Faculty training that shifts teaching innovation attitudes
A university faculty development program improved professors’ attitudes toward teaching innovation and LMS use, plus knowledge of innovative teaching elements.
Source
Educate to transform: An innovative experience for faculty training
What they did
At Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, researchers evaluated a faculty training program with a single-group quasi-experiment and pre-post measures. Hundreds of full-time and part-time professors completed instruments on attitudes toward innovation and LMS, knowledge of teaching-practice elements, and reported classroom application across program editions.
What they found
After the program, attitudes toward innovation and the LMS improved, and professors reported greater knowledge of how to implement and judge the suitability of innovative teaching elements. Patterns were broadly similar across full-time and part-time faculty, with some faculty-level differences in post-program attitudes.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Without a control group, maturation, self-selection, or concurrent campus changes could explain gains. The study measures faculty attitudes and self-reported knowledge/application, not direct student learning outcomes.
Key terms
- Faculty development
- Structured professional learning intended to improve university teaching practice.
- Quasi-experiment
- An intervention study without full random assignment to conditions.
- LMS
- Learning management system software used to organize courses, materials, and online activities.
- Attitude toward innovation
- How positively instructors feel about trying new teaching approaches.
- Pre-post measurement
- Assessing outcomes before and after a program to estimate change.
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Quiz yourself
What design did the faculty evaluation use?
Common questions
Who participated?
695 professors from the university population participated in the broader study sample used for instrument work; impact analyses used pre-post respondents from the training program.
Did only full-time faculty benefit?
Attitude changes were similar for full-time and part-time professors on the reported comparisons.
What improved besides attitudes?
Knowledge related to implementing and judging suitability of teaching-practice elements, and reported practical application.
Was every faculty equally positive afterward?
No; some faculties showed higher post-program overall attitudes than others.
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