Teaching Ourselves: A Model to Improve, Assess and Spread the Word

Abstract

This paper presents a model for small, interdisciplinary groups of faculty to work together to improve their teaching while engaging in research that provides evidence of improved student learning. In doing so, we have developed a four-step process of faculty-driven scholarship of teaching and learning: Genesis, Organization, Implementation and Dissemination. We illustrate this model by describing our use of Fink’s (2003) concepts of course design to reshape our courses and assess the effectiveness of these changes through examination of student learning. We describe how others may follow this approach with a variety of applications. A Model for Faculty-driven, Cross-Disciplinary Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) Upon arriving at a university or college setting, faculty are expected to excel immediately in their classrooms with little to no formal preparation. While in graduate school, most Ph.D.'s spent their time preparing for their future role as researchers and theoretical experts in their field instead of preparing to be teachers (Buskist, Tears, Davis, & Rodrigue, 2002; Vangelisti, Daly, & Friedrich, 1999). Although teaching is seen as important, many faculty are judged on their ability to publish within their field and are more often rewarded for their scholarship than their International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl Vol. 1, No. 2 (July 2007) ISSN 1931-4744 © Georgia Southern University 2 teaching. In addition, without formal instruction on how to excel as a teacher, many tend to have bad experiences in the classroom that negatively affect their development as educators. The more negative classroom experiences they have, the less they are interested in developing their teaching abilities (Boice, 1998). For these reasons and more, formal programs are needed to provide professors with the skills to excel in the classroom. Professionally staffed faculty development centers can have a great impact on teaching and learning in institutions of higher education (Caldwell & Sorcinelli, 1997). However colleges do not always have the funding or support for such a center. At Central Connecticut State University, a small group of faculty began an initiative 13 years ago that has culminated in our Center for Teaching Excellence and Leadership Development (CTELD). This center functions entirely at the initiative of faculty members, with no professional faculty development staff. (The CTELD website can be found at http://www.ccsu.edu/Forum/resources, journals, publications on SoTL.htm) How do we, as faculty, teach ourselves how to improve our instruction? We learned to follow the model of the scholarship of teaching and learning, which has been described as “ teaching that involves inquiry into learning and that is being made public in a way that can be critiqued, reviewed, built upon, and improved” (Huber, 2001, p. 22). This paper presents a model for small, interdisciplinary groups of faculty to work together to improve their teaching while engaging in research that provides evidence of improved student learning. In doing so, we have developed a four-step process of faculty-driven scholarship of teaching and learning: Genesis, Organization, Implementation and Dissemination (Figure 1). We will use this model to provide an overview of our experience with this collaborative, faculty-driven SOTL project. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl Vol. 1, No. 2 (July 2007) ISSN 1931-4744 © Georgia Southern University 3 Figure 1. Our model of small group SOTL project