Kentucky Community and Technical College System
Teaching and Learning Support Services

STEP - Strategies for Teaching Excellence and Professionalism

The KCTCS Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Unit along with Systemwide POD coordinators created the STEP (Strategies for Teaching Excellence and Professionalism) program in response to the accelerated growth of the KCTCS student population and the New Horizons initiative that emphasizes faculty development. Through STEP, KCTCS can better meet the demand for more educators with credentials for teaching in a postsecondary institution. STEP is a 3-tiered program that allows faculty to take advantage of three professional development opportunities, depending on their individual level of experience and their specific professional needs. The three faculty development components of STEP are interrelated and provide KCTCS faculty an in-house plan for reaching their teaching/learning goals.

Teacher consultation program participants.

Purpose/Goal of the program:

STEP provides an array of teaching improvement opportunities within the framework of a 3-tier model that allows faculty to select the entry point most appropriate to them. Faculty may enter (1) the New Faculty Seminar, which offers basic training for preservice teachers or new full-time or adjunct faculty with little teaching experience, (2) the Mentoring Program, which allows new faculty to gain from the support and experience of outstanding veteran teaching colleagues, or (3) the Teaching Consultation Program (TCP), a confidential client/consultant program designed to enhance teaching mastery for faculty who strive for ever higher levels of teaching effectiveness. STEP provides a resource that is
  • Voluntary
  • Confidential
  • Structured yet flexible
  • Behaviorally focused
  • Based upon data collected from several sources
  • Independent of performance review


New Faculty Seminar: The First Tier
New Faculty Seminar (NFS) is an innovative 2-½ day program designed to prepare new faculty for teaching at the postsecondary level. NFS is for faculty with little or no teaching experience and for discipline-specific teachers who may have taken courses in teaching/learning strategies for community and technical colleges, but need a more focused instructional plan. New Faculty Seminar is the foundation for STEP. The NFS curriculum was designed, written, developed by KCTCS faculty who will also serve as seminar educators. The annual seminar will be implemented October 7-9, 2004, and
  • Replaces previous training required for secondary teacher-certification purposes.
  • Introduces new faculty to postsecondary education teaching techniques and methodologies
  • Frames the seminar in educational theory, learning theory, and applied research
  • Models proven successful programs in teacher education across multiple disciplines.
  • Provides actual teaching opportunities for all participants with guidance and feedback from qualified postsecondary educators
Seminar participants will be informed about the other two STEP components available to them on their local campuses.

Faculty Mentoring Faculty: The Second Tier
The second level of the STEP initiative involves mentoring programs in which faculty are paired with more experienced colleagues at their specific college. Academic deans and/or trained mentors on each campus facilitate the mentoring relationships. Individual campuses elect to manage the program in the way that best suits their needs. Ideally, mentors will build on the initial New Faculty Seminar training by providing on-site information and guidance and in facilitating the campus and academic orientation of new faculty. Mentors may choose to refer faculty to TCP consultants for a customized and focused assessment of classroom effectiveness and identification of teaching strengths and challenges.

Teaching Consultation Program: The Third Tier
The third faculty development program is the individualized, confidential, and client-driven Teaching Consultation Program (TCP), which promotes life-long learning. TCP offers its clients one-on-one insight from trained faculty consultants on various teaching issues faculty members face at different points in their careers. KCTCS faculty members may request consultations whether to improve basic classroom strategies or to test innovations and develop new teaching styles. By fall 2005 when the comprehensive STEP initiative is fully implemented, each of the 16 KCTCS districts will have trained TCP consultants.
TCP Web site

When It's Held:

New Faculty Seminar - October of each year, and as needed
Mentoring - on demand
Teaching Consultation Program - each semester
   Client review held in February and September    Consultant training held in June

Who Can/Should Apply/Participate:

All faculty - full time or adjunct wishing to improve their teaching methods

Cost to Individual/Institution:

No cost to the individual Training and evaluation sessions funded by System Office grants

Whom to Contact:

System Office POD Unit