Academy for Teaching & Learning: Operations

Purpose

The Academy of Teaching and Learning at FSCJ supports full-time and part-time faculty in their growth as professional educators and life-long learners. By promoting the values of the College - excellence in teaching and learning, integrity, creativity, respect for diversity and a culture of honesty and trust - we work to enhance the expertise of the faculty to create an organizational environment that promotes learning at all levels and provides high-quality education for FSCJ students.

Who We Are

We are a diverse team of faculty leaders who represent their respective Schools, gather input from colleagues and create professional development that is meaningful, accessible, and connected to the professional development competencies of the College. We seek diversity of our faculty through a diversity of academic departments, viewpoints and skills.

What We Do

The Academy provides learning opportunities that are connected to foundational and innovative classroom methods, research-based practices and college-wide conversations on teaching and learning.

We offer:

• Orientation and mentoring for newly hired faculty
• Guidance for faculty towards continuing contract
• Networking and support for adjunct faculty
• Colloquia on teaching pedagogy/andragogy and methodology
• Innovative education fellowships and excellence in teaching awards
• Collaborative spaces for faculty learning communities
• Networks for sharing resources for learners
• Diverse pathways for guided and self-directed professional development such as in-house workshops and funding for conference travel

Academy Structure and Member Duties

All members will:

• Attend bi-monthly Academy meetings focused on professional development for FSCJ
• Participate in review and selection of participants for the Adjunct Academy
• Participate in review and selection of Distinguished Faculty Award winners
• Participate in review of and awards for travel funds
• Participate in and support annual professional development activities including Professional Development Day, a spring faculty Colloquium, and the Travel committee. This may include attending the event to help with day of logistics and/or coordinating a particular aspect of the day.
• Coordinate single-shot PD professional development events as requested by particular departments
• *Exact duties may shift depending on overall skill structure of members

Director – full release time

• Qualifications: Experience with professional development. Full-time faculty on continuing contract. A current or past member of the Academy for Teaching and Learning for a minimum of two years
• Manage, develop, and provide oversight in the selection of applicants for new academy members
• Assess the current needs of the Academy for campus and discipline representation
• Solicit member applications through email
• Communicate the particular needs of the academy to academic leadership
• Design a rubric for selection of the member
• Solicit committee members for the selection committee from the Academy members, Senate, and the Union
• Determine qualified applicants and provide the committee with the applications and the rubrics
• Meet with the committee to select the new member/s
• Notify all applicants of the selection
• Manage, develop, and provide oversight for the selection of participants in the New Faculty Institute
• Develop the program schedule and topics
• Acquire the list of new faculty members from Human Resources
• Solicit Institute applications through email
• Communicate the program details and timeline for applications to academic leadership
• Arrange for all new faculty to be in the Faculty Development Course Shell
• Meet with new faculty once a month
• Collect the Independent Faculty Development Plans
• Collect the Analysis of Practice documents
• Arrange a spring meeting with the Provost
• Survey the participants for suggestions
• Develop the specifications and provides oversight to ensure adequate training, professional development, competence and certification programs for faculty
• Oversee the design and implementation of travel process for faculty
• Supervise faculty engaged in offering workshops for faculty
• Oversee the design and implementation of the Adjunct Academy
• Partner in the coordination of College-wide training and development of activities through the Office of Training and Organizational Development and develop and maintain linkages with internal and external partners
• Identify and build working relationships with other agencies and institutions and with multiple branches of the services command structure
• Oversee quality and integrity of faculty professional development, its relationship to departmental, campus and College mission and its responsiveness to development initiatives
• Develop and recommend professional development programs for faculty
• Design and conduct faculty development programs, outcome and evaluation processes
• Develop and implement marketing, promotion and recruitment strategies for initiatives and programs such as discipline specific in-house conferences. Oversee design, production and distribution of print materials, Website and project publications.
• Participate in College meetings, initiatives and projects
• Assist in planning and administering budgets, contracts and grants. Oversee budget planning, reporting, invoicing, purchasing, and financial forecasting. Take appropriate actions to ensure proper fiscal management and accountability to College, state and federal agencies.
• Assist in retaining external funding and professional services as needed to support programming for faculty professional development
• Represent the department and College at promotional and conference events, College functions, planning and advisory groups, and professional associations. Develop and deliver presentations on faculty development activities, projects and research.
• Partner with internal stakeholders and coordinate with subject matter experts regarding instructional design
• Identify potential education opportunities and oversee the development of faculty development specifications, including related training materials
• Manage and monitor program implementation as it relates to external providers of specialized training as necessary
• Develop initiatives to improve performance and cost effectiveness of operations.
• Analyze and recommend improvements or changes, as needed, to ensure efficient and safe delivery of training
• Perform other related duties as assigned

Assistant Director – 6 credit hours release time

• Qualifications: Experience with professional development. Full-time faculty on continuing contract. A current Academy Member with service on the Academy for at least one year.
• Technology Workshops and Templates
• Research and develop content for workshops on established or new technologies or on instructional approaches to using established and new technologies in education
• Update workshops as needed according to trends and best practices in technology and education
• Make adjustments to format based on faculty needs (webinar, online, or face-to-face)
• Work with others on the Academy and outside of the Academy to create and implement templates for workshops to make them consistent in appearance and workload
• As needed, participate in professional development to maintain proficiency in various aspects of technology and education
• Participate in reviewing workshops on online teaching and hybrid teaching
• FT Faculty Awards
• Review and score awards with other Academy members
• Lead: Travel
• Maintain travel application and update as needed
• Create and update instructional videos/handouts to help faculty with the travel process
• Look for ways to refine the process and make it more accessible to those who are not as familiar with the process of using PeopleSoft
• Make submitted applications accessible to all members of the Academy for review
• Review applications, consider amounts requested and travel budget, and bring applications to the Academy members with recommendations for approval
• Send out emails with approval/non-approval status and inform applicants of the process for submitting Travel Authorizations and Expense Reports in PeopleSoft
• Provide Director with an overview of travel information in a spreadsheet (name, cycle, amount given, event, location, dates of travel, semester travel actually occurs).
• Email reminders to faculty to submit Expense Reports after they have traveled

Assistant Director – 6 credit hours release time Summer/Spring

• Qualifications: Experience with professional development. Full-time faculty on continuing contract. Current Academy Member.
• Lead: Adjunct Academy
• Develop and plan the capstone and cornerstone days
• Solicit applications through email
• Communicate the timeline and requirements to academy leadership
• Design appropriate rubrics
• Provide the selection committee with the applications and rubrics
• Meet with the selection committee to select the participants
• During the Cornerstone, have participants fill out the stipend forms
• Deliver the stipend forms for the supervisors’ signatures
• Verify that the stipends have been returned
• Lead: Adjunct Awards
• Coordinate with Executive Director of Organizational Management and Director of the Academy to determine schedule for requests for nominations.
• Determine due date of acceptance/decline.
• Determine due date for application submission, review deadlines, announcement deadlines, winner prize.
• Along with Executive Director of Organizational Management and Director of the Academy conduct preliminary review of nominees who accept nomination to confirm eligibility.
• Update Blackboard site where applications are submitted.
• Handle questions from nominees regarding application.
• Recruit 2 students to serve on the review committee.
• Coordinate review of application; type up announcement about each winner to be read at Colloquium.
• Survey campus faculty and develop, arrange or facilitate campus workshops.
• Fall Workshop Schedule
• New Faculty Orientation

Senior Member (2 faculty) – 3 credit hours release time each

Note: All new members serve as a junior member for one year. In year two, they become a senior member.

• Qualifications: Experience with or interest in professional development. Full-time faculty on continuing contract or full time faculty for at least three years. Service as a junior member for one year.
• Assist with new Faculty Institute
• Survey campus faculty and develop, arrange or facilitate campus workshops
• Mentor faculty participating in the New Faculty Institute
• Lead at least one Academy initiative. Examples:
• Lead: Speakers for Faculty Specific in-house conferences
• Solicit suggestions from faculty. Have they heard of an excellent speaker? Do they know organizations that offer keynote speakers? Have they read any good books lately? Is there a topic that they find particularly compelling and interesting?
• Research faculty suggestions of specific speakers. Google is a starting place. Look for affiliations, especially look for college/university, speaker bureau, agent, or personal email. Estimate cost of speaker.
• Research faculty suggestions of topics. Research speaker bureau websites (for example, https://www.prhspeakers.com/). Sort by geography and topic. Contact the speaker’s bureau and give a budget. They will offer suggestions.
• Bring list of possible speaker candidates to committee/faculty for input on selection of final speaker candidates.
• Negotiate a date and finalize event details.
• Contact executive secretary (currently Jill Bradberry) to finalize the contract.
• Lead: Full time Faculty Awards
• Coordinate with Executive Director of Organizational Management and Director of the Academy to determine schedule for requests for nominations.
• Determine due date of acceptance/decline.
• Determine due date for application submission, review deadlines, announcement deadlines, winner prizes; along with Executive Director of Organizational Management and Director of the Academy conduct preliminary review of nominees who accept nomination to confirm eligibility; update Blackboard site where applications are submitted; handle questions from nominees regarding application; recruit 2 students to serve on the review committee; coordinate review of application; type up announcement about each winner to be read at Colloquium.
• Lead: Colloquium
• Select event date and reserve rooms.
• Find lunch sponsor.
• Make sure Academy member is assigned to find a Keynote and help coordinate day of details for Keynote.
• Coordinate with the Executive Director of Organizational Management and Director of the Academy to send out requests for proposals and save the dates.
• Coordinate review of session proposals’ Solicit and review 1% forms.
• Plan times and rooms for sessions, key not, lunch.
• Submit room and tech requests.
• Create directional materials for day of Colloquium.
• Find Academy members for day of tasks.
• Monitor day of events and troubleshoot problems.

Junior Member (2 faculty) – 3 credit hours release time

Note: all new members serve as a junior member for one year. In year two, they become a senior member.

• Qualifications: Experience with or interest in professional development Full-time faculty on full time contract or employed with the college full time for at least three years. First year: Participate in a minimum of 10 hours of professional development to include the classroom management and mentoring workshops.
• Fulfill the duties as listed for all members
• Assist with new Faculty Institute
• Survey campus faculty and develop, arrange or facilitate campus workshops
• Mentor faculty participating in the New Faculty Institute

New Member Selection Process

Qualifications

All members of the Academy for Teaching and Learning will be full time faculty of at least three years. Preference will to given to faculty with continuing contract. There are no term limits to membership on the Academy.

Recruitment Process

• The Academy members meet to determine the needs of the team taking into consideration representation across campuses, schools, and programs.
• Craft an email announcement that includes the specific needs determined by the Academy.
• Distribute email to all full-time faculty announcing the vacancy in the Academy including preferences and current Academy members.
• Make the announcement at Leadership meetings and Faculty Senate.
• Encourage candidates to apply through word of mouth

Application Review Process

• Applicants submit applications
• The Director for the Academy ensures the applicants meet the qualifications
• The Director distributes all approved applications to the selection committee which will be comprised of all Academy members and representatives from the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Union
• The selection committee determines which candidate most appropriately meets the needs of the Academy

Selection Process

• The newly selected member must accept the appointment to the Academy
• The Academy Director verifies the release time
• The Academy Director notifies all applicants whether selected or not of the Academy’s decision

Director Selection

Members of the Academy select the director from among the members. Senate and Union representation should also be on the selection committee. The director must have served on the Academy for Teaching and Learning at least two years and must be a faculty member with continuing contract.

Member Retention

To appropriately plan schedules and hours for the next academic year, release times forms will be submitted in the spring before the fall schedule is released.