Faculty Excellence Handbook

Handbook for

Faculty Excellence

A program for professional development

2014 - 2015

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Faculty Excellence Program

The Faculty Excellence Program is one component of the Staff Development Program at Shasta College.The purpose of the Faculty Excellence Program is to provide time for faculty to participate in professional development (PD)activities that are related to personal improvement, student improvement, and instructional improvement.

At Shasta College this is an opportunity for faculty to pursue projects that will benefit students and improve their own teaching, to meet with colleagues for wide ranging discussions about teaching and learning and generally, to move the college toward excellence.

Annual Hourly Requirements for the Faculty Excellence Program

The Faculty Excellence Program provides sixty-six hours (eleven days) each year for full-time faculty to engage in professional development. Twelve of these hours are designated for All College Days, twelve are designated for participation in area-planning and learning outcomes assessment, and the remaining forty-two hours are for the individual professional development activities necessary to support each faculty member’s Annual Professional Development Plan.

  1. All College Days- one each semester, six hours each12 hours
  2. Area-Planning and Learning Outcomes Assessment12 hours
  3. Individual Professional Development Activities(to support
    goal(s) listed on the Annual Professional Development Plan)42 hours

66 hours total

Part-time faculty members are encouraged to participate in the Faculty Excellence Program and are paid for up to six hours to encourage participation. In some instances, part-time faculty members may be required to engage in some of the above professional development opportunitiesto receive maximum pay. Appendix A explains the formula for part-time faculty. Part-time faculty are not required to write an Annual Professional Development Plan.

The Annual Professional Development Plan

Generally, each year by April 15th,everyfull-time faculty member will create anAnnual Professional Development Planfor the following year. (Since the program is new in 2014, faculty have until August 30th to submit create an Annual Professional Development Plan unless they want to do an activity that needs approval during the summer.)The plan will listthe faculty member’s professional development goal(s) for the year. The Annual Professional Development Plan covers the time period July 1 thru June 30. The plan is submitted to the dean for approval. Approval will be based on the following criteria:

  1. Each goal listed should fall into at least one of the broad categories:personal improvement, student improvement and instructional improvement.
  2. Each goal listed should have a stated outcome.

During the year, faculty will engage in at least 42 hours of individual professional development activities that support the goal(s) stated in the Annual Professional Development Plan.

At the end of the year, by June 30th, faculty will complete the Annual Professional Development Plan by attaching a Final Report of Individual Professional Development Activities Completed.

A faculty can propose a revision their Annual Professional Development Plan at any time by resubmitting a revisedAnnual Professional Development Plan.

The Annual Professional Development Plan Formand the Final Report of Individual Professional Development Activities Completed areall available on the Faculty Excellence Program website.

Chapter 2: The Three Typesof Professional Development

Full-time faculty are required to complete sixty-six hours(eleven days)of professional development each year between July 1 and June 30. Professional development opportunities fall into three types and the number of hours designated for each type is as follows:

  1. All College Days- one each semester, six hours each12 hours
  2. Area-Planning and Learning Outcomes Assessment12 hours
  3. Individual Professional Development Activities(to support
    goal(s) listed on the Annual Professional Development Plan)42 hours

66 hours total

All College Days – 12 Hours

Each academic yeartwo All College Dayswill be scheduled; one during Fall semester, and one during Spring semester. Most frequently an All College Day will be worth six hours. In the event a day is designated as more than six hours then the extra hour(s) will automatically be applied toward the forty-two required hours for PD Activities. If a fulltime faculty member does not attend anAll College Day, one day will be deducted from their sick leave balance since these days are considered mandatory. Faculty verify their attendance at anAll College Day by completing the All College Day Evaluation Form available to download on the Faculty Excellence Program website. Faculty should submit onecompleted form for each All College Day attended to their dean by May 30.

Area-Planning and Learning Outcomes Assessment – 12Hours

Thesehours are specifically designated to give faculty time to (1) meet together with other faculty to write an Area Plan andProgram Review, and (2) assess learning outcomes (SLOs, PLOs, GELOs) and report assessment results. Each full-time faculty member is credited twelve hours each academic year. The twelve hours are not meant to be an exact hour count of the time it will take to complete these two activities. The college recognizes that during any given year, faculty may spend more or less than twelve hours. For example, Program Reviews are not completed every year. The college estimates that on the average faculty will need approximately twelve hours in any given year to write an Area Plan, Program Review, and to assess learning outcomes and to report the results. It is not necessary that faculty track or report these hours; however if it becomes apparent that a faculty member is not participatingthen these hours will be deducted from the sick leave balance of that faculty member.

Individual Professional Development Activities – 42 Hours

Individual professional development activities are the activities that support the individual goal(s) each faculty member has listed on their Annual Professional Development Plan. Each of these activities should be pre-approved and should total 42 hours. Individual professional development activities are discussed in greater detail in the next chapter.

Chapter 3: Types ofIndividual Professional Development Activities

Individual professional development activities are the activities that support the individual goal(s) each faculty member has listed on their Annual Professional Development Plan. The activities may be 1) a pre-approved activity and not need dean approval, or 2) a project that needs dean approval.

1: Pre-Approved Individual Professional Development Activities

The Faculty Excellence Committee has compiled a Menu of Pre-Approved Individual Professional Development Activities.These are activities that have the PD Seal of Approval which means that the activities have been pre-approved and therefore do not require dean approval. During the year, after the menu is published,additional opportunities may arise that could be pre-approved by the Faculty Excellence Committee. Look for the PD Seal of Approval on workshop announcements. Each of these activities will have its own registration or sign-in sheet to ensure that you are credited with the appropriate number of hours.

If a faculty member has an idea for developing and facilitating a workshop or activity that would be designated as having the PD Seal of Approval, they should write a proposal and submit the proposal to the Faculty Excellence Committee for approval. Workshop/activity proposals should describe the scope of the workshop/activity, list the expected outcomes of the workshop/activity and the number of hours being requested for each faculty member who attends the workshop/activity. The Faculty Excellence Committee will base approval on:

  1. A workshop/activity must include topics that fall under at least one of the three broad categories: personal improvement, student improvement and instructional improvement.
  2. The hours listed for the project must be reasonable.

2: Projects Needing Dean Approval

To achieve a goal listed on the Annual Professional Development Plan, a faculty member may choose to create a project proposal. Projects are encouraged, especially those that support a college goal or respond to a faculty member’s conclusions based on SLO assessments. Group projects are also encouraged.

Some examples of projects are:

  1. Research how to “flip a classroom, meet with other faculty who have implemented this change, implement change and summarize results. The project could include doing a workshop for other faculty and/or visiting other colleges.
  2. Meet with Student Services staff and counselors to determine ways to better market a program, design materials and other information, and make contact with high school and community groups.
  3. Develop a student club, recruit members, create bylaws and begin holding meetings/having activities.

A project must include activities that fall under at least one of the three broad categories: personal improvement, student improvement and instructional improvement. The following table is meant to inspire ideas for projects in each of the three categories.

Category 1 – Personal Improvement Related to Job Performance

Participate on an advisory committee that is related to your field of expertise

Take a class to improve in a way that would benefit the college

Develop a workshop that would be included on the Menu of Pre-Approved Individual Professional Development Activities or have the PD Seal of Approval

Category 2 – Student Improvement

Develop a student success webinar

Create an online resource guide

Department meeting for the purpose of deep discussions of learning outcomes results

Develop a student club, recruit members and help get the club started

Develop a marketing plan for your program

Category 3 – Instructional Improvement

Sit in on a class for a semester that many of your students take

Attend a conference

Flip a classroom

Projects will need dean pre-approval since they are not on the Menu of Pre-Approved Individual Professional Development Activitiesand do not have the PD Seal of Approval. Project proposals should describe the scope of the project, list the expected outcomes of the project, give a general timeline, list all faculty who will be participating in the project, the cost of the project (if applicable) and the number of hours being requested for each faculty member participating in the project. Project proposals are submitted to the dean who will base approval on:

  1. The project supports a goal(s) listed on the Annual Professional Development Plan.
  2. The hours listed for the project must be reasonable.
  3. The project activities fall into one of the three broad categories: personal improvement, student improvement and instructional improvement.

If the project is a group project and the faculty participating in the project have different deans then the deans involved will meet and jointly approve or deny the project.

If a project proposal includes a budget, for example, if the project includes attending a conference, then after the dean approves the project, the proposal will be forwarded to the Faculty Excellence Committee who will consider the cost and determine approval. The Faculty Excellence Committee will develop a rubric to guide its decisions.

Individual Professional Development hours will not be approved for:

  1. Activities that are contractual. For example holding office hours, serving on committees, or calculating grades.
  2. An activity that is (or can be) used to advance on the salary schedule.
  3. Duties for which a stipend is available. A list of stipends available is in Section 7.3 of the 2014 – 2017 Faculty Contract .
  4. Attendance at an All College Day or participation in theArea-Planning and Learning Outcomes Assessment activities that are included in the twelve hours credited all full-time faculty.

Chapter 4: Financial Support

For 2014-15, four stipends will be available to faculty to assist with the implementation of the program. During the year, it will be determined what resources are needed for the program in the future.

In addition, through the Initiative process, more resources may be requested to assist with faculty professional development generally.

Chapter 5: Committees and Centers to Support Professional Development

Professional Development Committee

The Professional Development Committee is a long-standing group at the college that oversees professional development for all faculty, staff and administrators.

Faculty Excellence Committee

At this time the Faculty Excellence Committee is an ad hoc committee of the Academic Senate and Instructional Council. The purpose of this committee is to:

  1. Develop a procedure for the Faculty Excellence Program for the 2014 – 2015 academic year.
  2. Make recommendations to the Academic Senate and the Professional Development Committee for the formation of a standing college committee called the Faculty Excellence Committee. This committee will either be a sub-committee or a joint committee of the Academic Senate
  3. This standing committee with its full membership will develop long-term procedures for the Faculty Excellence Program.

Center for Teaching and Learning

At this time the Center for Teaching and Learning is a vision. Faculty will be working together during the next year to implement this project.

Important Dates

Each year by April 15th, every full-time faculty member will create an Annual Professional Development Plan

Faculty should submit one completed form for each All College Day attended to their dean by May 30

At the end of the year, by June 30th, faculty will complete the Annual Professional Development Plan by attaching a Final Report of PD Activities Completed.

Appendix A – Hourly Obligation for Part-Time Faculty

To be determined each year based on individual contracts and the academic calendar. Each PT faculty member affected will be notified of their number of flex hours in their contract. As a rule of thumb, any class meeting that falls on a designated flex day will be replaced (hour for hour) with a flex hour. PT faculty will have a variety of choices available to meet their flex obligations. Only Weekly Census courses lose class meeting time to flex days; therefore, this change affects only those courses.

Appendix A – Appeal Process

To be determined. We anticipate that the Faculty Excellence Committee will hear appeals from denials by deans of any flex projects.

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