Effective teaching of tertiary learners : strategies and faculty development implications
Date
2000
Authors
Adams, Pamela
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2000
Abstract
Opportunities for tertiary researchers to engage in professional growth episodes of a
purely academic and curricular nature may be abundant and effective. Not so common,
however, are opportunities through which university teachers may participate in long
term, nonthreatening professional development initiatives to examine, compare, and
improve their skills of instruction. The Teaching In Focus Project at The University of
Lethbridge was a three-year project intended to facilitate an interfaculty educative
dialogue specific to present and potential teaching effectiveness. This paper studies a
variety of teaching characteristics contributing to optimum learning in a tertiary
environment, and then examines the experiences of several University of Lethbridge
professors as they attempt to parallel their own teaching habits with these characteristics
of effectiveness. In addition, it links their experiences during the Teaching In Focus
process with conditions highlighted in other effective professional development
initiatives, and uses this comparison as a basis for the consideration of several facilitative
conditions necessary for effective teaching-focused professional development at the
tertiary level. Links are formed between research findings and reviewed literature in
order to suggest conclusions regarding the question, "In what way is university teaching
effectiveness impacted by participation in faculty development programs that promote
professional self-examination, collaboration, and action research?"
Description
vi, 137 p. ; 29 cm. --
Keywords
College teachers -- Training of , College teaching