Faculty Development

Faculty Professional Development

Whereas, The primary basis for faculty hiring is subject matter expertise and meeting the minimum qualifications outlined in Title 5 and in Minimum Qualifications for Community College Faculty and Administrators;

Whereas, The California community college faculty minimum qualifications has no requirement for pedagogical knowledge or teacher preparations;

Whereas, Many colleges do not have a formal faculty professional development program tied to improvement of teaching and pedagogy; and

CTE Faculty Professional Development

Whereas, Career and Technical Education (CTE) faculty have unique professional development needs that non-CTE faculty may not; and

Whereas, CTE faculty may have more contact hours per student per unit than non-CTE faculty, are often part time faculty, and have less time to collaborate with colleagues in CTE programs and maintain currency in their disciplines, and in the changing dynamics of CTE and Economic Workforce Development (EWD) within California, which directly impacts funding, programs sustainability, and student success;

Community College Faculty Exchanges

Whereas, Professional development funds and sabbaticals are limited or nonexistent in many districts; and

Whereas, Faculty can learn much by visiting other campuses and observing their processes, instructional methods and programs in a variety of capacities from short visits to a visiting appointments;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges explore methods for full-time faculty participation in faculty exchanges with colleagues at other colleges within the California Community College System, and report their findings to the body by Fall 2014.

Faculty Development Funding

Whereas, Education Code §87151 and §87154 make reference to the provision of funds for the purposes of community college faculty and staff development;

Whereas, Processes for faculty professional development activities and processes for institutional planning and budget development are among the 10+1 responsibilities of academic senates identified in Title 5 §53200;

Faculty Development Funds

Whereas, Resolution 12.01 S02 encouraged local senates to support the reinstatement of AB 1725 staff development funding and to contact local legislators and community leaders to support the reinstatement of staff development funds;

Whereas, Resolution 12.02 S02 encouraged "local senates to use their local shared governance processes to develop plans for supporting faculty and staff development if the funds are not reinstated in the Governor's 2002 - 2003 budget";

Cultures of Instructional Improvement

Whereas, The Academic Senate paper Faculty Development: A Senate Issue, adopted Spring 2000, calls for the design of faculty development activities of a sustained and collective nature geared toward teaching excellence;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate develop a paper that examines the benefits of creating "cultures of instructional improvement" at California Community Colleges, providing local senates with direction, models and resources.

Developing Goals for Faculty Development Committees

Whereas, Due to the state budget crisis, funds for professional development are being routinely slashed for colleges across the state, and as a result faculty development opportunities and activities, which are the lifeblood of our faculty and a major component of student success, are being cut;

Whereas, Re-educating and enriching faculty professionally is an essential component of faculty growth and student success and a key component of AB 1725;

Faculty Development and Local Senates

Whereas, Title 5 53200 provides that policies for faculty development are subject to collegial consultation;

Whereas, Local senates should regularly engage in defining professional development needs and designing and planning faculty development activities;

Whereas, Some local boards of trustees and administrators within the California Community College System are not appropriately supportive of local senate policies and requests for professional development and academic support; and

Orientation Training

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges support the concept of mentoring to include all new and part-time instructors, and

Resolved that the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage local colleges to implement orientation training, as needed, for new and part-time faculty.

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