About Professional Development at BC

Professional Development at Bakersfield College is managed by the Academic Technology and Professional Development Department, with input and guidance from the Professional Development Committee.

Professional Development encompases functional, job specific, wellness-oriented, and other general learning opportunities for all employee groups.

Ongoing Workshops, including FLEX week:

Professional Development workshops are offered year-round. However, the week before the fall term and the week before the spring term start are designated as “FLEX Week”. During these weeks, much larger numbers of workshops are offered. The FLEX week schedule is viewable as it is developed under the “Upcoming Workshops” link below.

• Upcoming Workshops
• Past Workshops

New Faculty Seminar

New full time faculty participate in our year-long orientation, called New Faculty Seminar (NFS). This seminar introduces faculty to campus policy and operations, as well as important functional aspects of being a faculty member at Bakersfield College. In addition to the non-instructional aspects of faculty work, this seminar spends a significant amount of time addressing pedagogy, teaching strategy, and teaching tools for both online and in-person instruction. The NFS is offered on a monthly basis on Friday mornings throughout the academic year.

Adjunct Faculty Orientation

Similar to the New Faculty Seminar, the Adjunct Faculty Orientation (AFO) is a seminar that covers both instructional and non-instructional aspects of faculty work. The AFO differs in that it is offered twice a year in the evening during FLEX Week, and focuses on some issues and functions specific to Adjunct Faculty needs.

Professional Development Committee Goals:

1. Facilitate workshops and other opportunities on data and information literacy.
2. Facilitate workshops and other opportunities related to student learning, progression and completion.
3. Facilitate workshops and other opportunities to maintain currency of employee skills with emerging technology.
4. Facilitate workshops and other opportunities on wellness, diversity and safety.
5. Fund teams to attend targeted conferences locally and nationally.