Higher Education Administration Commons^™

An O.P.E.N. Approach To Learning, Keith Kelly, Roberta C. Teahen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

O.P.E.N. Learning, an open-entry, open-exit delivery system that is supported by a computerized instructional management system and an extensive learning team, is a fundamental restructuring of the approach to education. This article summarizes the rationale for eliminating the traditional calendar by framing an educational system around a performance-based approach.

Faculty Development In Technology Applications To University Instruction: An Evaluation, Margie K. Kitano, Bernard J. Dodge, Patrick J. Harrison, Rena B. Lewis

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Progress in integrating new technologies into higher education classrooms has been slow despite emerging evidence on benefits for students when technologies are applied in ways that support teaching and learning. This article describes a program used by a college of education to support faculty applications of technology in instruction and reports results of a formal evaluation following the first year of implementation. The program provided intensive training and follow-up support to a heterogeneous cohort of 14 faculty members and was designed to enhance their ability to integrate technology into their teaching, use a new "smart" classroom facility, and/or develop products …

A Case Study In Getting Faculty To Change, Joan K. Middendorf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Academic support professionals have a lot to share with faculty, but it is our special challenge that faculty do not always welcome our help. We can achieve greater success and suffer less frustration by understanding some principles about the process of change. This article offers four principles of implementing change and illustrates their application to a project. If academic support professionals prepare to offset resistance, model a vision of success, involve key people, and match strategies to the stages faculty move through in accepting a change, we can enhance adoption of new approaches.

Minimizing Error When Developing Questionnaires, Terrie Nolinske

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Questionnaires are used by faculty developers, administrators, faculty, and students in higher education to assess need, conduct research, and evaluate teaching or learning. While used often, questionnaires may be the most misused method of collecting information, due to the potential for sampling error and nonsampling error, which includes questionnaire design, sample selection, nonresponse, wording, social desirability, recall, format, order, and context effects. This article offers methods and strategies to minimize these errors during questionnaire development, discusses the importance of pilot-testing questionnaires, and underscores the importance of an ethical approach to the process. Examples relevant to higher education illustrate key points.

Faculty Developers As Change Agents: Transforming Colleges And Universities Into Learning Organizations, Sondra K. Patrick, James J. Fletcher

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In the face of demands for institutional restructuring and competition from new internet-based degree programs, the authors argue that campus-based colleges and universities may continue to serve their students well by becoming effective learning organizations. They argue, further, that faculty developers are in the best position to help their institutions become learning organizations. After describing the features of learning organizations as articulated in the work of Peter Senge, the authors reinterpret Senge 's theory to make specific application to academic settings. Concrete suggestions are provided for faculty developers to assist in transforming their institutions.

Section I: Changing Roles For Faculty Developers

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Section Ii: Working With Faculty At Different Career Stages

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Section Iii: Fostering Organizational Change And Development

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Section Iv: Reexamining Approaches To Instruction And Instructional Development

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No abstract provided.

Adopting A Strategic Approach To Managing Change In Learning And Teaching, Brenda Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Universities are having to become more accountable for the quality of the student learning experience. This is taking place in a climate of expanding student numbers, a greater diversity of students, and reduced resources. How then do we motivate faculty, take on board new initiatives, reflect on current practice, and at the same time provide an organizational structure that is supportive and visionary? This article illustrates how a major externally funded project on peer observation led to a change in university culture and facilitated a major structural change to the organization that supports the ongoing development and enhancement of learning …

Academic Morphing: Teaching Assistant To Faculty Member, Kathleen S. Smith, Patricia L. Kalivoda

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This paper discusses the process by which graduate teaching assistants (TAs), participating in a longitudinal study, used their graduate TA experience to successfully survive the transition from being a teaching assistant to becoming a faculty member. A theoretical framework is presented that describes how individual characteristics of the TAs worked together with disciplinary, institutional, and departmental forces to shape a set of professional values. These professional values helped to form strategies for success: one set used for securing the first faculty position and the other set used to balance professional roles during the first year as a faculty member. These …

Divining The Future For Faculty Development: Five Hopeful Signs And One Caveat, Marilla D. Svinicki

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The fortunes of faculty development centers rise and fall on the waves of change that roll through postsecondary education on a regular basis. These waves can swamp us, or we can ride their crest. This article points out some of the waves the author sees now and in the immediate future and how we can benefit from them. She ends with a caution about improving our chances of survival through our own efforts rather than waiting for someone else to draw us along.

Implications Of The Nature Of "Expertise" For Teaching And Faculty Development, Richard G. Tiberius, Ronald A. Smith, Zohar Waisman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Over the last two decades cognitive theorists have learned that the development of expertise goes beyond the accumulation of knowledge and skills: expertise includes the development of pattern recognition and learned procedures that enable practitioners to deal with problems effortlessly or intuitively. Even more recently, theorists are distinguishing experts from experienced non-experts by how they use the bonus time and energy gained from solving problems intuitively. Experts invest it in tackling problems that increase their expertise rather than reduce problems to previously learned routines. Some implications of these different views of expertise for teaching and faculty development are discussed.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

"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' …

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.

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 …

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.

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.