Examining Faculty Motivation to Participate in Faculty Development (original) (raw)

Faculty Development Effectiveness: Insights from a Program Evaluation

Journal of Biomedical Education, 2014

Background.Faculty development programs are often time and resource intensive. In order to accommodate time constrained clinicians a limited time commitment faculty development program was developed and was shown to be effective in improving participant’s scholarly productivity.Objectives. The objective of this study was to assess participants’ perceptions of why the faculty development program was effective in promoting scholarship in education.Methods. In-depth semistructured interviews of course participants were conducted a year after completing a faculty development program. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The transcriptions were coded independently by the investigators for dominant themes. The investigators held coding meetings to further refine the themes and discrepancies were handled by referring to the transcripts and reaching consensus.Results. The participants’ satisfaction with the course as described in the interviews correlated with the early ...

Attitude of Faculty Members towards Faculty Development Programs and their Perceived Outcomes

Abstract A confluence of social, economic and global forces in the knowledgedriven economy pose new challenges to the nation's vitality and make clear the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to assume new responsibilities. In view of this, faculty development is considered as an enduring process that enhances the productivity of academics for helping faculty to play their instructional, professional, and organizational roles effectively. It promotes academic excellence and innovation, sharpens conceptual, human, and technical skills of faculty and enables academic institutions to produce employable graduates. Faculty development programs (FDPs) are a means to expose the faculty in higher education to review, renew and extend their commitment as change agents to the moral purposes of teaching; and by which they acquire and develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes. The present study investigated the attitude of 124 faculty members, working in professional institutes of Dehradun, the state capital of Uttarakhand, towards FDPs and their perceived outcomes. Using factor analysis methods, researchers identify five important factors related to faculty attitude for such development programs. Researchers also attempt to examine possible outcomes and obstacles in attending such programs. Key Words: Higher Education Institutions, Faculty Development Programs, Attitude, Perceived Outcomes

A Survey of Faculty Teaching Practices and Involvement in Faculty Development Activities

Journal of Engineering Education, 2002

As part of its program assessment activities, the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED) conducted a faculty survey of teaching practices, involvement in faculty development programs, and perceptions of the importance of teaching in the faculty reward system. The survey was first administered late in 1997 and a modified version was administered late in 1999. This paper summarizes results from the 1999 survey tha t address the following questions: To what extent do engineering faculty write instructional objectives and use active and team-based learning? (2) How effective are faculty development programs at changing professors' teaching practices? The results indicate that well over half of the 1999 respondents were using the stated teaching methods, with most attributing their use of the methods to their participation in teaching workshops and seminars.

Perceptions of Faculty Development: A Study of a North Texas Community College

2008

This dissertation study deems faculty development critical to meeting challenges associated with retirement, potential professor shortages, increasing adjunct populations, unprepared faculty, and accreditation standards in the community college. The study centers on seeking a current, in-depth understanding of faculty development at Metro Community College (a pseudonym). The participants in this qualitative study consisted of adjunct and full-time faculty members and administrators who communicated their perceptions of faculty development. The analysis discovered faculty member types (progressive and hobbyist adjunct and proactive, active, and reactive full-time faculty) who invest themselves in development differently depending on their position and inclination to participate. Faculty members generally indicated a desire for collegiality and collaboration, self-direction, and individualized approaches to development whereas administrators exhibited a greater interest in meeting acc...

Assessing the Impact of a YearLong Faculty Development Program on Faculty Approaches to Teaching

2009

This paper reports findings from an empirical four-year study designed to investigate the relationship between key constructs of an extended model of teaching and learning in higher education. Using a mixed-methods approach, we sought to assess the impact of a year-long faculty development program (FDP) designed for pre-tenure faculty on participant approaches to teaching. From our analysis of participant critical reports of teaching, post-program interviews, and the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI), we found evidence of positive change in the approaches to teaching of junior faculty participants in the FDP. All three methods elicited evidence indicating that participating faculty moved towards more conceptual change/student focused approaches to teaching, and that a significant part of that change could be attributed to their participation in the program.

14: Completing the Faculty Development Cycle

To Improve the Academy

Consistent with the mission of the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, the Teaching and Learning Center has emphasized implementation of learner-centered practices for eight years. To assess the impact of these development efforts, I reviewed syllabi and course approval forms of seventy-two recently approved courses. The documents revealed a disappointing lack of evidence of learner-centered course design features. Voluntary faculty development programming cannot force faculty to change their course designs. However, the results prompted discussions with administrators and faculty and yielded calls to action for greater implementation of learner-centered practices. Assessing the impact of one's work is a core principle of effective practice. Once informed by the results of these assessments, we can decide if we need to make changes in what we do (Suskie, 2004). As faculty developers, we work individually with faculty, offer workshops, and coordinate learning communities. Researchers have looked at the effectiveness of the process and format of development efforts (Cox, 2004; Sorcinelli, 1997). The most common measures ask participants immediately after programs or consultations how effective the event was. While individual workshops may not have much impact, a sustained effort focusing on a consistent message, with many follow-ups with faculty individually, usually has a greater impact (Cox, 2004; Eison & Stevens, 1995). I adapted Suskie's (2004) teaching-learning-assessment cycle to investigate the long-term effects on course design of eight years of sustained faculty

Participant perceptions of the faculty development Educational Research Series

Teaching & Learning Inquiry

Interest in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is driven in part by the need to provide systematic academic development for faculty anchored in evidence-based practice such as the introduction of quality assurance frameworks. This article reports on a mixed-method evaluation of one institution’s grassroots multidisciplinary faculty development program, called the Educational Research Series, to determine if it met the needs of its faculty, graduate student, and staff participants. Conducted at one mid-sized university in southern Ontario and framed, as was the program design and implementation, by both adult learning theory and constructivism, the evaluation collected data from session exit surveys, attendee interviews, and facilitator focus groups. The data analysis revealed that reasons for participating included increasing levels of understanding, receiving individual support, and learning about colleagues’ research interests. The major strengths of the program inclu...

New Faculty's Perception of Faculty Development Initiatives at Small Teaching Institutions

ISRN Education, 2012

New faculty at small teaching institutions experience varied challenges related to navigation of three academic pillars: teaching, scholarship, and service. New faculty are often not prepared by doctoral or terminal degree granting institutions for faculty roles. This increases the responsibility of the hiring institution to introduce new faculty to the academic culture and provide development opportunities aimed at promoting academic success. For the purpose of this study seventeen faculty members, employed between one and three years at four northeastern USA colleges, were recruited for interviews. The Motivation-Hygiene Theory was applied to study the impact of challenges, barriers, and facilitators on faculty satisfaction with faculty development initiatives. The qualitative results emphasize a need for institutions to enhance the new faculty development initiatives: comprehensive new faculty orientations, ongoing teaching and learning workshops, mentoring programs, and other me...