Faculty Learning Communities

We offer Faculty Learning Communities and other forms of cohorted professional development each year in the Faculty Center.  These trainings provide a unique opportunity for faculty to engage in an important project, learn something new, and connect with colleagues. 

Fall 2026

Community of Practice: Using TurnItIn Clarity for Assessing Online Writing Assignmentsin a World with GenAI

Applications Due Sept 14, 2026 by 5:00 PM 

Dates:  Sept 18, 2026-Dec 15, 2026 

Modality: Asynchronous 

Time Commitment: 5 hours to 15 hours depending on chosen program track 

Facilitator: Faculty Center and Instructional Design Team 

This community of practice supports faculty in adopting the Turnitin Clarity tool in Canvas for the Fall 2026 classes.  

 The wide availability of GenAI has renewed faculty concerns about “open assignments” and authentic learning. While some of the most promising practices to date include encouraging a focus on the learning process as opposed to the creation of a learning “product,” this paradigm shift can still leave faculty wondering what artifacts from the “process” to assess and grade, and how to determine if the process artifacts are student created for activities that occur outside of classroom meeting time.  

 This community will provide faculty participants with training on how to use the Clarity Writing assignment tool from Turnitin available on the Cougar Courses LMS platform. Clarity allows faculty to set up their writing assignments to be completed within the space of the LMS so that the writing process is visible to the instructor. Faculty will learn how to use the “writing report” tool on Clarity that shows information such as “copy and paste” ratios, time spent writing, time spent editing/revising typed text, and more. 

 The Clarity tool in Canvas has several features you can choose to use, and the track you select should align with what options you will be actively using with your students during your Fall 2026 class(es). As a reminder, the choice to use GenAI in your teaching is up to you as the faculty member and what you feel is best for your students' learning outcomes; some of the pathway options give you the choice to enable Turnitin’s AI tools within Clarity and to have Turnitin’s GenAI with guardrails for your students, but there are also options to select if you do not wish to allow access to Turnitin’s AI tools or GenAI within Clarity. 

 There are 3 different topics that faculty accepted for this training and community can choose from: 

•  How to use Clarity to access basic writing reports on student writing process 
• How to use Clarity with the Turnitin rubric feature for additional information that may support the instructor’s grading 
• How to enable limited and defined GenAI access for Clarity writing assignments for those who wish to allow Turnitin’s GenAI usage with guardrails 

Session Expectations and Format: 

This community is entirely asynchronous and online. Participants will complete training modules that will help them learn how to use the relevant features of Clarity and will engage in discussion forum activities with their fellow instructors to share insights and troubleshoot challenges about using these new LMS options. The discussion activities will require you to share your assignment designs for reflection and feedback, including your reflection on how students are engaging with your Clarity assignments. To complete this experience, all participants will complete an exit survey to help identify promising practices for faculty and share insights on realistic expectations for using these features. Participants are encouraged to use anonymized student surveys (IDS will provide one for ease of use) to collect input from student learners on their experience of using Clarity and share this feedback with the community of practice to assist fellow instructors in understanding student needs. Participants may schedule 1:1 appointments as needed with an instructional designer if they need customized help. 

Time Commitment and Compensation Rates:  

• Track 1: Using Clarity for Basic Writing Reports (5 Hours) $500 
• Track 2: Using Clarity for Basic Writing Reports and Rubric Integration (10 Hours) $1000 
• Track 3: Using Clarity for Basic Writing Reports and Enabling GenAI Options (10 Hours) $1000 
• Track 4: Using Clarity for Basic Writing Reports, Rubric Integration, and Enabling Turnitin's GenAI Options (15 Hours) $1500 

Eligibility and Compensation: 

Open to faculty teaching courses during Fall 2026.  

Priority will be granted to faculty teaching fully online, asynchronous courses who utilize writing assignments as a significant part of their assessment during the Fall 2026 semester.  Faculty who completed a Clarity Community of Practice in Summer 2026 are not eligible.

Faculty should expect to implement the tools selected from their preferred training track in their Fall 2026 course(s). See rates in section above for hours and stipend amount for each option. 

 
Training Stipends will be sent to eligible participants who complete the training modules for their track, complete all required discussion forum activities, and complete the exit survey by Dec 15, 2026. 

This community can enroll up to 25 eligible faculty. 

Apply Now

Quality Online Learning and Teaching Faculty Learning Community (QLT FLC)

Applications due by Sept 18, 2026

Leader: Dr. Meegan Feori-Payne

Quality online and hybrid courses are vital to student success. They increase student engagement and lower course DFW rates and can close student achievement equity gaps. The Quality Learning and Teaching rubric is an evaluation tool developed by the CSU Chancellor’s office to ensure the quality of online and hybrid courses. This FLC offers the opportunity for faculty to conduct self or peer reviews of online or hybrid courses with the QLT rubric. The goal of these reviews is to provide best practices and support towards designing and delivering courses that result in quality learning experiences for students.

This FLC is committed to preparing faculty who are interested in completing the informal campus review process while offering a holistic approach to teaching online and hybrid courses. Not only will you complete the locally-administered QLT certification process, by the end of this FLC you will be able to:

• set up your online or hybrid course in a way that provides support to students,
• develop assessments that effectively measure your course objectives and,
• effectively provide feedback to

Specifically, the FLC will focus on:

• Applying best practices for designing and delivering online and hybrid courses using the QLT
• Developing online and hybrid-specific strategies to increase student engagement and get the most out of your online or hybrid course
• Fostering a community of faculty who will share ideas and current examples of what they are doing in their online and hybrid courses to increase student success.

Schedule Overview

There are two tracks for the QLT FLC. Faculty members who have completed the 3-week Introduction to Teaching Online Using QLT course and earned the certificate will be on Track 2. Those who have not completed the course and earned the certificate will be on Track 1.

Meetings and Tasks Overview at a Glance:

Deadline to apply: Sept 18, 2026

Expectations and Compensation

All faculty who complete this FLC will receive local QLT Certificate suitable for WPAF.

Who should apply?

Faculty of all ranks from all colleges with Unit 3 appointments in Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 are welcome to apply! If you hold concurrent campus employment in a category other than Unit 3 (faculty) please contact the Faculty Center to confirm eligibility for this paid training opportunity. 

For questions about the Faculty Learning Community or application, please contact Dr. Meegan Feori-Payne, Faculty Fellow for QLT at mfeoripayne@csusm.edu

How will faculty be selected?

• Taught an online or hybrid course at least once in the semester before Fall 2026. The course you QLT certify must have been fully taught by you in a previous semester at CSUSM in an online or hybrid format.
• Faculty members must be the primary instructor who designs the course content for the courses they are seeking QLT certificate
• Stated interest in gaining knowledge in effective evaluation and implementation of online and hybrid best practices and getting their online courses to be QLT certified.
• Diverse representation of ranks, disciplines, and colleges
• Space will be limited to 12-15 faculty

Only Unit 3 faculty members who will be on contract with an existing Unit 3 appointment during the entire time frame of the training or professional development opportunity are eligible to be considered for a training stipend. Faculty may not request or accept professional development and/or training under this program unless they are on active pay status as a faculty bargaining unit employee. Summer stipends can only be offered to faculty who will be employed the preceding spring and subsequent fall semesters.

If you hold concurrent campus employment in a category other than Unit 3 (faculty) please contact the Faculty Center to confirm eligibility for this paid training opportunity.

Faculty are limited to a maximum of $10,000 in stipends for faculty training and professional development per fiscal year. Faculty cannot accept an offer for a stipend that will cause them to exceed this $10,000 annual limit.

All faculty members accepting a stipend must fulfill all of the stated terms and expectations that constitute completion of the training or development activity to receive the stipend.