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Reflective Essay on Theme I, Issue No. 3: Faculty Development and Improvement of Instruction

Faculty development is one institutional strategy that helps improve learning through effective teaching, through faculty's continuing professional growth, and through partnerships with the community, thus, contributing to educational effectiveness. At CSUSB, faculty development support is provided in all three professional areas, namely teaching, professional growth, and service.

The chart below summarizes the overall organizational structure, the units, and areas of support:

The Teaching Resource Center (TRC) serves as the main unit for supporting instructional improvement and innovations. Created by the Faculty Senate in 1996, TRC's support for teaching now includes, but is not limited to, 4 grant programs that involve 7 rounds of Calls for Proposals, an average of 15-18 teaching/learning workshops per year, two annual events and quarterly brown bag luncheons for disseminating project results and which serve as faculty learning communities, a New Faculty (Year 2) development program, the classroom camera (videotaping) project, consulting, classroom visits, and, special projects for integrating learning skills across the curriculum, for the integration technology in teaching, and for the promotion of the scholarship of teaching and learning (see Summary of TRC Programs http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/TRCProgramsSummary.doc). In seven years, TRC evolved from promoting good teaching skills to promoting excellent teaching, to scholarly teaching, and now, to the scholarship of teaching and learning among faculty (See Stages of Teaching for Faculty Development: http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/TeachingStages.doc). It has programs that support each teaching stage, and each stage is aligned with the campus' strategic goals.

In addition, TRC has promoted the development of a Teaching Academy (http://trc.csusb.edu/academy), successfully hosted the systemwide CSU Regional Symposium on University Teaching in 1998 and 2003 (http://trc.csusb.edu Workshop Schedules), and worked closely with the Faculty Senate's committees on Instructional Quality, Faculty Development, Service Learning, and Distance Learning.

Data from the 2003 Faculty Development Survey indicate strong faculty satisfaction with faculty development support provided for the improvement of instruction (See 2003 Faculty Development Report: (http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/2003FacDevReport.doc)

The level of engagement in TRC programs is high and many use its support services for instructional innovations and improvement.

Teaching grants and workshops were most helpful to faculty. Strategic planning to advance (or maintain) the teaching skills and interest of the 69% who have already participated in these programs will be needed. Technology is also playing a significant role in teaching. Technology support and "smart" classrooms are available but more is needed. Research on the impact of the use of technology as a teaching-learning tool at CSUSB will also become necessary.

Other faculty development efforts at CSUSB include support for research through mini-grants, summer research fellowships, and research study programs (See http://trc.csusb.edu/faculty_development/). In addition to these university-wide grant programs, colleges have their own faculty development programs to suit the specific discipline needs of faculty, and those of the college. These programs include junior faculty grant/travel support, mentoring, release time for grant writing, and college support for special centers and institutes. CSUSB has 7 institutes and a total of 14 college-based centers. They promote faculty professional growth through research projects, grant writing, community outreach, and training and through which faculty could provide, apply and improve their professional expertise. (See Annual Report CSUSB-Approved Institutes and Centers http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/AnnualReport-CSUSBCentersandInstitutes2003.doc)

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) supports faculty and institutional development of grants, contracts, public and private partnerships, intellectual property and technology development and transfer, and other entrepreneurial activities complementing and strengthening the university mission. Its faculty development support includes, but is not limited to, annual workshops on grant concept development, grant funding source development , and basic elements of grant writing; new faculty support programs (New Faculty Orientation, Dissertation-to-Book Group): and its Proposal Development Financial Assistance Program http://research.csusb.edu)

Faculty rated the level of support and improvement for professional growth as satisfactory, but not as high as teaching support. Faculty needed more release time for research and grant writing. Faculty members teach up to12 Weighted Teaching Units (WTUs) each quarter, which typically amounts to three 4-unit courses per week with 12 hours a week of direct instruction in the classroom. Labs and other activity-based courses are assumed to require more time in class and less preparation time, but most faculty members report that they spent an additional two hours or more each week outside of class for each unit of credit taught, so another 24 hours a week is expended for course preparation, paperwork, grading and assessment. When the four hours required for keeping office-hours is added in, it is evident most faculty time is already committed to teaching. Course preparation time is expected to decrease as a course is taught for the 3rd, 4th or 5th time. However, with teaching innovations and new program demands for curricular changes, this time may not actually be there for faculty to spend on professional growth activities and service. The need for more time to do research and grant writing indicates that the faculty prioritizes teaching first, in order to accomplish the mission of the university and its role as a teaching university. However, research and service also are requirements for promotion and tenure; thus, more support is needed in these areas. How we balance these three vital areas of university life is critical as they are closely intertwined and reflect upon the success of the university (and, more importantly, of our students.)

Another need that was strongly voiced in the faculty development survey was the lack of research facilities, space, and technical support. This affects faculty in disciplines that require lab research and whose professional growth depends heavily on research activities conducted in such facilities.

The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences reported improvement of support for its faculty's professional growth (see CSBS Dean's Report: http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/CSBSDeanReport.doc ). Mentoring of junior faculty by senior faculty resulted in higher success rates in tenure and promotion. There was an increase in instructional innovations, technology integration, and number of grant proposals (internal and external) submitted. Four new centers/institutes were also created in the past five years, which required support in terms of released time.

Centers and Institutes need to provide more data that can be used as valid indicators of professional growth when faculty get involved in centers and institute projects (see Summary of EPRC Review of Annual Reports, CSUSB Institutes and Centers: http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/EPRCsummaryreportsonCentersandInstitutes.doc)

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, on the other hand, reports a significant increase in external grant awards received by faculty, as well as the number of publications reported by faculty (see "Faculty Focus" publication in pdf versions, at http://gradstudies.csusb.edu/facfocus.html)

Finally, the Community University Partnerships (CUP) supports faculty development through faculty fellowships, training workshops and its Library (http://partnerships.csusb.edu). Since 1999, 55 CUP fellowships have been awarded and CUP faculty have worked with over 230 community agencies. Over 150 faculty members have participated in its workshops and 25 of these have received CUP fellowships. Library check-outs have doubled since its inception, with Service-Learning materials being most frequently used (see CUP Director's Report, http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/CUPDirectorReport.doc) The Office of Service-Learning (OSL) also provides fellowships, scholars roundtable, and faculty training sessions. 26 courses have added service-learning as a result of the fellowships. OSL has co-sponsored 10 workshops with CUP. A searchable S-L Library database is available online (See Office of Service Learning Director's Report .
http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/OSLDirectorReport.doc ).

Faculty indicated improvement in campus support for service and community partnerships. What they still need in this area are release time and RPT/evaluation recognition of community partnerships and service learning.

In conclusion, there is strong support for faculty development at CSUSB in all three areas of teaching, professional growth and service. Faculty indicated overall satisfaction with faculty development efforts. They also indicated improvement in faculty development support in all three areas.

A fuller report and analysis of the topic of Faculty Development may be found at http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/thm1iss3/thm1iss3fr.htm