"Roadmap to Excellence: Celebrating Diversity Through Teaching and Learning"
In July 1994 the NDTYCC received a $10,000 planning grant from the Bush Foundation. The planning grant, "Bridging the Boundaries...Strengthening the Culture of Learning," was designed to develop a multi-year faculty development program. The specific goal was to gather input from faculty in the NDTYCC about their development needs for the next three years. A coordinator for the 1991-94 grant was hired to facilitate the gathering of input and writing of the grant proposal.
In September 1994 a faculty development needs assessment survey was designed and sent to the entire faculty in the NDTYCC. Of the 361 sent, 124 were returned, representing a 34 percent return. The results showed that the topics of accommodating different learning styles, student motivation, teaching styles, lifelong learning, and teaching with computers were the strongest areas of topical interest for faculty development.
The information gathered in that survey was used as a beginning point for the October 1994 planning meeting. Twenty-two representative faculty and administrators met for a day and a half to create guidelines for writing the next Bush Foundation faculty development grant. Through the small and large group facilitation consensus processes, the representatives listed eleven topics for consideration. Of those eleven topics, these were chosen as important for inclusion in the next grant
The major topical theme chosen was teaching and learning styles. The three minor themes chosen were faculty motivation and growth, diversity, and technology. The group decided that the Consortium-wide programs would center on the major theme and the three minor themes. The individual campuses would create their programs around the three minor themes, in any combination that would meet their needs. The overall grant title "Roadmap to Excellence: Celebrating Diversity in Teaching and Learning" was selected. The Consortium was on the pathway to excellence, and the roadmap metaphor showed a forward movement in that direction. Borrowing from the first two grants, the representatives recommended that the best of both programs be re-tooled for the next proposal.