from Inquiry, Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1997, 80-82
© Copyright 1997 Virginia Community College System
Through the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Professional Development Initiative and the hard work of many faculty and staff planning groups, the VCCS has sponsored over 72 peer/discipline meetings since 1993 involving well over 4,000 individuals. By now, most faculty and staff in the VCCS have enjoyed the benefits of attending at least one of the peer/discipline meetings. On average, approximately twenty-five peer group meeting occur during each academic year. Most peer groups have met twice, and several groups have planned three to four meetings for their colleagues. Ninety-six percent of the disciplines/specialties within the VCCS have met at least once since 1993.
The concept that undergirds the initiation and continuance of peer/discipline meeting programs is simple; faculty and staff are one another’s greatest resource. The opportunity to network with colleagues is a special time and the peer/discipline meeting prompts that interaction and creates that opportunity. Many of our full-time and adjunct faculty are isolated in one person departments without discipline colleagues, so the peer meeting program encourages interaction throughout the Virginia Community College System.
The mechanics of the program are also simple. Full-time and adjunct faculty and staff serve on planning committees to organize and conduct content sessions for their colleagues within a discipline or specialty, while the VCCS, and specifically Nancy Wood, Assistant for Professional Development, facilitates the logistics for System-wide meetings. Logistics include hotel arrangements, meal selection, conference calls, letters of invitation with agendas, registration process, materials for registration packets, and evaluation compilation. Planning committees utilize conference calls for their discussions, and the compressed video network for “face-to-face” planning is available and encouraged. Conference planning packets, which are mailed to planning committee members, provide a step-by-step process for each planning committee.
The streamlined process is designed to assist faculty and staff as they take great pains at planning the content of the meeting to address discipline currency, instructional issues, curriculum needs, and technology training. The content of the peer meetings is varied and creative but most often reflect issues of present concern within the discipline. National experts, visits to local industry, experimentation with instructional software, field trips and tours of historic landmarks have comprised large segments of peer agendas along with the traditional concurrent sessions, panels, and roundtable interaction. The goal is to plan a meeting worthy of colleague time and attention while remaining responsive to the professional development needs of the discipline group as a whole.
Evaluation materials compiled to assess the efficacy of the peer group meeting process include:
The summative assessment information gathered from the last two academic years yields positive data. Three areas experienced an increase in satisfaction from the 1994-95 academic year to the 1995-96 academic year:
One area remained unchanged, usefulness of the peer meetings for update and innovation (92% both years). These figures indicate a continuing appreciation of the peer/discipline meetings for professional development purposes. The numbers of faculty and staff served are about the same for both years (1,878 to 1,835), and those responding to the evaluations diminished slightly from 50% in 1994-95 to 43% in 1995-96. These percentages serve as solid indicators of the effectiveness of System peer/discipline meetings.
A total of 393 hours of professional development was provided to peer groups during the 95-95 academic year. The content analysis of peer meeting agendas conducted during the 1995-96 academic year indicate that the technology-related training/sessions/workshops are outnumbered only by discipline and organizational development sessions. The New Horizons Conference, which served over 500 faculty in 1996, provided the most intense technology related instruction while colleges continue their efforts to train their own faculty and staff.
The effectiveness of peer group planning committees was assessed by sending each member of the planning committee an appreciation letter and follow-up survey. Overall, these faculty groups work to provide substantive and meaningful professional development opportunities for their colleagues within their discipline or specialty. In 1995, 100% of those who completed surveys found that the peer meeting was responsive to faculty needs. In 1996, 96% of the respondents answered positively to the same question. These statistics would seem reasonable since the planning committee is responsible for the design and delivery of the agenda for their colleagues. They are, in essence, assessing themselves as planning committee members. However, the fact that they are satisfied with the outcome of the conference is significant and crucial for sustaining the life of the peer meeting process.
It appears that the peer/discipline meeting program to facilitate faculty and staff professional development is working efficiently and effectively. Over the past few years, I have observed the evolution of the peer group concept and make the following observations. In the first year, peer groups revel in the opportunity to be together while focusing on immediate issues and concerns. The main question appears to be, “How will the peer meeting benefit me as a faculty member?” In subsequent years, the glow of the initial meeting is replaced with an appreciation of the collective whole. The focus of the peer meeting is to address substantive issues affecting the discipline/specialty as an entity within the VCCS. The result is that System-wide concerns surface and require attention. The main question appears to be, “How can we make this work more effectively for all of us within our discipline or specialty?” The recognition of the value of peer meetings becomes more evident with each subsequent meeting.
Given present challenges confronting our community colleges, it is the collective thinking and response of our faculty and staff that holds the greatest potential for resolving community college issues. The recognition that we are smarter and more capable collectively than we are individually is the essence of the peer/discipline meeting program. Sustained contact with colleagues between peer/discipline meetings, drawing on the resources within the VCCS, and relying on collective wisdom are becoming a reality for VCCS faculty and staff. It is a VCCS phenomenon worthy of your attention..
Copies of the evaluation summaries, the Conference Planning Packet, and the VCCS Professional Development Initiative are available on request from Dr. Bernadette Black at the VCCS ofice in Richmond.