Sustaining Uncertainty Through Collective Practice: Learning Communities as An Institutional Strategy For Faculty Development

Abstract Book of the 9th International Academic Conference on Education, Teaching and Learning

Year: 2026

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Sustaining Uncertainty Through Collective Practice: Learning Communities as An Institutional Strategy For Faculty Development

Beatriz Carvalho dos Santos, Fabiana Oliveira Paixão Fernandes

ABSTRACT:

The growing complexity and uncertainty of contemporary higher education have challenged traditional models of academic development, often centred on pre-structured courses and standardized faculty training. This paper presents a practice-based, reflective case of an institutional strategy for faculty development, examining how the implementation of an initial learning community created the conditions for a new approach by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to support and scale collaborative faculty learning across undergraduate programmes. Although the first community emerged in response to discussions around generative artificial intelligence, its most significant outcome was the consolidation of learning communities as a pedagogical infrastructure for faculty development and curricular innovation. Facilitated by the CTL, these communities were conceived as dialogical spaces for peer exchange, experimentation, and collective reflection on pedagogical dilemmas, gradually expanding to include socio-emotional issues, teaching practices, assessment strategies, and reflective approaches to teaching. This process enabled the communities to evolve into forums for broader curricular discussions and collective decision-making, directly informing the redesign of an undergraduate programme at a Brazilian higher education institution. Rather than introducing new technologies or isolated training initiatives, the innovation resided in reconfiguring academic support itself: shifting from content-driven faculty development to institutionally legitimised spaces grounded in shared sense-making, teacher agency, and professional learning through practice. Drawing on reflective analysis, the paper discusses how learning communities can connect faculty development with curriculum innovation and examines their potential for adaptation and expansion across undergraduate programmes in contexts of ongoing change.

Keywords: Academic Development; Faculty Learning Communities; Institutional Change; Pedagogical Innovation; Teacher Agency