ERIC Number: ED158648
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1976-Jun
Pages: 12
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Faculty Development: The American Experience.
Seldin, Peter
A growing movement to improve the quality of teaching has been called "faculty development." It is based on three assumptions: the primary professional activity of most faculty is teaching; instructional behaviors are learned skills, attitudes, and goals; and faculty can be taught how to improve their classroom performance. Interest in faculty development programs is primarily linked to a tight job market for professors. Faculty development centers are usually led by a chief instructional officer holding dean or vice-president rank. Four popular approaches to faculty development are: financial incentives; lecture and discussion groups focusing on higher education issues and faculty concerns in teaching; inservice courses and workshops dealing with the improvement of specific instructional skills; and feedback programs designed to identify teaching skills needing improvement. Programs that utilize these approaches at different universities are described. Reasons are cited for limited participation in and benefit from faculty development programs. Few centers have developed evaluation procedures, and consequently there is little evidence of their success or failure. (SW)
Descriptors: College Faculty, Faculty Development, Faculty Evaluation, Higher Education, Inservice Education, Instructional Improvement, Professional Continuing Education, Teacher Centers, Teacher Improvement, Teacher Workshops, Teaching Skills
University of London Institute of Education, UTMU, 55 Gordon Square, London WC1H ONT, England
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: London Univ. (England). Inst. of Education.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Based on a seminar given at Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic, June 1976