What Works Best: A

Qualitative Study of the Impact of Faculty Development

Activities of Adjunct Community College Faculty on Student Learning and Program

EvaluationLori Bush

Introduction

The presence of adjunct faculty in higher education classrooms throughout the country has increased dramatically the last forty years. Because so many diverse learners use community college as their entry to higher education, the quality of teaching in community college classrooms must be at the highest level.Recent studies reflect these findings and sustain the argument in relation to the lack of professional development support for part-time community college faculty

 Statement of the Problem

There is a void that needs to be filled for community college part-time faculty members in terms of professional development. The void is created because little is known about professional development opportunities for part-time faculty, making it difficult to plan, implement, and evaluate these programs. The perceived value of part-time community college faculty member, the transient nature of the part-time faculty member, lack of knowledge related to effective professional development strategies, the cost of providing professional development to a constantly changing group of part-time faculty, and a lack of capacity of personnel needed by community colleges to provide effective support to its part-time faculty are all possible factors adding to this problem.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to describe how the participation of part-time community college faculty members in professional development activities impacts their instructional practice.

Central Research Question

How does participation of part-time faculty members in professional development activities improve student learning?

Related Research Questions

What instructional practices are emphasized in professional development?What are the instructional practices that part-time faculty members use to improve student learning?How is effective implementation of the professional development activity evaluated?How are professional development activities evaluated?How is professional development aligned with institutional goals?How is student learning evaluated in courses taught by part-time faculty?How is the impact on student learning used to evaluate the effectiveness of professional development activities?

Method

This study will employ a qualitative design. Surveys and interviews will be utilized to provide answers to the research questions. Surveys will be conducted through an web-based survey with a link sent to participants. Interviews will be conducted face to face utilizing an established interview protocol and open-ended questions.

 

Significance of the Study

The overall purpose of the study is an investigation to provide information that may assist faculty development coordinators, adjunct faculty, and department heads to understand the impact of professional development activities participated in by adjunct faculty have on student learning.

Review of the Literature

Faculty DevelopmentPart-Time FacultyLeaning to Teach

Context of the Study

Participants

The potential pool for participants will be adjunct faculty who has participated in professional development programs focusing on instructional strategies in the previous year. These faculty members must have taught the course prior to participating in the faculty development to determine the impact the faculty development had on their instruction. The pool of department chairs will be any chairperson who supervises an adjunct faculty member who participated professional development related to improving student learning. Preferably, the department chair will have knowledge of the adjunct faculty member’s teaching prior to the professional development and can acknowledge growth in the adjunct faculty member.

Data Collection Two types of data collection techniques will be used for this study, a survey and interviews. The survey will be used to determine descriptive factors of the professional development activities that are available for adjunct faculty to participate in to improve student learning. Interviews will be used to understand the relationship between the professional development, adjunct faculty teaching, student learning, and institutional goals.

Mock Findings/Analysis

The data from this study shows that professional development coordinators do not follow up with adjunct faculty who has participated in professional development activities to confirm the activities are providing the adjunct faculty member with the intended outcome Adjunct faculty members are not attributing the growth in student learning to the implementation of information obtained during faculty development activities. Finally, professional development coordinators do not align the professional development plan with institutional goals of student learning.

Professional development has been a series of disjointed activities for a number of years. Department chairs are not consistently following up with adjunct faculty to determine if they have engaged in faculty development, what type, what was learned, and if they can be a resource to the adjunct faculty member in implementing the new technique. Department chairs are not having discussions with faculty development coordinators to discuss successes adjunct have had using techniques learned in faculty development sessions.

ReferencesA fresh look at community college faculty. (2007). ASHE Higher Education Report, 32(6), 127-141.Cohen, A. M., & Brawer, F. B. (2008). The American Community College (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conduction, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

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