C. Staff Development
Research has identified five staff development practices that are crucial to the success of basic skills students and basic skills teaching and learning. For this reason, the state has asked us to evaluate our own work in these areas. For each of the five areas identified by the questions below, please give us your feedback and ideas about any and/or all of the following:
• What institutions and practices already exist and what evidence do we have for their effectiveness?
• What barriers or obstacles limit our implementing or enhancing these strategies?
• How can we expand or advance new or existing institutions and practices in the future?
1. Administrator Support
How do MiraCosta's administrators support and encourage faculty development in the teaching and learning of basic skills students and emphasize the importance of basic skills students to our institutional mission?
Research based best practices include establishing department, program, and/or institutional goals related to the improvement of developmental education and active senior administration support for profesional development activities for basic skills faculty and staff.
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Although basic skills instruction has been discussed at the auto tech department level, we need practical ideas/implementation strategies. (Arnoldo Williams)
At the department level, Letters has been working on this for a number of years. And the infusion of state dollars has supported this and expanded it. Math has also begun work in this area. But campus-wide, there hasn't been buy-in. Most faculty do not think of themselves as educating a basic skills population. This has been evident in the way OAC has carried out it's mission over the last several years, occasionally allowing CTE or non-credit or even a basic skills group of faculty to meet, but always keeping these groups to the side of the "transfer" agenda. This relegates basic skills students to invisibility. ~ Denise Stephenson
2. Faculty Role in Staff Development
How do MiraCosta's faculty play a primary role in needs assessment, planning, and implementation of staff development programs and activities in support of the learning of basic skills students?
Research based best practices include involving developmental faculty in the design, planning, and impementation of basic skills related staff development activities; staff development that address both educational theory and practice; staff development activities that are widely attended and viewed as valuable by basic skills faculty and staff; regular evaluation of the the basic skills staff development program with collection and use of date for continuous improvement; new faculty staff development activities that assist them in transitioning into the community college academic environment; staff development activities that encourage interactions among instructors.
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There needs to be more integration of basic skills into PDP (Sylvia and others)
These questions are all posed as if developmental faculty are somehow a unique and focused group. That's not true here. I'm not sure it should be true anywhere. But it begs the question about how to get large scale interest when most have no reason, locally or nationally, to see themselves as teaching basic skills students. ~ Denise Stephenson
We need better data analysis to better describe outcomes at department / discipline levels--this will point us to developmental needs.
We need some cross-disciplinary assessment and planning (John Fisher)
We need to pick focus and target areas
We need an organized assessment and planning process--swittch ffrom simply calling for presenters to committees working to select topics, recurit presenters, and organize ongoing, timely series of workshops (group discussion, Pam, Jim)
We need to assess faculty needs in basic skills--the report back what they identify as needs and how they hope these needs will be addressed (Sylvia).
3. Structure and Support
How are MiraCosta's staff development programs that focus on basic skills students structured and appropriately supported to sustain them as ongoing efforts related to istitutional goals for the improvement of teaching and learning for basic skills students.
Research based best practices include staff development activities fpr those who teach basic skills students that are clearly linked to department, program, and/or institutional goals; basic skills staff development activities are not based around "one-shot" workshiops; rather, staff development activities are comprehensive and ongoing; basic skills staff developmenta activities that are adequately fund with ongoing funding and coordination by specific, designated staff as part of their core responsibilities.
Insert your responses below here:
We need to follow best practices and principles.
Often random, untargetted, and unsustained (group discussion)
Letters has some of this but they are not occuring across the disciplines not anyone's core responsibility
There is an ongoing tension between committee work and staff development--too much committee work for extra investment in professional development
Not enough for monumntal change (Brent)
We need online and onsite offerings (group discussion)
We need to broaden the departmental focus to basic skills students in all classes, courses, departments, and disciplines--and our staff training needs to reflect that shift.
We need sequenced series and programs of professional growth activities with a basic skills focus.
Our faculty needs training on holistic developmental / basic skills issues.
We need specific developmental skills FLEX sequence--with academy status / focus (group, Edward, others)
Currently, any staff development is done by departments in isolation, if it's done at all. The Letters Department has done a lot. As far as something more wide-ranging, though, perhaps the most obvious connection could be to the Teaching Academy, if the TA were to embrace basic skills staff development as a high priority. Still, the staff development needs to go far beyond the scope of "come if you want" TA workshops. (Susan Herrmann)
I do think PDP could take a more proactive role in spearheading training for Basic Skills – much as we talked today in the book discussion group. PDP could create the program, invite the speakers, and set up the workshops. It would take some focus by a person or subcommittee, but it’s doable. (Dana Smith)
Right away we could do a GIFT panel devoted to BSI. (Dana Smith)
We (esp. Math and Letters) have already done of lot of BSI stuff; we should identify it as such, and fold it into the program mentioned above. NCHEA is another avenue to explore staff development for BSI. (Dana Smith)
Along the same lines as the TA, let’s “market” BSI with its own logo – like the lighthouse with the beams of light. It then becomes a more identifiable, recognizable, and focused effort within the college. TA, POT, now BSI. (I see a little bee, like a busy bee, like a BSI Bee – corny, but could work.) (Dana Smith)
We should explore case studies as a focus for interdisciplinary learning communities to discuss how effecively we teach basic skills students.
4. Range and Scope
How are MiraCosta's staff development programs that focus on basic skills students flexible, varied, and responsive to basic skills needs of individual faculty, diverse student populations, and coordinated programs / services.
Research based best practices include peer mentoring, instructional consulatation, reflective teaching, scholarship of teaching and learning, classroom assessment techniques, great teacher seminars, and academic alliances.
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I think either a discussion forum or listserve where teachers can pose questions, exchange resources, and debate ideas and pedagogy would be a component of staff development where individual needs could be addressed. They have the advantage of allowing people to post in their own time and to consider their responses. I miss my graduate school discussion forum where we would have heated debates on things like the use of Wikipedia in the classroom or the value of teaching with or without a composition textbook. This could also play into #2 - faculty could use a listserve or discussion forum to organize and create staff development programs. This would also be a great place for teachers new to teaching developental, or teachers with a specifc practical question, to get some perspective. (John Fisher)
We do not do anything close to enough of any of these things.
We need to study issues on a long term basis and avoid shotgun approach--(group discussion)
We need to study learning more.
We need an interdisciplinary focus on learning communities.
We need to focus on the relationship between theory and practice more
We need a problem-solving based focus on the practical.
5. Reward Structures
How are MiraCosta's staff development programs that focus on basic skills students connected to instrinsic and extrinsic faculty reward structures?
Research based best practices include structures that provide faculty who participate in staff development with intrinsic rewards such as praise, support, or peer recognition; colleagues across disciplines have opportunities to engage in interchanges that foster a "culture of teaching," which in turn develops a "community of scholars"; institutions that express value for staff develoment activities through provision of extrinsic awards where appropriate such as funding, time, salary advancement or formal recognition of achievement.
Insert your responses below here:
Not sure we need a reward structure; it's not part of our culture. But respect and value have to exist and I don't believe they do currently. ~ Denise Stephenson
As usual, Denise is right on the money in both this one and in #1 and #2 above. Until developmental education is perceived as the responsibility and mission of ALL faculty, it won't have the credibility that inspires respect. (Susan Herrmann)
We need flex support for travel and money for travel
We need advance on salary level
We need to start early with new faculty in an ongoing series of pd experiences
We should explore ways to award units for these activities.
We need to cultivate a sense that we all need to continue learning about these issues.
We need a basic skills academy that culminates in the awarding of some kind of basic skills competency certificate
These are limited by time / salary schedule placement
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