LibGuides: Academic Professional Development Hub: Resources for New Faculty and Instructors

New Faculty and Instructors Orientation

Welcome to the Community College of Aurora!

We are thrilled to welcome you to the Community College of Aurora family! Your expertise, passion, and dedication will play a crucial role in fulfilling our mission of providing high-quality education and fostering student success.

At CCA, we value innovation and excellence in teaching. We're excited to see how your unique perspectives and experiences will enrich our academic community and inspire our students.

As you embark on this new journey with us, please know that you have our full support. The Hub Team is here to assist you every step of the way. We offer orientation programs, coaching opportunities, and ongoing professional development to ensure your success.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss support opportunities, please email TheHub.CCA@ccaurora.edu

Professional Development Requirements

All new Faculty and Instructors must complete two required orientations: one is institutionally coordinated by Academic Success: The New Faculty and Instructor Orientation (NFIO), and the other is a departmental meeting/orientation organized by the Department Chair. You must also complete both the MyCourses and Web Accessibility training by the deadlines provided at the NFIO. Based on your role and the service responsibilities approved by your Department Chair, you must complete the Assessment Academy. Finally, depending on the instructional experience of the Instructor, Department Chairs can request that new in specific professional learning programs and opportunities.

For Faculty or Instructors teaching within Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, you must complete the following courses, based on the level of your CTE credential in order to renew an initial credential:

Part-Time CTE Credential –Effective Teaching
Full-Time CTE Credential –CTE in Colorado and Adult Learning and Teaching

To learn more about CTE credentialing, speak to your Department Chair

Professional Development Opportunities for New Instructors and Faculty

The New Faculty and Instructor Orientation (NFIO) is a series of required trainings that all new faculty and instructors must complete will need to complete to prepare for teaching and for your continued employment at CCA. The NFIO has two components:

An in-person event that includes a resource fair, teaching techniques and strategies, and an introduction to our campus community
An online space that includes resources and protocols that you'll use as an instructor or faculty member at CCA, sign-ups for other relevant trainings, and a discussion and quiz to finalize your NFIO participation.

The NFIO event is an opportunity for you to hear directly from the college leadership and to learn about services available to you and your students, and to complete training on instructional technology (like D2L and Panorama), learn about student success resources and processes, gain some teaching tips, and explore student academic supports.

NFIO takes place at the beginning of every semester. The next NFIO is tentatively scheduled for January 11, 2025. More details to follow.

The Hub sponsors a variety of professional development opportunities for instructors and faculty members with all levels of experience. We're excited to invite you to join us in developing your teaching skills.

Effective Teaching Course (Spring 2025)

By participating in this class, you will:

Identify student learning objectives for your class
Develop teaching and learning strategies that help all students succeed
Design a lesson plan with learning activities that help students to learn your class objectives
Choose an assessment strategy to measure student learning
Consider how to use assessment data to make an adjustment to your teaching

Through this course, you will have the chance to improve and reflect upon your skills to create effective and meaningful learning experiences for your students.

Click here to sign up.

Resources for New Faculty and Instructors

Faculty & Instructor Support Resources
This site was created for easy access to documents, forms, guides, and information you'll need as you teach here at the Community College of Aurora.
Educational Technology
This guide includes tips and tutorials for using on-campus technology, such as Yuja, Panorama, Office 365, and D2L.
Course Design from the Center for Teaching Excellence
Get a crash course in teaching from the Boston College Center for Teaching Excellence. This resource includes tips for getting a class started and desinging assignments.
Design and Grade Course Work
This resource provides a brief introduction to designing your course assessment strategy based on your course learning objectives and introduces best practices in assessment design. It also addresses important issues in grading, including strategies to curb cheating and grading methods that reduce implicit bias and provide actionable feedback for students.
University of Colorado - Boulder - Center for Teaching and Learning
The CTL and ASSETT curate this collection of tips and resources to navigate common teaching challenges. Based on the scholarship of teaching and learning, these strategies promote student learning. These pages likewise highlight effective and innovative practices that have been developed by educators from across the CU Boulder campus.

Popular topics include designing and delivering courses, assessing student learning and teaching, inclusive teaching, teaching with technology, and more. As these pages are continually being updated and expanded, we encourage you to check back for additional content.
The Open Guide to Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
This guide is designed to provide educators—whether new faculty, graduate instructors, or experienced teachers looking for fresh ideas—with the tools and insights to enhance their teaching. We begin with the foundation: understanding who our students are, how they learn, and how we, as educators, can create conditions for their success. From there, we explore how to structure courses, design meaningful assessments, facilitate discussions, and implement active learning techniques.