Faculty Development

The Center sponsors faculty development programs during the fall and spring terms. These are usually presented each month during September, October and November and again in January, February and March. The programs are normally held on one of the four Florida Community College campuses, with at least one program held at each campus each year. The annual International Conference on College Teaching and Learning is held each April.

To identify appropriate faculty development programs for the next year, a survey is conducted in cooperation with the Learning Futures Group, by the Center each spring term. The survey is distributed to all full-time and adjunct faculty. Programs are then designed for the next year to meet faculty needs, with workshop leaders and speakers identified and sponsored by the Center from among the Florida Community College faculty, as well as from educational institutions throughout the world.

The largest faculty development program sponsored annually by the Center is its International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, which is held at one of the downtown Jacksonville hotels. This conference now provides 20 workshops, nine keynote and featured speakers, 300 faculty presentations, an international video conference sponsored jointly with the PBS Adult Learning Service, and a software fair.

Recent keynote speakers have included paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey, author Sylvia Nasar, physicist and string theorist Brian Greene, author Ray Bradbury, playwright Edward Albee, science historian and TV host James Burke, and evolutionary biologist and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Stephen Jay Gould. Over 1,000 faculty from 25 countries attend, representing all the major academic disciplines. More than 240 Florida Community College faculty and staff attend, with an increasing number of Florida Community College faculty making presentations.