Guiding Principles
- Practical and immediately applicable
- Collaborative rather than isolated
- Flexible enough to respond to campus needs
- Inclusive of faculty and staff where appropriate
- Focused on creation, application, reflection, and sharing
Program at a Glance
A recurring professional learning ecosystem designed to help faculty and staff build, share, apply, and reflect without relying on disconnected one-time workshops.
10Annual monthly themes
9Recurring experience types
2Teaching Foundations cohorts
1Immediate-use standard
Program standard: Every experience should produce something immediately usable: a completed product, practical resource, tested strategy, implementation plan, or meaningful professional connection.
Canvas Course Development Pathway
Canvas support is organized as a defined pathway rather than one generic workshop: Basic Navigation when needed, Course Build before first teaching or a substantial redesign, and Course Refresh before each semester.
Participant Outcomes
- Apply relevant strategies and tools.
- Create or revise usable resources.
- Select practices for identified needs.
- Collaborate to solve problems.
- Evaluate and improve professional practice.
- Implement at least one meaningful change.
- Contribute to a culture of continuous learning.
Annual Theme Sequence
| Fall | Spring |
|---|---|
| August: Course Readiness September: Authentic Assessment October: Course Design & Organization November: Instructional Innovation December: Reflect, Celebrate & Share | January: Course Refresh & Meaningful Feedback February: Reinforce & Refine March: Engagement & Communication April: Accessibility & Inclusive Design May: Celebrate, Showcase & Plan Ahead |
2026–2027 Planning Calendar
A real monthly calendar showing only New Hire HR Days on fixed dates. All other professional development offerings remain flexible at the month level and are not assigned specific dates.
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Mon
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Calendar rule: Green = New Hire HR Day. No other professional development offerings are assigned specific dates in this planning version.
Selected Month Agenda
Recurring Learning Experiences
Select an experience to view its purpose, audience, format, cadence, and participant product without opening a long catalog.
Canvas Course Development Pathway
A required, role-based sequence that separates basic Canvas navigation, initial course construction, and recurring semester readiness. Course Build and Course Refresh function as specialized Build Labs within the broader professional development program.
Canvas Basic Navigation, if needed→Course Build→Course Refresh each semester
Pre-employment
Canvas Basic Navigation
Required only when an instructor has no prior Canvas LMS experience. Created and managed by the LMS Administrator.
Boundary: This course establishes basic LMS navigation. It does not replace the hands-on Course Build workshop.
Required before teaching
Course Build
For new faculty and faculty building a new course or substantially redesigning an existing course using the required FTCC Canvas template and checklist.
Participants build or substantially develop
- Required navigation, homepage, and approved banner
- Instructor welcome information and About Your Instructor page
- “Welcome! Your Journey Begins Here!” and Course Entry Quiz modules
- Required instructional-module structure
- Module requirements and prerequisites
- Assignment groups and weighted gradebook
- Student-view review and remaining-work plan
Core objectives
- Configure navigation and required Canvas tools.
- Apply the FTCC template and establish the course-entry sequence.
- Organize modules around objectives, materials, activities, assessments, and wrap-up content.
- Align assignment groups and weights with the approved syllabus.
- Evaluate readiness with the FTCC Canvas Course Checklist.
Recurring semester readiness
Course Refresh
For faculty preparing an existing Canvas course for a new semester. This is a readiness review, not a complete build or redesign.
Participants update and verify
- Syllabus, schedule, instructor information, and due dates
- Course Entry Quiz, module requirements, and prerequisites
- Links, files, videos, external tools, and embedded resources
- Assignment groups, weights, and gradebook structure
- Published course elements and student access
- Final semester-readiness checklist
Completion standard
Participants leave with either a course ready for final approval and publication or a documented list of corrections required before students receive access.
| Pathway Component | When Used | Relationship to the PD Program |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas Basic Navigation | Only when the instructor lacks prior Canvas experience | Pre-employment prerequisite managed by the LMS Administrator |
| Course Build | Before first teaching, a new course assignment, or substantial redesign | Specialized required Canvas Build Lab |
| Course Refresh | Before each semester | Recurring Course Readiness Build Lab |
Searchable Topic Bank
Search across all session ideas or filter by annual theme.
Select any topic to load it directly into the Session Planner.
Interactive Session Planner
Complete the fields to generate a compact session brief. Download the completed brief as a standalone file.
Session Brief
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Requested Approvals & Evaluation
A concise leadership-facing summary of the decisions required to implement the program.
Requested Approvals
- Implement the 2026–2027 Teaching, Learning & Professional Growth Program.
- Redesign Teaching Foundations I as a 10-week cohort offered twice annually.
- Develop institution-wide Canvas organization and readiness recommendations.
- Coordinate recurring HR New Faculty Labs with Human Resources.
- Offer Department Partnership Sessions in response to identified needs.
Evaluation Approach
- Participation by audience and experience type
- Participant-created products and implementation plans
- Brief session feedback
- Follow-up evidence of implementation
- Department partnership requests
- Annual review of participant outcomes and program priorities