Peabody faculty members are learning to better mentor students, to enhance the experience of international students, to incorporate technology in piano instruction, and to explore interdisciplinary research that intersects with music and health. At the same time, they are also building interdepartmental relationships that improve not only their teaching but also their professional satisfaction.
This semester marks the third year of the Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs), a cross-disciplinary program that features faculty and staff meeting regularly in groups of 6 to 15 members to discuss challenges and opportunities they face with their students.
Each FLC creates and follows a curriculum based on the topic it has selected. Subjects for this year include “Bridging Music and Dance: Collaborative Possibilities,” “Sound Studies and Sonic/Media Arts,” and “Best Practices for Mentoring Students.”
“FLCs are a group of people who share a concern, set of problems, or a passion about a topic which they choose,” says Valerie Hartman, senior instructional designer in the Department of Learning Innovation. “The program’s been a tremendous opportunity to connect with people across the institute, from the Preparatory to the Conservatory, and generate different perspectives. It’s given everyone a chance to learn more about the institute and how they can improve it.”
She says the idea for these communities grew in response to the academic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Figuring out how to function online for the first time in 2020 brought many faculty members together to problem solve. So far five FLC groups have met several times each semester both in person and online. Hartman saysshe’s particularly heartened that the participants hail from more than two dozen departments.
Last semester, Anicia Timberlake co-chaired a community dedicated to facilitating difficult conversations in the arts. A musicologist with specializations in 20th-century music, childhood, and politics, she teamed up with Marc C. von May Distinguished Chair of Vocal Studies Elizabeth Futral, an internationally acclaimed soprano. Their group explored ways to better communicate with students who faced ethical dilemmas, such as being cast to perform as a character of a different ethnicity.
“If the student asks, ‘Is it appropriate for me to sing this role?’ and we just say, ‘Yes,’ then we’re not hearing the need behind their question,” Timberlake says. “Their need may be to have a larger discussion about justice in the world. You have your own perspective, but you also want to help them develop theirs. The learning community is about finding tools to help students work through theirown [questions].”
This semester Futral is co-chairing the FLC on mentoring with composer Vid Smooke, who teaches music theory. One topic for discussion is how to counsel students whose career ambitions change. “Instead of giving them a prescriptive way of pursuing whatever it is they want to pursue, our strategy is to help them discover exactly what would be most satisfying and productive for them, which looks different for each person,” Futral says. “We’re trying to figure out how our mentoring can help them uncover ways to success.”
Timberlake and Futral believe that participating in a Faculty Learning Community has improved the way they relate to students who seek their advice. “I’ve always thought that teaching is about allowing each person to grow,” Timberlake says. “FLCs have given me more tools to understand how that can happen.”
What is also rewarding, she says, is learning how to be a better teacher alongside colleagues you barely knew. “We are all involved in teaching our students to be the future of music, but we don’t always have connections with people outside of our departments,” she says.
Futral agrees. “When the faculty relate to one another and are used to working together, it’s also really good for the students.”