Typically, college faculty begin their teaching careers with a considerable amount of subject matter and industry expertise, but do not often possess well developed knowledge of the theories and practices that support transformational post-secondary teaching and learning. For over 20 years, the six Western Region Ontario colleges have collaborated to develop and deliver a 10-day, multi-phase faculty development program for new full-time faculty entitled “College Educator Development Program” (CEDP). This program provides new full-time faculty in the Western Region with opportunities for skill and knowledge development in a wide range of teaching and learning areas, such as assessment, teaching strategies, and curriculum design.
CEDP is greatly valued by the participating colleges, and there is interest among the six Western Region Ontario colleges to evolve the model further – specifically to create a faculty development program that is based on clear learning outcomes. Such a project would leverage our innovative cross-college approach to faculty development and it would produce more skilled faculty who are able to effectively lead a wide range of learning opportunities for our students. This year, the six Ontario western regional colleges were awarded a Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Productivity and Innovation fund (PIF) grant to create a framework which will revitalize and further enrich new faculty development in the Western Region.
This discussion panel will provide an opportunity for members of the STLHE community to hear about the objectives, scope, methodology and progress to date on this collaborative initiative to review and further develop the College Educator Development Program. Members of the project team, which consists of college administrators and faculty as well as external consultants, will share our experiences with the review and redesign of the existing CEDP program and will use an interactive question and answer format to foster discussion on the three major objectives of our project:
