The Impact of Faculty Development Activities on Engineering Faculty Teaching Practices

摘要

The SUCCEED (Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering EDucation) faculty development team has spent several years helping engineering faculty members learn and implement instructional techniques that have been proven effective by research and experience. As part of the assessment effort, SUCCEED fielded e-mail surveys in 1997 and 1999 to which respondents reported their use of such instructional practices as writing formal instructional objectives for undergraduate classes, conducting in-class learning activities, and assigning team-based homework in traditional lecture courses (in contrast with laboratory and design courses, where teams have traditionally been used). About a third of surveyed faculty members returned the survey in each administration (32% in 1997 and 36% in 1999). This paper compares the results of the two surveys with respect to the use of certain teaching practices among faculty and shows the relationship between attending faculty development activities focused on teaching and the use of non-traditional teaching methods. The results indicate that attending more teaching workshops is associated with greater use of active and cooperative learning in traditional lecture classes.