Higher Education Administration Commons^™

Conference Program: Interfaces, Intersections, And Gateways

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Conference Materials

Letter, by Bill Burke (Conference Coordinator), Sally Kuhlenschmidt (Program Chair), Mary Deane Sorcinelli (President)

Core Committee, 2001-2002

POD Presidents / Conference Sites

Conference Overview

Acknowledgements

Conference Tracks

Schedule

Changes to POD Program as of Wednesday noon, October 10

I. Making The Case For Undergraduate Research

Innovations in Undergraduate Research and Honors Education: Proceedings of the Second Schreyer National Conference 2001

In this section Josephine Carubia and Renata Engel introduce the topic of undergraduate research by focusing on the current definitions of scholarship. They place those definitions in the context of specific disciplines and research opportunities. Next, two distinguished educators engage scholarship and also reflect upon the reasoning and purposes that support the practice of undergraduate research. Alan Jenkins probes data on the impacts of undergraduate research in an attempt to answer the most preliminary and crucial questions of whether educators should support this experience, and if so, why and how. He starts out a skeptic and slowly persuades himself, along …

Creating An Undergraduate Culture Of Science By Integrating Inquiry, Project-Based Learning, And Research Into The Curriculum, Richard A. Niesenbaum

Innovations in Undergraduate Research and Honors Education: Proceedings of the Second Schreyer National Conference 2001

Full engagement in science includes observation and asking questions, the development of a hypothesis, designing and conducting an appropriate experiment to test that hypothesis, data acquisition, appropriate analysis, revisiting initial questions, and dissemination of results. Here, I report on efforts to engage undergraduate students in all of these elements of science by integrating inquiry, investigation, and research in four intermediate biology courses for all majors. The project-based courses include Plant Ecology, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Molecular Genetics, and Physiological Ecology. Students conduct semester-long, experimental research projects and present their results at a public poster session on campus. Using computers, peripherals, and …

Mass Program At Penn State, Serge Tabachnikov

Innovations in Undergraduate Research and Honors Education: Proceedings of the Second Schreyer National Conference 2001

The MASS program--Mathematics Advanced Study Semesters--at Penn State's Mathematics department was founded in 1996. MASS is a unique, innovative, intensive program for select groups of undergraduates recruited every year from around the United States and brought to Penn State's campus for the fall semester. This program provides a unique and mutually reinforcing blend of learning and research activities for its participants.

Promise, Peril, And Potential: Developing, Implementing, And Assessing Problem-Based Learning At The Undergraduate Level, Carol F. Whitfield

Innovations in Undergraduate Research and Honors Education: Proceedings of the Second Schreyer National Conference 2001

In an effort to cope with the vastly expanding body of knowledge in medicine, medical educators in the last 20 years began to realize that not all the facts one needed to know to practice could be 'taught' in four years of medical school. Furthermore, recall of material learned during the 'chock-full-of-facts' early years was discouragingly poor, and learned information went out of date very quickly. Educators came to the realization that producing students who were life-long self-learners was a reasonable solution. Even earlier, a few schools such as McMaster University in Canada began using problem based learning (PBL) in …

Why Involve Students In Research?, Rodney A. Erickson

Innovations in Undergraduate Research and Honors Education: Proceedings of the Second Schreyer National Conference 2001

This article addresses the benefits of undergraduate research to students, to faculty, and to universities. Research experiences are credited with increasing motivation for learning, helping undergraduate students decide on a career path, forming mentoring relationships between students and faculty, and improving student performance in writing, speaking, and working in teams. For many students, research experiences are their most memorable experiences as undergraduates. From the perspective of universities, students bring enthusiasm to research teams and often ask insightful questions-sometimes quite by accident-that can change the ways faculty approach research inquiries. Student researchers contribute to the world of knowledge. Research universities have …

A Plan To Assist In The Recruitment Of Central Washington University Freshman In The State Of Washington, Jill M. Orcutt

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop a recruitment plan to increase Central Washington University's enrollment of freshmen students from the state of Washington. To develop this plan, current research and literature related to increasing ·enrollment at institutions of higher education were researched and reviewed. A review of current strategies was also conducted and the new plan developed. The plan will be offered to the Director of Admissions at Central Washington University for consideration for implementation.

Preface, Volume 19 (2001), Devorah Lieberman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 19 (2001) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, written by Devorah Lieberman of Portland State University.

Introduction, Volume 19 (2001), Devorah Lieberman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction to volume 19 (2001) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, written by Devorah Lieberman of Portland State University.

Ethical Guidelines For Educational Developers

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Ethical guidelinesfor educational developers prepared by Mintz, Smith, and Warren, January 1999, revised March 1999, September 1999, and March 2000.

Fostering The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning: Communities Of Practice, Barbara L. Cambridge

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

September 1999, and March 2000.

Transitions And Transformations: The Making Of Department Chairs, Irene W. D. Hecht

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

When we talk about a need for leadership in higher education, we are in fact demanding that chairs be leaders. Is there then another level of transition that is required today of those who become chairs? Is task mastery a guarantee of being a leader? If there are other adaptations needed, what might they be? That is the focus of this exploration. This chapter examines the theory behind leadership and applies to it models that are aligned with the leadership skills needed for successful chair leadership. This article specifically addresses the role of faculty developers in supporting department chairs in …

Education For Responsible Citizenship: A Challenge For Faculty Developers, Thomas Ehrlich

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Higher education professionals need clearer, stronger frameworks for the integration of both civic and moral learning and the more common cognitive learning that occurs in traditional classrooms. This article addresses when and why this author chose to focus on community service-learning as a way to reengage in direct work with students and other civic responsibilities. His discussion focuses on student acquisition of academic knowledge and skills through service-learning and the study of ethical dilemmas facing professionals in different fields. He proffers in-depth discussion on service-learning programs championed by the Carnegie Foundation and addresses how these programs working with faculty across …

A Prophet In Your Own Land? Using Faculty And Student Focus Groups To Address Issues Of Race, Ethnicity, And Gender In The Classroom, James Francisco Bonnilla, Patricia R. Palmerton

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In this study, six focus groups of faculty and students addressed issues of how race, ethnicity, and gender affected their classroom experiences. Consistent themes emerged across all groups, including feeling unsafe and vulnerable, concerns about equity, power, and role modeling. As importantly, the research process itself became a vehicle for growth and change in the community at large, both inside and outside the classroom. Six recommendations are offered for those who seek innovative approaches to addressing race and gender in the classroom.

Faculty Learning Communities: Change Agents For Transforming Institutions Into Learning Organizations, Milton D. Cox

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In my 20 years of faculty development, I have found faculty learning communities to be the most effective programs for achieving faculty learning and development. In addition, these communities build communication across disciplines, increase faculty interest in teaching and learning, initiate excursions into the scholarship of teaching, and foster civic responsibility. They provide a multifaceted, flexible, and holistic approach to faculty development. They change individuals, and, over time, they change institutional culture. Faculty learning communities and their “graduates” are change agents who can enable an institution to become a learning organization. In this article I introduce faculty learning communities and …

Doing Faculty Development As If We Value Learning Most: Transformative Guidelines From Research To Practice, Thomas Anthony Angelo

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

If producing high-quality student learning is American higher education’s defining goal, how can faculty development best contribute to its realization? In response to that question, this essay synthesizes theories, findings, and strategies from a variety of literatures into seven transformative ideas which, taken together, have the potential to make our mental models of and approaches to faculty development more effective. It also offers seven guidelines based on these ideas, as well as related, practical strategies for doing faculty development as if student learning matters most.

Higher–Level Learning: The First Step Toward More Significant Learning, L. Dee Fink

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In order to design significant learning experiences far students, teachers first need to be able to formulate powerful and challenging goals for their courses. This essay describes a taxonomy of higher-level learning that consists of six kinds of learning: foundational knowledge, application, integration, the human dimension, motivation, and learning how to learn. The argument is made that this taxonomy goes beyond the familiar taxonomy of Benjamin Bloom and encompasses a wide range of goals that are currently advocated by many national organizations and scholars in higher education. The taxonomy can be used to design better courses, choose among alternative teaching …

Clarity In Teaching In Higher Education: Dimensions And Classroom Strategies, Nira Hativa

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This essay presents research knowledge regarding the main dimensions of effective teaching in higher education, concentrating on clarity in teaching and its components—classroom behaviors and strategies that promote clear teaching. On this basis, I suggest arranging all dimensions and classroom strategies of effective teaching within a logical structure of interconnected teaching behaviors whose contribution to student learning is based on theory and research. The model organizes all dimensions and strategies of effective teaching in three hierarchical levels and is illustrated by successively breaking down clarity in teaching into intermediate dimensions and classroom behaviors and strategies. The model may help faculty …

Preparing Today's Faculty For Tomorrow's Students: One College's Faculty Development Solution, Patrick Nellis, Helen Clarke, Jacalyn Dimartino, David K. Hosman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida, has created a faculty development program underwritten for the past five years by a US Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant. Our program rose from a deliberate desire to build active, collaborative faculty teams that would, in turn, build active, collaborative classrooms; our results demonstrate that faculty development programs based on observable and measurable outcomes can positively affect student academic performance and persistence. This essay details this faculty development project.

After Twelve Years Of Teaching The College–Teaching Course, Michael B. Paulsen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This essay provides a detailed presentation of the perspectives, approaches, activities, materials, and evaluative information that characterize and distinguish a formal, credit-earning, semester-long graduate course in college teaching. This report is based on the author’s experiences and reflections drawn from, and expressed after, 12 years of teaching the college-teaching course. Based on an intensive study of advances in theory and research related to teaching, learning, learners, and diversity; students engage in 1) actual teaching, in which they integrate learning theory and other pedagogical knowledge with the content knowledge of their own subject-matter areas; 2) extensive theory and research informed observation …

Faculty Development That Transforms The Undergraduate Experience At A Research University, Kathleen S. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Rethinking the undergraduate experience at research universities is a necessary goal for the new millennium according to the Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates (1998). Faculty development efforts provide a starting place for a transformation of the traditional teaching-learning model. This essay describes the faculty development support structure included in a FIPSE sponsored program to promote learning by inquiry. The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) at the University of Georgia meshes teaching and research so that undergraduate students become participants in the strengths of a research university by becoming part of a community of learners.

The Case For Sophisticated Course Syllabi, Michael J. Strada

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Just as the last thing a fish would notice is water, academics tend to overlook the value of a comprehensive course syllabus. It seems too prosaic for some instructors to take seriously. Despite operating largely in obscurity, a nascent body of literature appreciative of the syllabus’ latent potential is emerging. The distinguishing features of model syllabi are traced here, and their respective benefits analyzed. First and foremost, good syllabi enhance student learning by improving the way courses are taught. But the potential of syllabi can also be tapped by using them more prominently in the faculty evaluation process. Much slower …

The Role Of A Teaching Center In Curricular Reform, Constance Ewing Cook

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Instructional consultants can play a crucial role in curricular reform. They gather evaluation and assessment data about the current curriculum so that faculty decisions about improvements are based on empirical evidence. They organize and facilitate meetings and retreats at which faculty make curricular decisions, and they provide pedagogical expertise and resources to help with course design and enhancement. They also provide ongoing data for formative evaluation of the new curriculum. Examples from the University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching illustrate instructional consultants’ contributions to the curricular reform process.

Technology And The Culture Of Teaching And Learning, Sean Courtney

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty development professionals in postsecondary institutions face many challenges helping faculty adapt to the new forms of information technology. Chief among them is understanding how technology is forcing us to rethink current classroom practices. To aid this effort, this essay identifies and analyzes six key dimensions of traditional cultures of teaching and learning and attempts to show how technology, particularly computer-mediated forms, is transforming their meaning and potential impact.

Developing New Faculty: An Evolving Program, Gloria Pierce

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This essay describes the evolution of a program for the development of new faculty at a public teaching university. The year-long process of orienting the newest professors to the campus and assisting them with their scholarship and teaching results in additional (albeit unplanned and unexpected) benefits, such as professional renewal of senior faculty who serve as advisors and enhanced functioning of the university itself. Vital to the program’s success is the productive involvement of key campus constituencies and responsiveness to feedback.

Publish, Don't Perish: A Program To Help Scholars Flourish, Tara Gray, Jane Birch

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty often believe that if they do not publish, they will perish. Faculty developers can respond to this need by helping faculty increase their scholarly productivity. Research shows that faculty are more productive if they write for 15-30 minutes daily, organize their writing around key sentences, and get extensive feedback on drafts. This article evaluates a program hosted on two campuses that aimed at supporting 115 faculty achieve these goals. Throughout the program, participants kept records of time they spent writing and the number of pages they wrote and at the end of the program, they were surveyed. These data …

Designing Teaching Portfolios Based On A Formal Model Of The Scholarship Of Teaching, Carolin Kreber

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many universities now encourage, and some even require, faculty to submit a teaching portfolio as part of their tenure application package. How to evaluate these portfolios, however, remains an unresolved issue, particularly if the task is to make a judgment about whether what is demonstrated in the portfolio reflects engagement in the scholarship of teaching. The thesis of this chapter is that judgments regarding the validity and truthfulness of a teaching portfolio can be made by assessing the extent to which the author has attended to an agreed-upon process of knowledge construction and validation in teaching. A model of the …

Strengthening Collegiality To Enhance Teaching, Research, And Scholarly Practice: An Untapped Resource For Faculty Development, Gerlese S. Åkerlind, Kathleen M. Quinlan

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Collegiality lies at the intersection of various aspects of academic practice, including teaching as well as research. As such, assisting junior faculty in learning to build their collegial networks becomes a powerful point of intervention for faculty developers, even for those who focus on teaching development. Data from interviews with faculty engaged in both teaching and research, plus our experiences in conducting a series of career building initiatives are analyzed to identify junior faculty perceptions of the role of collegiality and barriers to establishing collegial ties. Two main barriers are identified: 1) knowing that collegiality and networking is important, and …

Faculty Quality Of Life, Sally S. Atkins, Kathleen T. Brinko, Jeffrey A. Butts, Charles S. Claxton, Glenda T. Hubbard

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

An interdisciplinary research team conducted a formal assessment of campus culture and faculty quality of life at Appalachian State University. Interviews with a stratified random sample of full-time, tenure-track faculty revealed five themes: 1) the importance of human relationships, 2) the deep commitment of faculty to student learning, 3)general satisfaction with academic life, 4) the personal sacrifice of faculty members for their work, and 5) perceptions of incongruence between institutional rhetoric and action. Recommendations are offered for readers to apply to their own universities to help faculty, staff, students, and administrators work together toward becoming an institution that is a …

Getting Administrative Support For Your Project, Joan K. Middendorf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For faculry development professionals to succeed with projects, we need the help of key administrators. More than anyone else, they can link our efforts to campus priorities, help us understand the decision-making system, and facilitate our efforts. This essay describes six steps for gaining and maintaining administrative support for projects. The steps entail 1) knowing administrator needs, 2) identifying likely supporters, 3) maintaining good working relationships, 4) involving the sponsors, 5) evaluating the sponsors’ commitment, and 6) recognizing the support of sponsors. Collaboration with administrators and application of the stages is illustrated with a case study of Indiana University’s Freshman …