Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Pre-Service Teacher Education In Central Asia, Jamal Papieva

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This paper presents the nature of pre-service teacher education in Soviet and post-Soviet Central Asia, a case of Kyrgyzstan; highlights the main issues and discuses the possibilities and approaches undertaken for improving pre-service teacher education. After Central Asian republics gained independence, their higher education was challenged by broad changes in political and economic life, and by the destruction of their ideological values. In general, higher education was always part of the bigger Soviet system of education. All principles of higher education structurization, its missions and goals, its strategy and main curriculum requirements were centrally developed in Moscow, and then sent …

Learning And Modes To Ascertain Learning: Perception, Purpose And Practice, Unaeza Alvi

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Action Research: A Viable Alternative For In-Service Teacher Professional Development, Bernadette L. Dean

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

In this paper, the author argues for the professional development of teachers to be based upon systematic action research undertaken as a collegial activity within the culture of the school. Three case studies of action research, one each from South Asia, East Africa and Central Asia, in which Professional Development Teachers (PDTs) (MEd graduates of AKU-IED) worked with teachers to improve teaching and learning in the classroom, are presented to illustrate the possibilities and challenges of using action research for teacher professional development. The author further argues that while action research for teacher professional development addresses the challenges of other …

Teachers Professional Development For Quality Education, Nadeem Kirmani, Muhammad Zahid, Rehana Naz

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

Quality is at the heart of education and teachers play crucial role to provide quality education. This belief encourages us to state that the quality in education depends on teachers’ role, which set scenario for the students. Every teacher has his / her own impact on his / her students. But what is it that enables the teachers to have the greatest impact? In this context there are several professional development programmes offered for the teachers in different parts of the world to build capacity of teachers so they can better serve the needs of the growing population. This paper …

Beginning Teachers’ Professional Socialization In Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan: The Challenges And Coping Strategies, Duishon Alievich Shamatov

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This qualitative study examines and develops an in-depth understanding of two beginning teachers’ professional socializations in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. The study is a historical and descriptive account that provides insights into the impact of socio-political upheaval on the lives of two beginning teachers. The study focuses on the challenges the teachers faced in their initial stages of work and on how they addressed these. The teachers’ professional socialization stories are described in three realms: classroom, school and community. The study examines in greater detail the professional and relational challenges that the two beginning teachers faced while interacting with their pupils, administrators, …

Researching Education And Society In Central Asia, Sarfaroz Niyozov, Duishon Shamatov

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Harnessing Innovative Technologies In Higher Education: Access, Equity, Policy & Instruction, Kathleen P. King, Joan K. Griggs

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

This publication is an attempt to capture the evolution of distributed higher education over the last decade by tracing the applications of new technologies funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). As FIPSE surveyed the current state of distance/distributed education, there existed an opportunity to help post econdary education make the transition to this new generation of distance education made possible by the explosive growth of the Internet and other new technologies. These technologies created the potential for students to access learning that was interactive, customized, and self-paced; to more easily merge lifelong learning with the …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Theory–Based Integrative Model For Learning And Motivation In Higher Education, Chantal S. Levesque, G. Roger Sell, James A. Zimmerman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The shared mission of higher education institutions is to develop educated persons who are able to make connections and build on knowledge acquired across disciplines and fields and through various life experiences. This chapter offers a theory-based model that can be used by researchers and practitioners to enhance academic learning and motivation. Educators can create learning environments that move students from external regulation to self-determined forms of motivation. This model is used to describe conditions that enhance/restrict learning. It also has the potential to be used to interpret research on teaching and learning in higher education.

The Teaching Of Research In A Teacher Education Programme, Iffat Farah, Nelofer Halai

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Ied And The University Partnership: The Oxford Experience, Richard Pring

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Reconceptualising The Professional Development Of In-Service Science Teachers In Pakistan, Nelofer Halai

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

Pakistan is a society in transition in more ways than one: politically it is still trying to find its place in the democratic nations of the world; economically it is taking steps to move closer to a market-based economy; and socially it is nurturing a more liberal and just society by reining in the religious extremists. In the aftermath of 9/11 stress has been on educational reform in a number of areas including – updating curriculum, improving access to schooling and developing teacher education. Teacher as the agent of reform is slowly gaining currency in Pakistan. The Institute for Educational …

Key Themes And Issues In Educational Development: A Critical Perspective On The Ied Model, Iffat Farah, Barbara Jaworski

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Subject Studies In Teacher Education, Barbara Jaworski, Bernadette L. Dean, Rana Hussain

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Partnerships In Educational Development, Iffat Farah, Barbara Jawrski

Books

This book is about the development of one institution and its developmental work in education in South and Central Asia and in East Africa: The Institute for Educational Development (IED) at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi, Pakistan.

It's a product of the 10 years of development. It had been hoped to complete it for the 10-year celebrations, but as with other aspects of the IED, it kept on growing. This volume tries to provide an account of development from a number of perspectives, such as historical, chronological, issues-based and honestly critical.

The Establishment Of Aga Khan University-Institute For Educational Development, Sadrudin Pardhan, Dennish Thiessen

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Continuing Professional Development And The Relevance Of The Ied Model In East Africa, Jane Rarieya, Fred Tukahirwa

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

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.