Establishing Virtual Communities of Practice to Support Chemical Engineering Faculty Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This is a Work in Progress (WIP) Paper: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, chemical engineering departments from around the world shifted their course offerings from in-person to online almost instantaneously. The AIChE Education Division took a substantial step in aiding faculty by establishing multiple Virtual Communities of Practice that allowed faculty to share experiences, best practices, and provide support. This paper will highlight the early development and overall structure of the AIChE Virtual Communities of Practice program. Other aspects we seek to discuss include potential strategies to assess the impact of this program on faculty development and related topics. We seek to present this paper in the Faculty Development Division so that we can disseminate our work in the area of faculty development to the broader engineering education community outside the Chemical Engineering Division. (We are also willing to present this paper as part of the Chemical Engineering Division, should the Program Chair decide). ***Since this work and program will most likely continue during the Spring 2021 and possibly Fall 2021 semester, we seek to present this as a Work in Progress (WIP) Paper in order to both present our early work so far and to receive feedback for implementation in later semesters.