Effective Teaching Practices | Program Design
Cal Poly is a participant in a California State University system grant program in collaboration with the National Association of System Heads (NASH) and the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). The grant is providing multiple CSU campuses with a year-long, research-based faculty development programming in support of effective instruction. At Cal Poly, the $100,000 grant supports 90 faculty in three cohorts to participate in a year-long curriculum of effective teaching principles and practices for the 2020-21 academic year.
Program Design
This details the components of the program, including: Themes for the three different cohorts focusing on essential campus priorities, tentative calendar for activities, cohort facilitators, curriculum outline, participant selection criteria, tentative timeline.
Grant Description
Cal Poly, as a participant in the CSU grant program, will receive:
- Access to the ACUE program for 90 faculty (organized into three cohorts of 30)
- Stipends of $1,000 for each participant who successfully completes the entire program
- Funding for three facilitator stipends
- Training for facilitators prior to the start of the project
- ACUE liaison support to Cal Poly project directors
- Ongoing collaborations with project leaders on the other CSU campuses to exchange ideas and support
Cohorts
Grant guidelines recommend faculty cohorts of 30 participants, which can be assembled on themes consistent with individual campus priorities. The following three cohort themes are proposed, and will be finalized in August after all applications are received.
Cohort 1: Early Career Faculty
- Purpose: To provide an extended professional development experience that provide a solid foundation for those early in their teaching career.
- Focus: Tenure-line faculty hired at Cal Poly after Fall 2019 (including Fall 2020 start dates), although those hired in or before Fall 2019 are also eligible.
Cohort 2: General Education
- Purpose: To strengthen student success in foundational GE courses for all majors and so benefit students early in their Cal Poly career.
- Focus: Faculty -- including both lecturers and tenure-line -- who regularly teach GE courses.
Cohort 3: Learner Centered Teaching
- Purpose: To provide an extended professional development experience deepening knowledge and skills for learner-centered teaching.
- Focus: Focus is faculty (lecturers and tenure-line) at any career stage and from any discipline seeking to implement a more learning-centered model of course design and instruction.
Cohort 4: Rigorous and Equitable Instruction
- Purpose: To strengthen student success -- particularly for diverse learners -- in the most challenging courses across campus. Contributes to campus support for GI 2025 graduation goals.
- Focus: Faculty who teach courses with higher numbers of students with repeatable grades (Ds, Fs, or Ws) that can slow progress toward degrees and may contribute to achievement gaps.
Cohort Facilitation
The grant program design includes on-campus facilitation for each cohort to foster connection and peer exchanges among participants. At Cal Poly, each cohort will be supported by two facilitators with solid grounding in exemplary instruction. Facilitators, recruited from experienced Cal Poly educators, will be full participants in the program while providing guidance and support for cohort faculty as they put instruction principles into practice.
Tentative Calendar
Spring 2020
- Post program information for each cohort
- Collect pre-application signups from interested faculty
- Recruit facilitator candidates
Summer 2020
- Finalize cohorts based on pre-application signups
- Finalize facilitators and schedule training
- Open participant application period (August 1-Sept 1)
Fall 2020
- Finalize participants (Sept 7)
- Launch cohorts (Modules 1-7)
- Launch facilitator learning community
Winter 2021
- Continue cohorts (Modules 8-16)
- Continue facilitator learning community
- Conduct mid-year formative program assessments
Spring 2021
- Continue cohorts (Modules 17-25)
- Continue facilitator learning community
- Complete ACUE program data collection tasks
- Complete final program assessments
- Process participant and facilitator stipends
- Deliver ACUE certifications to participants
ACUE curriculum
Given the current interest among Cal Poly faculty for enhancing the quality of virtual instruction in response to pandemic response measures, all three cohorts will utilize the “Effective Online Teaching Practices” Curriculum. This online-focused curriculum is the same as ACUE’s original “Effective Teaching Practices” curriculum, except for minor revisions of terminology and substitution of examples from online courses and examples from in-class instruction.
Project Directors
- Patrick O'Sullivan, CTLT director
- Bruno Giberti, Assoc Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Planning
ETP Program Links
