initiative that can contribute to changes in instruction that improve student learning. Those who engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) movement can help improve teaching and/or learning through systematic inquiry into student learning, application of findings to practice, dissemination of results, self reflection, and peer review (Cambridge, 2001) In addition, those who engage in the SoTL seek to improve teaching and learning in the classroom and advance the practice of teaching. This study implemented the scholarship of teaching and learning in the Office Administration Department of a large metropolitan area community college through the use of a faculty learning community. This mixed methods case study captured qualitative data from faculty learning community members through dialogue, audio recordings and surveys. Student participants completed a pretest/post test assignment through a skills assessment manager instructional technology tool and the results provided quantitative data for the study. The qualitative data were analyzed for common themes and the major findings were that class size and course delivery method had little effect on student learning. Quantitative data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS software and the findings showed that student learning was impacted through the use of the instructional technology implemented for the study.