Education Commons^™

An Investigation Of Postsecondary Centers For Teaching Excellence Support For Universal Design For Learning, David Mcgeehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research examined factors related to support for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in faculty professional development training programs offered by Centers for Teaching Excellence (CTE) in postsecondary institutions. The factors examined were: administrative support, staffing for CTEs, CTE staff characteristics, CTE level of use of technology, CTE directors’ educational backgrounds, and the espoused support for students with disabilities in university mission statements.

Universal Design for Learning is a pedagogical framework that can be used to design and retrofit curricula to reduce access barriers to course content and activities for all students, particularly students with disabilities. Students with disabilities is …

Collectivism, Individualism, And Interprofessional Education: A Comparison Of Faculty Across Five Academic Health Sciences Colleges, S. Alicia Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative practice among interprofessional groups of health care providers is essential to the provision of safe and effective medical care. However, health professions training programs have not traditionally prepared students for interprofessional practice. One challenge in transforming health professions education programs has been a limited number of faculty prepared to teach students in an interprofessional learning environment. Thus, faculty development programs aimed at preparing faculty to provide interprofessional learning experiences across disciplines are increasingly important. Unfortunately, best practice in training faculty for interprofessional education programs is not well-defined.

Interprofessional education faculty development programs should aim to train faculty to model …

Week's End Newsletter, November 20, 2020, Office Of The Provost

Week's-End Newsletter

The Educator Update Newsletter from the Office of the Provost. Includes good news from campus, higher education highlights/news, informational updates, and closing thoughts from an administrator.

Week's End Newsletter, November 14, 2020, Office Of The Provost

Week's-End Newsletter

The Educator Update Newsletter from the Office of the Provost. Includes good news from campus, higher education highlights/news, informational updates, and closing thoughts from an administrator.

Week's End Newsletter, November 6, 2020, Office Of The Provost

Week's-End Newsletter

The Educator Update Newsletter from the Office of the Provost. Includes good news from campus, higher education highlights/news, informational updates, and closing thoughts from an administrator.

Week's End Newsletter, October 31, 2020, Office Of The Provost

Week's-End Newsletter

The Educator Update Newsletter from the Office of the Provost. Includes good news from campus, higher education highlights/news, informational updates, and closing thoughts from an administrator.

Week's End Newsletter, October 24, 2020, Office Of The Provost

Week's-End Newsletter

The Educator Update Newsletter from the Office of the Provost. Includes good news from campus, higher education highlights/news, informational updates, and closing thoughts from an administrator.

Week's End Newsletter, October 16, 2020, Office Of The Provost

Week's-End Newsletter

The Educator Update Newsletter from the Office of the Provost. Includes good news from campus, higher education highlights/news, informational updates, and closing thoughts from an administrator.

First Class Teachers, Second Class Citizens: A Mixed Methods Investigation Of The Predictors Of Organizational Commitment Among Non-Tenure Track Faculty, Melissa Altman

Dissertations, 2020-current

This mixed methods study explored the experiences with, as well as the levels of and predictors of, organizational commitment amongst non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) members. 652 NTTF members from mid-size public comprehensive university with a teaching focus in the SACS COC accrediting region received a confidential electronic survey measuring organizational sense of belonging, dependence on NTTF income, level of underemployment, and engagement with the faculty development center. Control variables included demographic characteristics, length of time in a contingent position, type of appointment (FT or PT), discipline, and possession of a terminal academic degree. The dependent variable was affective organizational commitment …

Moving Online In A Hurry Vs Online Education Done Right, Judith Slapak-Barski

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

During the months of May and June 2020, the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography in collaboration with the Learning and Educational Center (LEC) hosted a series of Faculty and Staff Professional Development workshops.

The “Best Practices in Online Teaching and Learning, Level 1” was designed, created, and facilitated by Dr. Judith Slapak-Barski, Instructional Technology and Design Specialist at the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. This workshop was designed to bridge the gap between the immediate need to move all courses to the online environment as a response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and faculty and staff’s readiness …

Academic Disciplinary Differences In The Perceived Value Of The Community Of Practice Model, Alyssa Marie Hill

Dissertations

Through a multi-layered review of United States University, a gap in professional development for adjunct faculty was identified. To ensure that students’ are best supported in the online classroom, ensuring that faculty are provided with training around pedagogical and instructional skills aligned with the University mission is essential. The perceived value of the Community of Practice model was assessed to address the gap in faculty development through a mixed-methods convergent design study. The quantitative data and qualitative data were merged under the unidirectional framework for convergent design integration, and presented in a narrative discussion format. Themes which emerged included knowledge …

The Impact Of Teacher Methodology Training For Higher Education Faculty Members, Nicole Baker

Ed.D. Dissertations

Many college programs are designed to graduate individuals who are experts in their field of study, but not necessarily individuals who are trained in how to teach. This quantitative, quasi-experiment study examined college faculty member’s level of training in the area of teaching practices and methodology. The relation to student satisfaction, current course performance, attendance, the belief in the need for training, and faculty member’s sense of efficacy in teaching was explored. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to organize the data using a one-way ANCOVA to analyze the impact the level of training had on …

Administrative Best Practices For Engaging New Faculty, Michael G. Strawser, Russell Carpenter, Shanti Bruce, Kevin Dvorak

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

Presenters and participants will discuss how Millennial faculty may a) change the higher education system; b) adapt their own internal wiring to fit higher education; and c) relate to faculty/staff of other generations. Participants will also address issues related to millennial faculty engagement and professional development, expectations of communication, and responses to campus sexual harassment.

Leadership Development Experiences Of Department Chairs At A Canadian University, Leda Stawnychko

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

I will present the preliminary findings of a doctoral research study that explores the leadership development experiences of department chairs at a West Canadian university. The literature review, document analysis and themes emerging from semi-structured interviews with chairs of departments of diverse disciplines and sizes will also be explored.

Mentoring Faculty As Department Chair, Lynn Shollen

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

Mentoring is a powerful strategy for facilitating faculty and department success. Participants will engage in multiple case study analyses in teams, individual reflection followed by group processing, and interactive discussions and activities to dig into challenges that faculty encounter at different career stages and strategies Chairs can leverage to mentor those faculty, as well as disengaged or disgruntled faculty.

Onboard, Don’T Orient, New Faculty, Jacqueline Kress

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

Each year 50,000 highly educated, accomplished people with no preparation for most of the tasks that comprise college faculty work will be hired. Typical orientation programs do not meet their needs to provide useful, timely information and skill-building. Onboarding programs are more effective, and the benefits go beyond the faculty.

Motivated Reasoning And Persuading Faculty Change In Teaching, Gary A. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many faculty members demonstrate unwavering resistance to adopting research-based instructional strategies. This phenomenon commonly fits with motivated reasoning, whereby a person feels threatened by persuasion to change, leading to overtly defensive and sometimes disruptive behaviors and refusal. Changing away from established practices may challenge one’s self-identity and values as an effective teacher and triggers arguments intended to invalidate research-based alternatives. Faculty who are motivated to reject consensus best practices may impede the implementation of these practices across entire departments or institutions. Motivated reasoning and its underlying cognitive processes are explained by self-determination theory, which leads to predictions of faculty behaviors …

Building A Social Network Around Sotl Through Digital Space, Shannon M. Sipes, Samy L. Minix, Matt Barton

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In an effort to increase visibility of and access to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) work on one campus, a collaboration formed between a faculty developer, a librarian, and a media specialist within a center for teaching and learning (CTL). Building on the frameworks of community of practice, professional learning network, and social networking, the authors strategically leveraged digital space to begin building a social network of faculty members interested in SoTL. This article will address the theoretical foundation and practical implementation of five digital strategies: (a) website redesign; (b) social media presence; (c) blog series; (d) filmed …

Assessment Literacy In College Teaching: Empirical Evidence On The Role And Effectiveness Of A Faculty Training Course, Kyle D. Massey, Christopher Deluca, Danielle Lapointe-Mcewan

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This research explores how faculty members’ conceptions of assessment and confidence in assessment change as a result of an instructor training course. Based on a sample of 27 faculty members enrolled in a semester-long instructional development course, this survey-based study provides initial evidence that faculty members can develop confidence in assessment while adopting increasingly complex conceptions of assessment. Based on this study’s findings, we argue that instructional development programs for college faculty have a critical role to play in stimulating faculty learning about assessment of student learning and are an important component in promoting a positive assessment culture.

Exploring The Experiences And Needs Of Faculty When Implementing Active Learning At A Public Southeastern Regional University: A Mixed-Methods Approach, Michael Lampe

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to identify participant experiences and needs of faculty when teaching in the active learning classrooms at a public regional southeastern university. This study aimed to determine what were the experiences of faculty members who have taught in the active learning classrooms, what were the experiences of students who have taken a course in the active learning classrooms, and what are the faculty development, classroom technology, and technical support needs of faculty members who have taught in such classrooms. With the five-year Federal grant cycle ending in 2019, the university needs to create a …

Faculty Orientations In Esl Professional Development, Jason T. Jay

Theses and Dissertations

The role of teacher educators is vital to education, but when the population of public-school students shifts, or progress and advances in knowledge of the field or knowledge for teaching emerge, teacher education faces challenges. One such challenge involves a continuing increase in the proportion of second language learners entering primary and secondary schools, English learners (ELs) in this case. In such situations, teacher educators often do not have deep knowledge of second language acquisition or how to integrate attention to ELs within their regular courses. One response to this challenge is to provide professional development (PD) for teacher education …

Developing And Transitioning Faculty To Online Teaching, Barbara Serianni

SoTL Commons Conference

In the midst of decreasing trend in postsecondary enrollment, enrollment in fully online programs continues to trend upward (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Given the persistent growth of online learning in higher education as the result of adding fully online courses to traditional on-campus programs of study and the persistent development of new fully online programs, the question of instructional effectiveness must be asked. Are faculty in traditional 4-year public universities prepared to effectively deliver online instruction and support the needs of online students? If they are, how were they prepared? If they are not, how can they be prepared?

Responding To Students Experiencing Emotional Distress: An Action Research Study Of Professional Learning Experiences For Faculty And Staff, Christopher Taylor Lakes

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Students entering college are increasingly presenting with complex mental health conditions that negatively affect their college experiences. This mixed methods action research study was designed to assess the current level of faculty and staff member’s abilities with respect to, comfort with, and role in identifying and responding to students who exhibit signs of emotional distress (e.g., anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation). Specifically, this study was designed to evaluate faculty and staff understanding of skills, techniques, and resources that can support them in this work, identify an appropriate professional learning experience (i.e., intervention) to increase the level of comfort in this area, …

The Influence Of Professional Development As Perceived By In-Service Military Instructors, Blaise Cornell-D'Echert, Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At a new military school, leaders worried that professional development (PD) for their novel curriculum did not induce consistent changes in their military instructors. Transformative learning theory suggested reconstructing frames of reference could help inform practices for military instructors. To fulfill the purpose of the study, current research provided a conceptual framework to assess the effectiveness of the PD effort. The research questions examined instructor perceptions of the school’s instructional strategy, their willingness to modify lessons, and to conduct assessments of learning outcomes. School leaders proffered 18 of their most effective instructors as a sample population for a case study. …

A Program Evaluation Of A Community College’S New Faculty Seminar, Kari Mclean Proft

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A community college (CC) in the midwestern United States launched a New Faculty Seminar (NFS) in 1999 for new tenure-track faculty. The problem that prompted this project study is that the NFS has been implemented yearly since 1999 without a formal evaluation. Without an evaluation plan, college leadership cannot determine whether the program is meeting stated goals. The purpose of this program evaluation was to explore how faculty described the NFS inputs and processes they experienced and how they perceived the outcomes and impact of the NFS on their understanding of the CC environment and the development of their instructional …