Rita Caso

Understanding and improving faculty professional development in teaching

Various entities within and related to higher education offer activities designed to promote professional development of faculty in the area of teaching. A critical challenge to these efforts is the lack of understanding of the actual process of faculty development in teaching. Insight into what faculty members believe about learning, assessment, and teaching, and how those views change, would assist efforts to improve faculty development opportunities. This paper describes the current status of assessment of faculty professional development activities related to teaching. Working from this foundation, it suggests how to improve assessment strategies and begin the process of measuring the impact of specific program activities on faculty beliefs and practices. In addition, it describes ways of investigating and drawing conclusions about professional development process paths in the area of teaching, variables that influence and enhance development trajectory, and roles of various types of faculty development activities in this process.

The Development, Implementation, and Changes in Engineering Courses, at a Large State University, Sponsored Through an NSF Coalition

Since 1988, with support from the Foundation Coalition, one of the Engineering Education Coalitions supported by the National Science Foundation, the Dwight Look College of Engineering has invested considerable time and energy in renewing its sophomore engineering courses. The excitement which accompanies the receipt of a large NSF funded program results in an initial enthusiasm and energy that is contagious for both faculty and students. The initial results of a “pilot” program are almost always improved course content, better student attitudes, better retention, etc. However, when the rush wears off and the new courses have to be institutionalized, what happens? What can be learned from consistent, long-term efforts to assess and improve the sophomore engineering science courses? This paper focuses on the introductory sophomore materials science course, Principles of Materials Engineering (ENGR 213). Using data collected from students and evaluation of student performance as measured by course grades and a standardized test, the authors will examine what has been learned since the inception of the course.Copyright