As many of us know, these are both the best and worst of times for
community college faculty. Expectations have never been higher; we are
faced with new requirements from accreditors and legislators, while the
level of preparation of many students entering our classrooms keeps
falling lower. Furthermore, many of these students lack the so-called
“soft skills” – study skills, motivation, work ethic – that they need to
succeed in higher education and in the workplace.
Yet today there are also reasons to feel privileged to be a teacher
engaged in higher education. More Americans than ever pursue a college
education, and many start in a community college; anyone concerned with
educational and economic equity in our society will recognize the
importance of having skilled college faculty in our classrooms.
Moreover, there is now a large body of empirical research about how to
teach most effectively. While the task of educating every student
willing to attend college is challenging, there are also many resources
to help.
As we know, however, learning more about educational research and
integrating this information into our teaching practice also takes time
and effort. This certificate has been designed to give you access to all
the resources you need to solve the learning problems of your students
and to develop your teaching skills so that you can meet the challenges
of teaching in a community college in the twenty–first century; it also
rewards you with either Flex credit or 3 units of salary advancement.
Deanna Davis, Chair, Faculty Development Committee and Professor,
English
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