Mission Statement

KCELT provides opportunities that embrace, enhance and promote lifelong learning.

Philosophy

KCELT adapts it goals from O'Banion's Launching a Learning Centered College. We assume that on-going scholarship is essential to professional satisfaction and to the quality of students' community college experience. Therefore, this center strives to:

• Provide a centralized venue for faculty, staff and administrators to discover professional development opportunities at this college and in other arenas
• Create and offer as many options for faculty, staff and administrators' learning as possible
• Assist faculty, staff and administrators in achieving substantive change in content knowledge
• Assist faculty, staff and administrators in achieving substantive change in teaching success
• Assist faculty, staff and administrators to form and participate in collaborative learning activities
• Assist faculty, staff and administrators to assess and to make public their assessments of professional development activities

Please contact Lauri Hughes at lauri.hughes@kirkwood.edu, Professional Development Coordinator, or Bonnie Cackoski at bonnie.cackoski@kirkwood.edu, Technology Trainer/Training Coordinator, if you have suggestions for ways we can accomplish these aims. 

History

During the 2003-2004 academic year the Kirkwood Quality Improvement Program (KQIP)steering committee identified the need for additional and expanded faculty development opportunities at Kirkwood. A team was formed to examine the current faculty development process and make recommendations for its improvement. In 2004-2005 a second KQIP team was formed to continue this work. It became apparent that we should both centralize and expand faculty development efforts.

Following a visit by the 2004-2005 KQIP team members to Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois, to tour their Center for Excellence, the team made a strong recommendation that Kirkwood take steps toward developing a Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.

From January 2006 this website was our virtual professional development center. We intend that it will always be the place from which faculty across all campuses and our Distance Education program can find the information they need regarding professional development at Kirkwood.

We moved into our six room center in Linn Hall in August 2006. With a small library & soft arm chairs, a group presentation space that seats 25, a conference room for 6, and a computer training room for 15, we've begun to offer a number of kinds of professional development for faculty, staff and administrators. Director Hope Burwell, fulltime English faculty since 1991, needs ideas, assistance, and the involvement of as many Kirkwood citizens as possible to continue to expand the offerings and services of our professional development center. Please e-mail her at hope.burwell@kirkwood.edu or give her a call at 319/398-5411, ext. 5871 with your suggestions and questions.

Updated 8/23/08