ASEE Conference

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Improving Adjunct Teaching Through Facilitator
Development

• ASEE Conference
• June 27th, 2007
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Presenters Kathy Alfano, Joe Gerda,
• Floyd Moos, and Russell Richardson

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Purpose of CREATE Center Project

• Produce highly skilled and educated technicians
  to better meet national and state workforce
  demands in the fields of information and
  manufacturing technologies
• Act as demonstration sites for regional technical
  workshops for faculty and industry, technical
  teacher training, distribute curricula and
  material
• Disseminate the consortium model.

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Common Problem

• Technical instructors with expertise in the field
  and little or no teaching experience
• A need to provide transformative professional
  development opportunities through current faculty

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Solution

• Design a workshop package that could be
  implemented by existing faculty on any campus
• Train full-time faculty members to facilitate
  these proven teaching workshops
• Promote institutionalization of the program

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Outcomes for Teaching Improvement

• Increase the number of part-time faculty who have
  pedagogical training
• Increase the number of full-time faculty who have
  mentoring skills and can facilitate teaching
  workshops and,
• Become a national model for dissemination of the
  workshops.

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Teaching Improvement How it works

• Micro-Teaching
• Mentoring, Teaching Demonstration, Reflective
  Practice
• Topic-Centered Workshops Teaching Talk About
  Core Ideas

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Teaching Skills Workshop

• Practicing a set of lesson basics by teaching
  to others in a small group
• Comfortable, collegial environment
• Participants receive written, verbal, and video
  feedback

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Teaching Skills Workshop

• 18 Hour workshop
• One facilitator and four participants
• Powerful experiential learning

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Teaching Demonstration Workshop

• Moves participants from theory to practice by
  applying the techniques learned in the TSW in
  their real-world classroom.
• Demonstration observed by the workshop
  facilitator.

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Teaching Demonstration Workshop

• The workshop and the process of feedback promote
  a mentor-mentee relationship between the
  facilitator and the participants
• The emphasis is on reflection rather than
  evaluation

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Teaching DynamicsThe Getting Results Modules

• Topic-Centered Workshops
• Expose participants to a variety of teaching
  techniques and issues relevant to any classroom
• Online material
• Teaching talk about core ideas

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Prepares participants for common community
college teaching challenges, such as

• creating effective syllabi
• promoting active learning
• assessing learning and
• developing a positive classroom environment.

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Three Workshops

• Teaching Skills Workshop
• Teaching Demonstration
• Teaching Dynamics The Getting Results Modules

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Facilitator Development Workshop

• Designed to train full-time faculty to
  facilitate the three previous workshops with
  adjuncts

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Facilitator Development Workshops

• Nine days of training (5 for the FDW1 4 for the
  FDW2)
• Enhance teaching AND facilitation skills
• Establishes a network for faculty with common
  challenges

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Progress Report

• 130 full-time and adjunct instructors have
  participated in local and/or regional workshop
  training since spring 2002.
• 51 regional facilitators from 14 States have been
  trained since summer 2003.

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Next Year Research Study with Cisco Systems

• 2 years of faculty and student data
• Jan 08 and June 08 groups Community college
  faculty who teach Cisco curricula
• Matched pre and post classes for both Facilitator
  and faculty participants
• All Facilitator and Teaching Skills Workshop
  materials, training, lodging free
• Up to 1000. additional stipends for assessment

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The Future Regional Hubs

• Trainers provide on-site facilitator training at
  regional locations around the country
• On-line support for regional efforts

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For More Information Contact

• The NSF ATE Regional Center CREATE
• By visiting our Web site at
• www.create-california.org
• Or contact
• Joe Gerda, Workshop Coordinator
• 661-362-3452
• joseph.gerda_at_canyons.edu