ԱƵ has long been known for the exceptional quality of its academic faculty and Division I coaching, but rarely do the two come together to learn from one another — until now.
A Faculty Learning Community (FLC) launched in fall 2025 to bring together classroom and athletic faculty around student-centered pedagogy. It carried into the spring semester, with participants reporting that their collaborative discussions are already bearing fruit in both classrooms and locker rooms.
“There’s very real overlap there in terms of how coaches and classroom instructors approach learning and performance, and we wanted to bring that conversation together with faculty and coaches to see how we can learn together,” said FLC participant Ken Belanger, Russell ԱƵ Distinguished University Professor of biology. “We’ve been meeting every other week throughout the fall, and the fall went so well that we wanted to continue the conversation in the spring. We’ll run out of weeks before we run out of interesting ideas.”
The concept of an FLC is not new. The idea first germinated in the 1980s at Miami University in Ohio, said Co-Director for the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research Jeff Nugent, who brought the idea to ԱƵ.
After a first FLC focused on AI and teaching was warmly received by the faculty, Nugent suggested the idea of Bridging Coaching and Teaching to see how coaching strategies can enhance student engagement and learning outcomes, as well as ways teaching techniques can inform coaching and athletic performance.
In addition to Nugent and Belanger, FLC participants included Assistant Professor of Japanese Nicholas Albertson, Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences Lauren Philbrook, Head Women's Soccer Coach Lyndse Hokanson, Head Men's Basketball Coach Matt Langel, Head Women’s Ice Hockey Coach Stefan Decosse, and Director of the Writing and Speaking Center Stacy Kastner.
The ideas from the discussions go beyond the theoretical, group members say. Langel said he took away many ideas from his conversations in the FLC, including a simple shift in how he approaches reviewing game footage with individual players after learning some ideas about physical learning arrangements in the classroom.
“I tried to start to think about that a little bit more, and I learned so much from the faculty and coaches in these conversations,” Langel said.
Instead of reviewing game footage with a player from behind his desk, Langel now takes a moment to sit next to the player to create a more open atmosphere for discussion and learning.
Learning from Hokanson about the annual tradition of having student athletes complete development plans, where they reflect upon their successes and areas in need of improvement for the next year, was a perfect example of something that could help Albertson’s academic advisees right now.
“[Hokanson] mentioned these individual development plans that the athletes do,” Albertson said. “It’s so detailed, and it’s asking them to grade themselves. We do all the grading in our academic classrooms, but a lot of it should be them reflecting on their time. Kind of like an individual development plan, and to think about the places that they want to improve.”
Kastner said her experience with student athletes as a writing instructor was the impetus for joining in the FLC.
“I’ve been genuinely moved by experiences where student athletes who have a strong sense of the value of education shepherd their teammates into office hours or writing consultations — literally walking with them, sitting with them side by side, making sure that they’re holding themselves and the institution (including me) accountable for upholding the values of educational excellence and access. Those moments made me really curious to learn more about what was happening on the fields and courts across campus that these thoughtful, caring, big-hearted student leaders were emerging from,” Kastner said.
For Decosse, the conversations have already moved the needle in his work as a coach.
“Being part of this group was one of the highlights of my year. I really appreciated the chance to learn from faculty and hear more about how they think through and design their teaching — from the way they set up a room, to how they build a syllabus, to how they prepare for the full arc of an academic year.” Decosse said. “As coaches, we teach every day, and these conversations gave me a lot to think about in terms of how we create the best possible learning environment for our student-athletes.”
Philbrook said she learned about the benefits of being very direct and intentional with her instructional goals, particularly at the start of an academic year. “I think that the close communication that coaches develop with their athletes is something that I can bring more into the classroom,” Philbrook said.
Hokanson said her conversations within the FLC about Bloom’s Taxonomy, which speaks to depth of understanding and learning in the classroom, had a number of elements that translate to her student athletes, as they build their skills through the years and begin to mentor younger players.
“It has been an incredible experience to learn from each other,” Hokanson said.
Listen to the full podcast: