Design patterns for faculty development

Faculty development opportunities related to learning and teaching have common characteristics - every case is not new. Other disciplines, such as architecture and software design, have recognized commonalities within their fields and responded with use of "design patterns." In this paper, the authors identify three useful design patterns that have emerged in research on successful faculty development activities as models for thinking and communicating about contexts, challenges and responses in faculty development practice and outcomes. Three design patterns that have evolved in faculty development are diffusion, appreciative inquiry, and decoding the disciplines. Identification, delineation, and utilization of design patterns in faculty development have several potential benefits to STEM faculty members. First, the process promotes a paradigm shift from thinking of faculty development challenges as isolated occurrences to one that uses commonality to ease development of new activities and build on previous contributions. Second, it motivates greater application of the learning literature to faculty development by emphasizing analysis and feedback on what is going well and what can be learned from success before addressing change. Finally, it provides a way for faculty developers to think about challenges in their profession using processes familiar to them within their areas of disciplinary expertise.