Other Education Commons^™

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.

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.

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.

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 …

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Back Matter

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Editors' Message

Morris Berman tells the story of his maternal grandfather, who, when he was five years old in 1883 or 1884, was sent to a Jewish elementary school in Belorussia. On the first day of class, the teacher startled the young boy by taking each child's slate and smearing the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet—aleph and beys—on it in honey. His grandfather's first lesson consisted of eating the letters off the slate. The symbolism of this act is complex, Berman muses, but central to the ritual is the belief that what is real must be taken into …

Imperfection: The Will-To-Control And The Struggle Of Letting Go, W. Keith Duffy

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

As I found myself beginning to appropriate my students' writing more and more, I wondered if this was evidence of a spiritual imbalance—an unwillingness to acknowledge my own imperfection as a teacher and human being.

A Poetics Of Student Writing, Dennis Young

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Focusing on student reflective essays about learning writing, I rely on depth psychology and hermeneutics to illustrate the image-making, poetic dimension of student work.

Being There: Revising The Discourse Of Emotion And Teaching, Dale Jacobs

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This essay explores the fine line that exists between teacher engagement and teacher burnout and suggests strategies for teachers and mentors of teachers to help negotiate this line.

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Front Matter

Felt Sensing Of Speech Acts In Written Genre Acquisition, Randall Popken

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

This paper theorizes about the experiential dimension of acquiring rhetorical genres—specifically the way developing writers rely on felt sensing when they encounter the "core" of genres: illocutionary speech acts.

Teacher Growing Pains, Carolina Mancuso

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reflecting on a teacher education course which incorporated experiential learning in an exploratory pedagogy, the author examines how the relationship between teachers and students can affect both personal and professional lives, particularly in periods of individual transition.

Flow, Centering, And The Classroom: Wisdom From An Ancient Friend, Lorie Heggie

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Understanding "flow" and drawing on the metaphor of the dialectic that occurs between horse and rider can guide us to create a centered classroom.

Connecting, Helen Walker, Laura Milner, Candace Walworth, Dave Waddell, Vic Kryston, Richard L. Graves

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Laura Milner—Steve's Story.

Candace Walworth—War & Peace in a Two-Car Garage.

Dave Waddell—Caring.

Vic Kryston—Ralph and the Unexpected Fix.

Richard L. Graves—The Abraham Dream.

Reviews, Lisa Tyler, Fran Claggett, Bruce Novak, Neal Lerner

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Lisa Tyler. Writing and Healing: Toward an Informed Practice. (Charles M. Anderson and Marian M. MacCurdy, eds., 2000).

Fran Claggett. Revisioning Writers' Talk: Gender and Culture in Acts of Composing. (Mary Ann Cain, 1995).

Bruce Novak. Tomorrow's Children: A Blueprint for Partnership Education in the 21st Century. (Riane Eisler, 2000).

Neal Lerner. Stories from the Center: Connecting Narrative and Theory in the Writing Center. (Lynn Craigue Briggs and Meg Woolbright, eds., 2000).

Discredited Metaphors Of Mind Limit Our Vision, Marilyn Middendorf

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Teachers will be intrigued by recent discoveries in "the brain sciences" and the new metaphors of consciousness they suggest.

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of A Formal Public School Instrumental Music Instruction Program On An Eighth Grade Middle School Student's Reading And Mathematics Achievement, Gerard D. Babo

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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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 …