This session outlines the framework for a faculty professional development initiative that has been utilized for the past 16 months, including successes, areas of opportunity, logistics, an ability to collaborate with faculty, and present materials in a synchronous and asynchronous environment resulting in a badging opportunity for faculty.
The Classroom Management Mastery Series(CMMS) is a cyclical, year-long professional development program designed by our Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) to introduce or reinforce critical classroom technology and resource enhancements and to connect faculty expertise with administrative knowledge. Through the CMMS, our faculty worked toward mastering skills that allow them to apply current research, institutional policies, learning technology, and instructional strategies in their classrooms. The CMMS, which results in a digital badge for successful completion each year, promises resume-and professional network-building material for faculty and a dynamic classroom experience for students.
Introduced in January of 2020, the first iteration of CMMS consisted of 10 sessions, each featuring faculty and staff co-facilitators and focusing on specific aspects of the classroom and teaching experience. Each CMMS session lasted one hour, and the recording was posted on the CETL website and YouTube for on-demand viewing (2020 Classroom Management Mastery Series Video Library). To receive a CMMS badge, faculty were required to watch at least nine of the 10 CMMS sessions and complete a follow-up reflection activity. Because the CETL awards badges through Badgr.com, faculty awardees may log their CMMS badges in their professional development profile in the Faculty Portal and share them in their professional networks like LinkedIn.
Topics covered during 2020 sessions included: student interventions and software platforms that support them, gradebook, Speedgrader, effective feedback, discussion forum best practices, video presence, engaging in civil discourse, academic integrity, written assignment feedback, assessment, outcomes, and a recap session summarizing highlights from each month.
The initial iteration of CMMS in 2020 was successful, with more than 80 faculty badge recipients and high overall program participation. CMMS recordings have logged nearly 5,000 views to date, and more than 2,000 faculty reflection activities indicate a high level of engagement with session content. An analysis of these reflections show that faculty are excited for the 2021 CMMS program and request more in depth and specialized trainings over 2020’s introductory content.
To log their participation for each session, faculty are required to submit a brief reflection activity. Faculty are asked their general satisfaction with the presentation, something new they could implement in their teaching, and any feedback about the session or program in general. For the second year of the CMMS initiative, faculty indicated they wanted training sessions that were shorter in duration. They also requested more concrete artifacts and takeaway resources from each session. The second year will continue to feature faculty co-presenters for each session, and will go even deeper in depth into learning theory and the “why” behind best practices. We have also opted to pre-record materials this year and hold smaller faculty and staff-led discussions aligning with each month’s topic.
Whether engaging with an in-person or virtual audience, polls and the chat will be interspersed throughout the presentation with various prompts and polls.