Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Lumen Learning Intros Professional Development Program for Faculty

Lumen Circles

The Lumen Circles platform

A new professional development offering from Lumen Learning aims to help higher education faculty improve their teaching. Lumen Circles combines an online learning platform with "facilitated fellowships" that connect faculty with peers to form a virtual community of practice.

Faculty can choose from a variety of focus areas, such as online teaching, open educational resources and open pedagogy, active learning and more. They join a cohort of 10-12 peers with similar interests for a nine-week fellowship focused on "learning and applying effective teaching practice, sharing ideas, reflective teaching and feedback," according to the company. Participants have access to faculty mentors to "consult on pedagogy, learning design, evidence-based teaching practices," and upon completing the program receive a Lumen Circles Fellowship Certificate in Effective Teaching Practice.

"Higher education is in a period of unprecedented change with faculty members at the center of a forced transformation," said Kim Thanos, CEO of Lumen Learning, in a statement. "Our goal with Lumen Circles is to help faculty develop new skills to support their students' success and their institutions' outcomes in the face of changes that demand flexibility, resilience, and sensitivity to how learning happens."

"Overwhelming research evidence points to the fact that it's not enough simply to adopt a new textbook or learning tool," commented David Wiley, co-founder and chief academic officer of Lumen Learning. "If you want to improve student outcomes, you have to invest in faculty efforts to improve their teaching. They need more than an occasional webinar or lunch hour workshop. They need opportunities for sustained, evidence-based professional development that can help them become more capable and effective at supporting their students' success. Lumen Circles makes it possible to do this essential work affordably and at scale."

For more information, visit the Lumen Learning site.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Abstract futuristic digital network with glowing padlock icons

    Microsoft Intros New Agentic AI Security Multi-Model Defense System

    A new multi-model agentic AI security system built by Microsoft's Autonomous Code Security team helped researchers find 16 new vulnerabilities across the Windows networking and authentication stack, the company anounced in a recent security blog post.

  • Profile silhouette of a person thoughtfully touching their chin, overlaid with transparent data visualizations and digital interface elements suggesting artificial intelligence and analytics.

    The Institutional Knowledge Shift Is Reshaping Higher Ed IT

    Higher education IT leaders are navigating a quiet but consequential transition: Experienced team members are retiring or leaving for private-sector roles, and the teams replacing them are smaller, newer, and often stretched thin. The result is a structural shift in how technology decisions are made, executed, and sustained.

  • laptop displaying a red padlock icon sits on a wooden desk with a digital network interface background

    Malware Turns Microsoft 365 Calendar Into Covert Attack Vector

    Security researchers at Group-IB have uncovered a Windows malware strain that turns Microsoft 365 calendars into covert channels for receiving commands and stealing files from targeted organizations.

  • person typing on a touch screen schedule plan calendar

    DOJ Extends Deadline for ADA Title II Compliance

    Institutions working to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II regulations for digital accessibility have received a temporary reprieve: The United States Department of Justice has published an interim final rule to push back the compliance deadline by one year.