Professional development programmes at world-class universities

Abstract

Higher education professional development trends increasingly focus on areas of quality improvement, quality assurance and optimal technology delivery models to achieve academic excellence. World-class universities rely on their faculty professional development centres for an array of professional development programmes to support teaching, research and student learning. This article examines faculty development centres at eight world-class universities in Australia, China, the United Kingdom and the United States: Australian National University, London School of Economics and Political Science, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Hong Kong, University of Melbourne, University of Oxford, University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh. Findings from this study include the structural characteristics of each centre as well as a summary of best practices in terms of programme development and resource management. We provide suggestions and recommendations to assist higher education administrators interested in establishing or strengthening professional development programmes at their own institutions.

Optimal professional development ICT training initiatives at flagship universities

“…These various technology training platforms ensure that both faculty members and students can receive the best training services available to enhance teaching and learning. This finding indicates what previous literature recommended: that since there is no single technology option to meet different needs of both faculty members and students, institutions should not only offer an online support mode, but should blend delivery formats of technology support (Jacob et al 2015).…”

“…Related research includes finding innovative and optimal approaches to teaching, designing curricula, and evaluating current practices. This evidence-based approach can improve teaching and learning with high relevance to faculty members' and students' actual needs (Jacob et al 2015). The process of adopting evidence-based teaching and learning highlights what Albion et al (2015) describe as the important "transformation" of research within higher education institutions.…”

“…As Becker (1994) noted, the best educational purpose for using technology should be to promote student-centered learning. After examining eight world-class universities' faculty development centers, Jacob et al (2015) concluded that instead of merely applying technology for its own sake, higher education institutions should implement technology to enhance teaching and learning endeavors. Further, Albion et al (2015) argue that the integration of technology can be the educational innovation (as opposed to solely supporting or enhancing an existing endeavor).…”

“…Many of this study's participating institutions are generally positioned among the top 100 in the following global rankings: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Times Higher Education (THE), and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) (Jacob et al 2015). In this study, we use the term flagship university to address a more relevant model of leading national universities as advocated by Douglass (2016), Douglas and Hawkins (2016), and others (Yonezawa 2007;Gao 2015;Teferra 2016).…”

Quality of teaching in higher education: reviewing teaching behaviour through classroom observations

“…Effective professional learning activities focus on meeting the professional development needs of individual lecturers (Jacob et al, 2015). To balance various needs, educational developers mainly support lecturers in two central practices: course planning and classroom teaching .…”