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Faculty as Learners: Developing Thinking Communities

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Abstract

The shifting demographics of faculty ranks, expansion of faculty work, and the expectations of accountability and revenue production place new demands on today’s faculty. Collaborating with other faculty members is one option for easing workload demands and reinvigorating faculty members in the conduct of their teaching and research. In this article we discuss the importance of collaboration among faculty members in deriving new strategies for the classroom and approaches to research, and we provide suggestions for moving beyond short term collaborations and toward the creation of thinking communities that have the potential to re-energize faculty members and bring passion back to their work.

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Correspondence to Regina L. Garza Mitchell.

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Eddy, P.L., Garza Mitchell, R.L. Faculty as Learners: Developing Thinking Communities. Innov High Educ 37, 283–296 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-011-9202-z

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