This post aims to explain how the Team at GCC’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Engagement works together for the improvement of teaching and learning and, ultimately, student success.
The mission of the CTLE is to foster student success by promoting, supporting, and delivering opportunities for professional growth, innovation, reflection, and collaboration for all employees. The mission supports our vision which is to be the cornerstone of campus learning and professional development for all GCC employees. The CTLE serves as a place to share ideas, explore new approaches, inspire innovation and excellence, and interact with peers around issues of professional development and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Recently we created a strategic plan for our center. The document describes our values, principles of practice, and strategic goals as we look to the future of the center.
Our extended team includes the following areas which intersect with the mission and goals of the CTLE. We work regularly with leaders from these areas:
Assessment
The goal of assessment is the improvement of student learning. Student learning is improved when faculty and staff write appropriate learning outcomes, design effective measures of learning, and implement changes that result in better student performance. While the Assessment team can support each of these steps, the CTLE shares expertise in this space, including offering training on writing outcomes and programs like Reimagine that help faculty implement and assess high-impact practices. The CTLE also provides logistical support with Canvas Outcomes for ILO assessment and select course and program assessment. Finally, the expanded CTLE team meetings provide an opportunity to engage a broader perspective on Assessment programming and initiatives.
OER
Open Education @GCC is committed to lowering barriers for students to foster student success. Open Education is directly tied to assessment and equity, and finds ways to support faculty through training and resources. The CTLE team offers Open Education the opportunity to be directly connected to all of the groups that are working toward student success, at the intersection of excellence. This opportunity to share expands the connections necessary to offer the support to all faculty who champion the removal of barriers for education.
DEI
Part of the vision of the CTLE is to inspire our colleagues to explore new approaches, through innovation and nurture their excellence. DEI is built on engagement, reflection, evolution, and the equipment of DEI practitioners to inspire and create change that leads to “success.” Collaboration with our CTLE facilitates innovative thinking and support to ensure we continue to develop innovative pathways to engage our faculty/staff, provide tools for reflection and evolution in their pedagogical strategies and how they accomplish their own missions with the work they do. Moreover, this collaborative framework supports our campus by equipping our faculty/staff with the tools necessary to help ensure their students are able to thrive in their courses or the services they are able to provide them along their academic journey. The skills, knowledge and experiences they take away from the CTLE can also help them in both their professional and personal relationships as well. Look for CTLE course offerings like DEI in Your Online Classes: The Time is Now, Applying Equity Online, and Creating Transparent Assignments to Help Students Succeed.
Student Success and Completion
The mission of Student Success and Completion (SSC) (housed beneath Developmental Education) is to use evidence-based research to incorporate proven student development practices and innovative academic practices with the goal of student success. A range of solutions found across the college with various programs and services are designed to support all students regardless of entry-point, helping equip them with the cognitive and noncognitive skills and strategies necessary to acquire the highest academic, technological, and personal goals. The purpose of the committee is to improve student success through coordinated awareness and interventions that include reliable placement, faculty and staff development opportunities, comprehensive support services, and innovative coursework to support equitable access for all students. The CTLE and SSC work together to prepare, retain, and advance our diverse students with equity, access, and inclusion to help them reach their goals.
FEP Faculty Developer and Resource Person
The goals of the GCC Faculty Evaluation Plan Resource Person are to improve teaching performance, to advise Residential Faculty members as they document their strengths and weaknesses, and overall status, demonstrating an increased comprehension of their discipline. The FEP Resource Person supports the faculty and administration through the yearly process, as faculty document their growth, while promoting and facilitating professional growth opportunities for them along the way. The FEP Resource Person conducts FEP faculty orientations, coordinates the FEP Cycles with VPAA’s office, assists faculty in synchronizing their team with the dynamic form, and keeps the FEP practices current with the Faculty policies–See FACT 18. The CTLE unites assorted faculty developers to share skills and information necessary for the FEP Resource Person to efficiently coordinate the evaluation program as it traverses other contexts such as Assessment, DEI, Student Data, PAR/PARC, and other faculty development circumstances.
eCourses
The eCourses Strategic Planning Committee, representing the faculty and administrative staff of the College, is an advisory committee that provides input and recommendations regarding distance learning to the Academic Affairs administration. The committee developed an eCourses plan during a series of meetings that began in the Fall of 2007 and continued through the Fall 2009 semester. The purpose of the strategic plan is to provide the College with an overview of the past, and direction for the present and future of distance learning at GCC. The plan provides goals and recommended structure for eCourses management at Glendale Community College, necessary to promote the quality application of the teaching and learning missions of the College. The eCourses Committee works in collaboration with the CTLE to meet the plan goals.
Adjunct Faculty Campus Representative and Adjuncts
The CTLE provides a space to support the adjunct faculty with professional growth and development. The offerings consist of group courses, cohort learning programs, and individual guidance. There are numerous opportunities to learn about current pedagogical practices, discover ways to implement active learning, and apply technology in the classroom. All of which lend to the overall goal of retention and persistence in our student population at GCC.
Faculty Development/Developer
Faculty Developers work in tandem with the CTLE to provide development opportunities for faculty campus-wide. The CTLE team provides a centralized access point for all faculty to get assistance which allows them to identify potential areas faculty are needing more information or training in. This is easily shared with faculty developers who can create workshops, trainings, and tutorials to meet the needs of the faculty.
FYRE and PAR Facilitator
The First Year Residential Experience and Peer Assistance and Review Facilitator guides probationary faculty through the PAR process, promoting and facilitating professional growth opportunities for faculty new to GCC. Likewise the facilitator provides some training for faculty mentors who then spend time with those in their first five years of teaching at GCC. The facilitator provides an important connection for those faculty to the CTLE.
Your Part
Continue to engage in professional growth, innovation, reflection, and collaboration. Share your teaching and learning ideas with the CTLE. If you’re interested in being part of the team, come visit with us.
