I admit that I did not join the PFF program with high expectations. After all, I have been teaching, in one form or another, for 8 years and I thought that another program of the type "how to become a great teacher in 10 weeks" would not be very helpful. Fortunately, the program had much more to offer and I did not regret the decision to invest some of my time to it.
Plainly, the best part of the program is the opportunity to go to the partner institutions, take a look at different departments and feel the atmosphere from the faculty point of view. It is impossible to get a similar "insider look" in ones own department, since the relations between graduate students and the faculty are already established on different premises. As a part of such a visit to Oneonta, I prepared a talk, suitable for undergraduates, that I later gave during my job interview (and was offered the job).
Visiting the regional MAA meetings was also a very useful experience. Apart from learning from the talks given there, we established a lot of contact with faculty members in the regional institutions, and were able to learn between the talks. In addition, I gave a short talk (different form the one above) in Oswego, after which I was contacted by some faculty members from the audience that recommended me later to the search committees in their institutions.
As a result of the discussions on technology in the classroom and the participation in one of the Saturday workshops, I could clearly define my position on the subject and settle some questions I was struggling with (yes, it is important to have an opinion about this topic, and one should do everything possible to learn a lot about it and then think it over).
Finally, I loved the panel discussions we had among ourselves. They were pleasant, useful, and bonding (to my peers and my profession) experience.
So, like I said in the beginning, I almost decided not
to participate in the program, but I am very happy that I gave it a chance.
It is definitely a high point in my preparation for the future as a faculty
member.