Independent Center Research

The Impact of a Year-Long Faculty Development Program on Teaching Approaches

Research Questions

  • How do early career faculty experience change in their teaching approaches and conceptions?
  • What impact does a year-long faculty development program have on faculty approaches to teaching?
  • What impact does a student-focused faculty development program have on student learning outcomes?
  • How do early career faculty understand their academic practices and research in terms of learning?
  • How do early career faculty conceptualize their academic practice in terms of the relationships among research, teaching, and learning?
  • How do senior faculty conceptualize mentoring, especially in relation to their junior colleagues?

Project Overview
This project addresses several issues:

  • The role of early career experience in later teaching approaches/conceptions
    Drawing on interview transcripts from 25 early career faculty, this study 1) adapts a phenomenographic model of faculty conceptions of teaching to a U.S. setting, (2) examines this conceptual frame as an evaluation tool, (3) maps the basic patterns of change over a year, and (4) discusses the implications for faculty development.
  • The impact of a year-long faculty development program on teaching approaches
    Using a mixed methods approach (Approaches to Teaching Inventory, participant accounts, and interviews), in this study we sought to assess the impact of a faculty development program (Northwestern University's Searle Fellows program) on faculty approaches to teaching and planned changes in teaching practice.
  • The impact of a student-focused development program on learning outcomes
    We are currently assessing the impact on student learning in classes taught by faculty in the Searle Fellows program. We are using several learning assessment measures, including the Revised Approaches to Study Inventory (RASI), the Students' Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ), and Small Group Analysis (SGA).
  • The early faculty member's understanding of his/her academic practices in terms of
    1. Learning
      Using pre- and post-program interviews, this study examines whether faculty members' conceptions of their professional practice (in terms of learning and research) can be affected by a faculty development program intended to broaden their understanding and practice of teaching.
    2. The relationship among research, teaching, and learning
      This study examines the rivalry of academic practice (i.e., the tension between teaching and research) which often undermines the goals of learning. Drawing on interview transcripts from 25 early career faculty, we identified four faculty conceptions of the relationship of learning, teaching, and research in academic practice.
  • The senior faculty member's conception of mentoring junior colleagues
    This study investigates how senior faculty mentors understand the experience of mentoring junior colleagues. In particular, it looks at the variation in senior faculty conceptions of mentoring in a year-long faculty development program focused on the development of mentees' (junior colleagues') expertise in teaching.

Citations
Light, G., Calkins, S. (2008). The experience of faculty development: Patterns of variation in conceptions of teaching. International Journal for Academic Development, 13(1), 17-29.

Micari, M., Light, G., Calkins, S. & Streitwieser, B. (2007). Assessment beyond performance: Phenomenography in educational evaluation. Journal of American Evaluation, 28(4); 458-476.

Light, G., Calkins, S., Luna, M., & Drane, D. (In press.) Assessing the impact of faculty development programs on faculty approaches to teaching. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Light, G., & Calkins, S. Academic Learning: Integrating Faculty Conceptions of Research and Teaching. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Annual Meeting, Chicago, April 2007.

Calkins, S., & Light, G. Conceptions of Mentoring Among Senior Faculty at a Research Intensive University. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Annual Meeting, Chicago, April, 2007.