Faculty Willingness Research Articles

Exploring Faculty Preparedness for Artificial Intelligence-Driven Dental Education: A Multicentre Study.

Introduction In the modern era, technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), is the centre of digital innovation. AI is revolutionising numerous fields, including the healthcare sector, globally. Incorporating AI in dental education may help in improving the diagnostic accuracy, learners' experiences, and effectiveness of the management of dental education institutions. However, successful implementation of AI requires the faculty's willingness to incorporate it into their practices. Thus, this research aims to explore the readiness of faculty members to integrate AI into dental education. Methodology The study employed a qualitative exploratory design to gather in-depth insights into faculty readiness for AI-driven dental education. Purposive sampling was employed, and 21 faculty members from public and private dental colleges in South Punjab participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews focused on understanding participants' perceptions, experiences, and challenges related to AI integration in dental education. Thematic analysis was conducted utilising Braun and Clarke's framework to identify key themes and subthemes from the qualitative data using inductive coding. Results Five major themes and 14 subthemes emerged from the data analysis. Faculty members had low AI literacy coupled with diverse perceptions; some participants perceived AI as a solution for revolutionising teaching and learning, while others criticised its misuse as academic misconduct by students, an effect on students' critical thinking, and a threat to conventional jobs. However, most of the respondents also considered AI beneficial for students with remote access or from marginalised populations in terms of accessing and learning from limited resources. Concerns that participants highlighted included a lack of training opportunities, limited facilities, ethical concerns pertaining to data privacy, and assessment bias. Some of the recommendations provided by the respondents include the provision of training opportunities, the allocation of resources and infrastructure, and continuous effective support from institutions for the integration of AI in dental education. Conclusions This study emphasised the readiness of the faculty when it comes to the integration of AI in dental education. The faculty considered AI favourable for digitization and innovative education, although there is a lack of awareness of its application. Regarding the benefits of utilising AI, respondents highlighted its quick response, prediction of students' performance, and flexibility in learning. The challenges included lack of awareness regarding its implementation, inadequate training, lack of availability of resources, lack of institutional support, the problem of data confidentiality, and resistance to change. Suggestions included the provision of technical support, skills training, and the provision of required infrastructure. Participants recommended that AI tools must incorporate cultural and contextually specific content, use technical support for problems, and incorporate constant response systems to improve the AI tools for novice users, especially within developing regions such as Pakistan.

Identifying faculty opinions about implementing an online, non-thesis master’s degree

IntroductionAlthough distance education is a growing field, there are benefits and challenges in creating and implementing new online degrees. Faculty play a critical role in forming new online programs and hold differing perceptions about online learning. The purpose of this research was to identify faculty opinions about implementing an online, non-thesis master’s degree as an alternative to the existing thesis-based degree.MethodsIn this study, 17 faculty members in the field of horticulture were surveyed at a major university in the southeastern United States. Q methodology was selected as the research tool to identify the primary opinions faculty held about an online, non-thesis master’s degree. Once participants were surveyed, factor analysis was used to reduce the responses into three perspectives.ResultsThree distinct perspectives were summarized as: (A) in-person instruction is more effective than online education, (B) online programs increase accessibility to graduate degrees, and (C) successful online programs require independent learners. Participants holding the first perspective believed an online program would not benefit student learning and would increase the workload of faculty. Participants with perspectives B and C agreed that an online program would be beneficial in reaching a broader audience of students. Although perspective C placed a high importance on independent learning, perspectives A and B indicated engaging with students was critical to student learning.DiscussionAll factors agreed an online degree would help our department reach non-research-oriented students. However, there was discrepancy in faculty willingness to support the program. Based on the identified faculty perspectives, it is believed that an online, non-thesis master’s would be successful if faculty who are willing to participate in the online degree were trained to be effective online educators and if they encouraged students to hold a deeper level of engagement with the content.

Faculty Willingness For Continuing Online Teaching-Post COVID-19 Pandemic In Pakistan.

To determine faculty willingness for continuing online education after coronavirus disease-2019 in Pakistan, and to correlate it with perceived gain in experience in online teaching during the pandemic. The cross-sectional study was conducted at Aziz Fatimah Medical and Dental College, Faisalabad, Pakistan, from January to July 2021, and comprised medical faculty with teaching experience of at least 2 years. Data was collected using an online questionnaire though Google Forms. Multiple regression analysis was done to determine faculty willingness with perceived experience levels in online education. Data was analysed using SPSS 25. Of the 100 subjects approached, 68(68%) responded; 51(75%) females and 17(25%) males. Of the total, 30(44.1%) participants were aged 33-40 years, 25(37%) were from Basic Sciences, 27(39.7%) from Clinical Sciences, 16(23.5%) from Allied Health Sciences, and 39(57.4%) had teaching experience <5 years.. Overall, 39 (57.4%) participants were willing to continue online education post-pandemic, 20(29.4%) agreed partially and 9 (13.2%) did not agree. A positive linear relationship was found between willingness to continue online education and increase in perceived experience level in teaching online (p=0.021). There was a significant difference between perceived experience level in online teaching before and after the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic. Those with increase in perceived experience level were willing to continue online education.

Higher degree of impostor characteristics relates to lower self-perceived teaching ability and emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been previously associated with teaching ability and impostor phenomenon (IP) in medical education; however, studies have demonstrated mixed findings and have largely focused on trainees only. Therefore, we sought to explore the potential association between the degree of IP characteristics, EI and teaching ability in obstetrics and gynaecology (Ob/Gyn) faculty physicians. A cross-sectional, survey-based pilot study was completed at a single academic institution. Ob/Gyn attending (faculty) physicians were queried using surveys related to IP, EI and teaching ability. Resident (trainee) physicians also completed anonymous evaluations of faculty teaching ability. The degree of IP characteristics correlated negatively with self-perceived teaching ability, with no significant differences in resident assessment of faculty teaching. IP also correlated negatively with EI. Although there were no statistically significant differences in resident assessment of teaching ability based on EI, both EI and IP demonstrated inverse relationships to faculty assessment of teaching ability compared with resident assessment. IP appears to relate to lower perceived teaching ability in Ob/Gyn faculty that does not correspond to resident evaluation of teaching performance. The demonstrated negative correlation between the degree of impostor characteristics and EI suggests that EI could potentially play a protective role in the development of IP and burnout, as well as influence teaching. This relationship may have implications for faculty willingness to continue in academic medicine.

Making the Case for Diversity: Exploring the Use of Case Studies for Underrepresented Minorities in the Accounting Curriculum

ABSTRACT This study explores the viability of case studies as a tool to help advance efforts toward decolonization of the accounting curriculum by incorporating the perspectives and experiences of underrepresented minorities (URMs). We evaluate the current level of representation in accounting case studies, and faculty willingness to use more representative case studies. We evaluate faculty responses using the Banks (2014) curriculum transformation framework. Hand-collected case study data for 2015–2021 reveal that only two of 351 case studies have URM representation. Survey responses indicate faculty are willing to make less disruptive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related curricular changes, but also provide evidence of barriers to changes which would require significant content modifications. We offer recommendations to increase URM representation in case studies and overcome these barriers, advancing toward a curriculum that better reflects URMs’ views and prepares students to better interact and collaborate effectively within a diverse workforce.

Faculty participation in open access repositories (OARs) based on their individual traits

Purpose The number of open access repositories (OARs) has been growing globally, but faculty members have been reluctant to embrace OAR and submit their work. While there are studies that looked at sociotechnical factors that affect faculty participation in OARs, this study aims to explore how the individual characteristics of faculty might impact faculty willingness to deposit their work in an OAR. Design/methodology/approach The survey was distributed to all faculty at a large public university in the USA who were identified as having their primary job responsibilities in teaching and research. This study used a correlational analysis between faculty individual characteristics (i.e. age, rank, status and academic discipline) and their willingness to deposit their work. Findings The findings show that there is a difference in faculty familiarity with open access (OA) principles and faculty awareness of OA policy based on individual characteristics. Furthermore, these individual characteristics have a significant impact on faculty willingness to participate in OARs. While this study reveals a significant correlation between the faculty intent to deposit and the respondent’s academic discipline, rank and status, there are other factors that affect faculty intent to participate in OAR, such as familiarity with OA principles and awareness of institution’s OA Policy. Research limitations/implications There were no significant responses from the Colleges of Science or Health and Public Service and, therefore, did not yield any statistically significant results. Measuring the university’s promotion system was outside the scope of this research. Practical implications Results of this research can provide insight on how individual characteristics of faculty might impact their willingness to embrace OA publishing in general and OARs in particular. Social implications The findings from this research will be a valuable source of information for librarians and OA staff in developing more effective outreach programs to increase faculty participation in OA and OARs. Originality/value This study reveals that individual faculty traits do have an impact on faculty willingness to participate in OARs. The academic discipline was found to make the most significant difference in faculty intent to deposit their work in an OAR. However, due to the ever-changing landscape of OA publishing and the ongoing outreach efforts by librarians, the faculty members’ perception and participation in OARs is likely to evolve.

Understanding faculty acceptance of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic: a Saudi Arabian case study

PurposeThis study aims to leverage the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology framework developed by Venkatesh et al. (2003) to explore the factors influencing faculty willingness and acceptance of online teaching at a major Saudi Arabian university as we move to a post-COVID-19 new normal.Design/methodology/approachWe surveyed business school faculty from a major Saudi Arabian university that transitioned to online learning because of the COVID-19 lockdown. We used partial least square structural equation modeling to examine the factors that impact faculty satisfaction and behavioral intention to continue using online teaching in the future.FindingsThe results of the study indicated that when faculty perceive that e-learning improves their teaching performance and effectiveness (performance expectancy) and find that online teaching tools are relatively easy to use (effort expectancy), then they are more open to considering online teaching and using digital tools even after the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThe study uses a Saudi Arabian sample, so the results of the study may not be generalizable to other countries. The study was cross-sectional in nature; a longitudinal design would help in uncovering more stable relationships and enabling us to draw stronger conclusions. Lastly, the sample size for the study was relatively small, resulting in a loss of power in statistical testing. Notwithstanding these limitations, our study contributes to a greater understanding and appreciation of faculty acceptance of online teaching as we progress to a post-COVID-19 new normal. As such, it should be useful to educators, institutions and policymakers as they seek to reimagine business education going forward.Originality/valueThe present study is one of the first scholarly studies to focus on exploring e-learning acceptance in a business school from a faculty perspective, considering the natural experiment that forced institutions to move to online teaching irrespective of their prior acceptance or experience with this teaching modality.

Public engagement: Faculty lived experiences and perspectives underscore barriers and a changing culture in academia.

The idea of faculty engaging in meaningful dialogue with different publics instead of simply communicating their research to interested audiences has gradually morphed from a novel concept to a mainstay within most parts of the academy. Given the wide variety of public engagement modalities, it may be unsurprising that we still lack a comprehensive and granular understanding of factors that influence faculty willingness to engage with public audiences. Those nuances are not always captured by quantitative surveys that rely on pre-determined categories to assess scholars’ willingness to engage. While closed-ended categories are useful to examine which factors influence the willingness to engage more than others, it is unlikely that pre-determined categories comprehensively represent the range of factors that undermine or encourage engagement, including perceptual influences, institutional barriers, and scholars’ lived experiences. To gain insight into these individual perspectives and lived experiences, we conducted focus group discussions with faculty members at a large midwestern land-grant university in the United States. Our findings provide context to previous studies of public engagement and suggest four themes for future research. These themes affirm the persistence of institutional barriers to engaging with the public, particularly the expectations in the promotion process for tenure-track faculty. However, we also find a perception that junior faculty and graduate students are challenging the status quo by introducing a new wave of attention to public engagement. This finding suggests a “trickle-up” effect through junior faculty and graduate students expecting institutional support for public engagement. Our findings highlight the need to consider how both top-down factors such as institutional expectations and bottom-up factors such as graduate student interest shape faculty members’ decisions to participate in public engagement activities.

A Novel Curriculum Assessment Tool, Based on AAMC Competencies, to Improve Medical Education About Sexual and Gender Minority Populations.

Medical education aspires to mitigate bias in future professionals by providing robust curricula that include perspectives of and practices for caring for sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations; however, implementation of these ideals remains challenging. Medical school leaders motivated to improve curricula on caring for SGM populations must survey their school's current curricula to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. In 2014, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) published 30 SGM competencies that curricula should address. Here the authors describe the development of a tool to efficiently assess whether an undergraduate medical education (UME) curriculum adequately incorporates the AAMC-recommended SGM competencies. In 2018, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) convened a group of faculty and students with experience and expertise regarding SGM health. The group distilled the 30 AAMC competencies into 12 SGM topic areas that should be addressed in any UME curriculum, and they developed a curriculum assessment tool to evaluate the presence and timing of these topic areas in the BUSM curriculum. This tool was distributed to all course and clerkship directors responsible for the required UME curriculum at BUSM to investigate where these topic areas are addressed (May-June 2019). The curriculum assessment tool identified several strengths in the preclerkship and clerkship curricula, including faculty willingness and enthusiasm to include SGM content. The assessment tool also revealed that some SGM topic areas are underrepresented in the BUSM curriculum, particularly during clerkships. The curriculum assessment tool described here is a straightforward, standardized instrument to map SGM topic areas within any UME curriculum. It is designed to be comprehensible by individuals who are not familiar with SGM health. The tool minimizes barriers to medical curricular change by providing a mechanism to assess and understand how SGM health is incorporated into existing curricula.

Value and Barriers to Use of the SIMPL Tool for Resident Feedback

The System for Improving and Measuring Procedural Learning (SIMPL) is a smart-phone application used to provide residents with an evaluation of operative autonomy and feedback. This study investigated the perceived benefits and barriers to app use. A database of previously performed SIMPL evaluations was analyzed to identify high, low, and never users. Potential predisposing factors to use were explored. A survey investigating key areas of value and barriers to use for the SIMPL application was sent to resident and faculty users. Respondents were asked to self-identify how often they used the app. The perceived benefits and barriers were correlated with the level of usage. Qualitative analysis of free text responses was used to determine strategies to increase usage. General surgery training programs who are members of the Procedural Learning and Safety Collaborative. Surgical residents and faculty. At least 1 SIMPL evaluation was created for 411 residents and 524 faculty. Thirty percent of both faculty and residents were high-frequency users. Thirty percent of faculty were never users. One hundred eighty-eight residents and 207 faculty (response rate 46%) completed the survey. High-frequency resident users were more likely to perceive a benefit for both numerical evaluations (76% vs 30%) and dictated feedback (92% vs 30%). Faculty and residents commonly blamed each other for not creating and completing evaluations regularly (87% of residents, 81% of faculty). Suggested strategies to increase usage included reminders and integration with existing data systems. Frequent users perceive value from the application, particularly from dictated feedback and see a positive impact on feedback in their programs. Faculty engagement represents a major barrier to adoption. Mechanisms which automatically remind residents to initiate an evaluation will help improve utilization but programs must work to enhance faculty willingness to respond and dictate feedback.

The Genome Solver Project: Faculty Training and Student Performance Gains in Bioinformatics.

Bioinformatics brings together biology, mathematics, statistics, and computer science to analyze biological sequence information. Anyone with a computer, access to the Internet, and basic training in this field can contribute to genomics research. Yet many biology faculty feel they lack training in the use of bioinformatics tools and therefore include little bioinformatics content in their courses. To overcome this challenge, the Genome Solver Project was created to empower undergraduate faculty by offering training and resources for creating hands-on bioinformatics course materials. In this study, we show the results of one survey completed directly after the workshop and a further follow-up survey to gain insight into the impact the workshop had on faculty willingness to include bioinformatics content in their courses and what challenges they still faced. We also measured student performance at five different institutions using a 20-question multiple-choice quiz delivered before and after bioinformatics instruction. Data collected from 640 students at these five schools demonstrated student performance increased, suggesting that bioinformatics training workshops can be an effective means of encouraging faculty to engage in bioinformatics instruction and positively influence student learning.

Humanities Professors' Conceptions of Assessment: A Case Study

AbstractThis article's purpose is to make humanities professors' assumptions and beliefs about assessment more visible. It is important to understand how humanities professors view the assessment of general education, especially since those conceptions affect how they approach teaching and learning, and how they react to calls for assessment in their departments and/or institutions. Findings suggest that faculty embrace assessment to inform teaching and learning. Practical use of general education assessment data beyond reporting was absent, and the lack of shared governance in the process negatively affected faculty willingness to engage with general education assessment. Implications are discussed.

Factors influencing faculty attitudes towards open access institutional repositories

ABSTRACTOpen access institutional repositories (OA IR) have increased in popularity in last decade. However, research shows they remain thinly populated in large part due to faculty reluctance to participate. The focus of previous research has been on external factor (social or technological context) and there is a lack of understanding of the internal factors and the psychology of the reluctance. This study investigated the factors affecting faculty participation in IRs and examined the extent to which these factors influenced faculty willingness to participate in IRs by drawing upon the theory of planned behavior and the model of factors affecting faculty self‐archiving.

Students, Faculty, and Staff's Willingness to Pay for Emergency Texting

ABSTRACTAlthough emergency texting benefits callers' safety during violent situations and campus shooters, the service had not been popularized at a public university. To introduce emergency texting, this study proposed to identify the economic benefits of emergency texting and used the contingent valuation method which estimates students, faculty, and staff's willingness to pay for emergency texting. Despite the small sampling size, the total values of the three groups' willingness to pay were $7,736 per year, larger than the lowest implementation costs of text-to-911. The estimation of the overall university population's total values may be expected to be greater than the results.

Influences on Faculty Willingness to Mentor Undergraduate Students from Another University as Part of an Interinstitutional Research Training Program.

In 2014, the National Institutes of Health invested $31 million in 10 primary institutions across the United States through the Building Undergraduate Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) program; one requirement of BUILD is sending undergraduate trainees from those primary institutions to partner institutions for research experiences. Mechanisms like BUILD are designed to broaden research opportunities for students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined faculty willingness to mentor undergraduates from other institutions through structured training programs. Survey data from 536 faculty members at 13 institutions were collected in Fall 2013 and analyzed using multiple statistical techniques. Results show that faculty who valued the opportunity to increase diversity in the academy and those who believed that mentoring undergraduates benefited their own research expressed greater willingness to serve as research mentors to visiting undergraduates, and faculty who perceived that they did not have the ability to accommodate additional students expressed less willingness to do so. Most respondents viewed student and faculty incentives as motivating factors in their willingness to mentor, but their perspectives on different types of incentives varied based on faculty career stage, discipline, and research funding status. Results have important implications for designing multi-institutional undergraduate research training programs.

Embedding Language Support in Developmental Mathematics Lessons

Three community college faculty members used improvement science techniques to design, develop, and refine contextualized developmental mathematics lessons, where language and literacy pedagogy and related supports figured prominently in these instructional materials. This article reports on the role that their design experiences played in professional learning. The article uses a model of professional learning developed by Clarke and Hollingsworth (2002) as the lens to describe and analyze their experiences. Results indicated theoretically noteworthy variation among the faculty. The results highlight a strong connection between faculty willingness to experiment, during trial enactment of these lessons, in their classrooms and faculty growth in knowledge and belief structures about the importance of language and literacy to mathematics teaching and learning. Implications for design-based development, as an important ongoing professional development activity for mathematics instructors, are discussed.

Faculty members’ perceptions towards institutional repository at a medium-sized university

Purpose – The study aimed to investigate the perceptions of faculty members at a medium-sized university towards self-archiving and participation in institutional repositories (IRs). Design/methodology/approach – The research participants were from a medium-sized university. An online survey was distributed and a total of 217 responses were received which yielded a 40 per cent overall response rate. Faculty perceptions of the IR were measured through nine dimensions, the results of which were later summarised using principal component factor analysis. Findings – Faculty members’ perception of IRs and willingness to contribute to the IRs were closely associated with scholarly productivity rather than prior knowledge of and experience with IRs. Those who possessed scholarly materials were significantly more likely to have a positive perception of IRs and, therefore, were more likely to contribute to IRs than those who did not. Seniority in faculty rank contributed negatively to faculty members’ perception of the repository. Research limitations/implications – The study used a non-probability sampling technique to collect data about the faculty’s perception of IRs at a single institution of higher education. Variables for faculty background were limited to rank and academic discipline. Originality/value – In three ways: First, the study contributed to research on faculty perception of IRs in academia and approached the issue from the perspective of a teaching-oriented institution. Second, the relationship between faculty's willingness to participate in and their perception of IRs was measured. Third, a binary logistic regression model was used to estimate factors that influence faculty's perception of the institution's IRs.

Reporting for Duty During Mass Casualty Events: A Survey of Factors Influencing Emergency Medicine Physicians

Academic medical centers play a major role in disaster response, and residents frequently serve as key resources in these situations. Studies examining health care professionals' willingness to report for duty in mass casualty situations have varying response rates, and studies of emergency medicine (EM) residents' willingness to report for duty in disaster events and factors that affect these responses are lacking. We sought to determine EM resident and faculty willingness to report for duty during 4 disaster scenarios (natural, explosive, nuclear, and communicable), to identify factors that affect willingness to work, and to assess opinions regarding disciplinary action for physicians unwilling to work in a disaster situation. We surveyed residents and faculty at 7 US teaching institutions with accredited EM residency programs between April and November 2010. A total of 229 faculty and 259 residents responded (overall response rate, 75.4%). Willingness to report for duty ranged from 54.1% for faculty in a natural disaster to 94.2% for residents in a nonnuclear explosive disaster. The 3 most important factors influencing disaster response were concern for the safety of the family, belief in the physician's duty to provide care, and availability of protective equipment. Faculty and residents recommended minimal or no disciplinary action for individuals unwilling to work, except in the infectious disease scenario. Most EM residents and faculty indicated they would report for duty. Residents and faculty responses were similar in all but 1 scenario. Disciplinary action for individuals unwilling to work generally was not recommended.

Governance, Faculty Incentives, and Course Ownership in Online Education at Doctorate-Granting Universities

Researchers conducted a national survey of administrators at doctorate-granting universities to determine the current status of institutional policies and practices related to the organization and governance of online courses, faculty incentives to develop and teach online, and course ownership. Survey results document a wide variation in policies and practices, yet they also identify common practices. About 82% of the universities gave extra pay to faculty to develop online courses, and 94% provided campus-based faculty development workshops or training on online education. The large majority of institutions hired professional course designers (84%) and provided technical assistance to students (86%). Another 84% had an intellectual property policy in place or were developing one, and 77% shared revenues from online courses with academic colleges, schools, or departments. Although these practices existed on campuses, they were not always instituted campuswide. The researchers found statistically significant relationships for a number of faculty incentives and support services and faculty willingness to be involved in online education.

Departmental Cultures and Non-Tenure-Track Faculty: Willingness, Capacity, and Opportunity to Perform at Four-Year Institutions

This article reports on a case study of 25 departments comparing those that have put policies and practices in place to support non-tenure-track faculty to those that have not to determine whether this impacts faculty willingness, capacity, and opportunity to perform. Four departmental cultures emerged related to differential outcomes.