FPLCs and your FEP
From CTLpedia
A Faculty Evaluation Plan (FEP) is required for all probationary faculty and every three years for appointive faculty. Details of the FEP requirement are available on the district Faculty Association website. The stated goals of the FEP are recognition and encouragement of improved teaching and learning as well as service beyond the classroom. These goals are similar to FPLC goals. In fact, I suspect that the authors were thinking of scholarly teaching when they wrote many of the FEP guidelines, so you can effectively complete virtually all aspects the FEP process within your FPLC!
Key Elements
Key elements of the FEP are self examination of 3 required areas, 2 elective areas and other related areas.
- Required Areas that must be examined
- Teaching, Learning, and/or Service
- Course Assessment and/or Program Development/Revision
- Governance and/or Committee Participation at the College and/or District levels
- Elective Areas of which at least two must be examined
- Professional Development
- Acquisition of New Skills
- Enhancement of Diversity
- College Level Assessment of Learning Outcomes
- Service to the Community
- Related Areas that may be examined
- Program coordination
- Department/division chair responsibilities
- Advisement/mentoring or other student activity involvement
- Professional interaction
- Other roles (as identified)
Other Key Elements
Other Key elements of the FEP are:
- Begin/complete by June 30
- Assessments of required, elective and other areas
- Persons involved in the process:
- Individual Faculty Member
- A peer selected by the evaluee
- A third person selected by the evaluee from among the following:
- Department/Division chair
- Appropriate other professional
- Another faculty member
- Administrator
- Staff developer
- Advisory committee
- Alumni
- College committee members
- Students or other service recipients
- FEP endorsement sheet
How can FPLCs help with your FEP?
What’s wrong with how FEPs are too often done? Many faculty do not think about their FEP until the end of the year when it is due and end up doing a rush job and turning in something that simply satisfies the requirement. So what if we do an FPLC instead of an FEP?
- Your FPLC topic could be related directly to your required teaching/learning and course/program areas.
- Your FPLC could be your required committee participation.
- Your FPLC activities could be your elective professional development, acquisition of new skills, enhancement of diversity, your assessment of learning outcomes and even your service to the community.
- Your FPLC members could be your FEP team.
- And your FPLC project assessment will certainly involve your students.
An FPLC-FEP would certainly not be a one day process, but rather the timeline would be consistent with the intent of the FEP.
In the fall of your FEP year, you would:
- set goals
- form team
- read and learn
- develop project plan
In the spring of your FEP year, you would:
- implement classroom intervention
- assess impacts on student learning
- document and communicate conclusions, which would be stored in CTLpedia
- finally fill out and get signatures on your endorsement form.
Thus, you could do a great FEP with your FPLC or do an FPLC instead of your FEP! Furthermore, your FEP work will be documented in CTLpedia with all other projects. Thus, an FEP done within an FPLC would truly be in the spirit of the FEP, by engaging in scholarly teaching, and follow the letter of the FEP requirements, by making interdisciplinary connections that will serve our institution!
