Category: Faculty Development

This post discusses how instructors’ beliefs about educational practice are influenced by their self-experience, which is formed by their experiences as students and as practitioners in the classroom. The post notes that early experiences tend to form beliefs that are highly resistant to change and that people may avoid confronting contrary evidence or engaging in discussion that might harm these beliefs. Additionally, there is evidence that the greatest resistance to change in academia comes from cohort effects, which form during an individual’s coming of age in academia. To address this, the post suggests creating professional development programs for experienced faculty to help them gain a fresh perspective on teaching and learning.

Well, I’d like to say I know exactly how to do this, but I’m still researching the theory behind this one and experimenting a bit myself. I would like to send you to a recent issue of the Educause Review called...