Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning

The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) is by faculty, for faculty. We are devoted to the professional and personal growth of faculty and strive to foster a dynamic and committed campus community from across distances and disciplines while also supporting the college's strategic plan.

FCTL Advisory Board

The role of the Advisory Board is to help to develop and implement FCTL programming that best meets faculty needs, serve as FCTL ambassadors to departments across campus, plan appropriate FCTL programs, and contribute to the self-assessment of the Center. The Advisory Board membership consists of one (1) representative of each school, one (1) representative of Adams Library, one (1) representative of the Writing Board (the chair or designee; ex officio); and one (1) representative of CRCA (the chair or designee; ex officio). All members serve two-year renewable terms, except the two ex-officio members who serve renewable one-year terms. Advisory Board members are selected through a nomination process. Nominations may include recommendations by faculty, chairs, Deans or other administrators, FCTL advisory board members, FCTL director, and self-nominations, and are subject to approval by the Director and Provost.

Throughout the academic year and over the summer, the FCTL provides professional development on evidence-based practices in teaching and learning. These events allow faculty to investigate evolving teaching practices, share teaching strategies, and learn about emerging classroom technologies that enhance student success. These types of events include: 

• new faculty orientation
• faculty mentor/mentee program 
• seminars
• workshops
• book clubs
• conferences
• faculty learning communities
• individual consultations with an instructional designer 

How We Help

We can help faculty with:

• syllabus construction
• identifying learning outcomes
• principles of course design
• assessing learning (tests, assignments)
• active/engaged learning
• inclusive teaching/learning
• online course design
• hybrid/blended course design 

Additional Assistance

The FCTL can also help faculty learn about high-impact learning practices:  

• first year seminars 
• e-portfolios 
• undergraduate research
• internships
• collaboration
• service-learning
• diversity/global learning
• learning communities
• writing intensive courses*

*The Writing Board can provide more information.

Rhode Island College’s Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) promotes the professional growth and development of faculty as teachers and as scholars of teaching and learning. The FCTL cultivates a public dialogue about teaching and learning across disciplinary lines and strives to build a professional community among teachers at Rhode Island College. The FCTL serves faculty at every stage of our professional lives in order to support a campus-wide culture committed to excellence in teaching and learning. The FCTL is by faculty, for faculty.

How We Accomplish Our Mission

The FCTL is devoted to the professional and personal growth of faculty and has, as a central tenet of its mission, the goal of fostering a dynamic and committed campus community from across distances and disciplines while also supporting the college's strategic plan. As described by faculty members themselves, the FCTL at RIC: 

• Provides much-needed faculty support in a rapidly evolving profession and teaching/learning environment. The FCTL fosters a safe space for honest, productive dialogue informed by scholarship and experience from all disciplines, ranks, and full-time and part-time status.
• Promotes communication and collaboration across disciplines. The FCTL serves as an institutional hub that fosters a dynamic and committed campus community across disciplines.
• Creates an ongoing, coherent discussion of pedagogical practices in and out of the classroom. The FCTL serves as a central source of support for faculty development programs and collaboratively coordinates professional development activities, resources, and information.
• Responds to new ideas and trends in teaching and learning. With faculty members bringing in ideas from outside contacts and the Center monitoring trends in higher education, the FCTL ensures that the campus as a whole remains up to date in current pedagogical thinking.
• Has a broad impact beyond the campus. Over 90% of K-12 teachers in Rhode Island have a degree from Rhode Island College. Across all fields, the majority of our graduates remain in the state for their professional careers. Thus, the FCTL has a wide impact on the professional population and on K-12 students across the entire state.​

The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning was established with support from a generous grant from the Davis Educational Foundation.