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The Evaluation Of College Teaching, L. Dee Fink

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

There are few tasks at a university more important than the evaluation of teaching. Without it, professors themselves are unable to determine the direction of needed improvement and thereby become vulnerable to the process of stagnation. Without it, academic units are unable to identify and encourage professors who truly are effective in the classroom with their students.

Individualized Consulting To Improve Teaching, Richard G. Tiberius

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many of the readers of this volume are educational consultants or teachers whose primary interest lies in action. The first thing we want to know is how a method works and what it can do for us. Moreover, most of us are aware that methods are usually developed by trial and error and then justified within a set of assumptions about teaching and about human nature. Yet we often write about our methods of improving teaching as though they were logically derived from basic principles or suggested by a review of the literature. I will resist this tendency by relating …

Cognitive Growth Through Expressive Writing All That Jazz, Christopher C. Burnham

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

I want to develop jazz as a metaphor for growth. Jazz, generally considered, signals incongruity in music. Something happens where it was not originally to happen or where nothing was scheduled to happen-and nobody minds. In fact, the surprise-the incongruity-is the energy of jazz. In more formal terms, the creative impulse of the musician assumes power. He or she improvises between set notes, or in a void the composer leaves for such improvisational purposes. The musician is free to play, literally and figuratively. Each influences the other; they enlarge each other and expand potentialities.

Faculty Helping Themselves To Improve Their Instructional Abilities, Henry B. Slotnick

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The question of how to go about self-improvement is a continuing one, and one that is aggravated by scarce resources. How, in the absence of time, for example, do groups of faculty go about developing their competencies and expanding their awareness of professional issues? A Study group - as the one described here - is an approach that can work well for a variety of reasons, reasons which can be understood in terms of research on small groups and adult learners.

Editorial Matter 1984

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Foreword

Contents

About POD

Being Professional Academically, R. Eugene Rice

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Over the past decade we have learned a great deal about faculty lives. New programs to address a wide-range of needs have been initiated and assessed, and research on faculty has moved ahead significantly. Much of the activity and concern with faculty development has come to focus on the academic career itself-the structure and meaning of academic work.

Career And Instructional Consulting With Higher Education Faculty, Daniel W. Wheeler, Lynn L. Mortensen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Career Mindsets

Factors Contributing to Career Mindsets

Role of the Consultant

A Final Word

References

Hidden Opportunities For Faculty Development And Curricular Change, Russell Lee, Michael Field

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction

Development Benefits of Team-Teaching

Research and Curricular Development

Conclusions

References

Section V: Student Development: Intellectual Growth And Writing, Michael Davis

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

A major tradition of higher education is excellence in written expression. In part, the tradition continues because many scholars are excellent writers and because writing shapes and clarifies our understanding of our own thoughts and actions. Students are urged to emulate quality writing with the expectation that quality thinking will be fostered. We do understand that the use of language is an instrument of thinking (Bruner, 1966) and that there is an interplay between writing and thinking (Vygotsky, 1962). The developmental theories of Jean Piaget (1968), Lawrence Kohlberg (1981), and William Perry (1981), suggest that the quality of writing may …

Section Iv: Using Evaluation For The Improvement Of Teaching, Laura A. Wilson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

One of the most important processes that takes place at any college or university is the evaluation of teaching. In spite of the fact that such evaluation has been done quarter after quarter, or semester after semester, for hundreds of years, we continue to search for new and better ways to relate the process to the improvement of classroom teaching. Questions are raised as to what kind of information to gather and from what sources; further, we ask how can the information be fed back to faculty so that they can use it to make changes that will make their …

Developmental Perspectives On Writing And Intellectual Growth In College, Joanne Kurfiss

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development and Gilligan's Critique

Perry's Theory Of Epistemological Development

Developmental Process

The Interdependence of Writing and Intellectual Development

Bibliography

Stages In The Development Of Analytic/ Argumentative Writing Abilities During The College Years, Janice N. Hays

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For over a decade now, we have been bombarded with public reports about the wretched state of high school and college students' writing skills. In response to such publicity, the general public has called for a "return to the basics" in writing instruction, by which most people seem to mean return to an emphasis on grammar, usage, and spelling. In response to such pressures, the competency-testing movement appears to be focusing upon sentence-level "correctness" as the criterion of competency in writing.

Stages 1-6

Notes

Appendix

Topic B

Writing About Tougher Drunk Driving Laws for a Hostile Audience

Background

Essay Assignment …

Year-Long Faculty Discussion Groups: A Solution To Several Instructional Development Problems, L. Dee Fink

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

People trying to establish an instructional development program on a college or university campus frequently face two major problems. One of these is simply the difficulty of acquainting the faculty with and interesting them in an activity that is generally not familiar to them. Compounding this problem is the not uncommon belief among faculty members that participating in something called instructional development is tantamount to admitting that they have a problem with their teaching, i.e., a "professional disease" that they cannot solve by themselves.

Staff Development In A Climate Of Retrenchment, Christopher K. Knapper

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The Crisis Facing Higher Education

The Impact of Staff Development

The Promise of Instructional Technology

The Concept of Lifelong Education

Learning to Learn

Some Possible Solutions

Notes

References

Section Iii: Professional Development Interventions, Lance C. Buhl

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The successful pursuit of our business requires skillful interventions-in professional habits of mind and action. In truth, in peoples' lives. Probably more thought has gone into this issue than into any other aspect of professional development work. Interventions are the stuff of ethics, even when-as is usual in the case with the articles in this section-the focus is almost exclusively on techniques. The sensitivity to contexts, to rationale for choice, to outcomes, to people displayed by each author affirms the ethical dimension of specific interventions. Considered thus, the choice of techniques is important indeed.

Faculty Development As An Organizational Process, C. Edward Kaylor Jr., J. William Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Background

Two Forms of Faculty Development

Management, Leadership, and Missions

Faculty Involvement as Development

Planning for Excellence Through Participation

Incentives and Personal Recognition

Conclusion

References

Motivating Faculty To Pursue Excellence In Teaching, Dean N. Osterman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction

Patience

Getting a Start, Curriculum of Seminars, Advisory Committee, Networking Campus Resources, Innovative Funds, Establishing Ownership of a Program, Using Student Assistant/Volunteers, Individual Consultation

Priorities

Two Approaches at Innovation, Faculty Day Orientation and Departmental Presentations, Faculty Recognition for Quality Teaching, Establishing Visibility, Gaining Support from Administration, Faculty, and Students, Serving on Committees, Developing Materials and Using Micro-Computers, Teaching Courses on Campus, GTA Workshop, Evaluating Faculty, Informal Involvement with Faculty, Writing with Faculty

Polish

Keeping Innovation Alive

References

Footnotes

Reading Students' Written Comments On Evaluations Of Teaching, Joyce T. Povlacs

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

College teachers who make use of student surveys evaluating instruction frequently invite written comments, too. These remarks can clarify data gathered by use of a standard set of objective questions. Sometimes, however, the students' comments present a wide diversity of opinions. Statements in one class might range from "the material is interesting and very applicable" to a flat "the poorest teacher I have ever had." Instructors who venture to invite students to comment express frustration over seeming contradiction and consequently are tempted to dismiss the importance of written comments. Yet written comments can provide valuable insights leading to the improvement …

The Development Of Faculty As Teachers: A Multi-Faceted Approach To Change, Alton O. Roberts, John H. Clarke, David Holmes

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The Problem

Toward a Theory of Change

Figure 1: A Force Field Analysis of Influence on Faculty Self Improvement Efforts

The Vermont Program

Figure 2: Intended Impact of Programs on Forces for Change Driving Forces

A Scenario of Development

Conclusion

Figure 3: Interaction of one Professor with Development Options over Four Years

References

Section Ii: Renewing Centers For Professional Development, Lance C. Buhl

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

What do we know about infusing life into professional development programs? This is something we have struggled with throughout the fifteen (+3) year history of the contemporary professional development movement in postsecondary education. The question is especially pertinent during a time when "retrenchment" has lost its shock value and has become a tired, but accurate, descriptor of what most POD members live with daily. Is there programmatic life after retrenchment? If so, what can be done to ensure it and give it meaning?

Starting A Faculty Development Program: Strategies And Approaches, Luann Wilkerson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Who Should be Involved in Program Planning?

What is the Purpose of the Proposed Program?

How Will the Proposed Program Affect Desired Changes?

Who Should Participate?

How do We Determine the Needs of Our Constituency?

What Goals and Objectives Should We Pursue?

What Institutional Structure Will Best Encourage Success?

What Activities Shall the Program Provide?

How Should we Finance These Lofty Schemes?

What Type of Staff Does the Program Require?

Table 1: Characteristics Required in Faculty Development Leaders

How Do We Publicize Our Programs and Reward Participants?

How Do We Evaluate Our Accomplishments?

References

Appendix A: Planning and Implementing a …

Instructional Support Centers And The Art Of Surviving: Some Practical Suggestions, Robert M. Diamond

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Steps to Survival

1. Identify the priorities of your institution

2. Identify the key decision-makers

3. Identify the criteria the decision-makers will use to judge the agency

4. Develop goals that are clearly defined

5. Select your projects with care

6. Those who need to know must know

In Summary

Table I

Project Selection: Some Factors to Consider

Options

References

Note

Writing For Learning: The Student/Content Connection, Lois Barry

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The Restricted Role of Writing in the Schools

Writing as a Means of Thinking

Writing as an Active Form of Learning

Table 1

''What Kinds of Writing Have Been Helpful in What Ways" EOSC Students Answer

Using Ungraded Writing to Improve Students' Learning

As an Aid to Class Discussions

As Feedback to Students on the Clarity of their Thinking

As a Way to Prepare Students to Listen and Observe Critically

As a Source of Feedback on Content Needing Further Attention

A Note of Using Journals

Broadening the Audience

Implications for Instruction

References

Section I: The Keynote Address To The 1983 Annual Conference, Lance C. Buhl

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

It is a special thing to introduce Gene Rice and the substance of remarks he made to POD'ers gathered last October at Arlie House. Gene is a special person. He models the best qualities of the academic humanist: the personal presence of a Friend, the sensibility of a Jeffersonian, the rigor of a Talmudic scholar, and the vision of an ethnicist. And all of this is a contemporary twentieth century person. He's been with and of POD since the network's first days. And across that span, Gene's wisdom, bred equally of careful research, hands-on professional development experience and a lively …