Faculty Publications

Learning The Ropes Together: New Faculty Co-Mentoring In A “Mandatory” Community Of Practice

Document Type

Article

Keywords

co-mentoring, community of practice, mentoring, new faculty development

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice

Volume

23

Issue

7

First Page

143

Last Page

156

Abstract

We analyze the outcomes of a mandatory, research-based, semester-long new faculty development program that serves as an extended orientation to the university. Although the program is designed like a “course” and not like a faculty learning community (FLC) as many new faculty development programs are, we discovered that communities of practice (CoPs) arose as new faculty discussed expectations, learned about the wide variety of departmental and institutional processes and practices, and got to know one another. Moreover, we also noted that peer-to-peer mentoring was a significant feature of participants’ experience. We argue that although this model of new faculty development does not adhere to the usual requirements of an FLC or CoP, it nonetheless fulfilled the goals of offering new faculty support from multiple sources, fostering new faculty confidence, and enhancing their job performance and satisfaction.

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Department

Philosophy & World Religions

Original Publication Date

5-6-2023

DOI of published version

10.33423/jhetp.v23i7.6019

Link to Full Text

Comments?

Share

COinS