Maximizing responses to a nationwide faculty survey

Using on-campus facilitators to distribute and retrieve an 11-page questionnaire administered to a nationwide sample of humanities faculty and nonhumanities department chairmen in two-year colleges resulted in an 84% return rate. The 2,000 subjects were drawn from 156 junior/community colleges selected on the basis of geographic locale and type of control. Secondary stratification variables included college size, organization, and curriculum emphasis. Accurate rosters of full-time and part-time faculty were generated from class schedules. Pilot procedures, selection of the college and faculty samples, and the use of facilitators are described.     

A survey of selected administrative practices supporting student evaluation of instruction programs

A mail survey of 333 American universities was conducted to assess the current status of Student Evaluation of Instruction. Based on a 68% return, it was concluded that there has been an increase in the popularity of student ratings as a means of evaluating faculty performance, as well as an increase in the frequency with which evaluation results are used in decisions concerning faculty status. However, at most universities, research on the rating instruments does not seem to have kept pace with the decisions that are based on the rating instruments.     

寓大学英语翻译教学于课堂教学之中

翻译教学是大学英语教学的重要组成部分，也是不少学生的薄弱环节。由于师资所限，很难为非英语专业学生开设专门的翻译课程。为解决这一难题，本着重探讨了在《大学英语》的教学中，如何通过教师讲解、学生讨论、师生切磋等途径，把翻译教学融入到精读教学之中的具体做法，为提高教学质量提供新的经验。     

依托高校教学名师的教师教学培训探析

教学培训是提升教师教学能力的重要途径,是加强教师队伍建设的重要环节。教学名师是高校教师的杰出代表,如何充分运用高校教学名师的优势开展教学培训是一个值得探讨的问题。文章从高校教师教学名师的教学专项培训开班满意度的调查分析出发,对如何发挥高校教学名师作用、做好教师教学培训提出了一些相应的对策及思路。     

Vader-Mccormick,Nancy (2011). the Engaged Teacher: What Works with Today's Students.

Community colleges have responded to the increased use of technology for instruction by providing support and professional development opportunities for faculty. However, differences in perceptions, expectations, and opportunities exist between full-time faculty at community colleges and their adjunct colleagues when it comes to adopting technology into instruction. Because adjunct faculty represent 68.5% of faculty teaching at community colleges (U.S. Department of Education, 2007 U.S. Department of Education . ( 2007 ). National Center for Education Statistics, 2007 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Winter 2007–08. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/index.asp  [Google Scholar]), it is imperative to understand their intentions to integrate technology into instruction. This study adopted the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) as a theoretical framework to survey 130 community college adjunct faculty member's intentions to participate in technology integration. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that DTPB was useful in explaining much of the variance in the intention to integrate technology into teaching by community college adjunct faculty. Results also suggested that community college administrators can play an important role toward increasing technology integration by adjunct faculty through leveraging types of influence in support of behavioral intention. Research implications for instructional technologists at community colleges indicated that professional development programs should be designed based on the significant predictors in the DTPB.     

Achieving congruent actions and intentions: An empirical assessment of faculty work in a regional public university

Two explanations of congruency of ideal (intent) and actual (action/behavior) work of faculty are examined—reward expectations and referent others. Based on interviews with 5 college deans and 32 chairpersons, a survey of 503 faculty (69% return rate), and institutional data, it was found that referent others' goals have a greater influence than reward expectations on the congruency of work actions and intentions of faculty. Peers, chairpersons, and deans affect, in differing ways, the congruency of actions and intentions of faculty. Overwhelmingly, peers have the strongest effect, followed by chairpersons and deans. Of the three reward expectations variables (perception that work leads to tenure, promotion to associate professor, and merit salary increases), only the perception that work leads to tenure affects congruency of faculty work actions and intentions.     

Using Facebook groups to support social presence in online learning

Building interpersonal connections in asynchronous online learning is important, but it is harder to achieve compared to face-to-face learning experiences due to its mostly text-based nature. Facebook is a popular social media platform and has been used as an outside-class communication space in formal learning contexts to supplement cognitive and affective aspects of learning. In this study, we used Facebook groups as supplemental social spaces in two asynchronous online master’s-level courses to understand if it impacted students’ perceptions of social presence (i.e., copresence, immediacy, and intimacy), learning interaction with faculty and peers, as well as sociability of the online learning environment. The results indicated that students felt more positively about social presence and learning interactions with other classmates and their instructor and perceived the course as having more sociability after they joined the class Facebook group. Findings have implications for supporting social impression formation in online learning.     

Under pressure: How faculty gender and contract uncertainty impact students’ grades

Although rising average grades appear to be common at post-secondary institutions in the U.S., there is still little work examining mechanisms driving this increase in grades. This paper uses data from a public research university to examine one mechanism in particular: instructor level incentives that are linked to gender and contract status. We hypothesize that instructors with more job uncertainty due to their rank will be most incentivized to award higher grades, as this may lead to better evaluations of teaching and an increase in retention probability. Our results indicate that students receive higher grades when their class is taught by a female instructor with more job uncertainty than if the class were taught by a tenured female faculty member. These higher grades appear to reflect more lenient grading rather than better preparation for follow-on courses. However, for students taking classes with male instructors, there is no significant difference across instructor rank in grades received. Our results have important implications for thinking about the role faculty contracts may play in affecting grading distributions.     

Predicting faculty success in university graduate departments

This study tests a model of predicting faculty success in the different fields of chemistry, physics, sociology, and political science. The main hypotheses tested and confirmed are:

1. In a field with a low technological development, professional age is more important in predicting faculty success than in a field with a high technological development.
2. In a field with a high technological development, articles are more important in predicting faculty success than in a field with a low technological development.
3. In a field with a low technological development, books are more important in predicting faculty success than in a field with a high technological development.

These hypotheses are tested separately for the tenured and the nontenured faculty groups. The policy implications of this model in regard to the management of graduate departments have been discussed and explored.     

The Vanishing JD—How ACJS Certification Ensures Extinction of the Species

Criminal Justice departments across the country are experiening unprecedented growth. This growth has created a demand for qualified tenure‐track faculty. Obviously, it is important to maintain quality standards for the hiring of tenure‐track faculty during periods of growth. In an effort to improve the quality of Criminal Justice education, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences has adopted standards for certification of baccalaureate and graduate degree programs. One area adressed by the ACJS standards is the area of acceptable faculty credentials for certification. For example, graduate programs that desire the ACJS imprimatur cannot have a faculty with more than 1 in 10 faculty members who hold a Juris Doctor degree. Efforts to eliminate the JD from the CJ faculty ranks are misguided. Instead, CJ departments should focus on the individual candiadate. Graduates from top‐tier institutions with a history of scholarly productivity and who possess ample skills in empirical study should not be excluded from tenure‐track consideration solely because they lack a PhD.

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.—William Shakespeare, Henry VI (Act IV, Scene II)     

Raising Research Productivity in a Post-Soviet Higher Education System:A Case From Central Asia

To raise university research productivity, the government of Kazakhstan introduced a requirement for university faculty members to publish in journals with a nonzero impact factor in order to qualify for promotion. A survey of faculty members at six universities was conducted to explore their response to the policy. The results suggest that a promotion-linked publication requirement may lift faculty research productivity if it is accompanied by support structures and if universities have control over the promotion process.     

Faculty work in a regional public university: An empirical assessment of goal consensus and congruency of actions and intentions

This analysis is concerned with the horizontal and vertical consensus of definitions of work appropriate to accomplish the goals of university administrators and faculty, as well as the congruency of ideal (intent) and actual (action/behavior) work of faculty. Data-gathering techniques include the following: historical analysis of the university; interviews with the provost, 5 college deans, and 32 chairpersons; and a survey of 503 faculty (69% return rate). Faculty work perceived to achieve departmental goals lacked horizontal consensus, especially among chairpersons in the same college and among faculty in the same department. Vertical consensus was weak, especially between chairpersons and their faculty, and in most colleges between deans and chairpersons. Greatest incongruencies were between faculty intentions and reported actions. There was declining support for administrative goals as one moved down the hierarchical structure within the university. Perspectives were explored that account for the lack of goal consensus and the incongruency between intentions and reported actions.     

Faculty perspectives and practice in an Urban Community College

This article explores faculty perspectives and practice at one Urban Community College in the United States. Data were gathered as part of a larger ethnography on the culture which lower class black students produce in an urban institution. My goal here is to describe elements of faculty culture, explore reasons why faculty culture takes the shape and form that it does, and discuss the ways in which this culture may be linked to institutional outcomes. In so doing. I offer a framework through which the structural genesis of faculty-student conflict and the relationship between faculty culture and institutional outcomes may be viewed.     

美国一流大学教师在院校管理中的作用分析

美国一流大学都非常重视发挥教师在院校管理中的作用。文章简要回顾了美国一流大学教师在院校管理中所起作用的演变历史,阐述了以共同治理理念为基础的教师评议会制度的形成、发展和完善的过程,并分析了美国学术职业的工会化倾向对美国一流大学中教师在院校管理中所起作用的影响。     

Back to the Faculty: Transition from University Department Leadership

This study examined the perceptions and concerns of current academic department chairs as they consider the transition to full responsibilities as a faculty member after the completion of a term in this leadership role. Currently, little research has focused on the dynamics of this transition process. Findings indicated that most department chairs planned to return to faculty positions and that a primary concern was reconstructing research agendas with minimal support. The discussion proposes ways in which institutions can support the return of former chairs to a faculty position that demands and rewards achievement in teaching, research, and service. These findings have implications for influencing policies and procedures relative to securing and continuing quality leadership and faculty productivity at the departmental level.     

Faculty attitudes and training needs to respond the new European Higher Education challenges

The main objective of the Bologna Process is to create a “European space” for higher education that allows for comparability, compatibility, and coherence between the existing systems of higher education across Europe. This objective is commonly known as the European higher education area (EHEA). The creation of the EHEA is a new and specific challenge for higher education in Europe, one that depends upon improved faculty development and training across Europe. The integration of Spain and other European countries into European higher education more generally entails these challenges. In order for necessary changes in faculty development and training to take place, university managers and policy makers must account for designing training plans, as well the knowledge, attitudes and needs of faculty members. This investigation was undertaken with these themes in mind. Conducted in Madrid, Spain, it included 257 professors from ten different schools of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The aim of the investigation was to understand faculty knowledge and attitudes about changes in higher education in Europe. Moreover, with an eye to helping faculty members cope with the change that is accompanying the creation of EHEA, the investigators sought to understand the importance that faculty members place upon professional development and how current approaches to professional development at the university level could be improved. The results indicate a degree of ignorance regarding changes in European higher education as well as a feeling of resistance on the part of many faculty members. While many faculty members consider knowledge of change processes and adaptability to be important qualities, faculty responses also indicate a clear need for guidance if they are going to integrate new learning models and adequate coping strategies into their work in higher education.     

美国大学教师发展的历史进程及其启示

在20世纪60年代末,美国大学教师发展只是少数高校的自发行为,采用了一些零星的项目。到70年代,项目制逐渐确立起来,高校对教学空前重视,并得到外部基金会的资助。进入80年代,教学促进中心大量出现,这些中心拥有稳定的经费支持。90年代,大学教师发展中心普遍设立,兼职教师和终身教职教师的发展问题被提上日程。目前国内对大学教师重评价、轻发展的倾向很严重。一方面,高校没有为教师提供发展的环境和氛围;另一方面,教师疲于应对各种考核,没有时间和精力来关注个人的发展问题。     

高校教师考核目标的背离与纠偏

教师考核是高校教师管理中不可或缺的环节,运用得当可以有效激励教师。但现实中。高校教师考核过程背离了最本真的目标,呈现出重终极性考核、注重外部评价,以及考核评价的福利化等倾向。而功利主义思潮泛滥以及工具理性居于主导地位是高校教师考核目标背离的主要原因。基于此,认为建立健全发展性教师考核制度,形成健康竞争的运行机制等是应对高校教师考核目标背离的可行策略。     

Preferred directions and images for the community college: A view from inside

Both a sharpened sense of direction and promotion of specific institutional images seem necessary if the community college is to achieve a more distinct identity. Congruence between faculty and administrative preferences for possible directions and images seems vital if the direction and images are to be achieved. A randomly selected sample of full-time faculty and senior-level administrators in the State University of New York's thirty community colleges was surveyed to determine faculty and administrative preferences for four institutional directions and seven images for the community college. The results showed a surprising degree of congruence between faculty and administrators as to preferred direction and images. In addition, the relationship of certain demographic variables to preferences was examined, with limited correlations resulting. It was concluded that faculty and administrators were especially supportive of the institution's comprehensiveness since it provides a niche for everyone.     

ON THE HOME FRONT: HOW DO AGHE‐MEMBER INSTITUTIONS UTILIZE THEIR GERONTOLOGY PROGRAMS FOR AGE‐RELEVANT PLANNING AND DECISION‐MAKING?

Presidents of AGHE‐affiliated colleges and universities expressed a predominantly negative assessment of their elderly faculty members in response to a national survey (Kastenbaum & Schulte, 1988). They anticipated that the abolishment of mandatory retirement (scheduled for 1994) would lead to deterioration of instructional quality and scholarly productivity as well as a negative economic impact at their own academic institutions. However, very few of the responding institutions reported having completed studies relevant to this assumption. The present study is a follow‐up survey addressed not to the presidents but to the directors of all gerontology centers in the same academic institutions. The respondents were asked if their own administration had asked their assistance in matters concerned with the status and potential of elderly faculty. This study of gerontology on the “home front” finds that gerontological expertise is rarely sought by administrators on such topics as developing a plan for continued growth of older faculty members, new ways to utilize older faculty members, or personnel policies affecting older faculty members. The range of utilization across five items was between 3.26% and 7.09% of the 172 responding programs. Gerontology programs were somewhat more likely to initiate their own activities in these areas, ranging from 8.66% to 14.17%. Within the limits of this study, it appears that an academic institution's membership in AGHE does not necessarily signify a readiness to call upon its resident gerontologists with regard to age‐related issues on campus. The pattern of data from both surveys also suggests that (a) there i^r a nationwide emphasis on encouraging older faculty to take early r irement, (b) accompanied by a prevailing assumption that older faculty perform less adequately, although (c) little effort has been made to obtain and review data on the actual performance and potential of older faculty.