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Full-Text Articles in Education
Fellow Travelers: Taking Stock Of Faculty Fellows Programs In The Age Of Organizational Development, Susan A. Colby, Laura Cruz, Danielle Cordaro, Clare Cruz
Fellow Travelers: Taking Stock Of Faculty Fellows Programs In The Age Of Organizational Development, Susan A. Colby, Laura Cruz, Danielle Cordaro, Clare Cruz
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
Faculty fellows have long served as a staple of centers for teaching and learning (CTLs), but to date little to no evidence has been gathered regarding their broader impact. The current study provides a snapshot of U.S.-based faculty fellows programs today, based on a comprehensive review of CTL websites. We categorize faculty fellows programs across five modalities that reflect decades of evolution and adaptation in the field of educational development. Our findings are intended to provide the foundation for new pathways of research, practice, and inquiry regarding the implementation of CTL fellowship programs.
Place-Based Educational Development: What Center For Teaching And Learning Spaces Look Like (And Why That Matters), Laura Cruz, Karen Huxtable-Jester, Brian Smentkowski, Martin Springborg
Place-Based Educational Development: What Center For Teaching And Learning Spaces Look Like (And Why That Matters), Laura Cruz, Karen Huxtable-Jester, Brian Smentkowski, Martin Springborg
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
This study seeks to explore the physical spaces centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) occupy; with an emphasis on gaining a better picture of what CTL spaces look like; where they are located; how they developed: and what these spaces represent. We gathered visual, empirical, and qualitative data to take the first steps towards developing a shared vision of not only of our physical spaces, but also as a jumping off point for further analysis of the CTL as a meaningful place.
The Sotl Scaffold: Supporting Evidence-Based Teaching Practice In Educational Development, Laura Cruz, Kathryn Cunningham, Brian Smentkowski, Hillary Steiner
The Sotl Scaffold: Supporting Evidence-Based Teaching Practice In Educational Development, Laura Cruz, Kathryn Cunningham, Brian Smentkowski, Hillary Steiner
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
This article presents a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) scaffold, a conceptual model designed for educational developers (and others) who support the values, practices, and production of the SoTL, both on their campuses and beyond. The SoTL scaffold explicates distinct support levels, ranging from spark to lead, each of which call for differentiated strategies and programs to be used by Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) and similar units.
Good To Great In Educational Development, Bruce Kelley
Good To Great In Educational Development, Bruce Kelley
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
We have been asked to describe One Thing that guides us as educational developers. For me, this is the strategic planning process described in Jim Collins’ Good to Great (2001). Collins provides a model that helps leaders navigate through change to build effective and influential centers. This framework has allowed me to develop a successful center despite periods of transition and uncertainty. Much of what I experience in my professional life is good. The challenge is to take it to the next level—to turn good into great. Collins’ strategic model provides a roadmap for how this might be accomplished.
The Idea Of Educational Development: An Historical Perspective, Laura Cruz
The Idea Of Educational Development: An Historical Perspective, Laura Cruz
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
This essay examines the idea of educational development, inspired both in content and approach by John Henry Newman’s influential 19th century work on the idea of a university.
Changing The Lens: The Role Of Reframing In Educational Development, Donna E. Ellis
Changing The Lens: The Role Of Reframing In Educational Development, Donna E. Ellis
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
One core concept in educational development is reframing, which involves new labels, new perspectives, and the examination of assumptions. In this reflective article, I explore the use of reframing at different levels of educational development work via the 4M framework (micro, meso, macro, and mega) in an effort to assess the utility of this concept to practitioners. I conclude that reframing has utility at all levels and posit why it may assist with change management. Connections to educational developer identity are also explored.
Is Sotl A Signature Pedagogy Of Educational Development?, Peter Felten, Nancy Chick
Is Sotl A Signature Pedagogy Of Educational Development?, Peter Felten, Nancy Chick
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
In this article, we focus on questions that come into view when we look at educational development through the lenses of signature pedagogies and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). We offer this as a thought experiment in which we consider if SoTL is a signature pedagogy of educational development, simultaneously enacting and revealing the practices, values, and assumptions that underpin the diverse work of our field. By envisioning SoTL in this way, we may more clearly see the purposes and practices that unite—and that ought to guide—educational developers and educational development.
The Aspirational Curriculum Map: A Diagnostic Model For Action-Oriented Program Review, Eric Metzler, George Rehrey, Lisa Kurz, Joan Middendorf
The Aspirational Curriculum Map: A Diagnostic Model For Action-Oriented Program Review, Eric Metzler, George Rehrey, Lisa Kurz, Joan Middendorf
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
When the process of curriculum mapping begins with the faculty’s articulations of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students should master upon graduation, a curriculum map results that enables faculty to review the curriculum for effectiveness, see the workings of the whole curriculum at a glance, plan assessments, and recognize where adjustments or changes need to be made. This article explains these benefits and lays out a step by step process for building such a curriculum map that can be adapted to any institutional context. We also describe a variety of outcomes from and reactions to our process.
Educational Development As Pink Collar Labor: Implications And Recommendations, Lindsay Bernhagen, Emily Gravett
Educational Development As Pink Collar Labor: Implications And Recommendations, Lindsay Bernhagen, Emily Gravett
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
Against a backdrop of other professional arenas, including higher education, this article examines the field of educational development—who we are (mostly women) and what we do (care, service, and emotional labor)—through the lens of gender. While we suggest that educational development may provide a positive counterexample to the male dominance in other higher education professions, we also argue that the common devaluing of women and their labor, well- documented in other arenas, may contribute to educational developers’ "marginal" positions on campuses, our difficulties getting "invited to the table," as well as our challenges in becoming more involved in organizational development …
Assessment From An Educational Development Perspective, Mary C. Wright, Molly Goldwasser, Wayne Jacobson, Christopher Dakes
Assessment From An Educational Development Perspective, Mary C. Wright, Molly Goldwasser, Wayne Jacobson, Christopher Dakes
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
As assessment, already well established in higher education, gains attention in the field of educational development (ED), we ask: What does it mean to practice assessment from an ED perspective? In response, we examine four principles that are central to this endeavor: (a) bridging work across communities and multiple institutional levels; (b) collective, collaborative ownership; (c) action-oriented focus on student-centered learning; and (d) intentionality about inclusiveness to recognize diverse experiences of participants and stakeholders. We apply these principles to four examples of assessment practice at different institutions and offer a rationale for why this lens has utility for the improvement …
Moving Toward The Center: The Integration Of Educational Development In An Era Of Historic Change In Higher Education, Bruce Kelley, Laura Cruz, Nancy Fire
Moving Toward The Center: The Integration Of Educational Development In An Era Of Historic Change In Higher Education, Bruce Kelley, Laura Cruz, Nancy Fire
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
Educational developers have generally articulated their mission around three major poles: faculty/professional development, instructional development, and organizational development (Diamond, 2002; Lewis, 1996). While the first two poles have received greater attention in the past, an increasing amount of emphasis is being placed on organizational development. This shift is a result of a growing tendency to see educational development as an integral component in helping colleges and universities effect change in multiple areas. The challenges higher education faces “require multiple teams of cross-unit expertise in order to make progress” (Schroeder, 2011, p. 202), and educational developers are often called on to …
Subjectivities In The Sandbox: Discovering Biases Through Visual Memo Writing, Bethany Lisi
Subjectivities In The Sandbox: Discovering Biases Through Visual Memo Writing, Bethany Lisi
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
Having insider status at an organization under study can present a researcher with benefits and challenges. Insider researchers may have access to honest dialogue with study participants but may also be vulnerable to uncomfortable conversations and organizational conflicts. Insider researchers also have to contend with their own biases they bring to a study. By using the reflexive practice of memo writing, insider researchers can be mindful of their own subjectivities during data collection and analysis. The purpose of this article is to share one approach to memo writing that incorporates visuals into the analysis and reflection. Through my use of …
Improv(Ing) The Academy: Applied Improvisation As A Strategy For Educational Development, Jonathan P. Rossing, Krista Hoffmann Longtin
Improv(Ing) The Academy: Applied Improvisation As A Strategy For Educational Development, Jonathan P. Rossing, Krista Hoffmann Longtin
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
Improvisational theater training (or “improv”) is a strategy employed by many business leaders and educators to cultivate creativity and collaboration amid change. Drawing on improv principles such as “Yes, And…” and “Make your scene partners look good,” we explore the ways in which educational developers might apply principles of improv in 3 contexts: teaching and building classroom community, organizational development, and research collaboration. Faculty developers who successfully engage the principles of improv have the potential to help colleges and universities respond more effectively to complex problems and to manage the uncertainty of the future. By highlighting successful applications of improvisation …
Beyond Survival: Educational Development And The Maturing Of The Pod Network, Leslie Ortquist Ahrens
Beyond Survival: Educational Development And The Maturing Of The Pod Network, Leslie Ortquist Ahrens
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
Scholarship about the growth of educational development has charted major shifts in developers’ focuses and roles through time and, especially in recent years, has explored the professionalization of the field around the globe. This essay uses a lifecycle analogy to consider the development of one organization, the POD Network (The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education). After a brief and heady “start up phase,” and a long organizational “adolescence,” characterized by growth and by increasing formalization of processes, governance, and strategy, the POD Network is on the brink of entering a phase of greater maturity.
A View From The Margins: Situating Ctl Staff In Organizational Development, Emily O. Gravett, Lindsay Bernhagen
A View From The Margins: Situating Ctl Staff In Organizational Development, Emily O. Gravett, Lindsay Bernhagen
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
The authors explore assumptions that underlie work on organizational development in their field, which reveal hierarchical and homogenizing tendencies, despite commitments to inclusivity. Given that the aim of recent literature, such as Schroeder and Associates’ Coming in from the Margins, is to situate educational developers in relation to organizational development, and given the field’s values, then both staff and directors must be considered. The authors examine how the margins can be valuable sites of knowledge production, highlighting the ways staff might contribute to organizational development. The authors hope that readers will gain several ideas for how to incorporate staff into …
Negotiating A Seat At The Table: Questions To Guide Institutional Involvement, Gregory J. Siering, Suzanne Tapp, Debra Rudder Lohe, Micah Meixner Logan
Negotiating A Seat At The Table: Questions To Guide Institutional Involvement, Gregory J. Siering, Suzanne Tapp, Debra Rudder Lohe, Micah Meixner Logan
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
In addition to traditional roles, educational developers increasingly find themselves considering their involvement in issues of institutional change. However, this evolution leads to new challenges as educational developers attempt to discern whether and how to be involved inparticular organizational change efforts. This chapter provides a framework that can help centers of all types reflect on the broader risks and rewards of institution-level leadership. Through a series of context-based reflective questions, the authors hope to promote strategic thinking among educational developers (particularly center directors) and to spur new questions and research as our field continues to evolve.
Unpacking And Communicating The Multidimensional Mission Of Educational Development: A Mission Matrix Tool For Centers Of Teaching And Learning, Connie Schroeder
Unpacking And Communicating The Multidimensional Mission Of Educational Development: A Mission Matrix Tool For Centers Of Teaching And Learning, Connie Schroeder
To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development
In recent decades, the work of educational developers in Centers of Teaching and Learning (CTLs) is complex and diverse. The wide range of services and programs makes it difficult understand the mission and purpose of CTLs and communicate this effectively. The Center Mission Matrix Tool enables analysis and articulation of all facets of the Center’s mission. Juxtaposing the Center mission with three levels of impact—individual, departmental, and institutional—the Matrix adapts to each Center construct and provides a visual snapshot to multiple audiences, including the field of educational development, institutional stakeholders, and to the Center staff for internal purposes.