| This study explored the process through which university professors understand and improve their teaching. It examined the hypothesis that if professors can experience a sustained opportunity to attend to their teaching through a relevant, job-embedded, and differentiated structure, they will be more likely to construct an increasingly sophisticated understanding of their practice, a more complex conceptualization of teaching effectiveness, and an altered perception of the process of faculty development. The study was guided by the question "To what extent, and in what ways, will collaborative faculty development influence the pedagogical understandings of university professors?" A volunteer sample of nine university professors from four disciplines was paired with senior education students to participate in an inquiry-based faculty development program. Data was gathered through interviews, participants' journal writings, and anecdotal observations of the researcher-as-participant. Data analysis revealed underlying opinions, experiences, behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes that participants shared throughout the inquiry process. Study findings identified professors' shift in perceptions in three conceptual areas. First, they were able to more fully articulate a definition of effective teaching characterized by complex knowledge, skills, and attitude competencies demonstrated by effective university teachers. Next, using their emerging definitions as a guideline, professors' perceptions of their teaching effectiveness decreased, rather than improved, over the course of the study. Finally, professors redefined their understanding of the characteristics they saw as important to faculty development programs. Specifically, they expressed the need for more formal and frequent structures and opportunities to encourage interdepartmental collegiality, an appreciation for a constructivist process, and recognition of some ways that research strategies and findings could be more purposefully linked through professional development. Study outcomes forwarded some relevant, current data regarding faculty development needs in universities; provided information that may guide policy and practice regarding recruitment, retention, and professional development of tertiary teachers; and presented evidence of a more effective process through which professors may come to understand themselves and their responsibilities as effective teachers. |
