PLAY Goals

If you do FLEX, you need to complete the PLAY form!

• All part-time faculty

• All full-time faculty, including tenure-track faculty (see below)

• All roles of faculty, counseling, library, etc!

What about full-time, tenure-track faculty?

• As a part of your tenure process, you already have a detailed goal plan. These are growth goals, some of which are what other faculty are identifying through the PLAY form. 

• If any of these goals represent professional learning that you plan to do, you have the option of submitting those goals in a PLAY form.

• If you ever need to refer to your professional learning goals in the future, you can use your tenure packet. 

The number of hours in your FLEX requirement is unchanged, but there are two additional pieces that are part of an MOU between the Guild and the District: submitting a goal form in Fall and submitting an attestation when you finish your hours of professional development in Spring. This MOU was signed with the district sets this year up as a trial run for a new flex process (Questions about the MOU specifically can be directed to Roger Bowerman of the Guild negotiations team bowerman@glendale.edu).

If you are full time you are required to engage in professional learning for 30 hours per year. If you are part time, you should engage in the number of professional development hours that is the average of the number of units you teach during the year (fall units+spring units / 2).  What you do for your professional learning is your choice. 

The new requirement asks you to submit a Professional Learning and You goal form (PLAY Goal) during the Fall semester.  This goal should represent what is relevant for you to spend time learning this year in order to meet changes and developing needs in your discipline. The form also asks you to document what type of impact you hope your professional learning has on your students or your work at GCC.

Your goal information is helpful to the Faculty Development program because it allows the program to become data driven by faculty’s real questions and goals for development.  

The new requirement is: 

• By October 15, 2025 - submit a PLAY form

• During the 2025-2026 school year: Attend professional development events to fulfill your hour requirement and track your hours.

• By June 30, 2026: submit an attestation that you’ve completed your professional development hours. That form will become available in Spring (the process for this is pending). 

Evaluations for 2024-25 follow the already negotiated process and forms that have been in use for years. The District and the Guild will be negotiating changes to evaluations, but that will not go into effect until the 2025-26 academic year. For information about the status of negotiations, please contact the Guild directly. Please direct questions to Roger Bowerman: bowerman@glendale.edu

This goal is using an inquiry model. An inquiry question usually sets a direction for your learning. This gives you the opportunity to follow new information as you find it. Ideally, your question will be something that you would probably spend time thinking about or reading about whether or not you are in a formal professional development workshop. Your goal could be more generally about teaching, or it could be very specific to your discipline area.

What does a learning goal look like? 

A good learning goal should follow these two things:  

1. It should be an open-ended question. 

2. It should focus on what you can spend flex time learning in order to improve in your work with students or your role at GCC.

Below are examples of goals that have been submitted so far.  They are organized by focus area: 

Building Belonging

• How can I motivate students in lower levels of ESL to use English in zoom breakout rooms without being prompted, especially when classmates speak their first language?

• How can I improve student participation in my class?

• How can I connect students to the resources available for them? What resources do I not know about?

• How can embedded peer mentors be better integrated into fully asynchronous classes to build a stronger sense of community and support our online learners?

• What is trauma-informed practice and what should I be implementing from it in my teaching?

Data, Feedback, and Assessment

• What changes can I make to my assessments (both in and out of class) that decrease test-taking anxiety and math anxiety?

• How can I develop policies and authentic learning assessment tools and rubrics that allow students to use AI ethically while they learn English?

• How can I develop better and more meaningful Assessments for my online classes?

Engaging Students

• How can I leverage technology for educational purposes to increase the level of participation in the remote classroom?

• How can I improve my online course design and make it more accessible?

• How can I create more engaging instructional content that is culturally relevant to students?

• How can I incorporate WikiEdu curriculum in my Spring class?

• How can I record and embed videos into my course to increase engagement?

• How can I find creative ways to address generative AI use and encourage students to value their own voice and creativity?

• How do I make my English classes more relevant in the age of AI and, in turn, increase retention in online classes?

• How can I create more speaking opportunities for my students that balance guided practice and more free-form practice?

Technology and Innovation

• What is the most recent research in my field (language learning), especially in the areas of technology and innovation? 

• How is AI being used in my field and how can I bring some of that into my coursework for students to benefit from?

• How can podcasting be used as an option for assessment for my course? 

Growing Your Potential

• How can my in-class teaching improve? 

• How can I become POCR reviewed?

• How would OER materials work in my class?

• How can I grow in my communication skills that I need for students, for leadership, and in written communication?

Yes. Most report that they have developed their goal in 15-40 minutes. There are goal setting sessions that you can attend that have a facilitated process for setting the goal. When you submit your goal, you will receive an email with a copy of your responses. Please keep that for your records. 

Filling out the goal form is a short reflection. It is meant to be a documentation of your intentions for learning and a reflection on the hoped-for impact you’d like your learning to have on your work at GCC.  Below is an example of a real submission by a faculty member: 

Teacher 1: English/ESL

What is your goal? 

Example: How can I develop policies and authentic learning assessment tools and rubrics that allow students to use AI ethically while they learn English?

What is the intended impact for your learning?

Example: I want to prevent the use of simple copying and pasting AI-generated writing while recognizing students will continue to use AI. I hope that I can increase students' understanding of the importance of using their own voice while they learn English and increase students ability to communicate well in English through writing.

What is your general plan for learning?

Example: I will engage in research about this, and attend as many workshops and as I can and use the tools provided to change my assessments and rubrics. 

Teacher 2: Math

What is your goal? 

Example: Once AB 1705 is implemented, how can I help underprepared students be successful in Calculus I? Alternative grading? Project based? 

What is the intended impact for your learning?

Example:I want to help underprepared students excel post AB 1705. I want to ensure that my alternative grading practices reflect students knowledge of material and prepares them for the next course. I want to curate/create projects to use within my courses to allow my students to demonstrate proficiency of course standards in ways other than just on exams. I hope looking into my grading practices will help underprepared students understand calculus concepts on a deeper level which will hopefully help them be successful in calculus I.

What is your general plan for learning?

Example: I have already attended a workshop series on alternative grading. I plan on researching project based calculus courses, attending the Grading Conference in June and I hope to attend sessions offered through the VRC on project based learning and AB 1705.

Please contact Tiffany Ingle directly facdev@glendale.edu

Only the office of Professional Development will see your PLAY Goal. They will not share this information connected to your name. In the PLAY form, you have an opportunity to opt in to receiving communication about your goal or to be connected with others who have similar goals. The goal information will be used to shape GCC professional development programming in Winter 2025 and beyond.

• You can contact Tiffany Ingle at facdev@glendale.edu with questions about your goal or the PLAY form.

• When you click submit on your goal form, you should receive a copy of your responses, please keep that copy for your records.