Whereas community colleges in California are facing a new and unprecedented series of challenges stemming from an influx of new students and rapidly changing social, political, economic and technical conditions, and
Whereas the faculty in the California Community Colleges face the following challenges: burnout, isolation, aging, transitions, and changing demographics, and
Whereas the Instructional Skills Program addresses the problems listed above by providing an opportunity for the improvement of instructional techniques while contributing to individual renewal and the development of a sense of community among faculty, and
Whereas the Instructional Skills Program has proven a viable faculty development in the ten years that it has been operational in British Columbia and California, and an estimated 3,000 faculty members have successfully completed Instructional Skills Workshops in both Canada and California since the inception of the Program, and
Whereas with limited support of the Fund for Instructional Improvement over the past three years 131 faculty have been trained as ISW facilitators to serve 40 California Community Colleges, and
Whereas the potential benefits of the program are far-reaching and directly address the problems identified as facing the California community colleges, and
Whereas there is a need to provide permanent funding for the maintenance and support of the Instructional Skills Program,
Resolved that the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges support the establishment of continued state funding for ongoing coordination and support to maintain the viability of the Instructional Skills Program and to expand the program to all community colleges, and
Resolved that the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges support the following goals of the Instructional Skills Program:
1. Successful implementation of the program in at least 80% of the California community colleges in three years,
2. Coordination and support for those colleges which have invested in the program,
3. Dissemination of the program to all California community colleges,
4. Development of regional demonstration sites at those colleges that have already built substantial programs,
5. Development of a program of follow-up activities to enhance instructional improvement at colleges participating in the program.