Evaluating a Novel Faculty Development Program in Teaching at a Research-Intensive University

Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

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26

Faculty Development; College Faculty; Teacher Effectiveness; Program Effectiveness; Nontenured Faculty; Academic Rank (Professional); Research Universities; Public Colleges; Student Centered Learning; Evidence Based Practice; Communities of Practice; Self Efficacy

10.1080/13664530.2021.1905706

1366-4530

Early-career faculty (ECF) are faced with maintaining excellence in teaching and research for tenure. However, many enter academia with little or no teaching experience. Madison Teaching and Learning Excellence, a year-long professional development program, was designed to mitigate these pressures and help faculty become fast, efficient, and effective teachers. The authors evaluated this program on participants' use of learner-centered course designs and classroom practices compared with non-participants and also measured challenges encountered by ECF. Participants' gains in effective course design were positive, stable, and transferable to other courses. Participants reported feeling more prepared for tenure review and possessed a heightened self-awareness and assessment of their teaching. Although participants scored moderately high on measures of learner-centered practices, their scores were similar to non-participants. The authors hope their evaluation will inform faculty development programs; they summarize challenges they encountered to spur development of better evaluation tools that balance practitioners' needs and available resources.

As Provided

2021

EJ1298401