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"A
GOOD COMBINATION OF THEORY AND PRACTICE...
This volume offers the promise of directly engaging faculty through an
approach that integrates theory and practice, process and results,
professional development and authentic practice, individual classrooms and
systems.
This is an invaluable aid in developing empowered learning communities as
faculty teams continue their work focused on assessment."
Hank Lindborg, Educational Consultant, AQIP |
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Sample
Modules
A few sample modules may be downloaded in
PDF format.
Overview of Quality Learning Environments
For more than ten
years, a team of innovative educators has investigated and experimented with
ways in which the learning environment motivates, sustains, and enriches the
learning process. Creating and growing an educational setting helps faculty
engage meaningfully with students. It is important, however, to distinguish the
effort of establishing a learning environment from that required for
facilitation, assessment, and curriculum design. The process of setting up a
quality learning situation can be simplified by employing a clear methodology
and using a set of well-defined principles and key skills. Such an environment
is intricate and must be sustained through the use of assessment procedures and
methodologies designed to enhance learning. This module shows how social
processes, physical space, and learning tools must be combined using the “glue”
of assessment to create a quality learning environment.
Profile of a Quality Faculty Member
At
institutions across the country, new faculty members are faced with a novel and
varied set of professional challenges as they begin their academic careers. They
are quickly confronted with responsibilities in areas in which they have little
or no expertise. Furthermore, criteria for success are broader and expectations
are rising. In this changing world, old models of a successful faculty member
are of limited usefulness. The new models incorporate well-defined performance
criteria in areas besides traditional teaching, research,
and service. The central challenge for faculty is to deeply understand what
their institutions expect of them in these new performance areas, and to promote
development in the areas that are most critical through the use of an annual
professional development process. This module highlights eight key areas of
faculty performance and links these areas with material in the Faculty
Guidebook that informs each area.
Profile of a Quality Facilitator
Quality facilitators
improve their performance through behaviors that can be classified and
quantified. By encoding these behaviors into a profile, by integrating them into
a facilitation rubric, and by regularly assessing facilitation using these
tools, participants and facilitators can develop a shared vision of facilitator
performance criteria for many different contexts. In formulating these criteria,
special attention was given to classroom teaching, committee meetings, and
faculty development workshops.
Boyer's
Model of Scholarship
The appropriate role of the professoriate has been a topic of
ongoing debate in higher education. As different types of educational
institutions have emerged, the focus of scholarly pursuits and their relative
value to the organization have evolved. This module examines how Boyer’s model
of scholarship can be used to clarify and balance roles of college faculty.
Role
of Administrators
This module offers a model (Figure 1) to depict the
qualities, behaviors, processes and roles of a quality administrator. It is a
modification of the model on the inside cover of this book that provides a
pictorial image of a quality faculty member. Like that model, administrators
function within a culture that holds a given set of values, and like faculty,
administrators in academic settings strive for empowerment of students,
employees, and the institution. A set of five roles describes the sub-sets of
roles (leader, mentor, manager, decider and builder) assumed by administrators
in order to effectively perform their responsibilities. The five roles are
interdependent and synergistic as they impact one another and gain in value as
proficiency develops in one of the other roles. This module identifies the
ramifications of absence of skills in one of the roles as part of the repertoire
of administrators.
Theory
of Performance
The Theory of Performance (ToP) develops and relates six
foundational concepts (italicized) to form a framework that can be used to
explain performance as well as performance improvements. To perform is to
produce valued results. A performer can be an individual or a group of
people engaging in a collaborative effort. Developing performance is a journey,
and level of performance describes location in the journey. Current level
of performance depends holistically on 6 components: context, level of
knowledge, levels of skills, level of identity, personal factors, and fixed
factors. Three axioms are proposed for effective performance improvements. These
involve a performer’s mindset, immersion in an enriching
environment, and engagement in reflective practice.
Letting
Students Fail So They Can Succeed
Creating a quality learning environment must include the
opportunity for students to experience temporary failure on the road to success.
Failure in academe is typically associated with students who perform poorly and
do not understand the material presented in college classrooms. This module
attempts to demystify the concept of failure in the learning environment and
illustrates how failure, when managed appropriately by faculty, can be a
catalyst for the growth, development, and improved performance of the adult
learner. This module begins with a definition of tough love, it examines some
issues that faculty face in practicing it, and suggests several techniques to
assist faculty as they encourage students to take risks and learn from failure.
Overview
of Measurement
Before measuring any aspect of a performance, it is important
to remember that the results will be only as clear and robust as the reason for
taking the measurement. This module presents principles for obtaining valid,
reliable, and efficient measurements and illustrates how these are central to
proper assessment, evaluation, and research. This module also examines
performance measurement as an alternative to selected-response exams as a means
for monitoring a diverse set of learning outcomes.
Efforts
to Transform Higher Education
Transforming higher
education is not an easy task given the complexities and variations of
institutions, the high value placed on independent thought and action, the
evolution of extensive bureaucracies, and the myriad processes and practices
tied to tradition. This module highlights four movements that show evidence of
progress in addressing current needs (Changing Expectations for Higher
Education). First, the role of teaching in higher education is evolving
as institutions
apply a new model calling for the scholarship of teaching. Second, focus on
learning as the primary outcome of education is replacing emphasis on the
delivery of education. Third, assessment has become a priority in classrooms and
institutions as emphasis has moved to measuring student success and
institutional effectiveness. Finally, developmental education is maturing in
higher education and gaining higher status as institutions address the need both
to raise the performance levels of students and to include those who previously
did not pursue higher education.
Overview
of Assessment
Simply put,
assessment is a process used for improving quality. Assessment is critical for
growing lifelong learning skills and elevating performance in diverse contexts.
However, the value of assessment is not always apparent nor is the process
always understood. Because there has not always been agreement on a specific
definition, there has been some confusion on how to approach assessment to
ensure that the feedback is valuable. This overview outlines a purpose and use
of assessment that is consistent throughout the entire Faculty Guidebook.
Elements of quality assessment feedback
are identified and discussed. Methods for implementing assessment in a variety
of teaching/learning contexts are detailed in companion modules.
Profile
of a Quality Learner
Quality learners
exhibit definable behaviors that optimize learning and predict successful
performance. These behaviors can be classified and assessed. By recognizing
these behaviors, learners and instructors can work toward the ideal behaviors,
and instructors can design instruction to foster growth in learning behaviors.
Bloom's Taxonomy―Expanding its
Meaning
This module expands
the usefulness of Bloom’s taxonomy beyond its original intent of clarifying
educational objectives to help faculty prepare better-designed courses, achieve
more student-centered implementation, and establish outcomes-oriented evaluation
criteria. Bloom’s taxonomy is explored from a historical perspective and
examined for its applications in Process Education. Pacific Crest’s adaptation
of Bloom’s taxonomy includes five different “levels of learner knowledge.” Each
of these is defined and illustrated with key words and questions for use in
designing curriculum and instructional materials.
Facilitation
Methodology
The Facilitation
Methodology is a tool to help a faculty member prepare for, facilitate, and
assess a learning activity/process/learning experience. This methodology is
helpful in situations in which one needs to shift from being a “sage on a stage”
to being a “guide on the side.” Examples of such situations include teaching
students in a classroom, administering a grant project, chairing a department,
and running a faculty development event. Faculty members have found increased
confidence as facilitators with improved learning outcomes by following the
Facilitation Methodology. The vital role of assessment appears as a thread
throughout the methodology and the importance of defining learning outcomes,
setting up the activity, and providing closure is emphasized. Additional modules
discuss facilitation issues and tools.
Annotated Bibliography―Instructional
Design
Instructional design
involves the determination of the content, methodologies, activities,
sequencing, and assessment of learning. The instructional design process follows
a recursive structure of analysis of learning outcomes, design and development
of learning events, implementation, and assessment. The design process is driven
by learning outcomes which are derived from desired long-term behaviors. These
behaviors are assessed with measures that can be compared to performance
criteria. This structure operates at the levels of program design, course
design, and activity design. This annotated bibliography provides a starting
point for finding resources on instructional design, with an emphasis on program
and course design.
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