Teaching Action Plan (TAP) and Peer Coaching:
The purpose of Peer Coaching and setting goals within the Teaching Action Plan is to provide guidance and direction for the professional learning activities throughout your FQAS cycle. The TAP fosters a growth-mindset by allowing you to capture the full process of professional learning from skills development and renewal to classroom application, so that you can reflect on what worked well, what didn’t work, what no longer works, and what could work with some adjustments. In the TAP, you are asked to set professional learning goals that apply to the classroom; however, the goals that you set may grow and adapt as you start to implement your newly-acquired professional learning skill set into the classroom. The TAP process has an embedded flexibility to give you the professional respect you deserve in a quality review process that embraces all levels of self-reflection and feedback.
Teaching Action Plan (TAP):
Teaching Action Plan (TAP):
The TAP is a framework for the application of individualized professional learning and is a required component of the FQAS cycle. It is designed to:
- Help you develop and organize your professional goals
- Identify and connect with a peer coach (part-time faculty)
- Receive feedback from your supervisor (full-time faculty)
- Apply your professional development FQAS into classroom practice
- Chart your progress throughout your FQAS cycle
All faculty complete one TAP each FQAS cycle. All Full-time faculty submit their TAP goals as part of their performance assessment process, which includes a self-reflection and an evaluation. This is done in conjunction with supervisor (Dean) feedback as a stepped process within SumTotal.
Part-time faculty work on their TAP with a peer of their choosing and will upload their completed TAP as a document in SumTotal.
Peer Coaching:
Faculty in initial FQAS cycles:
All faculty in their initial FQAS cycle are assigned a coach through the Center of Teaching Excellence within their first month of employment and work with their assigned Faculty Coach during their initial period. The coaching process involves:
- Meeting with the Coach
- Reviewing the initial FQAS requirements
- Performing at least one classroom observation conducted by the Coach. The Classroom Observation form is filled out by the Coach and is shared with the faculty member for the purpose of coaching and mentoring.
- Working with the Coach on developing goals for the initial faculty member's Teaching Action Plan (TAP). Typically, the reflections from the classroom observation are incorporated into the goals for professional development in the TAP. The Coach and faculty member continue to review progress towards achieving the TAP goals throughout their initial period, providing a consistent and supportive peer coaching experience.
Faculty in ongoing FQAS cycles:
Peers are in a unique position to provide feedback on instructional quality because they are deeply involved in using the tools of the trade, and have created promising practices within teaching and learning. Therefore, faculty in ongoing FQAS cycles choose their Peer Coach from amongst their peers to collaborate with. The Peer Coach will help faculty achieve the goals as determined on their Teaching Action Plan. The Peer Coach can be a colleague in the faculty's discipline or from outside the discipline. Peer Coaches need to agree to provide the needed time and support requested by their colleague. Often peer coaches provide support with 21st Century Classroom skills using the checklist as a tool for collaborative feedback.
The following resources have been created for use by full-time faculty in ongoing FQAS cycles: