Promoting lasting change in teaching practices through a summer immersion faculty development program

• Autores: Juan C. Morales, Michael Prince
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 35, no. 3, 2019, págs. 968-985
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Despitedecades of effort,andbillions of dollarsinvestedto improveengineeringeducation, thereis still alack ofknowledgeon how to transform faculty into users of effective instructional strategies. This study concludes that instructionaldevelopment programs have a good potential for promoting lasting change in faculty when the design is based on a one-month summer immersion period with a stipend, and when it is aligned with all the stakeholder’s interests and concerns.After the faculty complete one week of workshops, the change process is compelled by the preparation of 60 standardizedlesson plans for two courses (30 per course), per participant, plus the requirement that they experiment with the newtechniques in the classroom. The study is based on N = 27 faculty members of civil, mechanical, electrical, computer, andindustrial engineering, and physics. Faculty and student survey results identify several successful impacts of the program,including faculty adoption of research-based instructional strategies and increased faculty and student satisfaction. Thesuccess of the program is attributed to its incorporation of several best practices suggested by the faculty developmentliterature. This article may be very practically relevant either to individual instructors who aspire to change their ownteaching practices, or to Heads of School and Departments who want to improve the teaching and learning activitiesthroughout their school as a whole, and who could use the description of the program as a suitable model to be followed.