Knowledge Assessements

Our knowledge assessments have been developed in cooperation with the National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT). First time users take a baseline assessment modeled after NCCT’s Certified Postsecondary Instructor (CPI) examination. Upon completion of the baseline assessment, participants receive recommendations on which training courses to take to help them develop their instructional knowledge and skills. A number of follow-up assessments provide participants with an interactive learning experience and further prepare participants for the CPI examination.

Training Courses

We offer a wide variety of online training courses to maximize the performance of career college instructors, including a number of core courses that have been mapped to the competency standards identified by the Career College Association and Imagine America Foundation taskforce and the instructional skill competencies identified by the National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT). A guided development plan prepares the participants for NCCT’s Certified Postsecondary Instructor (CPI) examination. Click here for a list of currently available courses.

Our online courses are facilitated and supported by our expert faculty. Each course provides 4 hours of training and continuing education credits. Participating instructors complete three courses per year (12 hours of training). Successful completion of an online course requires participation in the course forums as well as passing the course assessments. Click here to learn more about the format of our online courses.

Performance Forums

In addition to the discussion forums in our online courses, we offer a number of performance forums that are designed to boost instructor performance. Similar to the knowledge assessments, our performance forums are learning opportunities outside the course environment. The performance forums provide a medium to enhance transfer of training to the workplace. After all, results are what matter.

Developed in cooperation with the National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT), our performance forums are facilitated by our expert faculty who act as implementation coaches to guide and help participating instructors apply what they have learned. The performance forums also provide the opportunity for instructors to discuss their challenges, ask questions from our expert facilitators and share their workplace experiences with other instructors. The ultimate objective of the performance forums is to turn training into performance.

Learning Webinars

Instructors have the opportunity to have live interactions with our expert faculty through our Learning Webinars. Our webinars are one-hour tailored presentations focused on a particular issue or topic requested by a subscribed institution. The webinars combine a slide show presentation with a teleconference bridge. Attendees have the opportunity to ask questions and participate in discussions during the Q/A portion of the webinar.

Success Tutorials

In addition to faculty training courses, we offer instructors a variety of online tutorials on general topics related to workplace success. Subject areas include communications, career development, creativity, innovation, management and leadership. Click here to see a list of currently available tutorials.

New Instructors

Provide immediate training to your newly hired instructors. With just-in-time training, you can be sure that your brand new instructors have the basic knowledge and skills to teach in a career college setting. With our recommended development plan, each and every new instructor will receive the same high quality orientation to classroom or online teaching.

Certificates/CEUs are awarded to provide documentation of completed training and an assessment of readiness to begin teaching, useful for the participating schools and their accrediting agencies or licensing bodies. Our on-demand, cost-effective training will save you time and money. You will only be left with the task of orienting your new instructors to your own specific policies and procedures.

Adjunct Instructors

If you are like most career college operators, you probably have many adjunct/part-time instructors. You hire subject matter experts working in the field to bring current industry experience into your classrooms. Put your subject matters experts (SMEs) on a path to become instructional delivery experts (IDEs). Provide immediate training to your newly hired part-time instructors as well as continuing education and training to improve their teaching effectiveness.

Adjunct/part-time instructors are an integral part of many career college operations. Because of time and schedule constraints, it is usually very difficult for part-time instructors to participate in onsite/in-service training workshops. Provide your adjunct instructors with an effective professional development program and make them feel fully connected to your institution by giving them the opportunity to join an active online learning community of career college instructors. You can include all your adjunct/part-time instructors in the program. No additional fees apply.

Experienced Instructors

Experienced instructors know that one can never stop to learn. Learning is a life-long process. CEE’s faculty development program offers a wide variety of development activities for experienced instructors, including knowledge assessments, specialized training courses, performance forums, learning webinars and success tutorials. Highly experienced instructors find our performance forums particularly useful where they can share best practices and successful implementation strategies in a facilitated discussion environment.

We offer a guided faculty development plan to prepare instructors for the Certified Postsecondary Instructor (CPI) examination, administered by the National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT). We also offer annual continuing education programs to maintain the CPI status. You can be sure that your experienced instructors are continuously engaged in an effective professional development program designed to maximize their teaching performance.

Below are a few benefits of engaging your experienced instructors in our faculty development program.

• To provide them with the opportunity to address real-life cases with the help of our expert facilitators and other experienced instructors;

• To provide them with the opportunity to discover new tools that will assist them in their classrooms;

• To provide them with the opportunity to develop strategies for assessing new situations and addressing new challenges;

• To provide them with unbiased expert advice on significant classroom issues or conflicts that might otherwise force them out of the field;

• To provide them with the support they need to do their jobs to the best of their abilities, increasing job satisfaction, commitment, and professional pride;

• To motivate them to set and achieve professional goals (for example, to become a CPI and engage in continuing education to maintain the CPI status);

• To set them on a course of life-long learning;

• To help you retain your effective instructors and increase your student retention rates.

Instructor Certification

We award certificates/CEUs for completion of our online courses and provide a variety of tools and supplemental activities to enhance the transfer of training to the workplace. To further validate our training and to provide an incentive for participating institutions and their instructors, we offer a number of core courses to prepare instructors for the Certified Postsecondary Instructor (CPI) examination administered by the National Center for Competency Testing (NCCT).

NCCT is an independent, third-party organization that has certified more than 150,000 individuals by examination in various occupational fields. NCCT examinations are job-related, criterion-referenced tests designed to assess a candidate’s performance against predetermined competency standards. These standards are created by a role delineation process (a job analysis survey) that insures that NCCT standards meet the expectations of all stakeholders. Role delineation determines the significant job tasks to test, and at what domain and level of learning they should be tested. Even after tests are created, they are assessed regularly to meet psychometric standards for test validity.

The development of the CPI competency standards and the corresponding examination has involved solicitation of input from college administrators, academic deans, education directors, postsecondary instructors, adult students, training providers, educational associations, accrediting agencies and licensing bodies. Rather than giving out non-validated, self-designed certification designations for completion of our training courses, we have chosen to partner with an expert certification agency to provide our participating institutions and instructors with a meaningful assessment of their instructional competency. Click here to see the list of competency standards that govern the NCCT CPI examination.

Continuing education is required on an annual basis to maintain the CPI status, providing accrediting agencies and licensing bodies with an automatic outcome measure of faculty development. The continuing education requirement also provides participating colleges with the piece of mind that their instructors are continuously learning to maximize their performance. Furthermore, you can gain a competitive edge in the marketplace by showing that your faculty are Certified Postsecondary Instructors.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that:

• When instructors teach effectively, students learn (increased competence)

• When students learn, they stay in school (increased retention)

• When competent students graduate, they become employed (increased placement)

• When graduates are employed, they pay back student loans (decreased defaults)

• When graduates are happy about a school, they tell others (free marketing)

• When your reputation builds up, more people want to attend your school (increased enrollment)

The most direct and significant impact of our faculty development program is on student retention. That is because our program has been developed exclusively for career college instructors with a focus on strategies and techniques to motivate and retain students. Also, our program helps you retain your good instructors and faculty retention directly affects student retention.
 

Dr. Amir Moghadam
CEO, MaxKnowledge, Inc.

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