Teaching at MessiahOffice of Faculty Development

2018-2019

Office of Faculty Development

Advances the college mission by supporting faculty excellence in teaching, scholarship, institutional service, and Christian faith and academic vocation

• Provides opportunities and resources for professional development• Has special emphasis on Teaching & Learning • Assists individual faculty interpreting and contextualizing student assessment of

teaching (IDEA reports)

Our office is located in Boyer Hall 101.

Who are we?

Alison R. Noble, Ph.D.Assistant Provost

Director of Faculty DevelopmentAssociate Professor of Chemistry

Cynthia Wells, Ph.D.Assoc. Prof. Higher Education

Assoc. Director, Faculty Development

for Teaching and LearningDirector, Ernest L. Boyer Center

Darcy GriffithsAdministrative Assistant,

Faculty DevelopmentLauren Allen

Administrative Assistant, Faculty Development

(Teaching and Learning)

Teaching at Messiah:Categories for Assessment of Teaching

1. Content Knowledge2. Faith and Learning3. Inclusive Excellence4. Organizational Supports5. Student Engagement6. Student Learning

Content Knowledge

• Demonstrate appropriate depth and breadth of current subject matter knowledge for each course• Provide a clear explanation of the appropriate range and complexity of

issues in the discipline and respond appropriately to student questions. • Support students in making connections across departmental courses

and/or disciplines

Faith and Learning

• One of the College’s Guiding Education Assumptions is the development of programs that help students “explore the relevance and mutual connectedness of the Christian faith and educational pursuits.”• Faculty members can advance that process in a variety of ways. Some

examples: • Help students consider disciplinary assumptions or content in light of the Christian

faith; • Help students examine the Christian faith through the lens of an academic discipline; • Encourage students to consider the role/place of faith in a vocational pursuit or context; • Guide students in considering how Christian values might inform vocational choices, etc.

Suitable approaches will vary depending on the type and content of the course.

Inclusive Excellence

• The College’s Diversity Plan states that the “consideration of inclusive excellence” shall be included in educator evaluation procedures.• With respect to teaching, inclusive excellence means in all cases that the faculty

member:• Creates a climate in the classroom that is welcoming to students regardless of gender,

race, religion, or ethnicity.

• Designs and delivers courses in ways that take into account the diverse backgrounds and learning styles of their students.

• For some courses, it can also be appropriate that they be designed and delivered in ways that increase students intercultural competency.

Organizational Supports• Faculty members must be attentive to issues of organization and classroom

management that impact student learning. • Taken as a whole, each course should be structured in a way that contributes

to student achievement of the learning objectives for that course. • Clearly written syllabi should be available at the beginning of the semester, and must be

written in accordance with the College’s requirements for syllabus content. • Expectations for students, including modifications to the course syllabus or daily

schedule, should be communicated clearly and in a timely fashion. • Individual class periods should be planned and structured in ways to contribute to the

achievement of the learning objectives for that particular class period. • Finally, work expectations for students(i.e., the amount of work assigned and the

difficulty of the work assigned) should be appropriate to the course level, and the grading of student work should be both fair and timely.

Student Engagement• Student engagement in academic work can be defined as the student's

psychological investment in and effort directed toward learning, understanding, or mastering the knowledge, skills, or crafts that academic work is intended to promote. • Levels of engagement can be estimated or inferred from indirect indicators

such as • Amount of participation in academic work(attendance, portion of tasks completed,

amount of time spent on academic work)• Intensity of student concentration• Enthusiasm and interest expressed• Degree of care shown in completing the work.

• Student engagement is supported by • Meaningful tasks• Opportunity to participate in the learning process• Clear understanding of the relevance of the content and learning activity.

(Assessment of) Student Learning

• The most important indicator of teaching effectiveness is student learning. • Faculty should identify and implement assessments in their courses that

provide useful information about the extent to which students are achieving the full range of assigned course learning objectives in their courses.• Assessments should be high quality in terms of their relevance to course

objectives (validity) and their ability to yield trustworthy (reliable) information about student learning. • Because a primary purpose of classroom assessment is to inform and improve

instruction, faculty should demonstrate that they are using assessment results to guide their teaching practices.

Teaching: IDEA

• In the first semester of teaching at Messiah, adjunct faculty will have all courses IDEA evaluated.• Student responses are available via the Self-Service Menu• Responses can be viewed by you, your department chair, and the dean of the

school in which the course you taught was housed.

• After the first semester of teaching at Messiah, the department chair will select one or more courses to be IDEA evaluated each semester.• Chairs are able to offer feedback on interpreting IDEA scores• The Office of Faculty Development offers support for interpreting

IDEA scores and using feedback to develop teaching.

Selected Ongoing Programming• Teaching Tuesdays• Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)• Faculty Development Week (May, with Office of the Provost)• Consultations for Teaching

Teaching and Learning

• A subdivision of the Office of Faculty Development• Associate Director of Faculty Development for Teaching and Learning

• Gives leadership to teaching & learning programming• Teaching Tuesdays• PLCs

• Focuses on developing pedagogical excellence • Expertise through contributions of Teaching Fellows

Teaching and Learning: T&L Fellows

• The Office of Faculty Development includes several teaching fellows each year.• Facilitate Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)• Involved in Teaching Tuesday planning• Available for teaching consultations with faculty

• Fellows this year are:• Erin Boyd-Soisson, Professor of Human Development and Family Science• Amy Ginck, Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages• Jenell Paris, Professor of Anthropology• Amy Porto, Associate Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics

Contact Us

• Website• facdev@messiah.edu