Measuring Faculty Faith & Learning Involvement: Toward the Validation of a Survey Instrument

Abstract

Higher education continues to face an uncertain future, not only through demographic shifts, rising costs, and a competitive marketplace, but also through dissonant visions for the telos of education. In this context, Christian institutions have the opportunity to carve out a distinctive niche, provide answers about the purpose of a liberal education, while also impacting the lives of its students and staff through their Christ-centered missions. In an effort to meet those ends, the integration of faith and learning remains central in the life of religious colleges and universities. As a result, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure faculty involvement in faith-learning integration. Through a sample of faculty at seven member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), the survey instrument met both validity and reliability standards, and also revealed three distinct areas of faculty involvement in the integrative task. Moving forward, administrative and faculty leaders could use the instrument to help gauge the involvement of their current and future faculty, and then engage in tailored professional development toward sustaining and supporting faculty growth.