As a faculty member, has that thought ever raced through your mind or taken up residence there? If you’re a faculty developer, is that the perception of some of your faculty? If I didn’t word the title to this blog the way I did, would you have opened it? Read on, Macduff!
DISCLAIMER: I am not now nor I have I ever been a director, coordinator, or facilitator of faculty development or a center for teaching excellence. I was assistant dean for teaching for 5 years, but my job description was more limited than a center director. I have been a faculty member for 30 years and a keynote/workshop speaker at faculty development programs for 15 years. At nearly every voluntary event where I have spoken, directors have communicated to me the constant battle to persuade faculty to attend. Mandatory events had other issues. On the receiving end of successful and, especially, disastrous events, I’ve learned a lot. I’d like to pass on a few ideas that might be helpful.
THE PROBLEM
The problem is clear: How do you write this blog with humor and still make a serious point. WROOONG!! That’s not your problem. It’s: How do you improve the quality of teaching when many faculty members don’t want to attend events designed to acquaint them with the latest techniques? (Sidebar: Hummm. Isn’t this challenge a little bit like teaching students who don’t want to come to class to learn a boring, horrible subject, say statistics? Rings a bell, Pavlov!)
THE EVENT
Many institutions hold, at minimum, annual or semi-annual showcase or teaching events and, at maximum, a series of workshops or seminars throughout the academic year. One-half-day to three-day extravaganzas are often intended to allow faculty the opportunity (1) to share their innovative teaching ideas, (2) to recognize their teaching, and (3) to encourage them, plus gain the insights of an outside speaker on teaching methods. On-going speaker series may tap local talent as well as well-known, hired-guns from teaching conferences.
This blog will continue tomorrow with “faculty comments on why they don’t attend these events.” Next I will suggest a dozen strategies to increase attendance. It’s a doozy! Stay tuned for all of the excitement. Yeah, right!
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
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