Ronald D. Simpson

Faculty development in the United States

This report gives an overview of faculty development in the United States during the past 30 years and suggests what remains to be done before this movement becomes fully institutionalized in American higher education.

Validating teaching competencies for faculty members in higher education: A national study using the Delphi method

In this study the Delphi Method was used to validate teaching competencies of faculty members in higher education. Through the use of expert opinion, a panel of national leaders in college-level teaching validated twenty seven competencies as important or very important for faculty members who teach. Seven other competencies were rated slightly below a mean score of 4.0 suggesting, based on additional feedback by the panel, that the importance of some competencies may depend on specific variables found within a given context.

Improving the process of education: Total quality management for the college classroom

This articles purpose is to improve the effectiveness of classroom teaching by proposing a specific program for continuous improvement toward instructional excellence. Total quality management (TQM) is a systematic approach which utilizes four main elements: quality defined by the customer, top leadership responsibility for quality improvement, increased quality through systematic analysis of work processes, and quality improvement by continuous effort conducted throughout the organization. A strategy for continuous classroom improvement is developed through an examination of various definitions of quality and a comparative analysis of dimensions of quality, service quality, and effective teaching which aims to inspire and give direction.

Nurturing Faculty Vitality by Matching Institutional Interventions with Career-Stage Needs.

A questionnaire study, modeled after Baldwins 1979 research on faculty at a liberal arts college, was conducted with 42 Lilly Teaching Fellows and Lilly Mentors at a large, public, research-oriented university in the Southeast U.S.A. Results from the study support the notion that one of the keys to a successful instructional and faculty development program is to target activities to the academic career stage of the faculty member.

Investing in Junior Faculty: The Teaching Improvement Program (TIPs).

One way in which institutions can assist junior faculty members is to facilitate appropriate nurturing through senior faculty. The Teaching Improvement Program (TIPs) at The University of Georgia was designed and implemented with this aspect in mind. This paper describes the philosophical base as well as the design, administration, and evaluation of this unique program that matches new junior faculty with senior faculty mentors. Despite some problems in scheduling, participants in the program received valuable suggestions on how to improve their classroom performance.

Keeping Excitement in Teaching.

It is imperative for those of us who teach to find ways to stay renewed and refreshed over the long term. There are at least five ways through which most of us can find new energy and excitement in our teaching. One is to focus more genuinely on our students and learn more about them as persons and as colleagues- and to listen more carefully to what they say. Another is to inform them of the important objectives of a course and allow students to assume more of the responsibility for learning. A third tip is to use a greater variety of teaching methods, particularly ones that get students more actively involved in learning. Two additional ways to add excitement to teaching are to teach new courses and to plan periodic activities away from teaching. As John Gardner has recently stated so eloquently, it is our faith in human possibilities that is the generative element in such activities as leading, teaching, and guiding students.

The mission of Innovative Higher Education: An update using the Delphi Method

SummaryUse of the Delphi Method for this study proved a valuable tool in two respects. First, it provided for a dialogue and eventual meeting of the minds among members of the Editorial Review Board without the board traveling several times to meet in a central location. In other words, the panel, scattered across the country, was able to complete an important project for the journal through written correspondence. Second, the Delphi Method eliminated the possibility of strong personalities or confrontation influencing the future mission of the journal.The results of the Delphi survey confirmed the earlier decision of this journal to broaden its scope. The journal was founded with a narrow mission-to disseminate “information in the emerging and rapidly growing field of nontraditional studies, experimental learning, continuing education, multi-media instruction, lifelong learning and outreach programs” (see Table 3). The title of the journal,Alternative Higher Education, indicated that, as former editor D. Keith Lupton explained, “through the late seventies and early eighties, much was being developed that could be considered as ‘alternative’ (Lupton, 1983, p. 3).”

Looking Back and Looking Forward

This paper briefly reviews the historical limitations of research on leadership in an effort to avoid these same pitfalls in the study of followers and followership. In particular, research on leadership has been overly leader-centric, and research on followership should avoid simply “reversing the lens” and focusing exclusively on followers. Specific issues addressed include discussion of the appropriate term to identify followers and the intertwined nature of leaders and followers in the co-production of leadership. Finally, suggestions are made for guiding future research on followership.