Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

"We're From The State And We're Here To Help": State-Level Innovations In Support Of High School Improvement, Edmund T. Hamann, Brett Lane

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

As any good Maine educator knows, the idea in the title of this paper, that "we're from the state and we're here to help" is an oxymoron. In a part of the United States that defiantly prides itself on perpetuating traditions like town meetings and other versions of direct or almost-direct democracy, being told what to do by someone else, particularly by someone pulling rank, is viewed skeptically-- to put it mildly (Ruff, Smith, & Miller, 2000). Yet on school visit after school visit, we heard a staffer of the Center for Inquiry on Secondary Education (CISE), which is centrally …

Teachers Are Diverse, Too -- Respecting Each Other's Beliefs, Richard G. Tiberius

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Teachers hold beliefs about teaching and learning that influence their teaching strategies and their relationships with students. These beliefs may limit what teachers do but they need not limit their success.

College Teaching As An Educational Relationship, Douglas Reimondo Robertson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay offers a conceptualization of college teaching as an educational helping relationship that challenges faculty to integrate inherent conflicts in the teacher (helper) role.

Teachers And Scholars As Designers: The Art And Practice Of Instructional Design, Charles M. Spuches

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Instructional design theory and practice can help us meet increasing challenges, employ new knowledge and resources, and create optimal learning environments.

Reflections On The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning, Pat Hutchings

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Drawing on work by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, this essay explores emergent understandings of the scholarship of teaching and learning, faculty responses, and likely impact.

Imperatives For Reforming Pedagogy And Curriculum, Hitendra Pillay, Bob Elliott

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Traditional models of pedagogy and curriculum assume the world is stable and internally consistent and rational. A new pedagogy and curriculum model are proposed, which challenge these assumptions.

Diversity Begins At Home: Multiculturalism In State And Regional Studies, Barbara Lounsberry

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Diversity studies can begin in our backyards. State and regional studies can connect faculty in new ways and reveal racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity – even in locales considered homogenous.

From Cognitive Dissonance To Self-Motivated Learning, Edmund J. Hansen

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Motivation is a multi-level change process we need to help students embrace. It often starts with experiences of cognitive dissonance and culminates in the definition of one’s learning purpose.

Teaching Biology Using Agriculture As The Context: Perceptions Of High School Students, Mark Balschweid

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine how high school students perceived science and agriculture after completing a yearlong biology class that used animal agriculture as the context. This study utilized a case-study approach. The population for the study included all students who participated in a biology course utilizing animal agriculture as the context for teaching biology (N=531). More than 90% of the subjects reported they agreed or strongly agreed that participating in a biology class that used agriculture as the context helped them understand the relationship between science and agriculture. Over 85% of those responding agreed or strongly …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 3, Fall 2002

The National Honors Report

Peaks & Valleys

Those Pesky Parents

1. "Parent to Parent" by P.K.Weston ... 1 Let those parents know what they need to know: inevitable changes in their sons and daughters; practical issues; the program's responsibilities in their children's education. Includes letter to parents & copy of the program outline with notes. Weston says to borrow freely.

2. "From Fred's Mother" ... 5 This letter has been reprinted several times to remind us what honors is all about. Fred's mother says "teach my son." Introduction by Freddye Davy, Hampton University. As always, thanks for sharing this letter, Freddye.

Those Irksome Issues …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 1, Spring 2002

The National Honors Report

THE THREE R’S & MORE

RECRUITING

1. "Selling People on Honors Education" by Lydia Daniel & Joan Digby … l A challenge to honors folks to promote the value of honors education on the local level. With a generic press release that can be adapted to fit particular honors programs' or honors colleges' needs. How to promote honors as well as a specific program or college. How to buy the new third edition of Peterson's Honors Programs and Colleges. From the co-chairs of the NCHC's External Relations Committee.

1. A. PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAMS

2. "A Summer of Excellence" by Gerald T. Szymanski …

Technology Knowledge And Use: A Survey Of Science Educators, A. Louis Odom, John Settlage, Jon E. Pedersen

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

The purpose of this study was to determine the current state of technology use and know-how among members of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science. A web-based survey site and an e-mail merge invited members to participate in the study. The survey examined the differences between current and desired levels of knowledge about using technology as an instructional tool, to support research, to enhance productivity in classroom applications, and to enhance data collection and analysis. Large mean differences about using technology as an instructional tool were found, including: (1) teaching students at a distance, (2) database applications, …

Collaborating To Study Science Teaching: A Case Study, Frank E. Crawley, Jon E. Pedersen

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

The purpose of this study was to form a science teacher and graduate-student researcher team in which its members engaged in a study of science teaching, and to examine the progress of the team's work through the creation of a case study. A graduate student and science teacher team was formed in one high school, and used collaborative action research methods to investigate students' learning in a general education biology course. As well, the action research project was used to examine the attempt of the research team (graduate student and teacher) to change instructional patterns in the teacher's classroom. Records …

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 2, Summer 2002

The National Honors Report

What do they mean?

1. "Numbers, Mountains, and the Supersonic Fly" by Len Zane ... 1 Zane in his Presidential Address (San Francisco, 1996) told us about Mount Whitney, height 14496.811 feet-as Zane says, that's 14496 and 811 thousands of a foot. How do they know, he asks. How? He reminds us to be skeptical of the beguiling effect of numbers. Originally appeared in Winter 1997 issue.

2. "Number Theory" by Margaret Brown ... 6 What can we do with all the reports from NCHC committees, with all of the reports from the NCHC office?

What kind of numbers are …

Introduction. Volume 20 (2002), Devorah Lieberman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction to volume 20 (2002) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Devorah Lieberman of Portland State University.

Could It Be That It Does Make Sense? A Program Review Process For Integrating Activities, Terrel Rhodes

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter presents a model for a comprehensive program review process that can be used on any campus. Faculty developers maintain a critical role in a campus-wide program review initiative. This model is based upon the development of institutional priorities that guide the development of goals and objectives far academic units across the campus. The program review process is based on a core of regularly produced institutional data that can be used by all units to inform decision-making. The review process is conducted on an annual or biannual basis with periodic major review coinciding with accreditation visits. The ultimate success …

Getting Started With Faculty Development, Nadia Cordero De Figueroa, Pedro A. Sandín-Fremaint

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As a result of an academic senate decision to reconceptualize the baccalaureate, the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico began, in late 1994, a major transformational process that has led it to rethink itself as a community of learners. One of the principal instruments of change has been our Center for Academic Excellence, created in early 1998 as a result of the transformational process. This chapter discusses the process that led to the creation of the center, as well as its structure, activities, and vision for the future. We hope that our experience will be useful to …

Mandatory Faculty Development Works, Mona B. Kreaden

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter tells the story of a successful, ongoing, mandatory faculty development program. It explains the historical reasons why a business school in a large, urban Research I institution felt the need to make their program mandatory, examines how it was developed, and the university faculty development program’s role in the process. The author makes the case that mandatory programs can be successful in faculty development when they are administered by an outside credible entity, are faculty driven, and guarantee confidentiality.

What Do The Faculty Think? The Importance Of Concerns Analysis In Introducing Technological Change, Heekap Lee, Amy Lawson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Change management strategies tend to focus on the inherent characteristics of the proposed change. However, there is a personal side to change and it is reflected in what are called perceptions or personal concerns. To manage change successfully, facilitators must take measures to understand the personal concerns had by those who are required to implement the change. Moreover, this concerns analysis should be done early in the project, ideally before the change is implemented. The purposes of this chapter are to explain the importance of conducting a concerns analysis and to propose a theoretical framework for concerns analysis. The framework …

Harnessing The Potential Of Online Faculty Development: Challenges And Opportunities, Timothy P. Shea, Pamela D. Sherer, Eric V. Kristensen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter explores several issues regarding the current state of online faculty development resources. First, it describes the breadth and depth of today’s online teaching and learning resources. Then, it explains the benefits of designing an institutional teaching and learning center portal as a means for organizing and focusing resources. Finally, it discusses the importance of the faculty developer’s role in harnessing these resources for individual and institutional advantage. The online portal provides a powerful tool for institutional change on a scale heretofore impossible for most, and puts faculty development at the center of an institution’s mission.

The Millennial Learner: Challenges And Opportunities, Suandra Y. Mcguire, Dennis A. Williams

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Students enrolled in college today are, in many respects, quite different from students enrolled a few decades ago. Learners today seem more focused on being credentialed, and less concerned with obtaining a broad-based, liberal arts education. Today’s faculty may find it challenging to provide engaging learning activities for this generation of students. Millennial educators must instill in students a desire to think critically and provide them with strategies that will make them more efficient learners. Campus learning centers and faculty development centers can work together to foster an academic climate that helps all students to realize their full academic potential.

The Evolution Of A Teacher–Professor: Applying Behavior Change Theory To Faculty Development, Fred Hebert, Marty Loy

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter introduces the sage, the thinker, the builder, and the master as four evolutionary archetypes to use as identifiable characters in the process of teaching development. Once defined, behavior change theory is applied, and stage-specific strategies are used to aid these archetypes in their evolutionary process.

Overcoming Cultural Obstacles To New Ways Of Teaching: The Lilly Freshman Learning Project At Indiana University, Joan K. Middendorf, David Pace

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Evidence has been accumulating for over a decade that approaches such as collaborative and active learning have potential for creating real increases in student learning. Yet on many campuses these ideas are having little impact on what is actually happening in classes and in the formation of institutional practices. What are the cultural obstacles that are preventing the exploration of new ways of teaching and how can these be overcome? In this chapter we will describe cultural obstacles that prevent the adoption of new ways of teaching. After presenting a few opportunities created by the current sense of crisis in …

The Graphic Syllabus: Shedding A Visual Light On Course Organization, Linda B. Nilson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Students rarely understand how a course is organized from the week-by-week topical listing in traditional syllabi. This chapter explains a teaching tool called a graphic syllabus, which elucidates (and may improve) course design/organization and increases student retention of the material. It may resemble a flow chart or diagram or be designed around a graphic metaphor with another object. Included here are materials, experiences, and graphic syllabi from a workshop conducted several times on how to compose one (involving about 115 faculty and faculty developers). Graphic representations of text-based material appeal to the visual learning preferences of today’s students and complement …

A Modified Microteaching Model: A Cross–Disciplinary Approach To Faculty Development, John P. Hertel, Barbara J. Millis, Robert K. Noyd

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Three departments at the United States Air Force Academy successfully used a microteaching model to train new faculty. Like other models, its structured approach used videotaping and peer coaching. The model also contained several unique features, including a cross-disciplinary approach to supplement feedback from department members and focused small group feedback with built-in preparation time. Thus, this model results not only in enhanced teaching performance, but also in departmental and institutional collegiality.

Bibliography, Volume 20 (2002)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Bibliography for volume 20 (2002) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

The Multicultural Teaching Portfolio, Matt Kaplan

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores the rationale for building a multicultural portfolio and offers strategies for documenting and reflecting on multicultural teaching and learning.

Integrating Science In Agricultural Education: Attitudes Of Indiana Agricultural Science And Business Teachers, Mark Balschweid, Gregory W. Thompson

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine how Indiana Agricultural Science and Business (ASB) teachers perceived the impact of integrating science on agricultural education programs. The population consisted of all Indiana ASB teachers employed during the fall 1999 semester (N = 243). The Integrating Science Survey Instrument developed by Thompson (1996) was used to identify the perceptions of the ASB instructors. From the data it was concluded that many of Indiana’s Agricultural Science and Business instructors have responded positively to the call for the integration of science into the agricultural education curriculum. As a result of their efforts, over …

Preface, Volume 20 (2002), Devorah Lieberman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 20 (2002) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Devorah Lieberman of Portland State University.

Institutional Transformation And Change: Insights For Faculty Developers, Peter D. Eckel

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter presents a series of insights about the process of institutional change and how leaders might implement it. Since the majority of energy goes into what the institution should do, little attention in higher education is given to how institutions should go about change. Based upon six years of work with 24 diverse institutions working on a range of change agendas in two projects, this chapter presents some conceptualizations of change and offers some language to discuss the type of intended change that might be useful for faculty developers and other campus leaders. It identifies three key elements in …