Miami University Digital Scholarship Hosted Journals
Not a member yet
122 research outputs found
Sort by
Financial Partnering and Other Strategies to Help Centers of Teaching and Learning Thrive in Hard Times
Get PDFWith Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) entering a period of economic downturn, the authors demonstrate how their Center has survived hard times through financial partnering with on- and off-campus groups. They also explain how to develop successful strategies for partnering (both financial and otherwise), analyze the dynamics of such collaborations, and offer some useful guidelines
Academic Challenge: Its Meaning for College Students and Faculty
Get PDFAcademic challenge is seldom clearly defined. The authors’ center for teaching and learning collaborated with a faculty member to investigate the perceived meaning of academic challenge among faculty and student samples at a small liberal arts institution. Participants completed a questionnaire designed to reflect those perceived meanings. Qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed contextualized information and suggested that students’ perceptions are structured differently from faculty members’ perceptions. The amount of time spent on academics was more centrally positioned in the students’ perceptions than in the faculty members’. Future research approaches and directions for centers for teaching and learning are suggested
Communicating a New Model: Learner-Centered Strategies in Faculty Development
Get PDFDespite what is known about the value of active learning, it is still possible to experience a lecture-based presentation in many professional development venues. The author suggests that a contributing factor may be that facilitators have not transferred their knowledge of learning to the context of faculty development. A proposed workshop is used to illustrate how learning principles can be embedded in faculty instruction. The model itself covers transfer as its content and specifically utilizes pedagogies demonstrated to promote transfer. The article’s aims are to model deep learning approaches, develop more reflective education development professionals, and contribute to a shared vision of effective professional development practices
Assessing Faculty Development Programs: Outcome-Based Evaluation
Get PDFCenters for Teaching and Learning have increasingly realized the need to effectively measure the impact of their programming on the quality of teaching and student learning. This is especially true in the area of educational technology integration. The authors examine the evolution from using output- to outcome-based evaluation methods at their institution and share the major findings their methods revealed. The challenges that were encountered as the outcome-based measures were implemented are also explored. The article concludes with a discussion of planned future steps regarding the improvement of current evaluation practices and the incorporation of process-based evaluation practices
Faculty Writing Residencies: Supporting Scholarly Writing and Teaching
Get PDFFaculty writing residencies present an opportunity for teaching and learning centers to support faculty in disseminating the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). The authors examine how an intensive retreat balancing dedicated time for faculty members’ writing with small-group feedback on drafts helps faculty make the crucial, and often difficult, step of going public with their Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research. In addition, the residency process encourages faculty participants to examine their own writing processes, prompting changes in how they support their students’ writing in the disciplines
Faculty Teaching Philosophies, Reported Practices, and Concerns Inform the Design of Professional Development Activities of a Disciplinary Teaching and Learning Center
Get PDFThis study explored faculty members’ teaching philosophies, reported practices, and concerns at a research-intensive university. This information was used to shape the goals and activities of a disciplinary Teaching and Learning Center within a College of Chemical and Life Sciences. Fifty-eight faculty members responded to a survey. The authors found that faculty members expressed teaching philosophies and goals that largely correspond to national recommendations; however, most of them reported still relying extensively on lecturing, the same predominant teaching method they experienced as undergraduates. The survey results helped tailor professional development activities to faculty members’ beliefs, practices, and concerns
Engaging in a Collaborative Project as a Team-Building Strategy During a Period of Organizational Change
Get PDFAn emerging trend in North American higher education institutions is to merge teaching and learning centres with other units on campus. The authors share their team-building process during a time of organizational change through a series of individually written reflective pieces. The importance of active communication and the perceived losses and gains emerge as common themes from the essays, but the authors’ overall experience of engaging on a collaborative project helped define what made them a team. A survey of the literature on organizational change shows that they cycled through Rousseau, Aubé, and Savoie’s sequence of effective teamwork behaviours
A Study of the Impact of Services of a University Teaching Centre on Teaching Practice: Changes and Conditions
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to assess the impact of educational development activities offered at our teaching Centre. To achieve this aim, the authors explored the impact of our services beyond the data generally gathered, namely those concerning participation, satisfaction with and knowledge acquired during a workshop. Data were collected through an on-line survey. The 115 participants in the study—lecturers, professors, and teaching assistants—represent about 20% of the 630 users who received services offered by the Centre during an 18-month period. Overall, the results tend to show that participants in the Centre’s activities have noted changes in their teaching and learning conceptions. Most of them have modified their teaching practice somewhat, and some even observed an improvement in their students’ learning. In addition, some say that they are more engaged in their educational development and in pedagogical activities at the institution. The survey allowed the authors to identify conditions that have facilitated change. Overall, this study has helped reveal the direct and indirect effects of the Centre’s educational development work on teaching, and it has provided the authors with useful data for decision making and practice improvement regarding the Centre’s services
The Paths People Take Through Teaching Center Services: A Descriptive Analysis
Get PDFTeaching centers offer a variety of services, ranging from teaching orientations and one-time workshops to intensive programs such as learning communities to individual consultations. However, most instructors do not participate in all categories of service a center offers; rather, they create their own paths through various combinations and sequences of programs. What do we know about these pathways, and what can we learn from the patterns of use? This article shares findings from an analysis of several years of data to learn more about the sequence in which instructors experience educational development and to discuss the implications of these findings.
Difficult Conversations We’re NOT Having: Mixed-Group Perspective Taking and Diversity Education at a Small College
Get PDFThis article examines a novel approach to faculty development aimed at addressing often-avoided difficult conversations about diversity in and out of the classroom. We propose a workshop model that uses Theatre of the Oppressed methods and a mixed-group approach (faculty, staff, and students) to uncover tensions around diversity issues on campus and to practice perspective taking among the three groups. Our approach responds to the challenges of engaging in dialogues related to diversity across groups at small colleges