Effective Teaching Practices Program | Home 2021-22
The ETP program is a year-long professional development experience providing a deep dive into effective teaching principles and practices. It utilizes the curriculum of the Association of Colleges and Universities (ACUE) accompanied by support of Cal Poly peer mentors. In this program faculty complete 25 modules and earn the ACUE's Certificate in Effective College Teaching. This is the second year of the program at Cal Poly. In AY2020-21, with the support of a $90,000 CSU grant, 75 faculty completed the program. This year's program is supported by Cal Poly's allocation of HEERF (Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund) distributed by the federal government in the wake of COVID-19.
Program Overview
The program this year has the capacity for 60 faculty in two cohorts of 30. Each cohort has a theme aligned with one or more campus strategic priorities. This means that participants' accomplishments will enhance faculty's contributions to those priorities by strengthening their teaching effectiveness.
Program Expectations and Schedule
This is a challenging and rewarding deep dive into scholarship-informed course design principles and instructional practices. To be successful requires participants to commit to the program and to be willing (and able) to designate several hours each week throughout the academic year for each of the modules: reading, viewing, commenting in discussions and composing reflections. In recognition of demands on faculty time and energy, the program schedule offers some flexibility but consistency is essential for participants to gain the most benefits.
The ACUE curriculum includes 25 modules organized into four microcredentials, each (usually) composed of six modules:
- Promoting Active Learning
- Creating an Inclusive and Supportive Learning Environment
- Designing Student-Centered Courses
- Inspiring Inquiry and Preparing Lifelong Learners
Participants will begin the program the first week of October and complete the first microcredential before Winter Break. Modules for the next three microcredentials are distributed across Winter and Spring Quarters. The program concludes in early June.
Program Design
The program is designed with elements that will foster connections among participating faculty, provide a supportive learning environment, facilitate faculty's successful progress through the curriculum and promote thoughtful and effective implementation of new knowledge and methods that benefit student success.
More on the ETP program design
Prior Year Participants' Feedback
The 75 faculty that completed this program in AY2020-21 reported on their experiences at the end of the academic year. Despite the challenges of teaching fully online during a pandemic while completing the ACUE curriculum, faculty's responses were impressive:
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94% reported that the modules were helpful in refining their teaching practices.
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96% said that the content was relevant to their work.
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89% would recommend the ACUE curriculum to a colleague.
- Designing an Effective Course and Class (38% at beginning, 93% at completion)
- Establishing a Productive Learning Environment (30% to 81%)
- Using Active Learning Techniques (31% to 78%)
- Promoting Higher Order Thinking (41% to 86%)
- Assessing to Inform Instruction and Promote Learning (46% to 90%)
They reported significant numbers of new teaching methods that they learned (or learned more about) and those that they implemented (or plan to implement):
- 42: Average number of new teaching practices learned
- 85: Average number of prior teaching practices that they learned more about
- 20: Average number of new teaching practices implemented
- 55: Average number of additional practices that they plan to implement
Collectively, they earned 1,934 ACUE badges and 75 Certificates of Effective Teaching Practices from the ACUE.
Program Cohorts
Participating faculty will be in one of two themed cohorts. All faculty will progress through the same curriculum, and the connections and mutual support from collaborating with cohort colleagues at similar career stages and with similar instructional challenges can enhance learning experiences and improve course redesigns. These are the cohorts:
Early Career Cohort
Purpose is to provide an extended professional development experience that helps establish a solid foundation for faculty success as educators early in their teaching career. Eligible applicants are faculty -- including both lecturers and tenure-line -- hired at Cal Poly in the prior three-four years (including Fall 2021 start dates). The Early Career Cohort Page lists the members and tracks their progress on the ACUE microcredentials during AY 2021-22.
Learner-Centered Teaching Cohort
Purpose is to strengthen teaching practices that are better aligned with a considerable body of research supporting learner-centered teaching as a more effective model. Eligible applicants are faculty -- including both lecturers and tenure-line -- who want their courses to be more engaging and more effective for more students. The Learner-Centered Teaching Cohort Page lists the members and tracks their progress on the ACUE microcredentials during AY2021-22.
"ACUE: Year Two" Ongoing Support for Success
Those who successfully complete this year's ETP program may have the opportunity for extended professional development support. A new closely related program is also launching in Fall 2021 called "ACUE: Year Two" (pronounced "aay cue, year two"). It is an opportunity for last year's ETP Program faculty participants to take advantage of another full year of access to the ACUE curriculum. Those who join will revisit the rich set of materials across the 25 modules and select another two dozen new methods to implement from their "methods of interest" list compiled last time through.
The intent is to offer this year's ETP faculty the same opportunity during the 2022-23 academic year (dependent on available funding). To learn more, the link below is to the program web page.
