Examining the relationship between faculty development opportunities and teaching practices

Teaching is arguably the lifeblood of higher education as students enroll in higher education institutions to learn new information. Faculty often partake in developmental opportunities that seek to improve their pedagogical practices and the student experience. Seeing the importance in understanding teaching, this study uses a multi-institution data set to examine the relationship between development opportunities and faculty use of effective teaching practices and course goals. Findings indicate that informal practices including discussing teaching with colleagues, speaking with students beyond course evaluations about classroom practices, and reading pedagogy books increased use of effective teaching practices. These findings have implications for faculty developers coordinating teaching development opportunities, administrators investing funding in development, and faculty who are looking to change their practices

How to FSSE: Everything you need to know

As we launch the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) please join us as we discuss all things FSSE related. This webinar provides past, current, and future (FSSE) participating institutions information about the FSSE project, administration processes, data files and reporting, and online FSSE resources. Webinar participants will learn about what to expect from a FSSE administration and how FSSE can be used to add context to a NSSE administration.We invite you to join us as we discuss the importance of students’ sense of belonging and how to examine belongingness within small populations

High-Impact Practices

During the 2019 administration of the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), new questions related to high impact practices were administered to faculty. Questions explored if faculty had or would participate in supervising, mentoring, or teaching undergraduate students in learning communities; if faculty supervised undergraduate students partaking in study abroad; and, if faculty had mentored or taught undergraduates completing a culminating senior experience (capstone, thesis, etc.). Faculty were also asked how important it was to them that an undergraduate student partake in these opportunities. This document outlines broad findings of the new high impact practice items as well as the items that can be found on the core survey

College Students Responding to Sexuality-Based Items: A Differential Test Function Analysis

Surveys are often intended to collect data across a swath of individuals yet sometimes the items favor certain respondents over others. Differential test functioning (DTF) analysis helps us understand if there are underlying latent characteristics that may affect the way a group of individuals responds to items. This study sought to examine if differences existed in the responses to items pertaining to college students’ feeling safe and supported regarding their sexual orientation. Results indicate that there appears to be differences in an item for queer first year respondents, but no differences when looking at senior students. More research is needed to precisely understand which items are functioning differently

A Multi-Institutional Study of Teaching Development Opportunities & Faculty Practice

To contextualize the myriad of teaching development efforts available to faculty, this large-scale multi-institution study of nearly 4,500 faculty broadens our understandings of who participates in teaching development practices, how their participation relates to their institutional environments, and how their participation connects to their use of effective teaching practices. Results show there are some notable trends by academic field, social identity, the type of courses taught, and institutional characteristics. The overview of professional development participation in this study gives strength to positive findings from smaller-scale research studies and provides a solid base for more specific studies of these practices

For whom and from whom: Student career support and engagement

Using a large national data set, the session will provide an overview of student experiences related to their career preparation. Attendees will learn who students obtain guidance from for career support, how students gather career-related information, and how confident students are in their career preparedness. Differences between a variety of identity groups will be shown and discussed in conversation with attendees. Recommendations for career services personnel and key partners will emerge from the session

New insights into faculty advising: An overview of national patterns and trends

This session provides an overview of faculty advisors across the U.S. using a large-scale data-set from the 2019 administration of the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE). Presenters will share survey findings including an overview of the national landscape of faculty advisors, what faculty tend to emphasize during the advising process, and what can be done to support faculty in their roles as advisors. Participants will be invited to share their experiences collaborating between faculty and advising units. Implications for attendees will be highlighted through a large group discussion.

A Quasi-Experimental Multilevel Study Examining High-Impact Practices and Deep Approaches to Learning

High-impact practice research often focuses on improving student persistence and academic achievement with less of an emphasis on the development of student learning processes. Further, many studies historically center majority populations in research due to sample size restrictions or methodological procedures. This study uses national survey data to examine over 347,000 seniors’ experiences at more than 1,100 four-year colleges and universities with high-impact practices and students’ reported learning processes. A hierarchical linear model with propensity scores and effect codes show the relationship between six high impact practices and students’ learning processes while de-centering motivating factors and majority populations. Findings indicate both service-learning and learning communities promoted the outcomes under investigation with mixed results among the others. Differences emerged by race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability status. We broadly discuss implications for higher education and future research

Dealing with tough moments: Assessing faculty preparation for teaching challenges

Faculty are increasingly placed in situations where they have to navigate difficult teaching situations (student incivility, disclosure of sensitive information, controversial events, etc.) and challenging conversations with students (sexual assault, racism, mental health, etc.). As such, it is important to examine faculty preparation for managing such situations, what strategies they implement when they encounter these concerns, and what related training they wish they had received. Findings from a large-scale quantitative and qualitative study of teaching challenges will guide a discussion about assessing and supporting faculty efforts to navigate difficult teaching situations through professional development programming