CAMPUS WIDE FLEX DAY A SUCCESS

March 11 was a day of learning, collaboration and rejuvenation for Skyline's faculty, staff and administrators. Attendance was at approximately 100 for the early morning and at about 210 by midday. All workshops offered were well attended and enthusiastically received. The Professional Enrichment Development Advisory Committee (PEDAC) and the Student Learning Outcomes & Assessment Committee (SLOAC) worked very hard and their efforts were greatly appreciated. A huge THANK YOU to all presenters. Also, THANK YOU to Dr. Morrow for her support and wonderful food. Everyone, please click to the second page to view photos of the entire day. If you attended, find yourself and others! If you didn't attend, you can see that you missed a great day.

Click here to see photos

Fall will be here soon

Although we are all up to our necks in the Spring semester and enrolling students for summer, Fall is right around the corner. The Flex days for Fall are: August 17 & 18 and November 11 & 12. For August, the district’s event will happen as usual on Monday,(location TBA), and Skyline will hold our Opening Day event on Tuesday, as we have done for the past couple of years. The two afternoons will be available for division meetings and professional development activities. The exact schedule will be in your hands as soon as it is set.

Plans for November are just getting underway, and if you have any ideas or input, please contact any member of the PEDAC Committee ASAP; Phyllis Taylor, Linda Herda, Nina Floro, Theresa Tentes, Nick Kapp, Lauri Biagi or Donna Bestock.

Questions about the SLOAC schedule should go to wongk@smccd.edu. You can always look at the all of the committee's great work at http://www.smccd.net/accounts/skysloac/index.htm

Your professional development is too important to give up on
By Rick Hough
“As chair of the professional development committee, I would like to share some insights about how the system works. We have limited funds that must be split up among short term proposals, long term proposals, and sabbaticals. Because sabbaticals are for a full semester of release, and long terms are for release of some portion of a full semester, they cost a lot of money.
What has happened since I have become chair, one year many people apply. So many in fact, that the committee chooses which to fund (using a rubric) and has to deny the rest. Word gets around that the committee is denying proposals, so the next year people decide not to try. We then have so few proposals, that we have extra money at the end of the year! Then, word gets around that we are funding almost every proposal, so that the next year everyone applies, and we have to deny some again.

CONFERENCE DATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

CATESOL California Teachers of Other Languages
April 16-19, 2009, Pasadena, CA
www.catesol.org

CCCEWD
California Community College Economic Workforce and Development April 15-17, 2009, Monterey, CA
www.cccewd.org

Facing History & Ourselves; Online Seminar: Holocaust and Human Behavior; February 12 - April 8, 2009 or, March 19 - May 13, 2009 Apply at http://www2.facinghistory.org

The Teaching Professor Conference; June 5-7, 2009 in Washington, D.C. To learn more or register, go to http://www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/pricing-registration.html

Hawai'i Nat'l. Great Teachers Seminar; Aug. 9 -14, Leeward Comm. College, Pearl City, Hawai'i. Contact cindymar@hawaii.edu or go to http://www.GreatTeacher.hawaii.edu

2009 Strengthening Student Success Conference: Learning from Assessment; Oct. 7-9, 2009;San Francisco Airport Marriott; register at http://www.rpgroup.org/events/sss09.html

CONFERENCE FUNDING:

CLASSIFIED STAFF: At this time there is a freeze on Classified Staff Development Funds. In the future for funding questions, contact Theresa Tentes, tentes@smccd.edu.

FACULTY: For conference fee and substitute cost, you may apply for Professional Development funds. Please go to the following link for additional information regarding the funds; www.smccd.edu/accounts/skyfaculty/prodev.html. If you have any questions, please contact the chair of the committee Rick Hough; hough@smccd.edu . Click here to view the rubric used for assessing proposals.

Short-Term Proposals: At least 21 days prior to the project
And in answer to that all important question, yes travel expenses may be approved at the discretion of the committee.

Rick Hough (cont.)

Bottom line: Please apply whenever you have an idea for your own development. If it’s a short term proposal, apply early enough that you will know if you get funding before you have to pay for the conference fee. If we run out of money and deny your proposal one year, rework it with the help of your dean, and resubmit it early for the next semester! Don’t hold back because you think you won’t get funding...make us say no if we have to, then refuse to take no for an answer!”