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The purpose of the study is to explore the experience of implementing facultyprofessional learning communities in higher education institutions in Taiwan. To achieve this goal, 118 university websites in the sample group were searched and the faculty learning community documents were collected and analyzed. The directors of four different centers for professional development in universities in Taiwan and five leaders of faculty learning communities were interviewed. The results show that the universities started the faculty learning community in 2005 and that 67% of these 118 universities offered the faculty learning community service for their teachers in 2012. The universities use these services to create opportunities for professional communication and to improve effectiveness. The community is composed of three to fifteen members, and most members come from the same university; 87% of the community funding from each university is supported by Ministry of Education (MOE) projects. The activities of the faculty learning community are flexible and varied and their topics could be modified according to the teachers’ needs and the school’s objectives The community does indeed enhance the professional ability of the faculty members, but many of them are too busy to attend the community; this problem needs to be solved. One way to promote the faculty learning community is through the use of formal assignments like curriculum design, which can produce good results. The activities correspond to the teachers’ needs and the good relationship between members is the key to the success of the community. Some suggestions are proposed based on the results.

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Center of Teacher Education, Chinese Culture University
APA: 
Chi-Yuan Chen(2014). The study of the current condition for implementing faculty professional learning community in higher education in Taiwan. Contemporary Educational Research Quarterly, 22(2), 1-46.
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