Career-Span Faculty Development

Abstract

Early publications devoted to faculty development (e.g., Bergquist and Phillips 1975, Gaf 1975) dis cerned three emphases within the field: instructional development, personal development, and organiza tional development. Over the years, greatest attention has been directed toward instructional development. Gustaf son and Bratton (1984), for example, surveyed a sample of seventy-two faculty development centers listed in Gaff's book. They found considerable stability over time in the activities of surviving centers (28 per cent of the sample had closed). The activity most frequently reported was conducting workshops and seminars. Since survey questions do not address workshop content, we cannot determine the mix of instructional, personal, and organizational topics. The three next most frequent activities are heavily instructional: experimentation with innovative instruc tional procedures, assistance in planning on-campus courses, and planning/producing instructional materials. Very few of the activities listed on the ques tionnaire or written in by respondents pertain clearly to personal or organizational development. Other agencies may be dealing with organizational and/or personal development issues, but it is my impression that most professional development staff concentrate their time and energy on planning/evaluat ing courses and curricula and on administering services which support such activities. That is, most effort goes toward instructional development and considerably less