New Book Promotes Faculty Learning

Professor Susan Sipple (Chair of the UCBA Department of English and Communication) and Professor Robin Lightner (Chair of the UCBA Department of Behavioral Sciences) have collaborated on a book called Developing Faculty Learning Communities at Two-Year Colleges, published this fall by Stylus Publishing.
Lightner said the book is based on “the idea that teaching is a profession with specific skills that can be learned. Experienced instructors can share their wisdom about what works, and we can rely on each other to explore the scholarship about how students learn. These small professional development groups can be an ideal way for teachers to build their skills and get ideas and support from colleagues.”
“The book includes chapters written by several UCBA professors and five professors from other universities,” Sipple added. “Our authors share some wonderful ideas about how faculty members at two-year colleges can come together to form learning communities to help them teach better and write more.”
Sipple is a literature professor and has always had a love of novels in her life. The most important books in her life, she says, were those she read when she was young, because they are what led her to choose her career in English.
Lightner has also always been very fond of reading in her life, but she says that the most influential book in her life was reading Robert Cialdini’s book: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
This wasn’t their first time co-authoring. In the past they have co-authored two articles and have presented together at several conferences.
“Collaborating beats working alone,” Sipple said, “especially if you have a great co-author!”
“If I were giving advice to new faculty members, I would tell them not to reinvent the wheel or just make something up when they come across a teaching problem,” Lightner explained. “They can find many possible approaches to solve student learning problems in the teaching literature and also from their creative colleagues.”
So, if you have any interest in writing any type of publication, or you are thinking of investing in a teaching career, definitely keep these things in mind and check out their newly published book, Developing Faculty Learning Communities at Two-Year Colleges.