Care for Faculty: Promoting Faculty Excellence to Improve Student Outcomes and Faculty Engagement

Key components of the care model for student success are care for colleagues and care for students.  The model begins with engaged, caring colleagues because care reflects the culture and provides the foundation for care of students.

The literature indicates that key factors in student engagement in learning are student perceptions of the quality of instruction and interactions with faculty in the classroom. As part of a larger initiative to inculcate care throughout the institution, we established a goal that faculty in the classroom (both online and onsite) would meet a set of expectations and exhibit behaviors that exemplify a “master level instructor”. A task force developed expectations of a “master instructor” using concepts from the book, “What the Best College Teachers Do” by Ken Bain, to develop criteria for teaching and learning. This presentation describes how academic leadership operationalized the larger institutional philosophy of care into faculty teaching practices and faculty development and support, as well as the positive impact the initiative had on faculty and student engagement.  Preliminary results of program evaluation, lessons learned, and future plans will also be presented.

Key Words

Faculty development

Teaching learning innovation

Faculty Engagement