Keywords

Career development, College teachers -- Tenure, Community college teachers, Community college teachers -- Attitudes, Community college teaching

Abstract

Research on the development of K-12 teachers’ beliefs about and approaches to teaching and learning suggests that exposure to professional development programs can lead to the use of conceptual change strategies that engage students as active participants in the learning process rather than on teacher-centered strategies focused on information transfer. However, within the existing literature on the development of teacher beliefs and approaches to teaching and learning there exists a void of information pertaining to the development of community college instructors’ beliefs and approaches. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between pre-tenure community college instructors’ beliefs about teaching and learning, their approaches to the learning process, and the training they receive via a professional development program specifically established to provide training in teaching methods, pedagogy, curriculum, and/ or instruction. Forty community college instructors going through an established three-year tenure process completed a revised version of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI-R) created by Trigwell and Prosser (1998). Data analysis revealed that there was no difference in the scores of instructors who had participated in the professional development program on teaching and learning and those instructors who had no exposure to courses that focused on teaching and learning. Further, findings suggest that instructors’ participation in the courses is not related to their beliefs or teaching approaches. iii The findings of this study warrant a closer examination of programs designed to provide higher education instructors with training in pedagogy and instruction. Additionally, the findings present an opportunity for professional development programs to improve current practice.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2011

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Gill, Michele

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0003577

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0003577

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Education, Education -- Dissertations, Academic

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