Education Commons^™

A Global Faculty Development Network: The International Consortium For Educational Development (Iced), Karron G. Lewis, Eric Kristensen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Although higher education systems around the world differ considerably in structure and the methods used in teaching, there is universal concern for the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning. Thus, faculty and educational development activities are a worldwide phenomena. In 1993, The International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED) was born to facilitate exchange of faculty and educational development information. This article looks at the history of ICED and the accomplishments of this organization since its inception. We look at examples of faculty development work in Sweden, Australia and Finland and consider the implications these international programs might have for faculty …

Implementing Peer Review Programs: A Twelve Step Model, Jamie Webb, Kathleen Mcenerney

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Nationally, universities and colleges are expressing increased interest in peer review of teaching in response to public calls for accountability from academe. Further motivation comes from within campuses themselves as they respond to an increasingly non-traditional student body. Based on our experience with a peer observation program at California State University-Dominguez Hills, we identified twelve steps for planning and implementing a peer review process. In this article we discuss each of the twelve steps, presenting a rationale and sharing our experiences.

A New Starting Point For Faculty Development In Higher Education: Creating A Collaborative Learning Environment, Katherine Sanders, Christopher Carlson-Dakes, Karen Dettinger, Catherine Hajnal, Mary Laedtke, Lynn Squire

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Traditional faculty development approaches often focus on teaching faculty skills to use in their classrooms. In order to have a deeper cultural impact, we have found it useful to start the conversation at a different point than teaching skills; that is, to have faculty learn how people learn by experiencing a learning environment that is substantively different than their previous classroom experiences. Our program, Creating a Collaborative Learning Environment (CCLE), has been successful in helping faculty from diverse disciplines at a major research institution to work together to learn about learning and redesign teaching.

Improving Teaching Through Faculty Portfolio Conversations, Patricia Hagerty, Kenneth Wolf, Barbara Whinery

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The authors recount their experiences using portfolios of their teaching as the basis for conversations with colleagues and students about their teaching effectiveness. The authors identify a number of features that affected the quality of these conversations, including group composition, individual commitment, artifact collection. and conversation structure. The authors conclude that these portfolio conversations enabled them to develop insights into their teaching that they might not have been able to gain otherwise.

Small Group Techniques: Selecting And Developing Activities Based On Stages Of Group Development, Sandra A. Harris, Kathryn J. Watson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Research shows that active and cooperative learning activities can be effective teaching methods; however, developing and carrying out these practices is often challenging, perhaps even confusing and frustrating, to educators who have not been trained in group processes. This article reviews basic principles for using group techniques in college classrooms, describes the developmental stages of groups, and provides examples of activities and assignments as well as processes for reflection and evaluation.

Using Student Feedback To Improve Teaching, Peter Seldin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Student feedback has become the most widely used - and, in many cases, the only - source of information to evaluate and improve teaching effectiveness. Some instructional developers use the approach effectively while others do not. This paper discusses important new lessons learned about what works and what doesn't, key strategies, tough decisions, latest research results, and links between evaluation and development.

Faculty Development And The Inclusion Of Diversity In The College Classroom: Pedagogical And Curricular Transformation, James A. Anderson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Colleges and universities are confronted with a plethora of questions and concerns that are associated with the inclusion and success of diverse student populations. Especially critical is the role that faculty will play in fostering a supportive and effective learning environment which benefits the wide range of racial, cultural, gender, and class groups. Faculty development activities can assist faculty to make their courses more inclusive both in content and in pedagogy. Those who direct teaching excellence and faculty development efforts must be more proactive as they impact faculty attitudes toward diversity.

The Pedagogical Colloquium: Taking Teaching Seriously In The Faculty Hiring Process, Pat Hutchings

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In an effort to make teaching and learning more central, a growing number of campuses are adopting some form of the "pedagogical colloquium," a strategy proposed by Lee Shulman, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in the context of a national project on the peer review of teaching. The purpose of the pedagogical colloquium is to create an occasion for examining and assessing the teaching skills and potential of faculty job candidates. Different models are now evolving, from formal presentations parallel in nature to the research colloquium commonly expected of job candidates, to more informal discussions …

"A Continuing Conversation On Teaching:" An Evaluation Of A Decade-Long Lilly Teaching Fellows Program 1986-1996, Karen List

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This study assesses what difference the Lilly Teaching Fellows Program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has made in its first ten years, both to the fellows who have participated in it and to the University community. Based on a survey of the fellows, the study concludes that the program has had significant positive effects on teaching skills and attitudes, collegiality, research and service. The study also assesses the seven major components of the Lilly Program and suggests ways in which they might be improved The author then recommends increased institutional support for teaching to decrease the tensions between the programs' …

Section Iv: Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Comprehensive Institutional Assessment On Faculty, Tracey Sutherland, James Guffey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In this age of accountability, colleges and universities are being called on to provide evidence of their effectiveness. As a result, comprehensive assessment initiatives are being implemented on most campuses, requiring increasing numbers of faculty to become involved. Beginning with an overview of a faculty-driven assessment model, this article describes specific roles faculty play and the results of a study in which faculty describe how their involvement influences their teaching and professional development. The primary purpose of faculty development is to improve the learning environment. Faculty participation in institutional assessment efforts enhances that environment. The results of the study provide …

Editorial Matter 1997

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Ordering Information

Permission to Copy

Instructions to Contributors for the 1998 Volume

Reviewers for the 1997 Volume

Mission Statement

Membership, Conference and Programs Information

Contents

Foreword, by Deborah DeZure

Introduction, by Deborah DeZure

About POD

Institutional Missions, Multiple Faculty Roles: Implications For Faculty Development, Ann E. Austin, Joseph J. Brocato, Jonathan D. Rohrer

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The authors review the context in which the topic of faculty roles is gaining attention, draw on data from a qualitative study of how faculty construct their roles, and argue that faculty developers and other institutional leaders should consider expanding the scope of faculty development activities in ways that support faculty across the full breadth of their roles. The article concludes by suggesting that faculty developers ask questions about faculty roles in the institutional context and "map" faculty development opportunities to ensure that multiple roles are supported.

Designing Effective Group Activities: Lessons For Classroom Teaching And Faculty Development, Larry K. Michaelsen, L. Dee Fink, Arletta Knight

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The primary objective of this article is to provide readers with guidance for designing effective group assignments and activities for classes and workshops. In doing so, we examine the forces that foster social loafing (uneven participation) in learning groups and identify four key variables that must be managed in order to create a group environment that is conducive for broad-based member participation and learning. We then discuss the impact of various types of activities and assignments on learning and group cohesiveness. Finally, we present a checklist that has been designed to evaluate the effectiveness of group assignments in a wide …

Incorporating Theories Of Teacher Growth And Adult Education In A Faculty Development Program, Alenoush Saroyan, Cheryl Amundsen, Cao Li

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This paper describes a theory-based faculty development program and provides preliminary evidence as to its effectiveness in promoting change in thinking about teaching. The program design was based on Ramsden's (1992) theory of teacher growth and Mezirow's (1991) transformative theory in adult education. The program was offered as a three-credit course to graduate students and as a week-long (40 hours) workshop to faculty. Assessment included responses to pre- post- questions about participants' views from teaching. Results indicate that both groups changed their focus from viewing teaching as transmitting knowledge to a more integrated and complex conception of teaching.

Section I: Changing Roles For Faculty And Faculty Developers

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Section Iii: Assessing Faculty Development Activities

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Section V: Designing Effective Courses, Assignments And Activities

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Teaching Awards: The Problem Of Assessing Their Impact, Nancy Van Note Chism, Borbala L. Szabo

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Although teaching awards are a popular approach to the reward and improvement of teaching, their impact has not been studied extensively. The studies that have been done find that they are motivational and affirming, but extensive, clear effects on teaching improvement have not been documented. Part of the difficulty in studying effects of awards involves goal complexity and vagueness. Suggested ways of studying effects begin with goals and employ a variety of approaches, ranging from interviews and surveys to document analysis.

Wac Revisited: An Overlooked Model For Transformative Faculty Development, James S. Laughlin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Recently, higher education specialists have called for new faculty development initiatives, claiming current faculty development efforts need to go beyond a reductive "teaching tips" approach to consider transformative practices aimed at improving learning. While such critiques are valuable, they tend to overlook one mode of development that has had undeniable success in initiating significant individual and institutional transformations in the realms of teaching and learning. Over the past two decades, the faculty workshop in writing across the curriculum (WAC) has become a major part of successful WAC programs across the country. This article discusses how, at their best, such workshops …

Teaching Improvement Consultation For Teaching On Television, Joyce Povlacs Lunde, Myra S. Wilhite

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Instructional consultants have traditionally offered individual consultation to faculty members on their campuses to improve teaching and learning. This kind of consultation to improve teaching is also valuable for those teaching on television, but consultants may need to prepare themselves in learning technologies and distance education in order to help faculty offering instruction via television. In addition, the phases of initial interview, data-gathering, data feedback, implementation, and evaluation, which constitute a process often used to improve teaching, need to be expanded to address teaching over television.

Section Ii: Faculty Development Program Models

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Patterns In A Mentoring Program For Junior Faculty: Recommendations For Practice, Milton D. Cox

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty developers believe mentoring programs are beneficial for new and junior faculty. Although there are reports on the early years of these programs, few have existed for more than 15 years. This article reports on a junior faculty program in place for 18 years with the same goals, format, and activities. The endurance of its mentoring component, with continuing support of faculty, former mentors and protégés, and administrators, is a measure of its success. Mentoring patterns relative to gender, mentor repetition, protégés who later mentor, and multidisciplinarity within pairings may be of assistance and encouragement to anyone initiating or continuing …

University Professors At Mid-Life: Being A Part Of ... But Feeling Apart, Irene E. Karpiak

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article explores the experiences of mid-career and older faculty members in higher education through a qualitative study of 20 associate professors (15 men and 5 women) between the ages of 41 and 59 at a Canadian university. In non-directive interviews, "graying" professors discussed their satisfactions and struggles, not only in relation to their students and their academic work, but also in relation to the whole university and its administration. An emergent schema is presented that identifies four attitudes characteristic of this group of professors: Meaning, Malaise, Marginality, and Mattering.

Helping Faculty Design Assignment-Centered Courses, Barbara E. Walvoord, John R. Breihan

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty developers must help faculty shift from a teaching paradigm to a learning paradigm. Workshops that help faculty plan the "assignment-centered" course are a productive approach to that challenge. This article shows faculty developers how to plan and lead such a workshop. Research suggests that faculty often focus on content and coverage in their course planning. To combat this tendency, the workshop leads faculty through the course-planning process. In the workshop, faculty first develop learning objectives, then plan the assignments and exams that will both teach and test the essential skills and knowledge of the course. Then faculty choose and …