Longing for learning: Exploring collegial inquiry as a dimension of learning community development in community colleges

New challenges and complexities are surfacing in the postsecondary educational environment every day. Faced with pressures for accountability and concrete outcomes, higher education leaders are engulfed by ever-changing professional demands and more than a little discomfited by their own needs for learning and support. These leaders are educators and fervent learners, hungry for opportunities to stimulate their intellectual exploration and enhance their stewardship capacities. This study explores collegial inquiry as a dimension of adult learning among academic deans within the community college environment. Two research questions guided this study: How does collegial inquiry, as a practice among a group of academic deans at a large, urban Northern California community college, impact their engagement and learning? Is collegial inquiry effective in promoting learning community development, fostering awareness of individual assumptions, facilitating transformational learning, and enhancing self-efficacy among academic deans at a large, urban Northern California community college?;A professional learning community serves as the holding environment, offering the supportive context these academic administrators need for cognitive and social development. The practice of collegial inquiry, an embedded attribute of the professional learning community, fosters transformational learning; learning that alters how these leaders make sense of their professional experiences and broadening their perspectives on work and life complexities.;This qualitative case study employs questionnaires, observation sessions, and follow-up interviews to investigate the impacts of collegial inquiry on participants' learning, their levels of engagement, and their personal senses of self-efficacy.;Applying notable learning theories and thematic patterning, the study's key findings reveal strong intersections between collegial inquiry and learner engagement, between collegial inquiry and community development, and between collegial inquiry and adult self-efficacy and transformational learning. Equally compelling are suggestions within the study's results of collegial inquiry as an influencer of organizational improvements and institutional change.;Recommendations for future research, including replications of collegial inquiry explorations among diverse populations of educators and investigations of potential intersections of collegial inquiry with leadership practices and professional mobility are presented. Implications for educational practice are also shared, including suggestions for viewing and supporting all learners within an organization and for effecting adaptive expertise and leadership among practitioners.