Open AccessThe Challenges of Promoting Instructional Improvement: Teaching Behaviors and Teaching Cultures at Liberal Arts Institutions in the Associated Colleges of the South
Author(s) -
Andersen Kent,
Lom Barbara,
Sandlin Betsy A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
to improve the academy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-4822
DOI - 10.1002/tia2.20035
Subject(s) - liberal arts education , faculty development , work (physics) , the arts , pedagogy , professional development , sociology , medical education , psychology , political science , higher education , medicine , engineering , mechanical engineering , law
One goal of faculty development is to improve instructional practice (McKee, Johnson, Ritchie, & Tew, 2013; Ouellett 2010; Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy, & Beach, 2006). This goal accords with the design of the Associated Colleges of the South Teaching and Learning Workshop, a faculty development workshop begun in 1992 for 16 residential, liberal arts institutions that comprise the ACS consortium. We surveyed ACS faculty members and observed that they are most likely to engage independently rather than collaboratively to improve their instructional practice, despite stated desires for collaborative opportunities for such work. We recommend that faculty development programs and institutions promote ways for faculty members to engage in collective examinations of instructional improvement that are mindful of specific institutional expectations and cultures, and that they invite discussion around the barriers and facilitators to collaborative work .