Explore Impactful Teaching
Lumen Circles Fellowships: Learning Communities for Effective Teaching
SUNY Point of Contact: Chris Price (Chris.Price@suny.edu)
Lumen Learning Point of Contact: Tori Matthews (tori@lumenlearning.com)
Lumen Circles Fellowships provide opportunities to connect with other faculty members as you explore effective instructional practices that support student success and apply them in your own teaching. Through the fellowship you can learn, share ideas, and develop professionally in the areas you want to grow.
Lumen Circles Fellowships are available at NO COST to SUNY faculty and campuses.
Lumen Circles work well for any faculty member, in any discipline, at any stage of career. You do NOT need to use courseware to be eligible for this program.
Read on to learn more and apply for a Lumen Circles Fellowship, offered in partnership with the SUNY Center for Professional Development, SUNY OER Services, and Lumen Learning.
What is this Fellowship About?
This fellowship helps you grow as a teacher, with a supportive community around you.
Lumen Circles Fellowships invite you to collaborate with fellow faculty members through virtual learning circles. Together you explore evidence-based practices, reflect on your teaching experiences, and share ideas and feedback.
Fellowships include:
- 9-week community of practice with faculty from multiple institutions
- Weekly activities to explore, apply, and reflect on effective teaching practices (~2 hours/week)
- Build on your strengths and develop skills to expand your teaching repertory
- Set goals and track progress expanding your teaching practice profile
- Work asynchronously in a virtual platform (website) to fit your own schedule
- Earn a Lumen Circles Fellowship Certificate in Effective Teaching Practice
Choose a Theme: How would you like to develop as a teacher?
Lumen Circles Fellowships connect you with faculty members interested in growing professionally in the same direction you want to grow. Upcoming themes include:
- Evidence-based Teaching with Generative AI: Wanting to use Generative AI appropriately with students? This circle invites faculty to explore generative AI in the context of evidence-based teaching practices. Throughout the fellowship, educators will learn how AI tools can help them personalize learning, enhance engagement, provide students with valuable feedback, all while learning about and following evidence-based teaching practices. This Circle is for faculty who are new to teaching with Generative AI.
- Advanced Generative AI for Teaching & Learning: The Advanced Generative AI for Teaching and Learning fellowship explores the transformative power of using AI from a wide range of perspectives – from prompt engineering, to creating with images, audio, and video, to creating custom chatbots and analyzing data for your course. Throughout the fellowship, you will learn how AI tools can help you make learning more engaging, save time on administrative and other tasks, as well as help students prepare for their future AI use in the workplace. This Circle is for faculty who have been using Gen AI in their teaching materials, with students, and want to deepen their Gen AI use and practice.
- Active Learning: This circle provides opportunities to explore strategies and tools to engage students more actively in the learning process, whether educators are teaching face-to-face, online, and/or hybrid classes. Faculty fellows will practice active learning strategies aligned with Lumen Circles’ evidence-based teaching framework and reflect on their impact. Through learning by doing and experience-sharing, they will also enrich their understanding of effective student engagement techniques and how to make learning interactive to support students’ success.
- Fostering Belonging for Student Success: The Fostering Belonging for Student Success Circle is about creating environments where all students feel they belong and can thrive personally and academically. We do this by building skills around evidence-based teaching practices that help us teach inclusively and effectively. By engaging in a community of practice, you will share ideas with others in your Circle and bring your learning into the classroom to ensure students feel they belong in your class.
- Course Design for Student Success: Lumen Circle’s Course Design for Student Success fellowship encourages educators to use innovative, evidence-based strategies to create courses where each student feels included and empowered. The Circle curriculum examines the advantages of backward design and universal principles that ensures a learning landscape where faculty listen carefully and respond constructively to students, and students take ownership of their learning and content mastery.
- Evidence-based Teaching: This circle delves deeply into Lumen Circles’ evidence-based teaching framework and how it supports student success. Faculty fellows will practice evidence-based teaching strategies and reflect on their impact. Through learning by doing and experience-sharing, faculty will explore backward design, learning outcome alignment, differentiated instruction, assessment design, and other evidence-based practices that contribute to improving learning and teaching effectiveness.
- Online Teaching Foundation: Designed for faculty who are newer to teaching online, this circle focuses expressly on the online modality and provides opportunities to explore and apply best practices that align with Lumen Circles’ evidence-based teaching framework. Faculty fellows will practice highly effective teaching strategies for the online modality and reflect on their impact. Through learning by doing and experience-sharing, faculty develop their teaching capabilities with techniques that engage students in the online setting and support their success.
- Teaching with OER & OER-enabled Pedagogy: This circle invites fellows to explore how to apply evidence-based teaching strategies in the context of using OER and OER-enabled pedagogy. Through learning by doing and experience-sharing, faculty develop their teaching capabilities with techniques that use the principles of open education to engage students and strengthen their success. Learn to use and create openly-licensed content in concert with students. (Note: Prior to the fellowship, you should identify OER content you plan to use with students during your fellowship term.)
What SUNY faculty are saying about the Lumen Circles Fellowship Experience
Watch this video to hear recent Lumen Circles Fellows from the SUNY system discuss how the fellowship experience impacted their teaching.
SUNY Application Form: Lumen Circles Programs
Complete the form below to apply for a Lumen Circles Fellowship and/or the Success Accelerator Program.
Eligibility: Due to the focus on teaching effectiveness, Lumen Circles programs are for faculty who are actively teaching at least one course during the term of fellowship.
If your application is approved, you will be asked to commit to participating fully during the term(s) when you are accepted to this program. A limited number of seats are available, so apply now!
The information you provide in this form will be shared with our point of contact at your institution. From time to time, we may also send you information, invitations to webinars and other events to learn more about Lumen Circles.
Lumen Circles Fellowship FAQs
How does the virtual learning circle work?
Lumen Circles use a purpose-built platform for faculty professional development. To participate in your virtual learning circle, you'll log into the Lumen Circles website. There you will engage with the members of your circle and do activities designed to help you explore your circle theme and teaching choices. You'll practice new skills, share your experiences, and give feedback to your peers. A facilitator helps guide circle members, or fellows, through the process.
How much time does it take?
Lumen Circles Fellowships typically take place over eight or nine weeks. You'll spend on average 2 hours per week with fellowship-related activities. Most of the time you'll work asynchronously, fitting the fellowship activities into your own schedule. On a week where circumstances prevent faculty fellows from participating fully, there is an option to “take a break.”
Who's in my Lumen Circle and how will we interact?
You'll join a virtual circle of 10-12 professors teaching similar disciplines, often at other institutions, along with a peer facilitator. Together you will reflect on your classroom work, connect it to evidence-based instructional practices, and provide feedback to each other. This supportive community becomes your sounding board, thought partners, and cheerleaders as you make gains in your teaching.
What do I need to participate?
You need to be teaching a class during the fellowship. You'll also need a computer or mobile device with internet access.
Who are the facilitators?
Lumen Circles facilitators are current and former college or university faculty members who have a strong interest and expertise in evidence-based instruction. They are trained by going through a similar process to the fellowship experience. Their purpose is to guide the circle through learning and reflection processes as you explore and apply effective teaching practices.