Faculty Beliefs Research Articles

Comparing Chemistry Faculty Beliefs about Grading with Grading Practices

In this study, we seek to understand the beliefs that chemistry faculty hold when grading student solutions in problem solving situations. We are particularly interested in examining whether a conflict exists between the chemistry faculty beliefs and the score they assign to students’ solutions. The three categorical values identified in a similar physics education study were evident as themes in our study: (i) a desire to see students’ explanation of their reasoning; (ii) a reluctance to deduct points from a student’s answer that might be correct; and (iii) projection of correct thought processes onto a student solution, even when the student does not explicitly show thought processes. The scoring of each student solution depended significantly on the weight given to each theme by an instructor. In situations where a participant expressed all the three themes, the conflict was resolved by laying a burden of proof on either the student or the instructor. In this study, a sizable minority of the participating faculty acted inconsistently, in that they stated they valued students showing their reasoning when solving problems, but they graded student work in a way that would discourage students from showing their reasoning.

The Use of Service-Learning Among Special Education Faculty

The purpose of this study was to describe the use of service-learning (SL) by special education faculty at 4-year colleges and universities across the United States, and to determine faculty attitudes and beliefs about the application of SL in special education. Participants included faculty with experience in SL teaching and/or research in special education ( N = 48). Data were gathered using a survey. Results show that faculty represented a wide range of institutions and had varying levels of SL experience. There was variability in beliefs about and implementation of SL across faculty. Barriers to incorporating SL in courses and research were minimal. Significant differences in attitudes and beliefs were found based on type of institution, size of institution, and size of community.

An Examination Of Faculty Beliefs Concerning P&T Decisions

According to Schuster and Finkelstein (2006) faculty workloads have been increasing dramatically. Besides the additional hours worked by faculty the composition of work has changed as well (Schultz et al., 1989). Studies on research, teaching and service components of promotion and tenure (P&T) decisions at colleges and universities have largely focused on the research and teaching aspects. Research and teaching are consistently given considerably more weight in the P&T decisions (Alshare et al., 2007 and Tripathy and Ganesh, 1996). The purpose of this study is to examine whether faculty believe the perceived weighting of service in P&T decisions is appropriate. A survey was sent to randomly selected business faculty. Participants were asked a series of questions related to the current perceived and desired levels of the significance of service in P&T decisions. The results indicate that in all P&T decisions service should be of greater importance than the current perceived level incorporated into those decisions. Additional analyses revealed that demographic factors appear to affect the significance of the desired level of importance of service.

Philosophical and methodological beliefs of instructional design faculty and professionals

The purpose of this research was to probe the philosophical beliefs of instructional designers using sound philosophical constructs and quantitative data collection and analysis. We investigated the philosophical and methodological beliefs of instructional designers, including 152 instructional design faculty members and 118 non-faculty professionals. We used the Philosophy of Social Science Inventory, a 52-item questionnaire, to measure 20 beliefs within four categories. We probed four ontological beliefs (ontological realism, ontological relativism, physicalism, and idealism); five epistemological beliefs (epistemological relativism, fallibilism, epistemological objectivity, rationalism, and empiricism); three axiological beliefs (ethical realism, ethical relativism, and valueneutrality in research); and eight methodological beliefs (nomothetic, idiographic and critical methods, scientific naturalism, humanism, and quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods). Our research questions included (a) What are the predominant philosophical and methodological beliefs of instructional designers? (b) Do instructional design faculty and non-faculty instructional designers, identifying with different research methodologies, hold different sets of philosophical beliefs? and (c) What relationships exist between philosophical beliefs and age, gender, ethnicity, level of education, and/or years of service? Overall, the philosophical profile of instructional designers can reasonably be described as pragmatic. Belief characterizations of methodological subgroups (e.g., those identifying with qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research) generally supported our hypotheses. Although demographic variables (except gender) were not singularly important, our analyses suggest that a combination of ethnicity, gender, research preference, and level of education can be used to predict philosophical and methodological beliefs.

Faculty attitudes, perceptions and experiences of information literacy:

This Canadian-based survey research study investigates the information literacy (IL) instruction practices, attitudes and knowledge of university faculty. Findings are based on results from an online survey of all full-time faculty at York University. The value of this paper lies, firstly, in its contribution to a field of enquiry where a research deficit has been identified. Second, it contributes to IL research and practice by both synthesizing and corroborating some of the findings of earlier studies of a similar nature. This and other studies establish that many faculty attitudes and practices regarding IL instruction have remained relatively constant over time by revealing evidence of a strong and enduring faculty belief in the value of solid student IL proficiencies, concerns that these proficiencies fall below desired standards; the view that IL instruction is beneficial; and evidence of disconnects between expressed beliefs and actual IL practice. Third, this study builds on what is already known by uncovering disciplinary differences in faculty opinions and practices in the domain of IL instruction and by providing insights on how faculty’s perceptions and rankings of different types of IL competencies are evolving and changing in an increasingly web-based information universe.

Faculty beliefs, perceptions, and level of community involvement in their research: a survey at one urban academic institution.

Health researchers are increasingly interested in how best to engage communities in their health-related research studies. To help determine how researchers have interacted with community members in their research, we conducted a survey of full-time faculty from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions regarding researchers' beliefs and experiences with community-based research. Approximately 41% of respondents who conducted human subject studies had enrolled local residents in their research. Researchers whose studies were based in the surrounding community were significantly more likely to involve community members in all stages of their research (e.g., selection of the problem, project planning, data collection, interpretation and dissemination of results, or developing an intervention) than were faculty whose studies enrolled community members as research participants but whose studies were not set in the community. Over 90% of all faculty respondents agree that community involvement improves the relevance of their research, although almost 60% had not done so. Most faculty value community involvement, but they want more institutional support for such activities and they seek better skills to involve community. Few studies have surveyed researchers who enroll community members as research participants to document practices regarding community involvement in the research process. Given that the majority (73.6%) of faculty responded that they intend to include local residents in their upcoming studies, future research to evaluate interventions designed to facilitate community involvement, especially in the inner city, would help stakeholders identify best practices for involving and engaging communities in health research.

The Relationship Between Instructors' Conceptions of Geoscience Learning and Classroom Practice at a Research University

Reform of undergraduate science education will need to be supported with effective professional development for current and future faculty. The professional development programs will need to address the knowledge, skills and beliefs of higher education faculty so that they can implement the kind of effective practices that results in the intended learning and meets the needs of diverse learners. To support the design of these programs, this research characterized the relationships between faculty's conceptions of teaching and learning on their teaching practices. Teaching faculty at a Doctoral/Research University were randomly interviewed to assess conceptions with respect to: 1) individual faculty learning, 2) student learning based on academic level, 3) how teaching is valued by the organization and 4) course goals. Additionally, classroom observations were conducted to determine the level of student-teacher interaction and cognitive engagement of the instructor and students with graphical and symbolic representations, as well as other manipulatives. Observations indicated teacher-centered classes across all academic levels. These data contrasted the subject's conceptions that cognitive and technical skill development is best achieved through self-directed learning. Analysis of the interviews and observations suggested the contradiction between learning practices the subject viewed as effective and the utilized teaching methods resulted from two major barriers: 1) the instructors' conceptions on the evolution of student learning and 2) an institutional reward structure that doesn't support the development of effective teaching practices.

Reconciling university teacher beliefs to create learning designs for LMS environments

<blockquote>Learning management systems (LMS) serve as the primary online technology for student learning in many universities. Although they are only one 'solution', they are often regarded as all encompassing. How university teachers reconcile their beliefs about such technologies with their pedagogical beliefs remains a relatively unexplored area. This study draws on three cases from various disciplines to uncover faculty beliefs about the roles, affordances and limitations of these technologies and how each teacher adapted these to their learning designs within an LMS environment. The overall aim is to reveal the relationship between teacher beliefs and learning designs for web technologies such as LMS. This research contributes to the conceptual understandings that underpin faculty teacher development for technology integration. It provides insightful accounts of the kinds of teacher beliefs that underlie effective learning designs for quite large classes. The resultant stories themselves hold great potential to promote reflection and discourse on the use of technologies in university teaching.</blockquote><p> </p>

Mismatches between the conceptual level of tests and faculty beliefs

Student learning of biochemical concepts can be promoted by the conceptual quality of items in written assessments. We present a "faculty centered" development prototype aimed at the improvement of written assessments.Summary of workA pool was created with all the written items presented in 2007‐2008 to freshmen and sophomores of a 6 year medical degree ‐ included were disciplines such as Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, etc. Items were ranked by faculty (n=6) of different disciplines (including biochemistry faculty), according to a simple scale (1 to 5), based on: i. the presence of a context; ii. the type of cognitive process required to solve the item; iii. presence/absence of irrelevant difficulties.Summary of resultsThere was considerable inter‐rater variability on the classifications which were, in general, below initial expectations. Faculty regarded very highly the learning potential of the experience and converged on changes to improve item quality for 2008‐2009.ConclusionsThe conceptual level of items in written knowledge tests may be lower than faculty believe.Take‐home messagesThe prototype can be generalized to other institutions. Analysis of future new items and further empirical evidence are needed to corroborate the prototype's power for the improvement of the conceptual level of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology tests.

Rhetorical Hiccups: Disability Disclosure in Letters of Recommendation

This article positions letters of recommendation as important and troubling indicators of faculty beliefs about diversity and access in higher education. I focus on the disclosure of disability, both by examining the history of disclosing stigmatized difference and by analyzing five letters of recommendation for an aspiring graduate student with a traumatic brain injury. I suggest that faculty must revise their letter-writing practices and engage in a type of rhetorical forecasting that questions well-intentioned disclosures of difference and imagines how various letters form a composite sketch of a candidate.

Assessing Beliefs of Preservice Early Childhood Education Teachers Using Q-Sort Methodology

The purpose of this study was to assess the beliefs of students and faculty in a 4-year birth–kindergarten teacher preparation program using the Teacher Belief Q-Sort (TBQ). Data were collected over one academic year from a total of 63 students, 35 students at the beginning of their coursework and 28 students at the end of their program, completing their student teaching experience. The faculty (n = 8) in the program completed the TBQ to provide a criterion sort as well as to assess the consistency in philosophy across faculty members who teach preservice teachers. Compilations of rankings are presented to describe beliefs related to children, discipline, and teaching practices held by students who are at different points in their education program. Criterion comparison results indicate that student teachers at the end of their education program report beliefs more similar to faculty beliefs than students at the beginning of their education program. However, findings suggest that the student teaching experience does not appear to significantly alter beliefs about children, discipline and teaching practices. These results are discussed in terms of child-directed versus teacher-directed styles of preservice teachers and implications of assessing beliefs for teacher preparation programs.

Faculty-Student Boundaries in Associate Degree Nursing Programs

Professionals are called to high standards of behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate nursing faculty beliefs about appropriate behaviors for nurse educators. Nursing faculty are generally conservative in their beliefs and even more conservative in their actions. Three behaviors of educators are universally viewed as inappropriate: telling a student of the educator's sexual attraction; sexual involvement with a current student; and making deliberate or repeated sexual comments, gestures, or physical contact that are unwanted by the student. Insulting or ridiculing an absent student and insulting or ridiculing a present student were considered appropriate by few respondents (5% and 2.1%, respectively). Little guidance exists for nursing faculty in determining the appropriateness of various behaviors. This exploratory research gives an introductory view of faculty perceptions of appropriate teacher behaviors.

Infusing The Mentorship Model Of Education For The Promotion Of Critical Thinking In Doctoral Education

Effective mentorship is demonstrated in a variety of venues. Good mentors lead students on a journey that forever changes the ways in which they think and act, and consists of different and diverse experiences. Acknowledging faculty beliefs regarding mentorship and instruction is important to understanding why mentors select and implement specific strategies throughout the mentee’s academic tenure. The purposes of this paper are first, to describe the “Layered Learning Mentorship Model (LLMM)” presented in the Department of Graduate Programs in Heath Sciences curriculum; second, to provide an understanding of how the LLMM was developed so as to promote critical thinking skills in graduate students; third, to provide educators with an understanding of the tools essential for the integration of critical thinking opportunities at all levels of doctoral education; and finally, to assess student and faculty perceptions regarding the use of LLMM.

Physics faculty beliefs and values about the teaching and learning of problem solving. I. Mapping the common core

In higher education, instructors' choices of both curricular material and pedagogy are determined by their beliefs about learning and teaching, the values of their profession, and perceived external constraints. Dissemination of research-based educational reforms is based on assumptions about that mental structure. This study reports the initial phase of an investigation of the beliefs and values of physics professors as they relate to the teaching and learning of problem solving in introductory physics. Based on an analysis of a series of structured interviews with six college physics faculty, a model of a common structure of such beliefs for all physics faculty teaching introductory physics was constructed. This preliminary model, when tested and modified by future research, can be used by curriculum developers to design materials, pedagogy, and professional development that gain acceptance among instructors.

Physics faculty beliefs and values about the teaching and learning of problem solving. II. Procedures for measurement and analysis

To identify and describe the basis upon which instructors make curricular and pedagogical decisions, we have developed an artifact-based interview and an analysis technique based on multilayered concept maps. The policy capturing technique used in the interview asks instructors to make judgments about concrete instructional artifacts similar to those they likely encounter in their teaching environment. The analysis procedure alternatively employs both an a priori systems view analysis and an emergent categorization to construct a multilayered concept map, which is a hierarchically arranged set of concept maps where child maps include more details than parent maps. Although our goal was to develop a model of physics faculty beliefs about the teaching and learning of problem solving in the context of an introductory calculus-based physics course, the techniques described here are applicable to a variety of situations in which instructors make decisions that influence teaching and learning.

Gendered experiences of computing graduate programs

This investigation of gendered experiences in computer science and computer engineering (CSE) doctoral programs uses survey data from a nationwide stratified random sample. Analyses of data from 41 departments show that women CSE doctoral students have less confidence than men students that they can achieve their educational goals. Moreover, women's confidence is significantly affected by their comfort asking questions in class, which is in turn affected by faculty beliefs about the relationship between diversity and student quality. Program rank also has a negative effect on confidence, but affects men and women similarly.

Teaching beliefs of medical educators: perspectives on clinical teaching in pediatrics

Background: Most who teach in clinical settings see themselves primarily as clinicians or physicians responsible for patient care and only secondarily as educators. The education literature suggests that teaching predominantly operates at a tacit level, where teachers rely on core beliefs to guide their practice, and actually spend little time in reflective practice. Given the lack of research on how medical educators in clinical settings view their teaching, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the teaching beliefs of faculty in a pediatrics department in a college of medicine.Methods: Using a Teaching Perspectives Inventory, observations and in-depth interviews, a complex picture was revealed about teaching beliefs of medical educators.Results: Due to contextual constraints of the clinical setting (e.g., time, competing stakeholders) that requires primary attention to patient care, they describe ‘teaching on the fly’. There is a strong emphasis on: delivering content; encouraging thinking among students; providing questioning and engaging learning experiences; and respecting students as learners.Conclusions: The implications of these beliefs are significant and indicate that faculty can benefit from opportunities that make their beliefs about teaching more conscious, particularly in determining how best to prepare future physicians to teach in clinical settings.

Is tenure justified? An experimental study of faculty beliefs about tenure, promotion, and academic freedom

The behavioral sciences have come under attack for writings and speech that affront sensitivities. At such times, academic freedom and tenure are invoked to forestall efforts to censure and terminate jobs. We review the history and controversy surrounding academic freedom and tenure, and explore their meaning across different fields, at different institutions, and at different ranks. In a multifactoral experimental survey, 1,004 randomly selected faculty members from top-ranked institutions were asked how colleagues would typically respond when confronted with dilemmas concerning teaching, research, and wrong-doing. Full professors were perceived as being more likely to insist on having the academic freedom to teach unpopular courses, research controversial topics, and whistle-blow wrong-doing than were lower-ranked professors (even associate professors with tenure). Everyone thought that others were more likely to exercise academic freedom than they themselves were, and that promotion to full professor was a better predictor of who would exercise academic freedom than was the awarding of tenure. Few differences emerged related either to gender or type of institution, and behavioral scientists' beliefs were similar to scholars from other fields. In addition, no support was found for glib celebrations of tenure's sanctification of broadly defined academic freedoms. These findings challenge the assumption that tenure can be justified on the basis of fostering academic freedom, suggesting the need for a re-examination of the philosophical foundation and practical implications of tenure in today's academy.

See one, do one, teach one––exploring the core teaching beliefs of medical school faculty

This paper explores the core teaching beliefs of medical school faculty and establishes whether these beliefs differ among basic science, clinical, and instruction specialist faculty. One hundred and twenty-five medical school teachers who were members of professional organizations dedicated to the improvement of medical school teaching completed a Q-sort of 56 statements reflecting their core teaching beliefs. The statements described beliefs about motivation, knowledge and skill acquisition, retention, feedback, transfer, teacher characteristics, and teaching strategies. Q-sorts were completed by 37 basic scientists (30% of respondents), 59 clinicians (47%) and 29 instruction specialists (23%) working in medical schools. Fifty-two participants were classroom teachers (42%), 66 were classroom and clinical teachers (53%), and seven reported that they do not teach (6%). The Q-sort results indicate how medical school faculty members differ in their core beliefs about teaching and learning. Thirty-two respondents (26%) focused on the student as a person first. Eight (6%) were content oriented. Thirty-four (27%) were performance oriented; their focus was on having students learn and apply knowledge and skills to accomplish clinical tasks. Fifty-one respondents (41%) were found to have a blend of these viewpoints. Respondents’ type of training or type of teaching did not provide a reliable indication of core teaching beliefs classification.

Faculty and College Student Beliefs about the Frequency of Student Academic Misconduct

This study investigated faculty and college student beliefs concerning student academic misconduct. Faculty beliefs predicted efforts to prevent misconduct and efforts to challenge it. Student beliefs predicted frequency of misconduct. Faculty and students overestimated the extent of misconduct, students to a greater degree. Faculty who underestimated misconduct rarely challenged it.