The impact of lesson study on faculty development in post-secondary education

The collaborative practice of lesson study emerged in Japan as a method for educators to continually improve the quality of their teaching and enrich the educational experience provided to their students (Fernandez & Yoshida, 2004; Yoshida, 2005). Known in Japan as jugykenkyu, lesson study has played a key role in transforming teaching to a student-centered approach and has significantly improved teaching and learning (Yoshida, 2005). Since the introduction of lesson study to the United States in 1999, the majority of lesson study practices have been applied to the elementary or secondary setting showing effectiveness in the teaching and learning process but little research has been done on the utilization of lesson study in post secondary or higher education settings. Utilizing case study methodology this study explored the use of lesson study as an effective tool in the faculty development practices of higher education faculty. Qualitative data collection was completed through use of individual electronic surveys and focus group interviews. The data was analyzed via coding and triangulation to capture the emerging themes from the surveys and interviews. The conclusions revealed that lesson study can serve as an effective tool for faculty development. The subjects cited the collaborative nature and active participation as the characteristics which support the use of lesson study for faculty development over other development practices they had participated in. However, the same barriers to faculty development exist with lesson study such as time and lack of support from administration like other forms of faculty development. More research needs to be done to investigate means of making faculty development, specifically lesson study, more efficient and at a higher position of importance among faculty, academic departments and administration.