Preparing a Professional Development Plan

1. Preparing a Professional Development Plan Office of Academic Affairs May 2010

2. The Concept • A tool for organizing a faculty member’s efforts over a 3- or 6-year period to reach expected levels of performance • Described in Section 11.2 A-E of collective bargaining agreement and in guidelines document posted with the agreement • Requirement for initial and follow up plans -- recognizes that professionals become more expert as they progress through their careers • Requires every tenured and tenure-track faculty member to file an approved PDP

3. Starting Point • Mission and goal statements for University and College • Standards document for faculty performance requirements by rank and professional behaviors • Responsibilities for teaching and advising; research, scholarship, or creative activity; and service as described on most recent contract • Annual Appendix F evaluation / comments from immediate supervisor • Workload worksheet documents from 1st year

4. Relationship to Appendix F • Appendix F addresses accomplishments for previous year and goals/objectives for next year • Appendix F format has been revised to include references to PDP • Describe accomplishments relative to previous year’s Appendix F goals and relative to PDP outcomes (What was accomplished in previous year?) • Indicate need for revision of PDP • PDP becomes part of personnel file, as does App. F • Approval of plan does not limit evaluation by immediate supervisor

5. Relationship to Promotion and Tenure • PDP addresses plans for 3- or 6-year period • Provides roadmap for moving faculty member from assistant professor to full professor • Available to P&T Committee as part of personnel file • P&T Committee considers progress toward PDP outcomes as part of performance decision • Approval of plan does not limit evaluation by P&T Committee

6. Submission and Approval • Timely submission is the responsibility of the faculty member • Approval of the plan is the responsibility of immediate supervisor • Split appointments must involve all supervisors • In-depth discussion between faculty member and supervisors is essential prior to and during plan development • Approval does not constitute institutional commitment to provide resources not otherwise available to faculty

7. Timeline for Submission • Based on status relative to FY09 contract: • September 1, 2009 (last year) • Faculty with 0-2 years of credited service • Faculty tenured between July 1, 2004 and July 1, 2008 • August 31, 2010 • Faculty with 3 years of credited service • Faculty tenured between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 2004 • August 30, 2011 • Faculty with 4-5 years of credited service • Faculty tenured prior to July 1, 1994

8. Timeline for Submission and Type of Plan Submitted

9. Timeline in the Future • Faculty hired after January 2009: PDPs due no later than the first class day of the third semester of employment (excluding summer) • Second and later rounds of the PDP’s: due on first class day of the last semester of the existing plan • Non-tenured faculty prepare 3-year plans • Tenured faculty prepare 6-year plans

10. Format • Concise (maximum 1,000 words) • Outcomes-oriented, based on: • mission / strategic initiatives of university and college • professional behaviors listed in standards document • Appendix F comments and workload worksheets • Template provided in Examples document and general directions in guidelines document

11. Approval Process • Immediate supervisor has 20 class days to approve or return with suggested changes • If returned for changes, faculty member has 20 class days to revise and resubmit • Negotiation process laid out in guidelines document, if faculty member and immediate supervisor do not reach agreement

12. Revision of Approved Plans • Plans reviewed / revised at request of faculty member or immediate supervisor • Material change in institutional standards or • Material change in academic programs or • Material change in individual assignments, goals • If revised, addendum added to original PDP and signed by the faculty member and immediate supervisor • Plans also reviewed as part of annual evaluation and requests to update noted on Appendix F • Either faculty or dean can indicate need for revision on Appendix F

13. Format for PDP 1. Name: 2. Department(s) and College(s): 3. Rank and date appointed to current rank: 4. Tenure Status: 5. Anticipated date(s) of future tenure and/or promotion applications: A. Anticipated date of next promotion, if applicable: B. Anticipated date of tenure application, if applicable:

14. Format for PDP 6. Dates for this Professional Development Plan 7. Any unique factors affecting this proposed plan  8. Anticipated distribution of effort over the life of the plan. (Since these percentages reflect the period of the plan, the distribution of effort stated in the annual Appendix F document may be different. ) A. _____ % Teaching and Advising B. _____ % Research, Scholarship or Creative Activity C. _____ % Service (including administrative appointments)

15. Format for PDP 9. Proposed Plan including goals in each area: Teaching and advising: Narrative / Context Goal Plan   Outcomes   Research, Scholarship or Creative Activity: Narrative / Context Goal   Plan Outcomes   Service (including administrative appointments):   Narrative / Context Goal Plan Outcomes

16. Format for PDP Faculty signature and date Immediate Supervisor’s Response:  ____I approve this professional development plan.   Comments: ____This plan requires revision prior to approval.   Comments: Immediate Supervisor signature and date VPAA signature and date

17. Writing PDP Plans • Action verbs in Goals, Plans and Outcomes (Learn, discover, identify, collaborate, write) • Goals: what you want to accomplish/change • Plans: list of individual objectives or steps so that goals can be accomplished • Outcomes: restatement of goals, but with changes that are measurable (has to include numbers!) • Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to learn more about action verbs / higher-level skills

18. PDP Example: Teaching • Context: Courses taught, etc. • Goal: Reduce the DWF rate in my freshman-level courses • Plan: Over the next 3 years, I will: • Identify reasons for student failure • Use campus resources designed to enhance student success (early alert systems, etc.) • Add supplemental instruction activities in each course, particularly in the first half of the semester • Collaborate with other instructors to share strategies • Identify external resources (teaching / learning conferences, newsletters, etc.) • Outcome: Reduce DWF rates by 5% each year (15% overall)

19. Other Resources • Guidelines document -- last document in Collective Bargaining Agreement link on SDBOR website • http://www.sdbor.edu/administration/policy_planning/agreements/COHE_Agree/agreement.htm OR • www.SDBOR.edu > Board of Regents > Policy and Agreements > University Faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement (see Section 11.2 A-E and guidelines document) • Sample plan – file named PDP Example DSU 0809.docx, posted on Academic home page under the Faculty Expectations link • For help writing behavioral outcomes: • http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/bloom.html • http://edtech.tennessee.edu/~bobannon/writing_objectives.html

20. Portfolio for P&T • CAREFULLY read Standards Document, including Attachment B, and follow the advice provided there! http://www.dsu.edu/hr/policies/02-45-00.aspx • Attachment B lists the documentation that MUST accompany portfolio (letters of recommendation, lists of students, etc.) • “I didn’t know you wanted that” is not acceptable justification!

21. Applying for Promotion / Tenure • Organize your portfolio: introductory letter from you, other documents, sections on T,R,S (follow order listed in Attachment B) • Documentation must be complete but don’t need to include truck-loads; • should be well-organized; don’t make them search! • Do not need to include Appendix F (part of personnel file)

22. Applying for Promotion /Tenure • Spell out accomplishments relative to the professional behaviors for the higher performance standard (move from basic to high in activities, not in performance standard noted in Appendix F #5) • Use language from standards document • Carefully explain any anomalies in your personnel file

23. Applying for Tenure • Tenure: senior faculty member’s contractual right to re-employment from year to year, until such time as the faculty member resigns, retires, is discharged for cause or is terminated because of a reduction in personnel (RIF) • Sec. 15 establishes code of conduct and steps of discipline for just cause • Sec. 16 establishes procedures for reduction in personnel

24. Applying for Tenure • Tenure applications: assistant professors in tenure-track contracts must meet requirements for tenure as well as minimum requirements for associate professor • Essentially, providing a summary of your accomplishments throughout your professional career (with some judicious pruning!)

25. Applying for Promotion • Promotion: Faculty members must meet institutional performance standards for persons holding the rank sought • Table 1 lists performance standards by rank (basic or high performance standards) • Standards Document narrative provides lists of professional behaviors that must be accomplished for promotion to higher rank • Summary of accomplishments since last promotion

26. Applying for Promotion To prove performance appropriate for next rank, P&T Committee expects that: • professional behaviors appropriate for higher rank (accompanied by documentation) • ratings of 2-3 on App. F, especially in areas of high performance for rank sought • Description of impact, benefit and effort expended in T,R, S activities (impact and benefit to you, students, college, institution) • #13c – dean includes “you’re doing great” language

27. Teaching • Expectation of high performance for everyone except new assistant professors (< 2 year) • IDEA surveys (quantitative and qualitative; only quantitative in personnel file) and advising survey results • Discussion of impact, benefit and effort expended in teaching activities

28. Teaching and Advising • Demonstrate attitudes and activities that convey an excitement for course materials; inspire learners to excel; relate abstract ideas clearly; actively involve students in learning process • Initiate, develop and evaluate programs, courses and teaching materials; develop new ways of conveying information / knowledge; share knowledge and train others; integrate new knowledge and research into learning process

29. Teaching • Demonstrate professional skills in use of technology as appropriate to discipline (Tablet PC, D2L, etc.) • Participate in faculty development efforts and application of this knowledge to own classes • Present information to colleagues with goal of improved teaching

30. Service Three layers of service: • To the university (everyone’s obligation) • To the discipline • To the community at large • P&T Committee are made up of colleagues from across campus. Service activities are one way to get to know those colleagues.

31. Service • Best advice: carefully consider service options and choose wisely (value to yourself, college, university) • Try to protect assistant professors, but do need to provide service to university. • If you're engaged and committed, you learn things about how the university works." • “Service is its own reward. I like being a participant and member of my community.“

32. Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity From Standards Document: • Development of knowledge within professional community • Development of professional skills and standing within professional community • Cannot be only for the classroom or take place only in classroom

33. Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity • Must involve presentation of one’s ideas and works to professional peers or learned public • Results in new knowledge; improved teaching; leads to publication and presentations, performances or exhibits; • Faculty member’s responsibility to fully describe impact, benefit and effort expended in these activities

34. Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity Promotion to associate professor or higher: • High performance: significant research -- exceptional in scope, prestige of venue, impact on audience, profession or institution • External recognition of scholarship, research and creative activity

35. Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity • To be promoted to full professor, must provide evidence of discipline-specific scholarly publications or creative works in significant venues; research in teaching / learning is not sufficient unless discipline is education or faculty member teaches instructional methods courses in discipline