Advantages to Teaching in a Cluster
Faculty teaching in the cluster program find the experience to be challenging and labor intensive. Nevertheless, they also report that engagement in the clusters offer a great many intellectual rewards. Among these:
- The challenge of creating a novel, year-long, interdisciplinary course.
- An instructional format that encourages new forms of pedagogy.
- A rare opportunity to interact with and learn from colleagues in different fields.
- The possibility of introducing undergraduate students to their work.
- A high level of instructional support
For more information on the cluster experience of faculty members, please see Section Five of The Cluster Experience of Faculty Members in the Freshman Cluster Program Self-Review. There are also three case studies in the Self-Review that can provide faculty interested in cluster teaching with valuable information about the dynamics that are involved in the development, organization, and implementation of these unique courses.
