BlogU

  • Assessing Professional Development

    By Dean Dad June 4, 2009 9:49 pm

    Most colleges set aside at least some 'professional development' money for faculty and staff. The idea behind it is that fields of expertise don't remain static, so for people to remain current, they sometimes have to be exposed to the latest developments. That can mean workshops, or conferences, or webinars, or subscriptions, or whatever, but the goal is to make sure that people don't rust in peace.

    When there's a budget crunch, professional development is usually one of the first things to get cut. Part of that is because it's inherently variable anyway, unlike salaries or utilities. (In that sense, it's more like the 'snow removal' budget line than the 'salary' line. Any given winter can be more or less snowy than the one before it, so everybody understands that that particular line item is written in pencil.) And part of that is because the costs of cheaping out on professional development take a while to show, but the savings are immediate. When you're in free fall, the objection that “people might be a little less engaged five years from now” isn't terribly compelling. It's like telling a gunshot victim to quit smoking.

    Since it's looking like we'll be short of funds for some time to come, I can foresee some pitched battles coming over what little professional development funding we haven't cut yet. And I can guess that those battles won't be terribly enlightening, because we haven't really figured out what makes some professional development activities better than others.

    The traditional version, at least on the faculty side, goes something like this: you have x dollars to spend for the year on subscriptions, memberships, conference travel, and the like. If you get a paper accepted somewhere and go there to present it, you'll get a little more. The idea is that faculty are the experts in their respective fields, so they're likelier to know what they need professionally. Set a few basic criteria, make them show receipts, don't pay for alcohol or pay-per-view, and call it good.

    That works tolerably well when money is plentiful. But when it's scarce, and you get requests totaling several multiples of what's available, “I want it because I want it and I'm the expert” doesn't work.

    I recently heard someone ask what it would look like if we applied outcomes assessment to professional development. What if we somehow measured which expenditures generated the most bang for the buck, and prioritized accordingly?

    I can answer that in two words: define 'bang.'

    Although I've heard the phrase 'professional development' for years, I've never really heard a coherent theory behind it. In order to define 'bang,' we'd need to specify the purpose of PD. Instead, we're running on the old “I know it when I see it” model.

    I'll make it concrete. Which conference would it make more sense for the college to support: the regional conference on teaching in a given field, or the regional conference of the major disciplinary organization for that same field?

    I can envision arguments for either. The teaching conference is clearly more relevant to the college, since it's a teaching institution. And the disciplinary conference is clearly more relevant, since teachers need to know what they're teaching, and need to remain excited. So who wins?

    The really evil social scientist in me says this can be resolved empirically. Give one group teaching-focused development, and another discipline-focused. Do that for a few years. Then compare their course completion rates, graduation rates, student evaluations, and any other measures you normally use to gauge teaching effectiveness. If one group clearly beats the other, then you have your policy.

    Of course, you'd also have a political firestorm. Because at a really basic level, there's a tension between the view of faculty as employees and faculty as disciplinary ambassadors. The former suggests that PD is really another word for 'training,' and the latter suggests that it should be almost entirely self-directed. (In practice, that usually means that it's another word for 'travel.')

    Locally, I've tried to delegate these decisions to a faculty committee, but they're running into the same conceptual brick wall I used to run into. The failure is more democratic, but it's still a failure.

    Wise and worldly readers – have you seen a reasonably elegant and fair way to allocate scarce PD money? If so, what's it based on?

Go to comments (6) »
Advertisement
Open Job?

Comments on Assessing Professional Development

  • professional development
  • Posted by Jan Bone , Adjunct faculty, English composition at Harper College and Roosevelt University on June 5, 2009 at 8:45am EDT

  • I'll never be an administrator involved with determining "best" professional development (PD), but I'd like to put in a good word for Harper College, where I teach, and which has funded for several years my attendance at the best PD for mutual benefit in my situation. As an adjunct, I teach freshman composition there (English 100 and English 101 for fall 2009). I've certainly gotten great, practical, teaching ideas to use with my students from attending the 4Cs (Conference on College Composition and Communication). Although the $320 max-per-year-per-adjunct PD allowance (pre-approval is necssary, of course) still leaves me with funding the bigger part of my travel and hotel expenses, I find that the many sessions on topics like practices of teaching writing, information technologies in the comp classroom, community, civic, and public writing, professional and technical writing, writing research, and others--plus the chance to look at new publications and texts, and interact with over 2,000 writing teachers, writing program coordinators, and administrators, make attending this worthwhile! I'm grateful for the college's support, and even more, for the down-to-earth, usable techniques and strategies I've been able to use immediately with my classes. This particular convention WORKS! It's part of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

  • PD Plans
  • Posted by Jon Paulson , Communication Faculty/Undergraduate Studies at Walden University on June 5, 2009 at 9:15am EDT

  • 1. In terms of PD travel, perhaps the colleges could write it off as service, viz. creating economic stimulus for airlines, hotels, etc. (That would even justify alcohol and pay-per-view).

    2. I think you are right though, that developing some sort of measureable outcomes for PD would be a good idea. Shouldn't be too much more trouble than we have all had developing assessment plans for curricula. That means it will be in committee until we are all retired.

  • Posted by Jonathan Dresner on June 5, 2009 at 12:30pm EDT

  • The short answer to your first question is "no": I haven't seen anything different than what you've described. One-size-fits-all is the only way to go, without running into charges of favoritism. You could go the "highly competitive" route with a faculty selection committee to cushion the blow, but that's about all I've got.

  • PD Funding
  • Posted by Bear on June 5, 2009 at 2:00pm EDT

  • My cc provides a pot of money for faculty and professional staff for conferences and the like. Maximum annual funding is $750 per employee. Employees submit an application to a committee of the academic senate. The committee approves pretty much any conference that relates to the employee's duties; I know from experience that they look at the paperwork though. The money is usually snapped up by March but almost anyone planning to go to a conference in spring or summer gets their applications in early enough, particularly if they are presenting. One year, the president added money when it looked as though the fund would run dry. And there are initiative funds, etc. that people tap into as well if something exciting pops up; if it sounds as though it will benefit the college and student success, someone finds money somewhere. Subscriptions and memberships are the responsibility of employees - part of being a professional (and being a professional something is the reason you were hired) is to stay minimally current and involved in your field. The funny thing is that we have scads of PD opportunities right here on campus (webinars, faculty development day, teaching circles, etc.) that are generally excellent and poorly attended.

  • Going Dutch
  • Posted by ABD , Project Coordinator at YWCA on June 9, 2009 at 3:00pm EDT

  • Inspired by Jan Bone above, perhaps some of the dust could be settled by requiring matching funds from PD applicants or offering topups over a specified minimum commitment.

  • Define the goal
  • Posted by random thoughts on June 10, 2009 at 1:00pm EDT

  • "Development" is a noun that expresses a verbal idea -- something develops or changes. To "develop" has to do with growth, realizing potential, becoming effective, etc. "Professional development" then would appear to have to do with growth in professional skills and effectiveness (which, in the case of a disciplinary meeting, could also entail growth in professional reputation and influence).

    So, to define "bang," we need to specify the professional skills, dispositions, etc. that we want faculty and staff to possess. There may already be some sort of statement like that in the faculty manual.

    It's really no different from assessing student learning. Often, defining the intended results (outcomes) is the hard part. But it might help faculty still foggy about assessment if the administration were visibly assessing the effectiveness of other things as well.

Print
© Copyright 2009 Inside Higher Ed