Jay Hollowell

As active Faculty Coaches, together implementing the CEE Faculty Development Program, perhaps one of our opportunities is to share best practices and challenges as we mentor our faculty in their continuing education. Please let me invite Faculty Coaches to really utilize our Faculty Coach Consortium in the Lounge. Feel free to blog as well as peruse all of the Lounge's and our own group's features and shared information. I look forward to your ideas!  

Recently I ran across a list of bullet points (from a faculty development workshop years ago) on the qualities of top notch instructors. Knowing that as Faculty Coaches we are involved in the development of our faculty, and that they are completing online courses in teaching methodology and instructional expertise, I wanted to share the list with each of you. It's not an exhaustive list by any means, so please feel free to add bullet points of your own:

Top notch faculty are (in no particular order)

• Experienced in their field
• Encouragers of student participation
• Well organized
• Team players
• Enthusiastic – passionate and compassionate
• Professional
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A positive attitude is your best coping strategy. A positive attitude is hard to describe.  It can’t be taught or learned.  It develops personally through a conscious effort to act and react in ways that yield the best consequences.  It’ may be hard work amidst challenges, but after awhile, the conscious act becomes a state of mind. 

Perhaps as Faculty Coaches, one of our most important attributes as we lead our faculty by example, and encourage their faculty development, is a positive attitude. It's motivational and contagious, and can facilitate coping strategies among our instructors amidst teaching loads and multiple responsibilities! 

As managers for our career education institutions we sometimes find ourselves mediating conflict among members of our faculty and staff. Conflict does not have to be negative or undermining if we manage it in such a way that it accentuates the skills, experience and diversity of our employees, But that is, of course, easier said than done.

Here are a few initial ground rules that may help to create an environment where the resulting effect of conflict is positive:

• Create and maintain an environment of confidentiality, impartiality and respect
• Proactively listen to all points of view
• Allow for mutual input and collaboration
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In today's climate of career college performance outcomes and compliance, one question comes to mind - What effect does our instructors' planning abilities, teaching methods, classroom management techniques and student assessment tools have on the institutional effectiveness of our institutions?  

Some of the major areas of institutional effectiveness include student retention, graduate placement, student and graduate satisfaction, employer satisfaction and, of course, student performance outcomes. What our instructors do in the classroom or lab - the way they teach, the professional teaching/learning relationships they build with students, the motivational techniques they use, and the support they provide - all influence each of the institutional areas mentioned above. And if… >>>

No doubt our supervisory responsibilities extend beyond our Faculty Coach roles in the CEE Faculty Development Program. As we manage and supervise on a daily basis, it becomes imperative to earn, and maintain, the trust and respect of our educational teams. I ran across the following little excerpt from a training event I facilitated years ago; it's called "The Heart of the Matter." Though not rocket science, it is a simply a reminder of a few of the foundational precepts for people management:

H   Hear and seek to understand what your employees are really saying while focusing on their talents, characteristics, diversities and challenges

E  … >>>

I often have the honor and pleasure to talk with Faculty Coaches about different aspects of the CEE Faculty Development Program and, of course, each Faculty Coach plays an important part in the success of the program’s on-campus  or online implementation. I am occasionally asked about the different roles of the Faculty Coach as the CEE program is introduced and maintained, and as instructors go through their faculty development journey, so I wanted to take the opportunity to mention what some of those roles might be. I included the information below in my series of Coaching Corner weekly newsletter emails, but I wanted… >>>

As administrators, managers or directors of our career education institutions we no doubt are often involved in the problem-solving process as we face challenging

issues in our operations. Critical problem-solving is a managerial and operational  survival skill. Most of us are most likely familiar with the problem-solving steps: identify the problem, get the facts, identify possible solutions, weigh the pro’s and con’s of each one, select the best solution, implement and evaluate. To help with this process, I thought perhaps these additional pointers might be helpful:

·        When you are identifying the problem, make sure that you are also identifying the root of the… >>>