Faculty Development and Dissemination of Knowledge on Active Learning by Higher Education Leaders

With faculty development programs being more present around higher education institutions worldwide, researchers question their effectiveness as how it benefits faculty members and students. For development programs to take place, effective dissemination processes must become a common practice, and be strongly encouraged by the leadership. This paper presents a case study on how dissemination of knowledge works after leaders of several Brazilian institutions that are part of a consortium attend a weeklong workshop on active learning methodologies. This study employed a mixed methods approach utilizing the review of program documentation, an online leader survey, and virtual interviews with select participants. This multi-phase study revealed several ways leaders disseminate knowledge within and outside their institutions - including internal and external communities of practice - and that in most cases the high administration is willing to invest on creating an environment which fosters the dissemination. However, some challenges still compromise the complete effectiveness of the dissemination, including the involvement of the leadership of the consortium post-program. This paper sheds light on the role of leaders in this process in addition to presenting a case study in Latin America, context that is still understudied.