Center for Teaching And Learning Excellence

Faculty Learning Communities

Faculty Learning Communities CTLE

About Faculty Learning Communities

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) 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.

Faculty Learning Communities use the lens of teaching and learning in their programming, but are open to all PCC Staff. Everyone is welcome.?

Cohort enrollment cap: Each FLC cohort is limited to approximately 15–20 participants. Please register only for sessions you plan on attending.

Registration instructions and FAQs

General instructions for registration are below (expand each section to see more).

Detailed instructions are available in the FLC Participation Guidelines?A list of FLCs and their details is further down this page.

??Please enroll at least 3 business days in advance.?If enrolling fewer than 3 business days before the event, email your instructors directly. Their emails are in the registration information below. (Expand each FLC for session information)

??Note on Confirmation / Gmail Calendar Invites:? Your Zoom confirmation email includes a link to add the event to your calendar. Do not use the “Google Event Helper” which may show up above your message in inbox – it will not include your unique link or correct duration time. Please see the FLC Participation Guidelines for a detailed explanation and where to find the correct link for calendaring in the body of Zoom confirmation message.

How do I register?
  1. Pick your FLC from the list below (expand each header to see details)
  2. Select FLC sessions you would like to attend. Note that some FLCs are cumulative; check description
  3. Register with your PCC email (active PCC Zoom account is required).? You must register for all FLCs – even if in-person or Hybrid
???PCC email and Zoom required
  • You must register and attend using your PCC email and its associated Zoom account. If your account is not yet active, sign in at portlandcc.zoom.us first.
  • Attendance Links are unique to your registration and non-transferable.
  • For hybrid meetings (in-person or Zoom), campus and room information is shared in the confirmation email.
Where do I submit accommodation requests?

In alignment with PCC, the CTLE is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all our programming. Please email the CTLE program coordinators at ctle@pcc.edu as early as possible with any requests.

I only want to attend, no transcript or stipend needed
  • Registration with PCC credentials is still required for all FLCs.
  • Access to the Zoom meeting is not available without registration.
What about my Workday Learning transcript?

Attendance will be recorded and added to your learning transcript in Workday at the end of the term.

I need additional assistance

Spring? 2026 FLCs and registration links

Expand each section to see the full overview and meeting registration links.

Between a Bot and a Hard Place

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.

What the $#!^ Do Grades Mean Anyway? A Critical Interrogation of Grading Practices

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.

Information: A Conversation About Creation, Influence, and Consumption

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

This is a Hybrid FLC – You may attend in-person or remotely. Campus room location available after registration via Zoom.

Culture and Clicks: Fostering Belonging Through Technology

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.

Enhancing the Role of Reading in the Composition Classroom and Beyond

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).

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. 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.

Exploring Reflective Practice

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, which will require you to commit to writing (or perhaps recording) a private reflection once or twice a week.

Lived Experiences in the Classroom

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 how to build classroom communities.

Details
Seeing The World Through a Deaf Lens

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.

Social Change in the Classroom: Community Engagement through a Storytelling Lens

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 Spring 2026, our goal is for attendees to learn more about storytelling as a way to create positive change. Participants will learn more about storytelling through exploring examples and will build confidence in incorporating community engagement into their own classes.

?? This is a cumulative FLC and includes a 2-hour in-person activity between Session 1 & 2 of the term. This activity scheduled by facilitators.?

Supporting Teaching and Learning in a Second Language Environment

Do you teach students who are still learning English? Curious how to better support ESOL, international, multilingual, or ASL students—or how to thrive as an instructor teaching in a second language?

Supporting Teaching and Learning in a Second Language Environment is a cohort of instructors who work with students whose first language is not the language of instruction, including ESOL, international, and World Language students. Together, we explore and apply best practices for teaching in second-language and mixed-language classrooms—and for instructors teaching in a second language—with opportunities to implement strategies and share results.

Join a friendly, cross-disciplinary group of instructors to share tips, try new approaches, and support one another. This is a space to learn, grow, and make your teaching more inclusive. Everyone is welcome—no second language required.