Example personal professional development Plan
As higher education budgets for professional development have shrunk during the last few years, it has become more important than ever to plan your professional development goals in a meaningful way. What is it you want to accomplish in the next year? Do you want to become a better instructor, research a specific area, or just attain the funds to attend that great meeting? All of these are goals that you can use to design your comprehensive professional development plan.
Goals
With any project, the first item to address is to plan your goals for the year. Whether these are personal or professional, it is always good to have them written down, either in time for your yearly faculty summary or in a spreadsheet to document your progress. It also never hurts to have more than one, as long as you can realistically accomplish them in the time frame.
In this article I will show you an example of how to build out your professional development plan. For the example I am using one of my goals for last year: improving my online instructional techniques.
| Goals | Activities | Cost | Anticipated Results | Actual Results |
| IMPROVE ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES |
Activities
For each goal you identify, you will want to list the activities that will help you accomplish that goal. These might include taking that Word 2010 class offered at your institution or attending a workshop or conference. However, to fulfill your goals, you have to realistically look at all the opportunities available. Can they be accomplished by getting a faculty book group together, attending on- campus faculty development activities, or planning to actually read all those journals on your desk this year? Whatever the activities, there should be a list of activities that help you reach your goal.
| Attend on-campus session on using LMS | |||
| Read Faculty Focus reports on online strategies | |||
| Attend in-state conference | |||
| Participate in faculty reading group |
Cost
Ah yes, the all-important financial aspect. There might be federal, state or institution funds available to you. How much are the activities going to cost to help you meet your goals? Free is good, including things offered by your institution, online opportunities provided by other organizations, or books and journals you’ve wanted to get to anyway. If the cost is an out-of-pocket expense for you personally, write it down as such. If you are asking for travel and conference funds from your institution, better make sure you have a good handle on exactly what it going to cost.
| $0 | ||
| $75 (personal) | ||
| $200 (institution) |
