Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Teacher Experiences Of Culture In The Curriculum, Elaine Chan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In this study, I examined the experiences of two middle-school-level teachers as they attempted to acknowledge the ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity of their students in their curriculum and through their teaching practices, to identify the kinds of complications and challenges they encountered in the process. I presented one particular curriculum event to explore ways in which diverse beliefs and values intersected as the teachers implemented the event.

I employed a narrative inquiry approach with an emphasis on stories to learn about the experiences of my participants. I took part in all aspects of school life, including staff meetings and …

What Are We Tripping On?: Transgressing The Fault Lines In Research On The Preparation Of Multicultural Educators, Carl A. Grant, Vonzell Agosto

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications

How do we prepare multicultural educators? The purpose of the chapter is to discuss some of the research in multicultural teacher education that speaks to, and in doing so, participates in the life of this enduring problem. In what direction might other rationales and lines of inquiry lead the research in multicultural teacher education.

E-Learning Enhances Both Student Achievement And Career Change Options, Rochelle P. Ripple

Perspectives In Learning

It seems as if everyone is using e-learning (online learning) these days. There are many options available, including self-paced courses, skills-based courses, virtual classrooms (and their cousins, live web seminars), web-enhanced courses, and asynchronous courses. There is a plethora of technological methods that can be utilized for course delivery. Which of these technologies and methods of use will maximize e-learning’s effectiveness? In other words, for the university, the instructor and students, which seems to work the best? In a nutshell - all of them. The beauty of e-learning is that there are so many options that can be tailored to …

Career-Related Issues In Secondary Schools: A Literature Review, Jennifer E. Mcghee

Perspectives In Learning

The career counselor’s role over the past 100 years or so has evolved from being a placement tool in the industrial revolution to that of providing a more holistic approach to meeting both the career and personal concerns of individuals. More and more counselors are beginning to focus on the person as a whole, including values, interests, abilities, skills, and work-life experiences, as they counsel on career-related issues (Zunker, 2006). As a focus on human development and the whole person enters the counseling field, school counselors are faced with developing comprehensive school guidance systems that meet the needs of students …

Alcohol And Drug Use: The Negative Effect On Health And Academic Achievement, Judson Mccarley, Heather Holloway

Perspectives In Learning

Most know the damaging and lethal effects that drugs and alcohol pose upon our children and young people today. Parents and schools work hard at limiting these terrible and devastating results. However, is this effort enough and what is the latest research on alcohol and drug use by school age children? Although there are significant effects from drug and alcohol use on health and academic achievement, there are a variety of interventions used in keeping children clean. Alcohol and drug use by school-age children poses serious health and safety risks. The three leading causes of death for 15-24 year olds …

Curriculum Alignment Matrix: A Systematic Framework For Aligning Educational Leadership Program Curriculum, Martha C. Hall

Perspectives In Learning

The emphasis on educational accountability and the necessity of training highly qualified administrators and leaders, prompted changes to Columbus State University’s Educational Leadership programs. Curriculum alignment was the foundation of this initiative. There has been an evolution in thinking about the important ingredients and benefits of curriculum for the 21st Century leader. Lashway (2002) advanced the idea of totally revamping the leadership preparation program to stay current with the ever-changing world. Jacobs (1997), through her work with curriculum, saw a need for obtaining course overviews. Cunningham & Cordiero (2000) envisioned futurist thinking for the practitioners and purported changing the pedagogical …

Charting A New Course: Professional Development Strategies For Improving Literacy Education Across The Curriculum, Vikki K. Collins, Dawn Upshaw, H. Marguerite Yates

Perspectives In Learning

This paper reviews the effects of a program of professional development for literacy teachers in an urban, southeastern elementary school. During academic year 2002-2003, only 67% of fourth grade students met or exceeded state standards for achievement in reading as measured by the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), and only 77% of fourth grade students met or exceeded state standards for achievement in English/language arts as measured by the CRCT (Georgia Department of Education, 2005).

Preface, Volume 24 (2006), Sandra Chadwick Blossey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Sandra Chadwick Blossey of Rollins College.

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.

Monster At The Foot Of The Bed: Surviving The Challenge Of Marketplace Forces On Higher Education, Raoul A. Arreola

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The impact of technology on society has caused a paradigm shift in the basic support for higher education. Where higher education was traditionally supported as a function of government, the knowledge explosion and global economy resulting from the impact of computer and other technologies is moving the underlying support of higher education to the marketplace. There is evidence that traditional academic strategies and practices that were successful under the old paradigm may no longer be working. Twelve suggestions are offered for revolutionary changes that the academy must make in order to survive, even thrive, in the new paradigm.

The Advantages Of A Reciprocal Relationship Between Faculty Development And Organizational Development In Higher Education, Leora Baron

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

No campus organization exists in a vacuum, nor can it afford to be an island unto itself. Thus, the functions of faculty development need to be viewed in the context of the entire institution. The effectiveness of faculty development, and sometimes its very survival, are dependent to a large extent on its ability to influence and participate in organizational development outside of its own confines. This chapter suggests practical ways in which faculty development can contribute to, and indeed benefit from, a reciprocal relationship with institutional organizational development.

A Different Way To Approach The Future: Using Chaos Theory To Improve Planning, Marc Cutright

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Strategic planning is a good idea that gets a bad name from dubious efforts carrying the title. Much of this rap comes from half-hearted exercises, but some of it comes from efforts that founder due to faulty or limited conceptions of how the future “works.” Chaos theory is an alternative approach and metaphor with potential to let us see the future and its dynamics in new ways. Cognizance of chaos’s nature and underlying structure might help us do planning in new, nonintuitive, and more successful ways.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

Promoting Intellectual Community And Professional Growth For A Diverse Faculty, Dorothe J. Bach, Marva A. Barnett, José D. Fuentes, Sherwood C. Frey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Minority faculty retention is key to increasing faculty diversity at most colleges and universities. Because retention depends on individual faculty choice and administrative tenure decisions, institutions need to help junior faculty develop a tenurable profile and enhance their desire to remain at their institution. This chapter examines a fellows program that supports beginning faculty in developing successful long-term careers, taking into account research on helping diverse faculty members thrive. It also presents strategies for establishing viable peer support networks and partnerships with senior consultants and for creating programming that ensures new faculty successfully transition into teaching, research, and the university …

An Electronic Advice Column To Foster Teaching Culture Change, Donna M. Qualters, Thomas C. Sheahan, Jacqueline A. Isaacs

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

First-year engineering students receive most of their teaching from instructors outside of engineering. As a result, these instructors are typically not a teaching community with a shared commitment to engineering student learning. Retention of engineering students is strongly tied to the quality of teaching, thus addressing collective teaching quality is important. This chapter describes the development of a carefully crafted, electronically distributed advice column on teaching developed by an interdisciplinary editorial team, written under the pseudonym Jonas Chalk. Surveys of Chalk Talk readers indicate that this is an effective means to promote teaching culture change.

Helping Faculty Learn To Teach Better And “Smarter” Through Sequenced Activities, Barbara J. Millis

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty developers can help faculty learn to intentionally sequence assignments and activities to promote greater learning when they understand the convergent research—with its practical implications for teaching—on how people learn, on deep learning, and on cooperative learning. Such a sequence includes a motivating out-of-class assignment (homework), in-class “processing” that includes active learning and student interactions, and feedback and assessment, often given in multiple ways. This approach is modeled through two examples using graphic organizers.

Practicing What We Preach: Transforming The Ta Orientation, Patricia Armstrong, Peter Felten, Jeffrey Johnston, Allison Pingree

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Brookfield (1995), Schön (1983), and others articulate the necessity and complexity of being critically reflective in our work. Indeed, the value of critical reflection is inherent to educational development as a field in that we frequently encourage such thinking in our consultations with instructors. But practicing what we preach can be difficult. This chapter reflects on an experiment in the transformation of a teaching assistant orientation, a central event of our teaching center. We not only describe and assess the process of revising this orientation, but we also reflect on the implicatiom of this case for broader programming issues in …

Exploring The Application Of Best Practices To Ta Awards: One University's Approach, Laurel Willingham-Mclain, Deborah L. Pollack

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter explores how to adapt best practices from the general literature on teaching awards in higher education to graduate student teaching assistant (TA) awards. Although most criteria apply, they must be fitted to the career stage and aspirations of TAs. The Duquesne University Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching serves as a case study demonstrating how these practices can be modified to both recognize excellent teaching and promote the professional development of graduate student instructors.

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.

Learning Communities For First–Year Faculty: Transition, Acculturation, And Transformation, Harriet Fayne, Alice Ortquist-Ahrens

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

To enhance new faculty members’ chances for teaching and career success, Otterbein College piloted a yearlong learning community program and encouraged first-year faculty to participate. Four new faculty members took part in opportunities designed to enhance their teaching, to orient them more fully to a new institution and student body, to foster collegial community, to encourage reflective practice, and to introduce them to the scholarship of teaching and learning. This qualitative case study tracks their developmental trajectory, which led them from an initial concern with self and survival to an eventual focus on student learning.

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.

About The Authors, Volume 24 (2006)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

About the editors and authors of 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.

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.

Introduction. Volume 24 (2006), Sandra Chadwick Blossey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction to volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Sandra Chadwick Blossey of Rollins College.