Continuing Faculty Development

As another academic term concludes, many colleagues are seeking opportunities to advance their professional educational development (ED). I would like to highlight a recent scholarly article by Marilou, et al. (2024) entitled, “The educational development of university teachers: Mapping the landscape.” 

This article presents the results of a scoping review designed to explore the current state of knowledge about the ED of university teachers. A thematic analysis was conducted on 98 scholarly documents published between 2000 and 2022. The results indicate that the field of ED is mainly characterized by ideological and political rather than scientific dimensions. The results highlight the individualistic nature of the starting point of the professional learning process, suggesting that institutional conditions and resources should be adapted to accommodate the diversity of learning trajectories.

First, the authors remind us there are many terms used to describe ED. These include faculty development, academic development, instructional development, professional development, continuing professional development, professional learning and professional growth. In addition, a clarification between the terms training and education should be noted. The biggest difference between these is that training focuses on building skills, and education provides a foundation for further learning.

Using Arksey and O'Malley's (2003) framework, the authors carried out this scoping review in five key steps: 

1. specify the research questions, 

2. identify relevant literature,

3. select studies,

4. map out the data, and

5. summarize, synthesize, and report the results. 

The research questions were as follows: 

• How is ED defined in the literature? 

• What are the aims of ED? 

• What conditions promote or inhibit the success of ED? 

• What types of variables are examined in studies on ED?

Åkerlind (2005) has identified six different motivations that are sought when university academics engage in ED: 

1. becoming more productive and efficient;

2. achieving academic credibility and recognition;

3. ongoing improvements in the quality and effectiveness;

4. ongoing accumulation of personal knowledge and skills;

5. increasing depth and sophistication of understanding in the field; and

6. contributing to disciplinary growth or social change. 

The authors conclude that increased competitiveness and publication requirements, ever larger class sizes, accountability, administrative tasks that take up more and more space, etc. represent conditions that are unfavorable to providing quality teaching and on-going ED (Gibbs, 2018). Many academics struggle to find a work-life balance (Bartlett et al., 2021). From a practical standpoint, they emphasize the importance of acknowledging that professional learning is an essential component of one's professional life (Ambler et al., 2020). A pertinent tangent to this research is how instructors engage in ED, namely those who read, write and implement ideas from SoTL articles. Lyu and Allen Thurston (2024) found in their meta-article, Exploring the nature and scope of teacher research in higher education: A systematic scoping review that a significant volume of SoTL has been published by faculty from various disciplines. However, very little of it was underpinned by solid theoretical frameworks. In other words, we all need to be diligent in ensuring the research that we integrate into our course design is aligned with effective teaching research.

References

Marilou , B., Valérie , J., & Nicolas, F. (2024). The educational development of university teachers: Mapping the landscape, Frontiers in Education, 9. DOI=10.3389/feduc.2024.1376658; ISSN=2504-284X 

Lyu, Y., & Thurston, A. (2024). Exploring the nature and scope of teacher research in higher education: A systematic scoping review, International Journal of Educational Research Open, 7, 100393. ISSN 2666-3740, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2024.100393.