An investigation of faculty development program assessment practices

This qualitative research investigated the prevalence of program assessment and the practices currently being used to measure the intended outcomes of faculty development programs in public and private undergraduate programs in a state in the Upper Midwest. Data was gathered by interviewing faculty development program directors at five two-year and five four-year public colleges and universities and ten four-year private non-profit colleges and universities. Interview responses were coded, displayed and analyzed to determine the assessment practices currently being used and factors influencing decisions regarding program evaluation. Findings from this study suggest faculty development program directors have a strong interest in program assessment primarily measuring faculty satisfaction with limited efforts being made to measure the impact on teaching and learning. Means of assessment appear to be superficial demonstrated by the routine use of satisfaction surveys, participation numbers, self-reported changes in teaching and teacher-reported changes in learning. Responses suggest faculty developers tend to focus their efforts on meeting the needs of faculty opposed to making overall institutional education changes which may explain these practices. Other contributing factors appearing to emanate from the study is the impact of assessment knowledge deficiencies, attitude and perspectives toward program assessment and limitations of time and resources. Results from this study support the findings in the literature and Chism and Szabo's 1997 study from which this research was designed.