Who Helps Our Faculty Learn?

I had the opportunity to sit down with a local NPR station to discuss a simple but powerful question: Who helps our faculty learn?

It’s a question we don’t ask nearly enough.

We expect students to grow in their learning. We expect institutions to improve. We expect outcomes to shift. But improvement doesn’t happen by expectation alone. It happens when educators are supported as continuous learners.

That conversation reminded me why the Continuous Learning Institute exists, and why the work of supporting educators is, in many ways, the most direct path to improving student success.

Key Takeaways

If you’re thinking about how to better support teaching and learning in your context, consider this:

Build Learning Into the Workload

Professional learning should not sit on top of the job. It should be part of it.

Move From Inspiration to Implementation

A good workshop is a starting point. Follow-through create change.

Protect Time

Biweekly, structured collaboration, protected and resourced, is transformative.

Focus Before Expanding

Clarity reduces burnout. Prioritization improves morale.

Treat Educators Like Professionals

Teach them how to access and analyze meaningful data. Give them autonomy. Give them structure. Given them support, then get out of the way.
Culture shifts.

The future of education will not be shaped by the loudest innovations. It will be shaped by the quiet, disciplined work of educators learning together, testing together, and improving together.

That is the work of the Continuous Learning Institute.

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