Professional Development for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty at Valencia College
As a learning-focused institution, Valencia College offers a robust, competency-based faculty development program, including a number of opportunities that have been designed specifically for adjuncts, who teach about 40% of Valencia's course sections. Over the past twenty years, the academic community of deans and faculty at Valencia have defined and refine seven essential competencies that promote student learning: assessment as a tool for learning, inclusion and diversity, learning-centered teaching practices, LifeMap (enhancing life skills through disciplinary learning), outcomes-based practice, professional commitment (demonstrating a commitment to ongoing professional development), and scholarship of teaching and learning (contributing to knowledge of teaching and learning). These competencies guide professional development offerings as well as faculty evaluation practices.