As I begin this conversation on faculty training and development, a few points of clarification come to mind...things that we should address up front as the foundational framework for the discussion. The first item is to establish a basic understanding of what "faculty development and training" means. And, right away, this presents a problem: while terms like "development" and "training" are widely used to describe seemingly basic concepts, I am immediately struck by the roadblock created by their overuse. Here's the thing...in higher education, these terms, once intended as accurate descriptors of activities that help one or more people become "better," have been reduced to popular buzzwords. I could argue that these terms don't really describe anything anymore. PS: we'll save our discussion for the real meaning of "better" for a later date...it's going to be part of a future post on accountability.
Let's just say that, as far as I am concerned, you and the institution(s) you work for will probably have an already well-established idea of what it means to develop and train faculty members. The purpose of this blog is to identify and share strategies that can and have worked in various settings. I plan to hit this from a variety of angles, taking into account the realities of the American condition of higher education, in particular...stressed budgets, high numbers of adjunct faculty, students' level of engagement (real and desired), the governmental push for accountability through assessment of learning...we'll touch on all of it along the way.
I mentioned at the start that we'd be establishing a few points of clarification, and we'll look at the next one as the topic for another day: "whose responsibility is it to develop faculty to 'peak performance?'"
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