Education Commons^™

Supporting Faculty Development In An Era Of Change, Carol Fulton, Barbara L. Licklider

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

A paradigm shift is underway in higher education. Realizing the hoped-for gains of new student-centered approaches will require significantly different approaches to faculty development. This paper describes one such approach to faculty development and how it is currently being used to improve the learning and teaching experience in the College of Engineering at a land grant institution in the Midwest. Considerations for the widespread application of this approach are also offered.

Statements Of Teaching Philosophy, Gail E. Goodyear, Douglas Allchin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Well-defined teaching philosophy is essential to creating and maintaining a campus culture supportive of teaching. Presented in this paper are reasons for statements of teaching philosophy as well as descriptions of how the statements are beneficial to students, faculty, and university administrations. Described are ways of creating a statement of teaching philosophy and dimensions that may be included in such statements. This article begins a discussion of roles, composition, and evaluation of statements of teaching philosophy.

Using The Sgid Method For A Variety Of Purposes, Beverly Black

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID) process (Redmond & Clark, 1982) has been used for consultation purposes at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan since 1990. Since then it has become a multi-purpose tool with far-reaching results. This article describes a variety of ways we have used this process: to provide feedback to individual faculty and teaching assistants on their teaching, to inform coordinators of large multi-sectioned courses on how the course is working as a whole, to inform coordinators of TA training on the effectiveness of their programs, to advocate for better …

Faculty Development In Technology Applications To University Instruction: An Evaluation, Margie K. Kitano, Bernard J. Dodge, Patrick J. Harrison, Rena B. Lewis

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Progress in integrating new technologies into higher education classrooms has been slow despite emerging evidence on benefits for students when technologies are applied in ways that support teaching and learning. This article describes a program used by a college of education to support faculty applications of technology in instruction and reports results of a formal evaluation following the first year of implementation. The program provided intensive training and follow-up support to a heterogeneous cohort of 14 faculty members and was designed to enhance their ability to integrate technology into their teaching, use a new "smart" classroom facility, and/or develop products …

A Case Study In Getting Faculty To Change, Joan K. Middendorf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Academic support professionals have a lot to share with faculty, but it is our special challenge that faculty do not always welcome our help. We can achieve greater success and suffer less frustration by understanding some principles about the process of change. This article offers four principles of implementing change and illustrates their application to a project. If academic support professionals prepare to offset resistance, model a vision of success, involve key people, and match strategies to the stages faculty move through in accepting a change, we can enhance adoption of new approaches.

Minimizing Error When Developing Questionnaires, Terrie Nolinske

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Questionnaires are used by faculty developers, administrators, faculty, and students in higher education to assess need, conduct research, and evaluate teaching or learning. While used often, questionnaires may be the most misused method of collecting information, due to the potential for sampling error and nonsampling error, which includes questionnaire design, sample selection, nonresponse, wording, social desirability, recall, format, order, and context effects. This article offers methods and strategies to minimize these errors during questionnaire development, discusses the importance of pilot-testing questionnaires, and underscores the importance of an ethical approach to the process. Examples relevant to higher education illustrate key points.

Section Ii: Working With Faculty At Different Career Stages

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Faculty Developers As Change Agents: Transforming Colleges And Universities Into Learning Organizations, Sondra K. Patrick, James J. Fletcher

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In the face of demands for institutional restructuring and competition from new internet-based degree programs, the authors argue that campus-based colleges and universities may continue to serve their students well by becoming effective learning organizations. They argue, further, that faculty developers are in the best position to help their institutions become learning organizations. After describing the features of learning organizations as articulated in the work of Peter Senge, the authors reinterpret Senge 's theory to make specific application to academic settings. Concrete suggestions are provided for faculty developers to assist in transforming their institutions.

Editorial Matter 1998

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Ordering Information

Permission to Copy

Instructions to Contributors for the 1999 Volume

Reviewers for the 1998 Volume

Mission Statement

Membership, Conference, and Programs Information

Contents

Foreword, by Matthew Kaplan

Introduction, by Matthew Kaplan

About POD

Teaching Large Classes: Unpacking The Problem And Responding Creatively, Elisa Carbone, James Greenberg

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Teaching large classes well is a continuing challenge for many universities. This article looks at one university's systematic approach to the problem. It describes how faculty and administrators from all over campus were involved in a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process, how the problems were clearly defined and recommendations made, and how the solutions that emerged also involved faculty from across the curriculum.

Developments In Initial Training And Certification Of University Teachers In The Uk: Implications For The Us, Graham Gibbs

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Initial training of university teachers is developing in a different direction in the UK than in the US. It concentrates on tenure-track faculty rather than on TAs, on course design rather than on classroom practice, and is much more extensive. This paper contrasts UK and US faculty development practices and their implications. It describes two recent developments in the UK: the establishment of national certification of university teachers and the development of a national course for new faculty to help institutions meet the requirements of certification. The potential for similar mechanisms operating in the US is explored.

An O.P.E.N. Approach To Learning, Keith Kelly, Roberta C. Teahen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

O.P.E.N. Learning, an open-entry, open-exit delivery system that is supported by a computerized instructional management system and an extensive learning team, is a fundamental restructuring of the approach to education. This article summarizes the rationale for eliminating the traditional calendar by framing an educational system around a performance-based approach.

Divining The Future For Faculty Development: Five Hopeful Signs And One Caveat, Marilla D. Svinicki

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The fortunes of faculty development centers rise and fall on the waves of change that roll through postsecondary education on a regular basis. These waves can swamp us, or we can ride their crest. This article points out some of the waves the author sees now and in the immediate future and how we can benefit from them. She ends with a caution about improving our chances of survival through our own efforts rather than waiting for someone else to draw us along.

Planning Multicultural Audits In Higher Education, Mark A. Chesler

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Colleges and universities are struggling with issues of diversity and multiculturalism-in classrooms, social interactions, staff relations, admissions and hiring processes, and overall campus climate. As part of organizational change efforts, many institutions are calling on faculty development offices to help plan, staff, and implement cultural audits or assessments. This article suggests tested procedures for designing and carrying out such audits, with examples of specific data-gathering techniques (and in some cases evidence) from various institutions. Cultural audits will be most successful, accurate, and useful when these procedures are considered carefully and built into the audit design at the beginning.

The Role Of Educational Developers In Institutional Change: From The Basement Office To The Front Office, Nancy Van Note Chism

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Educational developers can play a crucial role in helping colleges and universities respond to change. Among the roles they can play are researcher, assessment resource, friendly critic, messenger, translator, and coach. To perform these roles, developers need certain characteristics and special knowledge bases as well as enabling conditions within their environment. The current state of higher education may be calling for a paradigm shift in educational development as well.

Holistic Faculty Development: Supporting Personal, Professional, And Organizational Well-Being, Glenda T. Hubbard, Sally S. Atkins, Kathleen T. Brinko

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In recent years, higher education has begun to realize the great influence that faculty quality of life has on student learning and on overall institutional effectiveness. This article examines the interactive effect of personal, professional, and organizational well-being and describes a center that integrates four kinds of services-faculty development, employee assistance, health promotion, and organizational development-that work both separately and collaboratively. The result is a synergistic organization that is able to tackle complex institutional problems that could not be addressed by any one program alone.

Section Iv: Reexamining Approaches To Instruction And Instructional Development

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Implications Of The Nature Of "Expertise" For Teaching And Faculty Development, Richard G. Tiberius, Ronald A. Smith, Zohar Waisman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Over the last two decades cognitive theorists have learned that the development of expertise goes beyond the accumulation of knowledge and skills: expertise includes the development of pattern recognition and learned procedures that enable practitioners to deal with problems effortlessly or intuitively. Even more recently, theorists are distinguishing experts from experienced non-experts by how they use the bonus time and energy gained from solving problems intuitively. Experts invest it in tackling problems that increase their expertise rather than reduce problems to previously learned routines. Some implications of these different views of expertise for teaching and faculty development are discussed.

Becoming A Multicultural Faculty Developer: Reflections From The Field, Diana Kardia

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

There has been a significant amount of activity in the area of multicultural faculty development; yet, this is an area where our profession continues to require growth and attention. Many faculty development practitioners are in a unique position to work with multicultural issues but need additional knowledge, strategies, and skills to do this work well. By attending to the specific challenges and areas of expansion needed for faculty developers to work with diverse institutions, we can increase the effectiveness of our work while continuing to actualize the potential of our profession.

Section I: Changing Roles For Faculty Developers

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Adopting A Strategic Approach To Managing Change In Learning And Teaching, Brenda Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Universities are having to become more accountable for the quality of the student learning experience. This is taking place in a climate of expanding student numbers, a greater diversity of students, and reduced resources. How then do we motivate faculty, take on board new initiatives, reflect on current practice, and at the same time provide an organizational structure that is supportive and visionary? This article illustrates how a major externally funded project on peer observation led to a change in university culture and facilitated a major structural change to the organization that supports the ongoing development and enhancement of learning …

Section Iii: Fostering Organizational Change And Development

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Academic Morphing: Teaching Assistant To Faculty Member, Kathleen S. Smith, Patricia L. Kalivoda

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This paper discusses the process by which graduate teaching assistants (TAs), participating in a longitudinal study, used their graduate TA experience to successfully survive the transition from being a teaching assistant to becoming a faculty member. A theoretical framework is presented that describes how individual characteristics of the TAs worked together with disciplinary, institutional, and departmental forces to shape a set of professional values. These professional values helped to form strategies for success: one set used for securing the first faculty position and the other set used to balance professional roles during the first year as a faculty member. These …