Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

The New Demand For Heterogeneity In College Teaching, George Keller

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The past half century has brought an astounding increase in U.S. college and university enrollments. The rapid rise of mass higher education has forced major changes at every institution and is reshaping the U.S. higher education enterprise. Each college needs to ask itself what the huge expansion means for future faculty hires, programs, and modes of teaching.

Not Making Or Shaping: Finding Authenticity In Faculty Development, Patricia Cranton

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Authenticity is defined as a multifaceted concept that includes self-awareness, awareness of others, genuine relationships, awareness of contextual constraints, and living a critical life. Authenticity develops over time and with experience; a developmental continuum for authenticity is discussed. Drawing on a three-year research project on authenticity in teaching in higher education, this chapter suggests ways in which faculty developers can help foster authentic practice.

Preparing Faculty For Pedagogical Change: Helping Faculty Deal With Fear, Linda C. Hodges

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

How receptive faculty are to changing their pedagogical approach is a complex issue, but one factor that impedes change is the fear of taking a risk. Underlying this fear may be the fear of loss, fear of embarrassment, or fear of failure. Addressing these issues can empower faculty to be more innovative in their teaching. Drawing on research literature, personal teaching narratives, and my own work in faculty development, I discuss some of these underlying fears. I then offer concrete strategies for working with faculty to enable them to overcome these emotional barriers and embrace change.

Creating Engaged Departments: A Program For Organizational And Faculty Development, Kevin J. Kecskes, Sherril B. Gelmon, Amy Spring

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Portland State University encourages faculty participation in service-learning by providing faculty with individual incentives to support and reward them. Now, in recognition of this central role of the department in higher education, administrators interested in creating sustained civic engagement initiatives on campus are looking to the department as a strategic leverage point for change. This chapter investigates a yearlong engaged department initiative and finds that a collective approach can (re)connect individual faculty to their initial motivations for engaging in the profession, to a community of scholars, to their students, and also to their surrounding community.

Expeditionary Learning: A Low–Risk, Low–Cost, High–Impact Professional Development Model, Chris Carlson-Dakes, Alice Pawley

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We describe a low-risk, low-cost, high-impact professional development program to help faculty, instructional staff, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students create space in their lives to explore the diversity of their campus community and reflect on beliefs about teaching and learning in higher education. Along with small group discussions, participants have “expeditions” onto campus to explore learning situations and academic life in ways that they have never before experienced. We describe our theoretical model, programmatic and evaluation structure, and some participants’ insights into why they participated and what they learned from our first implementation.

Bibliography, Volume 24 (2006)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Bibliography for volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Building It For Them: Faculty–Centered Program Development And Emanagement, Bonnie B. Mullinix

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article documents the effectiveness of a responsive, multilevel, web-based system for identifying and responding to faculty interest and needs for training and development. A case-based description illustrates the advantages of using a web-facilitated approach to schedule sessions according to faculty interest and availability. From needs assessment survey, to session design and scheduling, to registration, communication, and monitoring of participation, to evaluation and feedback, this integrated system has proven effective in engaging faculty. Data collected over two years of program implementation is shared and implications for the design, facilitation, and evaluation of such approaches are considered.

Faculty Competency By Design: A Model For Institutional Transformation, Helen M. Clarke, Philip E. Bishop

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For a decade, Valencia Community College has striven for a faculty development program with direct impact on student learning. The college succeeded by designing faculty learning with the same logic we apply to student learning. Valencia’s program for new tenure-track faculty focuses on significant faculty learning outcomes, a learning-centered pedagogy, high standards of scholarship, and continuous program assessment. The college’s Teaching/Learning Academy and a coordinated tenure process have cultivated new learning leaders and created a fresh partnership among deans and faculty members. This developing process of new-hire faculty development has been pivotal to Valencia’s learning-centered transformation.

Perceptions Of Faculty Developers About The Present And Future Of Faculty Development At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, Andrea L. Beach, Stephen L. Rozman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The development of faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has been a challenge and commitment since their inception before and after the civil war. Historically, faculty have assumed many roles, but they primarily sought to address the needs of black students. The HBCU Faculty Development Network, founded in 1994, has been instrumental in providing a platform to showcase accomplishments and challenges in education at this unique group of colleges and universities. To address future needs, we surveyed the membership to explore current program goals and influences, practices, and new directions. The results are compared with data for the …

Tailoring Faculty Development Programs To Faculty Career Stages, Peter Seldin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

College faculty progress through a series of sequential career stages. Each is characterized by different motivations and professional development needs. Yet, too often, faculty developers rely on hunches rather than empirical data to guide programming decisions. This chapter describes the important research findings of a just completed national study to determine the different programming interests and needs of more than 500 beginning, mid-career, and senior-level faculty in the United States.

An Adventure On Pod's High Cs: Culture, Creativity, And Communication In The Academy: A Humanist Perspective, James Downey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Keynote address given at the November 2004 POD Conference in Montreal, Quebec.

Professional Portfolios : Creating A Framework For Teacher Accountability Portfolios, Stephany K. Messer

Graduate Research Papers

Educators are being held accountable for their actions in the classroom by their states and local districts. In Iowa teachers are required to demonstrate competency for eight different standards that include 42 criteria. One form of meeting this requirement is by creating a professional portfolio. A problem that many educators face is the lack of direction provided to create this portfolio.

The purpose of this project was to design a framework for creating a professional portfolio. Instruction on this framework will be provided through seven professional development sessions targeted for novice teachers. At the completion of the professional development sessions …

A Case Study Of Public School Secondary Teachers Of English, Supervisors Of English, And School Administrators Awareness And Implementation Of Issues Of Moral Education Within The Canon Of Literature Presented In The Classroom Setting, Dennis M. Flynn

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Emphasizing Ekphrasis: Linking Visual Arts And Language Arts Curriculum Standards Through Museum Pre- And Post-Visit Activities For Upper Elementary School Students, S. Stephen Alsa

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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School Violence Prevention Programs And Changes In Violence Incidents In New Jersey (2002-2005), James V. Fiasconaro

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Science Education On The U.S./Mexico Border: Field-Based Studies For Future Teachers In Bilingual/Binational Schools, William H. Robertson, Judith Munter, Claudia V. Garcia

William H. Robertson

The University of Texas at El Paso’s field-based program of studies for future teachers provides opportunities for powerful learning through a dialectical union of reflection and action. Methods courses in academic disciplines are linked with seminars and coursework on community partnerships, critical pedagogy and culturally responsive education. This article illustrates the processes of planning, implementation and evaluation of this approach, highlighting the impacts of community service learning. Parents, students and future teachers interact in workshops that center on validating native language literacy, increasing parental involvement and providing conceptually correct science education. The project indicates that two-way dual language programs with …

A Practical Approach To Building Web Sites In The Classroom, William H. Robertson

William H. Robertson

The five-phased process for building Web sites in the classroom may be useful in helping educators facilitate the process of integrating computer technology and the Internet into instruction and curriculum design. The method described is a synthesis of a personal process of discovery, teaching, and learning that has come from practical experience with teachers and students. To effectively utilize this five-phased approach, the instructor must ascertain the final goal, whether it is a curriculum product, Web site, oral presentation, or some other form of demonstration of learning. The identified phases are a set of guiding principles that at any time …

Implementing The Texas Master Science Teacher Program, William H. Robertson, Elaine Hampton, Brian H. Giza

William H. Robertson

In 2004, the State of Texas authorized the Texas Master Science Teacher certification. This post-baccalaureate certification provided a much-needed opportunity for experienced science teachers to be formally recognized for their leadership roles at a time in which science instruction was being impacted by a number of sometimes competing state and national initiatives. This article describes the steps and lessons learned by the team that implemented the first Master Science Teacher program in Texas.