Higher Education Commons^™

Infusing Quantitative Reasoning Skills Into A Differential Equation Class In An Urban Public Community College, Tanvir Prince

Numeracy

This research centers on implementing Quantitative Reasoning (QR) within a differential equations course at an urban public community college. As a participant in the Numeracy Infusion for College Educators (NICE) faculty development program, I sought to integrate QR skills into my curriculum. Students in the course were introduced to QR goals using real-world data sets, particularly those related to population growth, which aim to enhance their understanding, sharpen their problem-solving abilities, and cultivate a positive perspective on the real-world relevance of mathematics. Preliminary findings indicate varied levels of QR skill development among students. These results underscore the potential benefits of …

University Faculty Perceptions Of Professional Development: Impact And Effectiveness, Claudia Vela, Velma D. Menchaca, Hilda Silva

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

The purpose of this study was to examine faculty perceptions of the effectiveness and impact of professional development programs and activities in the areas of teaching, research, and service. This qualitative phenomenological study was conducted in a four-year Hispanic-serving institution in South Texas. It focused on exploring tenured and tenure-track faculty perceptions and experiences of their participation in professional development to help them meet tenure and promotion expectations. Analysis of data showed that faculty had mixed feelings about the workshops and training sessions that were offered on campus. However, networking, collaboration, and access to resources and technology were practices that …

Implications Of A Community-Based Learning Faculty Fellows Program To Facilitate Teaching And Learning In The Jesuit Tradition, Debra Fetherman, Julie Schumacher Cohen, Ovidiu Cocieru, Gerard Dumancas, Brian Snee, Patricia Wisniewski

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

The University of Scranton is one of the 28 Jesuit institutions of higher education located in the United States. Committed to community engagement and the development of Ignatian educators, a Community-Based Learning (CBL) Faculty Fellows Program was implemented academic year 2022-2023. The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm and the Engagement of Hope framework were used as models to develop, implement, and assess a CBL faculty development program. Program activities were designed to build faculty skills, capacities, and their identity as community-engaged practitioners. Lessons learned through program assessment on the impact on faculty’s transformation to Ignatian educators and their ability to imagine new …

On Becoming Online Educators: Developing Hybrid Learning-Centered Pedagogy, Rachel Toncelli Edd, Leila Rosa Phd

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Recent global events pushed in-person learning to online formats. As K-12 teachers struggled with shifting from in-person to online teaching while adapting and adjusting instruction, and higher education prepared to do the same, two faculty members in a TESOL teacher preparation program joined forces to question assumptions about online teaching, reflect on praxis, and revisit pedagogy and practices through a critical autoethnographic study. Building from adult constructivist learning theory and collegial inquiry, the researchers utilized the pandemic as a stage for innovation and an opportunity to study their own ability, as …

In Search Of Belonging Online: Achieving Equity Through Transformative Professional Development, Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Michael Smedshammer, Kimberly Vincent-Layton

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Abstract

Online classes hold the potential to expand college access to Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and other students of color who must be supported to diversify the STEM workforce. Research shows that fostering belonging is key to the academic success of students from minoritized groups. However, online classes often lack interpersonal interactions and are often left out of research about the positive impacts of belonging. This paper summarizes an equity-focused STEM grant project that produced an openly-shared online professional development program, the Humanizing Online STEM Academy. Through the Academy, STEM faculty are introduced to a model of humanized online teaching that …

Teaching And Assessment Of Metacognition In The Information Literacy Classroom, Erin J. Mccoy

Communications in Information Literacy

Information literacy and metacognition have long histories of addressing the same concerns: how people think about and evaluate what they have learned. By exploring research from the library science and cognitive psychology fields, this article highlights how these two concepts are related and how that relationship can be made more explicit in the way librarians talk about and teach information literacy.

A State University’S Assessment Of Acue: Feasible Model For Evaluating The Impact Of A Faculty Instruction Quality Program, Jeffrey Budziak, Daniel Super, Thomas Gross, Douglas Mcelroy

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

State comprehensive universities often stress the development of teaching quality to improve the outcomes and retention of students, especially for recently matriculated students. These universities invest in teaching quality programs, but often lack a feasible method to examine the longitudinal impacts of these programs. The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for universities to evaluate outcomes related teaching quality programs. ACUE, a teaching quality program, was implemented across 30 instructors, which equated to 463 course sections. ACUE instructors were matched to non-ACUE instructors using propensity score matching (PSM) and compared on the rate of end-of-the-semester students with …

Designing Effective Online Courses: Exploring The Relationships Amongst Online Teaching Self-Efficacy, Professional Development, Online Teaching Experience, And Reported Implementation Of Effective Higher Education Online Course Design Practices, Elizabeth Mcmahon

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

How best to prepare and support higher education faculty to design and teach effective online courses is a topic of great significance to higher education institutional leaders and faculty developers. This study explored how hours of professional development along with online teaching and learning experiences were related to online teaching self-efficacy and the extent to which participants reported implementation of effective online course design practices. Using a non-experimental quantitative correlational explanatory research study design, data were collected using a questionnaire. Participants included 104 online faculty from a large public higher education system located in the upper Midwest that includes both …

The Value Of Instructor Interactivity In The Online Classroom, Greg Lucas, Gary Cao, Shaunna Waltemeyer, B. Jean Mandernach, Helen G. Hammond

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

As the number of faculty teaching online continues to grow, so has the interest in and understanding of the role of instructor interaction in the online classroom. Online education provides a unique platform in which course design and teaching are independent factors. Understanding faculty and student perceptions about the shifting role of instructor interaction in the online classroom can provide insight on policies and procedures that can support student learning through student-instructor interaction. Participants included faculty and students responding to an anonymous online survey who indicated “online” as their primary mode of teaching. Three key “value” themes emerged as significantly …

Teaching About Cultural Competence And Health Disparities In An Online Graduate Public Health Course, Anuli Njoku, Drph, Mph, Uchenna Baker, Phd, Med

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The growing diversity in U.S. society encourages the need for culturally competent healthcare professionals to provide optimal services to a diverse population. This increasing diversity also brings greater awareness to health disparities among distinct subgroups of the U.S. population. Addressing health disparities in the USA will require a multidimensional approach from various sectors, including the field of education. Developing health disparities curricula can help cultivate conscious future health practitioners. Faculty development programs can be integral in equipping faculty to develop curricula on and teach students about health disparities. With a growth in online learning and in the number of adult …

Review Of Towards Equity And Justice In Mathematics Education, Edited By Tonya Gau Bartell, Emily Lardner

Numeracy

Tonya Grau Bartell, editor. 2018.Toward Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education. (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing). 341 pp. ISBN 978-3-319-92906-4 (also available as an e-book).

Toward Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education is a welcome addition to ongoing conversations about what mathematics should be taught and how it should be taught at both the college and pre-college level. Although the primary audience for the volume will be math educators and researchers, readers of this journal will discover intersecting interests, concerns, and strategies.

Stem High School Teachers’ Views Of Implementing Pbl: An Investigation Using Anecdote Circles, Aimée L. Dechambeau, Susan E. Ramlo

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been gaining in popularity, especially within the context of STEM-based (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) schools. Program assessments for these schools typically focus on student standardized test scores rather than the needs of the teachers. This study utilized anecdote circles, storytelling via moderated group discussions, to investigate teachers’ needs related to developing and implementing authentic, interdisciplinary PBL activities in an urban, public STEM high school. Teacher experiences and viewpoints were explored within three broad themes: assessment; coaching and training; and authentic learning. The analyses provide insights for transitioning a school for effective PBL implementation as well …

Collaborative Power: Graduate Students Creating And Implementing Faculty Development Workshops On Multilingual Writing Pedagogy, Dorothy Worden, Brooke R. Schreiber, Lindsey Kurtz, Michelle Kaczmarek, Eunjeong Lee

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The increasing numbers multilingual students in US universities, whether international students or multilingual citizens and permanent residents, have made it clear that students’ language needs can no longer be relegated to the ‘experts’ in specialized courses or tutoring centers. All faculty will teach multilingual students, yet few faculty have received specialized training to prepare them to work effectively with the multilingual writers in their classrooms. While there is a need for professional development efforts designed to help faculty more effectively teach multilingual writing, institutional divisions between first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing instruction pose challenges for the organization …

Faculty Development For The Use Of High-Fidelity Patient Simulation: A Systematic Review, Wendy M. Nehring, Teressa Wexler, Faye Hughes, Audry Greenwell

International Journal of Health Sciences Education

This is a systematic review of the research data between 1995 and June 2013 concerning faculty development in the use of high-fidelity patient simulation for health professionals and students with a search of the following databases: CINAHL, Nursing and Allied Health Collection: Comprehensive, OVID Medline, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, and ProQuest Dissertation/Theses Database. The primary search terms were high-fidelity patient simulation and faculty development. Reference lists from relevant articles were also reviewed. Twenty-five studies were included for this review. The majority of the studies were surveys with a few quasi-experimental designs. The themes were similar to those found in the …

Editorial, The Editors

Higher Learning Research Communications

This issue of Higher Learning Research Communications (HLRC) features research focused on faculty development from scholars across both sides of the Atlantic. The opening piece, Enhancing faculty performance through coaching: Targeted, individualized support, describes the culture within a US-based higher education institution, where emphasis is given to supporting faculty. One of their latest approaches has been to implement coaching as a means for professional development, with positive results.Promoting critical thinking skills has always been a challenge for higher education professionals. Different models and techniques have been researched and described in different contexts. And, as higher education makes its way into …

Enhancing Faculty Performance Through Coaching: Targeted, Individualized Support, Laurie Bedford, Melissa Mcdowell, Lyda Ditommaso Downs

Higher Learning Research Communications

Coaching in higher education is a relatively new field; although, it has been taking place in educational institutions for some time, even if it was not labeled as such. This paper describes the faculty development filosophies of a US-based higher education institution with a strong culture of supporting faculty and promoting social change. A coaching model was implemented as a means for professional development. It was designed to be facilitated through a peer relationship and it offers problem-focused, contextualized opportunities for faculty to collaborate, thus making the experience and outcome more meaningful. The coaching model is individualized, confidential, non-evaluative, and …

Internationalization: From Concept To Implementation, Craig Billingham, Monica Gragg, Guy Bentley

Higher Learning Research Communications

Higher education is in a phase of rapid internationalization, with practices and impacts ranging from curriculum reform to satellite campuses to affiliated partner institutions. Internationally, higher education institutions are increasingly engaged with issues pertaining to technology integration. The primary reason for this is a growing acceptance of the importance of student-centered and heuristic learning, and the emergence of mobile devices as learning tools. The purpose of this case study is to describe and provide evidence for technology integration as an internationalizing practice that promotes and enables mobility for the brand, staff, and students of Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School …

Lateness: A Major Problem Confronting School Administrators In Delta State, Nigeria, Famous Dafiaghor

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Amongst other components of any organisation, human beings are the most difficult to manage. Folks pose the most problems to administrators any where in the world, not excluding school organisations as learning factories in Delta State, Nigeria. Many authors have posited as a matter of fact that it is easier to manage the financial and material components of any organisation than to manage the human component. They insinuate that “it is easier to manage even animals than to manage human beings” (Nakpodia, 2006; Peretomode, 1991; Peretomode, 2001; Ubogu, 2004; Emore, 2005; Ukoshi, 2004). Thus, in the school system, the school …

The Hbcu Versus The Pwi Write On Site: Considering Faculty Outcomes, Dannielle Davis, Lawanda Edwards

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The phrase “publish or perish” has become a mantra in research oriented academic settings, reflecting a form of academic Darwinism for tenure and promotion decisions heavily influenced by publication records. This is compounded by the fact that some new academics view the three primary components of faculty work: teaching, research and service, singularly and in isolation as opposed to integrated tasks (Boice, 2000). Writing groups may offer a strategy for faculty developers and other administrators interested in ameliorating these potential challenges via programs geared toward increasing faculty writing productivity. The following reviews literature related to faculty writing groups and describes …

How To Recruit And Retain Bilingual/Esl Teacher Candidates?, Zulmaris Diaz, Lakshmi Mahadevan

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The student population in the United States is rapidly changing; in 2004-2005, approximately 5.1 million or 10.5 percent of the U.S. student population were English-language learners (Pearson, 2006). The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2003) revealed that 47 states provide English language services to English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in public schools. California alone educates 1.6 million ELLs, one-third of all the nation’s ELLs, while in Texas more than half a million students received ELL services, one in seven students (NCES). The problem is that a great number of these students are being served by teachers new to the …

Evaluation Of A Trustees Leadership Academy At The Medical University Of South Carolina, Elizabeth Pilcher, Kelly Ragucci, Jennie Arial, Monica Cayouette

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Developing leaders in academic medicine has become a priority for many academic health science centers. The increased need for these leaders as well as the desire of individuals on such campuses to enhance their skills in teaching, research and leadership is driving the increase in faculty development programs.

Continuous Inquiry Meets Continued Critique: The Professional Learning Community In Practice And The Resistance Of (Un)Willing Participants, Moulay Elbousty, Kirstin Bratt

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

The term Professional Learning Community is commonplace, and it holds many meanings and suggestions. For the purpose of this essay, however, we discuss a specific Professional Learning Community (PLC) that was established in a high school, fifteen months prior to the application of a survey instrument to evaluate participants’ perceptions on the initiative. The PLC that we evaluate in this article had a set of very specific goals: To create a department within a high school where collaboration would become a norm and not a rarity, and to encourage collaboration that would include designing formative and summative assessments, collecting, comparing, …

Strengthening The Academic Department Through Empowerment Of Faculty And Staff, Abour Cherif, Benjamin Ofori-Amoah, Lin Stefurak

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Empowerment of employees has been a primary concern of business for many decades, under the premise that involvement of employees in decision making leads to superior performance and results. Acceptance of the practical value of empowerment by colleges and universities is more recent and more rare, despite the centrality of ideas such as faculty governance and recognition of the faculty’s essential role in the academic enterprise. Empowerment in academe is defined as the process whereby stakeholders are encouraged and supported in utilizing their knowledge, skills, and creativity to embrace ownership and accountability for the well being of their department and …

The University Chameleon: Identity And Time Issues Faced By Faculty In Dual Positions, Eric Daffron

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

My transition into full-time administration came gradually. A young assistant professor of English, I got my first taste of administration when I accepted a position as coordinator of my university’s study abroad programs. Later I served an enriching experience as director of my university’s honors college. With both positions, I remained on faculty, teaching usually a couple of courses each semester. Over time, I felt a certain dissonance in my dual role. A double agent of sorts,1 I felt pulled-in terms of time and especially identity-between my role as faculty member and my role as administrator. In fact, I came …

Understanding Curriculum Perspectives: A Lesson In Frustration, Molly Mee

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

During a heated discussion in my master-level Curriculum Theory and Development class on whether or not a given curriculum borrows more from the experientialist or the constructivist perspective, Suzy, a 45-year old veteran math teacher interrupts the discussion and in an agitated tone asks, “Professor will you please just tell us the answer?” This is typical of the responses I receive when my students read about curriculum perspectives to interpret them in light of their own teaching. Anticipating frustrations like Suzy’s I open my first class session with a lesson on Posner’s notion of reflective eclecticism which is an overarching …

Fostering Equity & Diversity In Faculty Recruitment, Janet Fleetwood, Nancy Aebersold

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Participating in a search for a new faculty member, whether as a search committee member, search committee chairperson, department chairperson, or dean, poses unique challenges for those in academics. Though we may be an expert in conducting rigorous research, a prolific writer, or a gifted “sage on the stage” in the classroom, few of us are also experts in academic recruiting. All too frequently we bumble through the search process, hoping fervently that the person we ultimately hire – the person who will likely be our colleague for decades – is someone who will turn out to be a serious …

Identifying And Alleviating Stress Of Teacher Candidates In A Secondary Professional Development Schools (Pds) Program, Molly Mee

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Teacher candidate stress is a significant issue for candidates, students, mentor teachers, and the Institute of Higher Education (IHE) representatives who work with the candidates. Stress during this important stage in a new teacher’s career can be detrimental in many ways from causing early burnout (Greer & Greer, 1992; Schwab, 1989) to attrition (Brownell, 1997) and absenteeism. “It is during student teaching that preservice teachers begin to learn the habits of the profession and begin to develop adaptive or maladaptive coping skills for dealing with the stress of teaching” (Gold, 1985; Greer & Greer, 1992 as cited in Fives, Hamman, …

Hiring, Promoting, And Valuing Non-Tenure Track Faculty, Kathleen Williams, Karen Poole, Vicki Macready

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Non-tenure track faculty comprise an increasing percentage of full time faculty employed by American universities. In 2001, the Association of American Universities (AAU) reported that 31% of full and part-time faculty were non-tenure track. According to a 2006 report by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), full-time non-tenure track faculty increased from 13% to 18.7% of total faculty between 1975-2003. These faculty often serve in most of the same roles as tenure track faculty, including teaching, research and service. At the same time, they are nearly always paid less, have fewer benefits, few opportunities for research leaves or sabbaticals, …

Meeting The Needs Of New Teachers Through Mentoring, Induction, And Teacher Support, Diana Brannon, Judy Fiene, Lisa Burke, Therese Wehman

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Providing new teacher induction is an important practice that is common in schools around the world (Wong, Britton, and Ganser 2005). Teacher induction and mentoring programs have been found to reduce the rate of new teacher attrition, increase job satisfaction, and efficacy (Ingersoll and Smith 2004). Mentoring has been the main form of teacher induction used in the United States since the early 1980′s (Fideler and Haselkorn1999).

The Impact Of Leadership On Community College Faculty Job Satisfaction, Jaime Kleim, Becky Takeda-Tinker

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal

Technical colleges are experiencing high levels of annual turnover and retirement among faculty, staff, and administrators. Job satisfaction among employees in these institutions is therefore of vital importance to leadership that must increasingly work to understand and address factors of job satisfaction and turnover.