Age, Gender, Career Track, And Rank On Faculty Service-Learning Beliefs

Keywords

Belief; Faculty; Resource utilization likelihood; Service-learning; Willingness to participate

Abstract

Background: Research universities have been called to take leadership roles on civic engagement and service-learning. However, few studies focus on faculty perceptions of service-learning adoption at major research universities as unique contexts for community-engaged teaching. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of age, gender, career track and rank on perceived pros and cons towards servicelearning, service-learning participation (SL_Participate), willingness to participate (WTP), and resource utilization likelihood (RUL) among faculty at a major research university. Methods: A representative sample of 1200 faculty members from each college and school at one of the major institutions in Southeast U.S. were recruited. The study compared 4 service-learning beliefs, perceived benefits at classroom (PROS_CLS) and community levels (PROS_COM), perceived barriers at classroom (CONS_CLS) and institutional levels (CONS_INST) among faculty with different age, gender, career track, and rank groups. SL_Participate was measured by whether faculty ever participated in any of the 3 SL opportunities available, and WTP (5-item scale) and RUL (8-item scale) measured by 5-point Likert scales. ANOVA and t-tests were used to compare means of these variables across groups. Findings: A total of 450 faculty members (60% males) participated. Although there were no significant differences on SL beliefs across age groups, linear line charts indicated trends of higher perceived benefit with increased age till 60 years’ group. CONS_CLS were high among both those younger than 40 years and older than 60 years. Results showed that gender, career track, and rank all had significant influences on SL related beliefs, except the CONS_INST. In addition, data showed that SL_WTP and SL_RUL were significantly different among faculty by rank and gender. Senior faculty had lowest scores on SL_WTP and SL_RUL (F(3,445)=4.60 ∼ 6.40; p<.01), and female faculty were more likely to score higher on SL_WTP and SL_RUL (t(447) =2.83~3.85; p<.01). Conclusions: Findings provide valuable information on the influence of age, gender, track, and rank among faculty at a major public research university. Results have implication on providing institutional supports and targeted faculty development opportunities for faculty with different demographic characteristics, and faculty in different career tracks and stages.

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publication Title

Service-Learning: Perspectives, Goals and Outcomes

Number of Pages

21-44

Document Type

Article; Book Chapter

Personal Identifier

scopus

Socpus ID

85048560244 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85048560244

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