Personal Professional Development Plan

Companies and organizations are well-served to create and support opportunities for employee development. Developing employees helps teams to build knowledge and skillsets that contribute to productivity and efficiency for improved day-to-day operations and outputs (Career Insights, 2020). National trends indicate that companies with organization-wide employee development programs experience an average of 24% increase in profit margins, approximately 128% increase in employee income, and a 45% employee retention rate (Hill, 2021). Because the world continues to evolve, employees should continue to develop and learn within their professional roles. For that purpose, I attempted to compose a professional development plan that supports my current role. The plan includes four training components - formal training, professional coaching, peer mentoring, and continuing professional development - to help facilitate an effective transfer of sustained knowledge that will continue to develop and evolve over time. 

Professional Development Plan:

Angelica Ellman Christie

The University seeks to build a network of seamless, integrative support for learners' academic achievement, professional development, and personal growth. The Academic Engagement Coordinator is required to lead efforts to increase the level of learner engagement within the classroom.

Goal:               To increase the utilization of the LMS to academically engage learners by 25% by the end of the 2022-2023 academic calendar.

Objective: To increase the coordinator’s ability to support faculty’s effective use of the available tools within the LMS.

Formal Instruction:

The employee will complete a formal training certification program - Canvas Instructor Higher Education Certification Program.

Timeline

·        September 30, 2022: Employee will enroll in the Canvas Instructure Higher Education Certified Canvas Educator.  

·       March 23, 2022: Employee will successfully complete the Canvas Instructure Higher Education Certified Canvas Educator Program.

Formal Coaching:

The employee will partner with the campus curriculum developer and Canvas certified instructor to apply the knowledge gained in the redesign and integrate the use of engagement strategies within existing curricula.

Timeline

·        November 2022 – October 2023: Employee will meet with curriculum developer bi-weekly to discuss course assignments and conduct comparative analysis through the review of existing campus examples.

·        January 2023 – October 2023:  Employee will collaborate with curriculum developer to draft modified lessons using engagement tools and strategies for Canvas course inclusion.

Peer Mentoring

The employee will actively examine and share the innovative application of engagement strategies.

Timeline

·         January 2023 – ongoing: The employee will actively participate in bimonthly peer group sessions presented by Canvas Instructure to examine and share the innovative applications of engagement strategies.

Continuing Education

The employee will participate in Canvas-related update sessions and workshops

Timeline

·         April 2023 – ongoing: The employee will attend virtual and live training workshops and information sessions sponsored by Canvas Instructure to remain abreast of LMS modifications and the release of new applications.

Completing this professional development plan supports the employee’s understanding of the available capabilities of Canvas Instructure and ensures knowledge transfer. The plan equips the employee with the ability to appropriately apply engagement strategies and respond to faculty needs related to the use of the LMS to effectively promote learner engagement.

While the plan benefits my personal development and equips me with easily transferrable skills, my successful application of the newly acquired skills benefits campus learners, faculty, and the University at large. With increased learner-to-learner and learner-to-faculty engagement, learner attention and focus are increased, which helps to heighten the level of critical thinking that occurs.

References

 Career Insights. (2020, December 17). 6 Reasons You Need to Invest in Employee Development Now. Retrieved August 21, 2022, from https://post.edu/blog/heres-investing-employee-development/#:~:text=Through%20employee%20development%2C%20you%20can,increased%20output%20for%20your%20company.

Hill, J. (2022). The benefits of a learning organization culture. Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://bloomfire.com/blog/benefits-learning-organization-culture/#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20Learning%20Organization,but%20encouraged%20to%20do%20so.