Resources for Essential Competencies

Teaching is a profession defined by essential competencies that develop from the changing needs of our educational community. These changes emerge organically from the community of scholars, practitioners, students, and others we serve. At Valencia, we have defined seven Essential Competencies that were developed by our academic community of deans and faculty. These competencies serve as the foundation of our ongoing development as teachers, counselors and librarians. Over the course of an entire career, faculty members continually develop their expertise in these essential competencies.

Faculty Development and the Teaching/Learning Academy support all faculty members as they expand their professional practices, examine their ongoing development of the Essential Competencies of a Valencia Educator, and engage in continuous improvement processes that result in student learning. As such, these seven Essential Competencies of a Valencia Educator form the foundation of all of our faculty development opportunities.

Assessment as a Tool for Learning

Valencia educators will develop student growth through consistent, timely formative and summative measures, and promote students' abilities to self-assess. Assessment practices will invite student feedback on the teaching and learning process as well as on student achievement.

The faculty member will:

  • Design and employ a variety of assessment measures and techniques, both formative and summative, to form a more complete picture of learning (e.g., classroom assessment techniques, authentic assessments, oral presentations, exams, student portfolios, journals, projects, etc.)
  • Design activities to help students refine their abilities to self-assess their learning
  • Employ formative feedback to assess the effectiveness of teaching, counseling, and librarianship practices
  • Employ formative feedback loops that assess student learning and inform students of their learning progress
  • Communicate assessment criteria to students and colleagues
  • Give timely feedback on learning activities and assessments
  • Evaluate effectiveness of assessment strategies and grading practices
  • Align formative and summative assessments with learning activities and outcomes

Resources

  • " The Concept of Formative Assessment" by Carol Boston of the Center for the Study of Assessment Validity and Evaluation at the University of Maryland provides a scholarly definition of formative assessment, its benefits and examples of formative assessment.
  • Formative Assessment. Glossary of Educational Reform.
  • Summative Assessment. Glossary of Educational Reform.
  • "Assessment Basics" from the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University. Includes topics such as "Aligning Assessments with Objectives" (aka learning ) and "Assessing Your Teaching." Also includes examples of CATs and rubrics.
  • "AAC & U VALUE rubrics" Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education from the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
  • " Selecting Methods of Assessment" from the Oxford Brookes University lists assessment methods organized by learning outcomes.
  • " Critical Incident Questionnaire" by Stephen Brookfield from Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher is a classic student input assessment tool to gather feedback on classroom climate.
  •  "Assessment Resources: Sample Rubrics" from Winona State University is a metasite with links to examples from a variety of disciplines and learning activities.
  • The Authentic Assessment Toolbox by Jonathan Mueller is a one-stop center for all things related to authentic assessment, including explanations, research, and examples.
  •  14 Rules for Writing Multiple Choice Questions, Penn State University Center for Teaching & Learning. 

Professional Organizations & Conferences:

  • design and support learning experiences that address students' unique strengths and/or needs
  • diversify the curricular and/or co-curricular activities to increase the presence of historically underrepresented groups
  • use diverse perspectives to engage and deepen critical thinking
  • create a learning atmosphere with respect, understanding, and appreciation of individual and group differences
  • challenge students to identify and question their assumptions and consider how these affect, limit, and/or shape their viewpoints
  • ensure accessibility of course content in alignment with federal law and Valencia standards

Resources

Professional Organizations & Conferences

 

Learning-centered Teaching Practice

Valencia educators will implement diverse teaching and learning strategies that promote active learning and that foster both acquisition and application of knowledge and understanding.

The faculty member will:

  • employ strategies that engage students to become more active learners (e.g., reference interviews, counseling inquiry, engaging lectures, classroom discussions, case studies, scenarios, role-play, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, manipulatives, etc.)
  • encourage students to challenge ideas and sources (e.g., debates, research critiques, reaction reports, etc.)
  • use cooperative/collaborative learning strategies (e.g., peer to peer review, team projects, think/pair/share, etc.)
  • incorporate concrete, real-life situations into learning activities
  • invite student input on their educational experience (e.g., choice among assignment topics, classroom assessment techniques, etc.)
  • employ methods that develop student understanding of discipline's thinking, practice, and procedures
  • employ methods that increase the students' academic literacy within the discipline or field (e.g., reading, writing, numeracy, technology skills, information literacy, etc.)

Resources

Professional Organizations & Conferences

 

LifeMap

Valencia educators will design learning opportunities that promote student life skills development while enhancing discipline learning. Through intentional inclusion of growth-promoting strategies, faculty will facilitate the students' gradual assumption of responsibility for making informed decisions and formulating and executing their educational, career, and life plans.

The faculty member will:

  • establish student & faculty contact that contributes to students' academic, personal, and professional growth
  • employ digital tools to aid student contact (e.g., Ateaching-learning-academys, MyPortfolio, Canvas, Ask-A-Librarian, email, etc.)
  • seek out struggling students and identify options through dialog and appropriate referrals
  • help students assume responsibility for making informed academic decisions (e.g., degree requirements, transfer options, financial aid, etc.)
  • guide students in developing academic behaviors for college success (e.g., time management, study, test and note taking strategies, etc.)
  • help students identify academic behaviors that can be adapted as life skills (e.g., library search skills, decision-making, communication skills, scientific understanding, etc.)
  • assist students in clarifying and developing purpose (attention to life, career, education goals)

Resources

 

Outcomes-based Practice

The Essential Competency areas of Outcomes-based Practice and Assessment work hand in hand, but they are not the same thing. Outcomes-based Practice is the process of identifying what the learner should be able to do as a direct result of teaching/learning activities. Effective assessment helps us measure the level at which students achieve these desired outcomes. Creating appropriate outcomes is a different area for study and practice, crucial in establishing expectations for students.

Valencia educators will design and implement learning activities that intentionally lead students towards mastery in the Student Core Competencies (Think, Value, Communicate, and Act) as well as the related course and program outcomes. The key question is "What will students be able to do as a result of the instruction?"

The faculty member will:

  • create a new, or revised, learning outcome for a unit, course or program that meets the criteria for learning outcomes (this performance indicator must be used in conjunction with at least one other Outcomes-based Practice indicator for demonstration in faculty portfolios)
  • align unit, course, and/or program outcomes with one or more student core competencies (Think, Value, Communicate & Act)
  • collect evidence of progress toward student achievement of unit, course, or program learning outcomes
  • sequence learning opportunities and assessments throughout units, courses, programs, and developmental advising to build student understanding and knowledge
  • help students understand their growth in the acquisition of student core competencies (Think, Value, Communicate & Act) and program learning outcomes
  • use evidence of student learning to review and improve units, courses, and programs (in classroom, counseling and library settings)
  • ensure that unit, course, and program learning outcomes are current and relevant for future academic work and/or vocational and employment opportunities.

Resources

Professional Organizations & Conferences

 

Professional Commitment

Valencia educators will stay current and continually improve their mastery of discipline/academic field, their excellence in pedagogy, and their active participation in the college's learning mission.

The faculty member will:

  • stay current in discipline/academic field (e.g., professional organizations, conferences, journals, reading in the discipline, field work or clinical experience, etc.)
  • contribute to discipline/academic field (e.g., publications, presentations at discipline-based conference, poster sessions, writing articles, editing learning material, curriculum development, field work, sharing clinical experience, contributing to textbooks, sharing research with peers, etc.)
  • participate in faculty development programs, resources or classes, whether Valencia-based or external university/college-based
  • stay current with technological tools and/or platforms within discipline and at the college
  • engage in ongoing discourse surrounding division, campus, and college work (e.g., meetings, ongoing committees, work teams, task forces, "Big Meetings," governing councils, etc.)
  • collaborate with peers both in and out of discipline/academic field (e.g., develop educational materials to be shared; participate in peer observation of teaching, mentoring programs, or learning partners, etc.)
  • engage in expanding and building institutional, programmatic and personal connections to the wider community (e.g., community involvement, service learning, civic engagement, board of [museums, hospital, etc.], partner K12 schools, student development leadership or activities, etc.)

Resources

 

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Valencia educators will continuously examine the effectiveness of their teaching, counseling, librarianship and assessment methodologies in terms of student learning. They also will keep abreast of the current scholarship in the fields of teaching and learning.

The faculty member will:

  • produce professional scholarly work (action research or traditional research) related to teaching and learning, that meets the Valencia Standards of Scholarship
  • build upon the work of others (consult experts, colleagues, self, students)
  • be open to constructive critique (by both colleagues and students)
  • make professional scholarly work public to college and broader audiences through Valencia's research repository and other means
  • collect evidence of the relationship of SoTL to improved teaching and learning
  • demonstrate use of current teaching and learning theory & practice

Resources

Professional Organizations & Conferences