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Writing Confidence and Capability: The Journey to Academic Identity
Get PDFThe expectation to create written publishable work as an academic credential can seem a burdensome imperative rather than a fulfilling activity. A writing group community enables academics (teachers and researchers) to revisit the joy of writing and to develop their writing repertoire and writer’s voice. This article captures the experience of writing group participants in a UK widening participation university. This writing group and its associated model is deconstructed and evaluated, to assess impact on confidence for writing and development of academic identity, allowing for useful recommendations and practical applications
How Can CTLs Create and Support a Culture of Faculty Writing?
Get PDFIf it falls within their goals and mission, Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) are typically positioned to create and support a faculty writing culture. In this paper, we wish to add to the growing research on the role CTLs play in faculty success, with a specific focus on writing. In particular, we describe how we created, supported, and enhanced a faculty writing culture on our campus. Over a three-year period, we developed a variety of short and longer-term writing initiatives designed to meet the needs and goals of our faculty members. We describe each of these initiatives, ways that we promote them, and how these activities contribute to our efforts to provide a supportive culture for faculty writers. We close with additional possibilities for CTLs to foster and sustain a culture of faculty writing
Are Faculty Prepared to Teach Flexibly? Results from an Evaluation Study
Get PDFPrior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were hardly any formal/established professional development (PD) program s that intentionally prepared faculty to teach flexibly. The uncertainty around the modality of the fall 2020 semester, required faculty to be prepared to teach their courses in flexible methods in order to meet the needs of their students and the constraints of their institution. This article is an updated report on the evaluation of the Flexible Teaching for Student Success (FTSS) Initiative at Boise State University—a three-tiered faculty development initiative designed to prepare faculty to teach their courses in flexible formats. Evaluation surveys and a follow up survey were delivered to participants to assess the overall impact of the initiative on teaching practices. Results indicated that faculty had overall positive experiences in learning how to teach flexibly. The ratings were slightly more positive for Tier 1, which was of longer duration and more intensive, compared to Tier 2. Faculty in both tiers felt that purposeful training in flexible teaching made positive impacts on student learning. Implications drawn from the FTSS Initiative are shared to help inform the design of future PD programs that prepare faculty to teach flexibly
Engage the Sages: A Model for Offering Professional Development to Faculty and Graduate Students in Teaching
Get PDFEven at large, state research universities, teaching is the institution’s core mission. Accordingly, we designed, publicized, and offered a professional development series to enhance the teaching skills and excellence of our faculty and graduate students at our large, state research university. Our professional development series consisted of 18 voluntary events, seminars, and workshops over the course of the academic year. Participants who completed a specified number of event surveys and an overall reflection earned a professional development certificate in teaching. Data indicated that our series was personally valuable to our participants, and they believed it promoted teaching at our university
The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact: Current Changes in Faculty Development That Have the Potential to Persist
Get PDFGiven Todd’s extensive experience in faculty development for 25 years in various types of institutions, regions, and faculty served, we have asked him to write a series on essential issues needed by directors of faculty development efforts. This series suggests areas for faculty developers to consider, along with tips and techniques Todd has found helpful along the way. In this issue, Todd focuses on areas in which faculty development efforts have already begun to change for the better and may well show persistent changes, given what we have learned during the pandemic. If there is a specific topic you would like Todd to address, contact the Editor-in-Chief at [email protected]
Investigating the Transition to Remote Teaching During COVID-19: Recommendations for Campus Leaders and Centers for Teaching and Learning
Get PDFTo assess the perceived role and ability of centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) in supporting faculty in a time of crisis, we asked the following research questions: (1) how did CTL staff view their involvement in the process of responding to the coronavirus pandemic and shifting to virtual instruction; and (2) how did CTL staff perceive their capacity to help instructors transition to remote instruction. In pursuit of these questions, we conducted a content analysis of open-ended survey responses from 143 unique CTL staff participants. Our findings indicate that participants in CTLs who were highly involved in the pandemic response experienced active engagement (e.g., being at the table with decision-makers), frequent communication (e.g., regularly attending transition task force meetings), and recognition (e.g., feeling as though their expertise and input was valued and seen). CTL staff that did not feel involved in the process tended to frame their experiences as responding to top-down demands (e.g., fulfilling task-oriented roles rather than comprehensive engagement with decision-makers), navigating poor communication (e.g., receiving important information late in the process through email), and feeling undervalued (e.g., feeling taken for granted). CTL staff that felt prepared to respond to virtual instruction discussed having extensive expertise and/or strategies outlined for success, previouslyprepared and/or robust programming for faculty support in place, and collaborations with other departments or centers on and off campus. However, CTL staff that felt less able to address the needs of faculty expressed problems with being understaffed and illequipped (e.g., having inadequate expertise). Across all respondents, CTL staff discussed working additional hours to address greater responsibilities and/or faculty demand. To maximize the CTL’s ability to support faculty, we suggest that institutions bolster opportunities for CTLs to be involved in the decision-making process (even if an advisory role) about policies impacting instruction and communicate frequently and openly with CTL directors. If unable to devote additional resources for staffing, we recommend that administrators foster collaborative partnerships across departments (e.g., Office of Information Technology) to leverage cross-institutional expertise. Furthermore, CTLs should work to develop relationships with faculty and institutional partners through continual programming, in order to build expertise, create relationships with faculty, and embed themselves within the larger institutional framework
Supporting Academic Continuity by Building Community: The Work of a Faculty Development Center During COVID-19
Get PDFIn the initial rush to remote instruction during COVID-19, educators focused on technologies to ensure academic continuity and relied on instructional technology teams to teach them how to use them. Soon after, instructors turned to educational development professionals for more comprehensive help to rethink face-to-face pedagogy to fit the affordances and constraints of online teaching. Historically, our Faculty Development Center (FDC) had focused primarily on pedagogical support for face-to-face classes. During the crisis, we needed both to re-envision our work to support remote instruction and distinguish our work from that of our in- structional technology colleagues. We also needed to re-evaluate our work in two other areas of our mission: pedagogical research and assessment of student learning outcomes. We recognized that a key goal of our FDC’s work provided a guiding principle in the new situation: to build faculty community around teaching and learning. Although faculty needed instruction and solutions for teaching online, they also needed a venue to think through the existential change in their teaching practice and the multiple challenges and choices they faced. In this paper, we discuss our three-pronged approach to build a vibrant, virtual faculty community: provide a sense of continuity through our offerings and services; prioritize program content to meet immediate needs; and promote complementarity between our support and that of instructional technology. Our efforts resulted in significantly expanding our reach, renewing the culture of inquiry around teaching among our faculty, and refining and reinforcing our role as complementary to, but distinct from, instructional technology. 
Faculty Perceptions of the Spring 2020 Transition from Face-to-Face to Online Instruction: A Case Study of American University with Takeaways and Lessons Learned
Get PDFIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, American University (AU) transitioned all of its instruction online. Here, we report on the efforts undertaken to facilitate the transition and faculty perceptions of those actions and online teaching. In preparation for the transition, American University formed the Instructional Continuity (IC) team, comprised of the Center for Teaching, Research & Learning and the Academic Technology office. The IC team was charged with developing and implementing a responsive and comprehensive training and support schedule that began on March 16, 2020. A survey of faculty toward the end of the semester revealed general satisfaction with the support they received in transitioning to online instruction and with student learning outcome attainment. Faculty who had taught online before were more likely to show self-efficacy in online instruction compared to those who had not taught online before, despite similar, high satisfaction with student learning outcomes. We offer insights on key aspects of our efforts and the institutional structure that undergirded the largely successful transition of AU’s faculty to online instruction
Affective Labor and Faculty Development: COVID-19 and Dealing with the Emotional Fallout
Get PDFLike most centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) in 2020, ours has been engaged in continual, responsive support during the COVID-19 global pandemic. In addition to offering our rapid, knowledgeable, and evidence- based instructional development approaches during this time, we found affective skills—compassion, empathy, and listening—surfaced as crucial components of educational development during this time and during a time where CTL staff themselves were experiencing many of the same emotions. Our experiences offer a familiar snapshot for many CTLs; our center’s ethos of support not only embodied technical and instructional design expertise but also our institutional Jesuit value, caring for the whole person, needed to be at the forefront of our response in ways not seen before and with breaks few and far between
Innovation in a Time of Crisis: A Networked Approach to Faculty Development
Get PDFThis article explores how one center for teaching and learning (CTL) rapidly designed and launched a Summer 2020 Course Design Institute in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the need to reach a significant num- ber of faculty in a short period of time proved challenging, it also created an opportunity for our CTL to engage with faculty who otherwise might not have worked with us—not only on issues of teaching with technology but also on engagement, inclusion, and other key issues. We relied on a rela- tionships-based cohort model to establish trust and faculty buy-in. Early results suggest that this approach may help spread innovative ideas about teaching and learning