Other Education Commons^™

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 …

The Conceptual Guidelines And Considerations For The Development Of Elementary Charter Schools In The State Of Washington, Janice Louise Mirro

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to design a conceptual set of guidelines and considerations for the development of Elementary Charter Schools in the State of Washington. To accomplish this purpose a review ofliterature related to charter schools and their development was conducted followed by a mail reply survey. A wide variety of sources, including journal articles, books, newspaper reports, interviews, and printed material (organizational by-laws, school pamphlets, etc.) from existing charter schools across the nation were studied and synthesized into the findings. As a result of this study a comprehensive conceptual set of guidelines were developed.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Bibliography, Volume 19 (2001)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Bibliography to volume 19 (2001) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Attitude Of Administrators And Teachers Towards Physical Education And The Implentation Of Physical Education Programmes In The Secondary School, Wee Eng Hoe

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study is a survey research which is designed to obtain research evidence concerning the attitude of school administrators and teachers towards Physical Education. This study also examines the implementation of Physical Education programme in secondary schools . Nine hypotheses were fonnulated and data were collected to test the hypotheses.

The data were collected from the administration of a number of instruments to a sample of 536 administrators (267 principals and 269 senior assistants) and l637 Physical Education teachers from 290 randomly sampled secondary schools in the Peninsular Malaysia. Four instruments were administered to the sample schools, the Wear Physical …

Preface, Volume 18 (2000), Matthew Kaplan

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 18 (2000) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, written by Matthew Kaplan of the University of Michigan.

Introduction, Volume 18 (2000), Matthew Kaplan

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction to volume 18 (2000) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, written by Matthew Kaplan of the University of Michigan.

Diversity And Its Discontents: Rays Of Light In The Faculty Development Movement For Faculty Of Color, Edith A. Lewis

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Two faculty development conferences held within a six-day period during October 1998 yielded important experiences and lessons for faculty and professionals interested in working with faculty of color. This paper, written from the standpoint of a faculty member of color, outlines the strengths and challenges of working on these issues in higher education institutions.

The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning: A National Initiative, Barbara L. Cambridge

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As part ofthe scholarship of teaching and learning, faculty members study the ways in which they teach and students learn in their disciplines, and campuses foster this scholarship at the institutional level. A national initiative called the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Leaming constitutes three programs to engage and support individuals, campuses, and disciplinary associations in this form of scholarly work. This article describes the Pew Scholars Fellowship Program, the Campus Program, and the Work with Scholarly Societies and invites participation of campuses in this exciting initiative.

Teachnology: Linking Teaching And Technology In Faculty Development, Mei-Yau Shih, Mary Deane Sorcinelli

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As a coordinator of teaching technologies and director of a center for teaching in a large research university, we have worked collaboratively over the last year to achieve a common goal: to implement and refine several faculty development initiatives that create linkages among the domains of teaching, learning, and technology. In this case study, we will describe the kinds of programs we’ve developedand summarize lessons we’ve learned. We hope that faculty developers on other campuses who are grappling with how to define their mission related to technology and how to work with faculty to integrate teaching and technology can adapt …

From Transparency Toward Expertise: Writing–Across–The–Curriculum As A Site For New Collaborations In Organizational, Faculty, And Instructional Development, Philip G. Cottell Jr., Serena Hansen, Kate Ronald

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This paper will inform readers about a comprehensive approach to collaborative efforts between faculty developers, discipline specific faculty, and writing specialists. Miami University’s Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration has begun to support a team of writing specialists, led by a faculty developer. This team has worked with business faculty lo build a model of collaboration far using Writing-Across-the-Curriculum that addresses some of the shortcomings of earlier models. This paper recounts the successful use of this new model in one accounting class.

Faculty Teaching Partners And Associates: Engaging Faculty As Leaders In Instructional Development, Myra S. Wilhite, Joyce Povlacs Lunde, Gail F. Latta

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Special interest discussion groups provide opportunities for faculty to address specific instructional issues in a variety of areas including technology, distance learning, general teaching topics, pre-tenure issues, honors teaching, and the like. In 1995, to leverage the Teaching and Learning Center’s resources, outstanding classroom teachers were invited to provide leadership for discussion groups by serving as Partners or Associates. This chapter describes how an inexpensive faculty discussion-group leadership program maximizes a teaching improvement center’s resources, makes innovative teaching visible, and provides peer models for other faculty while helping promote an overall institutional culture that actively supports teaching excellence.

Creating A Culture Of Formative Assessment: The Teaching Excellence And Assessment Partnership Project, Roseanna G. Ross, Anthony Schwaller, Jenine Helmin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In a year-long, grant-supported collaborative effort, St. Cloud State University’s Assessment Office and Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence created a Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) faculty development project. This project was targeted at departments across campus at St. Cloud State University, with the intent of creating a university climate of formative assessment while improving teaching and learning. This article describes the purposes, stages of implementation, and results of the project as measured by a pre-test and post-test survey. The pre-and post-test surveys indicate that the project was highly effective in impacting the use of CATs among participants and their departmental colleagues.

Fragmentation Versus Integration Of Faculty Work, Carolin Kreber, Patricia Cranton

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Present faculty development practice encourages new faculty to integrate teaching, research, and other aspects of academic work early in their careers. By drawing on both the cognitive and the developmental psychology literature, we propose integration as an advanced stage of adult development that comes about as a result of extensive experience and expertise. We argue that faculty should be advised to focus on either research or teaching at different times during their early years and that integration of professorial roles should only be expected at a later stage. We discuss the implications of such an approach for faculty development.

Getting Lecturers To Take Discussion Seriously, Stephen Brookfield, Stephen Preskill

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In this chapter we examine how faculty resistant to experimenting with discussion methods can be encouraged to take them seriously. We begin by acknowledging and addressing publicly the objections to using discussion most frequently raised by skeptical faculty. We then turn to proposing what we believe are the most common reasons why attempts to use discussion sometimes fail: that teachers have unrealistic expectations of the method, that students are unprepared, that reward systems in the classroom are askew, and that teachers have not modeled their own participation in, and commitment to, discussion methods. For each of these reasons we suggest …

Faculty Development Centers In Research Universities: A Study Of Resources And Programs, Delivee L. Wright

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The purpose of this study was to compile updated information on resources and programs of faculty/instructional development centers in Carnegie classification Research I and Research II universities. It allows centers across the country to see where they stand in regard to a number of specific aspects of center operation. Size of institution, mission, resources, budgets, and staffing vary greatly, while activities and services have a greater degree of similarity. The data reveal a number of questions for further study and discussion.

The Impact Of School Reform On Teacher Professionalism Lessons From Case Studies To Inform Future Professional Development Initiatives, Meher Rizvi

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper will outline a number of issues faced by Government Primary Schools in Pakistan. Specifically, it will identify a research agenda that needs to be addressed if these schools are to progress. Pakistan's educational system is faced with many problems and dilemmas and each dilemma justifies a reason, but perhaps no problem is as grave as the low quality, the poor morale and the dejected professional status of the teachers. I say that because I believe that schools are only as good as their teachers, regardless of how high their standards, how up-to-date their technology, or how innovative their …

The Challenge And Test Of Our Values: An Essay Of Collective Experience, Kay Herr Gillespie

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Departing from a specific experience at the 1998 POD conference, the values of the organization—most specifically and directly the “valuing of peopk”—were challenged and put to the test of whether or not we genuinely and sincerely strive to actualize our values. This situation is generalizable to our daily professional and personal lives, and the essay invites readers’ reflection through an examination of our values in combination with the story. The challenge continues, and the test is not finished.

On The Path: Pod As A Multicultural Organization, Christine A. Stanley, Matthew L. Ouellet

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Since 1993, the Professional and Organizational Development Network (POD) has made an increasingly stronger commitment to becoming a multicultural organization. Poised at the entrance to a new century, it seems useful to examine the current standing of this goal in the context of the overall growth and development of POD. In this article the authors take stock of the organization’s history related to multiculturalism, discuss POD’s current organizational strengths and challenges related to models of multicultural organizational development, and offer suggestions for further progress on the path to becoming a multicultural organization.

Qilt: An Approach To Faculty Development And Institutional Self–Improvement, Mike Laycock

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In a climate of increasing emphasis on quality assurance and extra-institutional quality scrutiny, the author argues that faculty developers have a role in encouraging an enhancement-led culture. Faculty ownership of,and responsibility far, continuous quality improvement can help to provide an engagement with teaching and learning issues and may help to overcome resistance and mistrust. At the University of East London, UK, an enabling, whole-institutional framework called QILT (Quality Improvement in Learning and Teaching), whereby faculty create and implement funded improvement plans, has helped to generate this culture.

Finding Key Faculty To Influence Change, Joan K. Middendorf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

To succeed in getting faculty to accept new teaching approaches, academic support professionals can benefit from the literature on planned change. By understanding the different rates at which faculty accept change, we can also identify the faculty most likely to lead their colleagues to accepting new approaches. Opinion leaders can offer insight into faculty reactions to new approaches; their involvement in project planning can influence acceptance. Innovators, when selected carefully, can demonstrate and test new teaching approaches. Knowledge of when and how to involve these two kinds of faculty can reduce frustration and enhance efforts to spread new ideas about …

Student Collaboration In Faculty Development: Connecting Directly To The Learning Revolution, Milton D. Cox, D. Lynn Sorenson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Although faculty developers have worked successfully with faculty to focus on ways to enhance learning and listen to student voices, developers have rarely formed partnerships with students. This chapter reviews established practices involving students directly in faculty development, such as student observer/consultant programs. It also describes the nature, dynamics, and outcomes of some interesting new programs involving students in teaching development activities, thereby empowering students to join developers as change agents ofcampus culture. Finally, this chapter raises issues for faculty developers to reflect on as they consider establishing direct connections-partnerships-with students.