Collaboration and cultures of teaching in university departments: Faculty beliefs about teaching and learning in history and engineering

This study focuses on individual, shared and controversial beliefs about and practices of teaching in a department of history and a department of mechanical engineering at two research universities and the impact of small group collaborative conversations among faculty about issues of teaching in their departments. The research questions are: What beliefs--shared and individual do university faculty in history and mechanical engineering hold about teaching and learning in their field? How (if at all) do individual and shared beliefs evolve as faculty work together within their department in exploring their teaching practice? How can stability and change be explained? A subset of faculty participating in collaborative conversations in each department were interviewed at two times during the academic year under study. The interviews elicited information about their beliefs and practices in particular courses and perceptions of departmental culture. Additional faculty interviews, observations, and written documents were also analyzed.; Differences between the two departments are discussed as a function of broader differences between the disciplines and the types of disciplines they represent: humanities versus science departments and liberal arts versus professional preparation perspectives. Differences within the departments were also found. While there was agreement at a general level about the educational goals within each department, there were patterns of differences in emphasis in educational goals which emerged when faculty discussed particular courses. These patterns of difference corresponded with schisms within the disciplines. Faculty in the history department were described as "producers" or "consumers." Faculty in the mechanical engineering department were classified as either design or sciences engineers. The collaborative conversations did not radically transform faculty beliefs about teaching and learning in each field, but faculty participants became more informed about alternative pedagogical practices and perspectives. Most of the faculty discussions stayed at the level of practices, thus the impact observed was consistent with the nature of the discourse.; This study points to the need for further research on discipline-specific elements of pedagogy and academic cultures, particularly differences within disciplines. It also offers directions for further research on departmental cultures and change, and for research and practice on faculty collaboration.