STLHE 2016 SAPES

In October of 2014, our institution surveyed faculty about their teaching practices, attitudes towards specific practices and perceptions of institutional support for teaching. All 11 Faculties participated, resulting in a total of 1177 responses (overall 23.5% response rate). Last year, at the STLHE 2015 conference, we shared the survey tool and discussed its evolution from an instrument developed in 2008 as part of a campus-wide initiative to modifications by various institutions in the Bay View Alliance as well as the Association of American Universities.

Over the past decade, there has been considerable interest in understanding the instructional practices most predominantly used in higher education, as well as their relative impact on student learning (Ambrose et al., 2010; Bain, 2004; Buskist & Groccia, 2012; Nilson, 2010). A number of studies have explored why faculty chose lecture as the primary mode of instruction (Henderson, Beach, & Finkelstein, 2011), and it has been asserted that it is unlikely a single factor determines what instructional practice a faculty member choses to implement (Lammers & Murphy, 2002).

The purpose of this presentation is to bring awareness to faculty practices and explore if/how faculty teaching practices change with respect to time spent on lecturing. We compared response patterns of faculty who reported spending less than 25% of classroom time lecturing with faculty who reported spending more than 75%. Using this breakdown, we analysed the survey data on practices and perceptions related to in-class and out-of-class expectations, use of TA time, perceptions of institutional recognition of the value of teaching, and utilization of professional development opportunities. We will invite participants to reflect on their practices and perceptions in relation to our findings and work together to critically evaluate key data points. We will also share some literature around these issues with the participants during the poster presentation.