Faculty Development in Higher Education : From Myths to Research Findings / Robert G. Simerly.

In today's rapidly changing world faculty members and administrators in higher education must give conscious, deliberate attention to the concept of faculty development. Because there was no reliable data base about faculty development, a research project was undertaken to provide information about how faculty members perceive their own growth and development. A structured interview with 42 professors in each of the three ranks of full, associate, and assistant yielded the following results: (1) Faculty members are making only minor changes in their teaching and often these changes are hard to identify by professors. (2) Such changes are brought about primarily by the organization in which professors work rather than by outside sources. (3) Changes in teaching methods are not being evaluated in a scientific way. (4) The freedom provided by the university environment both helps and hinders faculty development. (5) Faculty members do not perceive that they are rewarded by the organization for teaching. (6) Traditional superior-subordinate yearly evaluation is the most frequently used evaluation for faculty performance. (7) Provisions for planned faculty development do not exist. (Author/JMF)

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