Higher Education Administration Commons^™

Social Capital And The Campus Community, Andrew N. Carpenter, Linda Coughlin, Susanne Morgan, Christopher Price

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Investigating colleges’ and universities’ social capital through its five dimensions—civic engagement, norms and trust, collective action, bonding capital, and bridging capital—provides a powerful way of thinking about organizational and faculty development. Four very different institutions of higher learning have promoted their organizational development through efforts that build social capital. We seek to inspire additional application of and research into this topic by demonstrating that confronting the complexities of social capital within diverse campus communities can help faculty developers understand those communities with greater nuance and in ways that improve their ability to design and implement development initiatives.

Teaching And Learning Together: College Faculty And Undergraduates Cocreate A Professional Development Model, Alison Cook-Sather

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Most models of professional development assume that faculty learning is the purview of faculty colleagues or teaching and learning center staff. A program at Bryn Mawr College challenges that assumption by inviting undergraduate students to serve as pedagogical consultants to faculty members. Feedback from participants suggests that this approach affords faculty and students an unusual opportunity to coconstruct a more informed model of faculty development, deepens the learning experiences of both faculty and students, and recasts the responsibility for those learning experiences as one that faculty and students share.

Using Students To Support Faculty Development, Teresa M. Redd, Carl E. Brown Jr.

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Howard University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CETLA) provides faculty development for more than fifteen hundred facuity. Yet it is CETLA’s students who make the difference. They are both the motivation for improving teaching and the means to that end. Students have contributed to everything from the design of CETLA’s infrastructure, to the implementation of instructional technologies, to the assessment of student learning. Meanwhile, supporting faculty development has contributed to the students’ own development. A cost-benefit analysis as well as survey data confirms that working with students at CETLA is a win-win opportunity for the university, faculty, …

The Ta Consultant Program: Improving Undergraduate Instruction And Graduate Student Professional Development, Mikaela Huntzinger, Paul Mcpherron, Madhumitha Rajagopal

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Graduate students, particularly at research-oriented universities, are well prepared for future research careers, but they often lack knowledge or training in other aspects of academic life. A teaching assistant consultant program was created to improve the professional development opportunities for campus teaching assistants and provide a community of practice in which graduate students pursue teaching interests, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and service. We offer recommendations for creating similar programs and conclude by recommending the development of communities of practice to create opportunities for graduate students to improve their teaching skills.

Ready Or Not? An International Study Of The Preparation Of Educational Developers, Nancy Van Note Chism

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This report of an international survey of educational developers describes their entry-level background knowledge and skills for the work of educational development, how they obtained them, and their recommendations on helping prepare new entrants to the profession. Respondents reported that their experiences rendered them moderately prepared for some tasks and less prepared for others, notably consultation. The results can inform increased professionalization of educational development through more systematic preparation of future educational developers.

Distribution And Penetration Of Teaching-Learning Development Units In Higher Education: Implications For Strategic Planning And Research, Sally Kuhlenschmidt

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter presents descriptive information about 1,267 U.S. teaching­learning development units (TLDUs). It provides strategic planning and research tools previously unavailable. Results indicate that TLDUs occur in at least 21.2 percent of U.S. higher education institutions, and their presence is correlated at a higher level with student enrollment than with number of faculty. The study provides normative data on the nature of higher education in the United States and on TLDUs by Carnegie classification, location, and type of institution. Additional information is provided about the presence of centers at special-focus institutions such as Hispanic-serving institutions.

Toward A Scholarship Of Faculty Development, Mark Potter

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter critically examines the scholarship of faculty development. Using a typology adapted from one developed to understand the scholarship of teaching and learning, I reflect on the primary currents identifiable in the literature. Much of what is published in the field of faculty development consists of descriptions of the development and assessment of particular programs. One approach that is largely missing is the metastudy or review of prior studies that can serve to preserve the findings of scholar-practitioners.

Reflections On International Engagement As Educational Developers In The United States, Virginia S. Lee

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

An important aspect of the increasing complexity of the higher education landscape is its gradual internationalization. However, neither our colleges and universities nor we as educational developers have unequivocally embraced internationalization. In this chapter, I offer examples of international engagement and a framework for thinking about them. I argue that international engagement in the form of an evolving global scholarship and practice of educational development represents the ultimate extension of our thought and practice as educational developers.

Preface, Volume 30 (2011), Judith E. Miller

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 30 (2011) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Judith E. Miller of University of North Florida.

Introduction, Volume 30 (2011), Judith E. Miller

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction to volume 30 (2011) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Judith E. Miller of University of North Florida.

The Digital Academy: Preparing Faculty For Digital Course Development, Sunay V. Palsole, Beth L. Brunk-Chavez

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

New generations of learners necessitate new ways of teaching, and hybrid courses can help institutions leverage technologies to improve teaching and learning. The adoption of a new instructional paradigm, however, requires attention to the facuity’s ability to create and deliver effective courses. The University of Texas at El Paso has developed the Digital Academy to help facuity interweave online elements with face-to-face teaching. The model is pliable and portable in its application to other universities.

Peer Review Across Disciplines: Improving Student Performance In The Honors Humanities Classroom, Julie M. Barst, April Brooks, Leda Cempellin, Barb Kleinjan

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The term “peer review” often elicits a negative response from teachers and students alike. The process involves numerous challenges; anyone who has used the technique knows that students often feel awkward giving feedback to their peers and even more uncomfortable accepting the advice of peers in a classroom setting. They hesitate to voice negatives about performance, possibly because they doubt their own reaction to the material presented or fear that, in retaliation, they will be rated poorly as well. In addition, when teachers fail to establish and communicate clearly defined expectations, student authors do not produce high-quality drafts, and student …

Writing Groups For Work-Life Balance: Faculty Writing Group Leaders Share Their Stories, Dannielle Joy Davis, Kara Provost, Amanda E. Major

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty writing groups can promote both the work-life balance and productivity of members of the professoriate. The benefits of such development initiatives expand beyond productivity to include retention, promotion, and improved teaching. Through the development of writing groups, faculty developers can empower faculty to meet research obligations, establish equilibrium in their work practices, and maintain work-life balance.

The Citizenship Imperative And The Role Of Faculty Development, Jeffrey L. Bernstein, Rebecca S. Nowacek, Michael B. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

By teaching the capacity for citizenship across the curriculum, colleges and universities can better serve their role as socially responsive institutions. We argue that citizenship themes can be more central to a wide variety of classes, including some in disciplines not considered traditional homes for civic education. Faculty development centers can play a critical role in helping facuity integrate citizenship into the curriculum and evaluate the learning that occurs in their citizenship-oriented classes. We offer guidelines for how learning communities can best serve these purposes.

Enhancing Out-Of-Class Communication: Students' Perspectives, Bonnie S. Farley-Lucas, Margaret M. Sargent

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Out-of-class communication between faculty and students is linked to student learning, engagement, and success. As the source for mentoring, advising, and supplemental instruction, out-of-class communication and its barriers require explicit attention. Using a faculty-student collaborative research approach, we interviewed a diverse group of thirty-three undergraduates regarding behaviors, statements, and practices that contributed to or discouraged out-of-class communication. We found that in-class communication sets the stage for whether students approach faculty outside class and that faculty misbehaviors and disconfirming communication in class almost inevitably lead to out-of-class avoidance.

Effecting Change In Limited-Control Classroom Environments: A Case Study, Allison P. Boye

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many instructors face the dilemma of possessing little control over their own curriculum or even their own pedagogy. This chapter examines three instructors who were teaching the same course over several years, facing the same problematic issues beyond their control, and describes the role of faculty developers in helping effect practical change for those instructors and for the course. The findings of this study, using longitudinal data derived from student evaluations and qualitative responses from instructor interviews, suggest that faculty developers can help instructors realize change on an individual level as well as at the department and big-picture levels.

An Honors Alumni Mentor Program At Butler University, Jaclyn Dowd, Lisa Markus, Julie Schrader, Anne M. Wilson

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Butler University is a comprehensive master’s university of approximately 4,000 undergraduate students with five colleges: the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the College of Education; the College of Business; the Jordan College of Fine Arts; and the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The Butler University Honors Program is an interdisciplinary program open to undergraduates from all five colleges. Incoming students admitted to Butler who meet certain benchmark requirements (1320/30 or higher SAT/ACT or top five percent of graduating class) are invited to apply to our honors program. If students perform well in their first year at the university, …

Table Of Contents

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Editorial Policy

Submission Guidelines

Dedication to Vishnu Narain Bhatia

Editor’s Introduction • Ada Long

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

A Penny’s Worth of Reflections on Honors Education • John Zubizarreta

ON COLLABORATIVE COURSE PROJECTS

Into the Afterlife and Back with Honors Students • Kateryna A R Schray

The Last Class: Critical Thinking, Reflection, Course Effectiveness, and Student Engagement • Elizabeth Bleicher

Designing a Collaborative Blog about Student Success • Melissa L Johnson, Alexander S Plattner, and Lauren Hundley

ON CURRICULUM

Why Honors Students Still Need First-Year Composition • Annmarie Guzy

Rethinking Asian Studies in the …

Institutional Encouragement Of And Faculty Engagement In The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning, Thomas F. Nelson Laird, Tony Ribera

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Framed by Huber and Hutchings’s defining features of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), the study described in this chapter examines institutional encouragement of and faculty engagement in SoTL. Faculty at forty-nine U.S. colleges and universities participating in the 2009 Faculty Survey of Student Engagement completed items about SoTL. Results suggest that institutional encouragement of and faculty engagement in the public dissemination of teaching investigations lag behind encouragement and engagement in other aspects of SoTL. Some faculty subgroups (among them, women and faculty in education) on average feel more institutional encouragement and engage in SoTL activities more than their …

Defining Critical Thinking In Higher Education: Determining Assessment Fit, Martha L. A. Stassen, Anne Herrington, Laura Henderson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Critical thinking is an important learning outcome for higher education, yet the definitions used on campuses and national assessment instruments vary. This article describes a mapping technique that faculty and administrators can use to evaluate the similarities and differences across these definitions. Results demonstrate that the definitions reflected by standardized tests are more narrowly construed than those of the campus and leave dimensions of critical thinking unassessed. This mapping process not only helps campuses make better-informed decisions regarding their responses to accountability pressures; it also provides a stimulus for rich, evidence-based discussions about teaching and learning priorities related to critical …