Individual Activities

Process & Criteria | Suggested Activities | Online Activities | State Guidelines

Faculty members are required to complete flex hours by attending Scheduled Activities or completing Individual Activities. These are paid hours, and forms must be submitted on time to receive the pay. For flex hours:

1. Submit the Individual Activity Proposal if you would like pre-approval.
2. Complete the activity and submit the Completed Activity Form with evidence of completion during the allowed time frame:
• Adjunct Faculty: between professional development week and the 12th week of class.
• Full Time Faculty: between July 1 and third Friday in May.

NOTE: Completed Activity Forms will be accepted without an approved proposal, but it's to your advantage to have your activities pre-approved.

 

Suggested Individual Activities

The following are a few suggestions to fulfill your professional development requirements. Pre-approval is recommended.

• For workshops offered after flex week, see Scheduled Activities.
• Diversity Dialogue workshops are offered throughout the semester.
• Department SLO training can be used for Professional Development. Department chairs can submit an agenda and list of attendees to the Professional Development office to get credit. Adjuncts can get hours for working on SLOs or SLO assessment - just submit a completed activity form.
• If you have taught at Cuyamaca for at least 4 years, you can get up to 5 hours per semester for mentoring another teacher. If it is your first semester at Cuyamaca or your first semester teaching online, you can also get up to 5 hours for working with a mentor.
• Meet with Rhonda Bauerlein to work on instructional technology issues for up to 5 hours per semester.
• A DVD recording of Refugee 101: Responding to the Issues is available at the library reserve desk and provides a brief history of events leading to the influx of Chaldean refugees to the East County and Cuyamaca College. A panel of Chaldean students share their past struggles and current experiences. (1.5 hours)
• Sign up for on-going technology training by the Teaching and Learning Center.
• Build a Library Research Web Site or consult with a librarian for collection development or research related to your course. To set up an appointment, email jeri.resto@gcccd.edu.
• Present a workshop during College Hour.
• Take a class about education or related to your teaching area for up to 10 hours of flex credit. Note that you may not get flex credit and salary advancement for the same class.
• Attend workshops at Grossmont College. Be sure to sign their attendance sheet and write "Cuyamaca" next to your name. You may not get paid for the same activity by both colleges.
• Shadow a fellow Cuyamaca College employee at work or visit a colleague’s classroom (times to be agreed upon by you and the person you want to shadow). Submit a brief summary of what you learned signed by the teacher you shadowed.
• Chair a campus committee for up to 5 hours of flex credit per semester (unless you are getting release time).
• Adjuncts can participate in shared governance activities as a committee member for up to 2 hours of flex credit.
• Attend a conference about education or related to your teaching area for up to 8 hours per day of credit. Note that you may not get flex credit during a regular teaching day if you are missing class to attend.
• Spend an hour or two watching teaching tips videos at Teaching Channel site. To get credit, write what you watched and learned. Though these are geared to k-12 teaching, you should be able to get some ideas.

Suggested Online Activities

For those who find it difficult to attend campus events, we recommend the following online activities. To document your activity, you will need to submit a product or summary of what you learned and report on how it helps improve your teaching or meets other state guidelines. You may propose similar activities.

• Cuyamaca's Teaching with Blackboard online course will take you step-by-step through the basics of building an online course in Blackboard. Please attend an orientation during Professional Development Week or email rhonda.bauerlein@gcccd.edu to sign up any time.
• Cuyamaca's Accessibility workshop telecast provides an overview of accessibility for faculty and staff. It includes instructions on how to use the MS Office 2010 accessibility checker and how to use headers in Word to create a table of contents or bookmarks in a PDF file. This cccconfer archive will download Java applet to play the video. Workshop resources are available at www.cuyamaca.edu/tlc/workshops/access .
• @ONE training helps California Community College faculty and staff use technology to enhance student learning and success. Programs include Desktop Seminars, Online Courses and more. For online courses, submit the certificate of completion. For other activities, submit a summary for up to 5 hours of flex credit.
• The League for Innovation Innovation iStream offers a wide variety of free, helpful resources including conference presentations and multimedia training. Use your campus email address to get an account, propose some resources to study (include the time for each), and write a summary for up to 5 hours of flex credit. Consider Getting Results, an online course for community college educators.

Process and Criteria

Your application will be reviewed by faculty members on the Professional Development Committee, who will decide whether to grant flex hours. If you wish to appeal, contact the Professional Development office and the committee will consult with your dean and review the decision. Here are the criteria that guide the committee's decisions:

• The activity must meet the state guidelines (improves teaching, maintains current academic and technical knowledge and skills, etc.).
• The hours requested are reasonable. 
• Completion of the activity can be documented (e.g. receipt, program, agenda) and/or the teacher can clearly explain how the activity is relevant to his or her professional development in a brief summary submitted with the completed activity form.
• Activities like museum visits, site visits, cultural arts activities, and Exercise Science classes are limited to 5 flex hours per semester.  More hours may be approved by the committee when the activity is particularly relevant to the discipline (pre-approval strongly recommended).
• The activity is not part of normal job responsibilities and is not already compensated, including
• Regular instructional and office hours
• Regular department meetings held at any time during the semester other than Professional Development Week
• Standing committee meetings, including hiring committee meetings
• Classroom preparation time (syllabus preparation, ongoing web page development, preparation of instructional materials, gathering resources, etc.)
• Chair/Coordinator responsibilities, including those that occur during Professional Development Week (reassignment as a Chair/Coordinator is part of a full-time faculty load)
• Activities occurring during paid work hours
• Activities used for salary advancement

This Process and Criteria statement was approved by the Academic Senate February 2011.

 

State Guidelines

The authorized uses of Professional Development funds as outlined in AB1725 by the State Chancellor’s Office are:

• Improvement of teaching.
• Maintenance of current academic and technical knowledge and skills.
• In-service training for vocational education and employment preparation programs.
• Retraining to meet changing institutional needs.
• Intersegmental exchange programs.
• Development of innovations in instructional and administrative techniques and program effectiveness.
• Computer and technological proficiency programs.
• Courses and training which implement affirmative action and upward mobility.
• Other activities determined by the Board of Governors to be related to educational and professional development pursuant to criteria established by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.