Innovating Faculty Development

Key Information

Innovating Faculty Development: Entering the Age of Innovation, By Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe & Russell Carpenter

2016 [ISBN 10: 1-58107-297-X; 158 pages; 8 x 10 inch; soft cover] $29.95

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About the Book

Is the term “innovative faculty development” actually redundant? In our way of thinking, faculty development—mostly because of its youth—necessitates innovation. In fact, any new field depends upon creative thinking and its implementation into innovation to progress.

In our academic careers, despite a background in traditional studies in English, we have helped develop three new disciplines—pop culture (especially comic book theory), creative writing, and now faculty development. Our careers have coincided with the rise of these three fields.

But here we want to focus on faculty development. While the more formal structure we think of as faculty development began around 50 years ago, way back in 1810 Harvard University granted its first sabbatical, and many claim that action as the first instance of faculty development. In Creating the Future of Faculty Development (2006), Sorcinelli et al. posit that faculty development has evolved through five ages: The Age of the Scholar (1960s-mid 70s), The Age of the Teacher (mid-to-late 70s), The Age of the Developer (1980s), The Age of the Learner (1990s), and The Age of the Network (21st century).

Obviously such constant change necessitates innovation. It must be done, and within the pages of this work, we’re going to demonstrate how. The book’s first section contains essays addressing the fundamental theories underlying creative thinking and then its application to faculty development, while the following sections treat practical concerns. For these pedagogical essays, we often include a set of ancillaries to aid the reader in reflecting about and implementing the strategies presented. While we have created an extensive approach to innovating faculty development, we encourage you to take a risk and attempt a few of them at first. If those innovations succeed, feel free to keep borrowing more and more from our suggestions. They work for us.

–– The Authors

The Contents

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………….. vii

FOUNDATIONAL THEORY……………………………………………………………………………….. 1

The Importance of Creative Thinking to Academia’s Future………………………………. 3
Why Successful Faculty Development Requires Innovation ……………………………….. 4
How to Weave Creative Thinking into the Institutional Fabric…………………………….. 5
Using Creative Thinking to Innovate Faculty Development………………………………… 7
Tuesday Mornings………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9

Applying Creative Thinking to Faculty Development………………………………………… 11
How Design Thinking Helps Innovate Faculty Development, Part I…………………… 12
How Design Thinking Helps Innovate Faculty Development, Part II…………………. 14
The Faculty Developer’s Most Important Question………………………………………….. 16
Applying Pedagogy as the Fifth Creative Thinking Perspective…………………………. 17
Creating Unified Higher Ed Faculty Development Programming………………………. 19
Resources on Unifying Faculty Development Programming………………………………. 20
3 Principles for Innovating the Faculty Development Experience………………………. 22
The Future of Faculty Development: A Techtonic Shift…………………………………… 24
Is There Really a Teaching Revival Happening Now?………………………………………. 26

ESTABLISHING A CENTER OF TEACHING AND LEARNING (CTL)…………………………………………………………………………………….. 29
Why Centers of Teaching and Learning Have Advisory Boards………………………… 31
What Services Should a Center of Teaching and Learning Offer……………………….. 33
Types and Characteristics of Successful Faculty Programming………………………….. 37
14 Guidelines for Successful Higher Ed Faculty Workshops……………………………… 40
To Belong or Not Belong to POD in Higher Education?…………………………………… 43
Is Your Center of Teaching and Learning a Hammer or Nail?……………………………. 45
The X-Factor: One Result of Success…………………………………………………………….. 47

CREATING A FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ………………………………… 51

Instituting Faculty Innovators and The Faculty Innovation Network…………………. 53
Faculty Innovators: The Key to the Future of Faculty Development………………….. 54
Behind the Scenes with Wizards Behind the Faculty Innovators……………………….. 56
How to Select Faculty Innovators………………………………………………………………….. 58
An Inside Look at a Faculty Innovator Progress, Part I…………………………………….. 61
An Inside Look at a Faculty Innovator Progress, Part II…………………………………… 62
Using Technology to Build the Faculty Innovation Network…………………………….. 64
Funding the Faculty Innovator Program………………………………………………………….. 67

  1. Determining Services For Individuals……………………………………………………………….. 71
  2. Faculty Development: Consultation and Classroom Observation………………………. 72
  3. The Heisenberg Effect: A Flaw in Classroom Observation……………………………….. 74
  4. Determining Services For Groups: New Faculty, Part-time, First-Year
    Course Instructors, TAs…………………………………………………………………………… 77
  5. How to Improve Faculty Attendance at Higher Ed Professional Development Events…………………………………………………………………………………….. 78
  6. Innovating Faculty Development Lessons from Pedagogy Day…………………………. 80
  7. How to Communicate Best Practices in Higher Ed Pedagogy……………………………. 82
  8. Another Approach to Pedagogy Day …………………………………………………………….. 84
  9. Focused Faculty Groups: PLCs, Breakfast & a Books, and Creative     Communities………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 87
  10. Focused Faculty Groups: Breakfast and a Book………………………………………………. 88
  11. The Best Center of Teaching and Learning Service for Professional     Development………………………………………………………………………………………………. 90
  12. How to Assess Professional Learning Communities…………………………………………. 93
  13. The Great Professional Learning Community Experiment…………………………………. 95
  14. The Higher Education Professional Learning Community Oversight………………….. 97
  15. A Third Type of Community…………………………………………………………………………. 99
  16. Implementing Innovative Pedagogical Strategies……………………………………………… 103
  17. A Reaction to Worthen’s `Lecture Me, Really’………………………………………………. 104
  18. Flipping the Classroom, New Book in It Works for Me Series…………………………. 106
  19. Making it C.R.I.S.P……………………………………………………………………………………. 108
  20. Applying C.R.I.S.P. to Change Higher Education Campus Culture………………….. 111
  21. The Four Rs of Deep Learning…………………………………………………………………….. 113
  22. The Importance of Physical Space for Faculty Performance…………………………….. 114
  23. 7 Tips for Making the Most of Higher Ed Instructional Videos……………………….. 117
  24. Promoting Scholarship……………………………………………………………………………………. 121
  25. Kentucky Pedagogicon: How We Did It……………………………………………………… 122
  26. Making of Pedagogicon Conference Via Nifty-Nine Strategies……………………….. 124
  27. Scholarship Lite…………………………………………………………………………………………. 125
  28. Under Construction: Developing a Style Sheet for the Journal

     of Faculty Development…………………………………………………………………………….. 128

  1. Collaboration and the Scholar………………………………………………………………………. 130

 

ASSESSMENT………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 133

  1. Going to WAR: Using a Weekly Activities Report for Assessment, Part I……….. 134
  2. Going to WAR: Using a Weekly Activities Report for Assessment, Part II………. 135
  3. An Innovative Plan for Assessing Faculty Development ………………………………… 137

AFTERWORD………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 141

ABOUT THE AUTHORS………………………………………………………………………………….. 143

The Authors

Charlie Sweet, Ph.D. (Florida State University, 1970), is the Co-Director of the Teaching & Learning Center at Eastern Kentucky University.  With Hal, he has collaborated on over 1200 published works, including 17 books, literary criticism, educational research, and ghostwriter of the lead novella for the Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.

Hal Blythe, Ph.D. (University of Louisville, 1972), is the Co-Director of the Teaching & Learning Center at Eastern Kentucky University.  With Charlie, he has collaborated on over 1200 published works, including 17 books (eight in New Forums’ popular It Works For Me Series), literary criticism, and educational research.

Russell Carpenter, Ph.D. (University of Central Florida, 2009), directs the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity and Minor in Applied Creative Thinking at Eastern Kentucky University where he is also Assistant Professor of English. He is the author or editor of several recent books including The Routledge Reader on Writing Centers and New Media (with Sohui Lee), Cases on Higher Education Spaces, Teaching Applied Creative Thinking (with Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe, and Shawn Apostel), and the Introduction to Applied Creative Thinking (with Charlie Sweet and Hal Blythe). He serves as President of the Southeastern Writing Center Association and Past Chair of the National Association of Communication Centers.

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