Training Faculty to Adopt the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, IPP and its Influence on Teaching and Learning: Process and Outcomes

This is the second of two articles describing the action research undertaken by the three trainees and their trainer (author of this article). After formal training, the training team integrated the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP)1 into their undergraduate courses from fall of 2010 through May 2013 in the College of Professional Studies (CPS) at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The first article was published in this journal in fall 2012 and provided a narrative describing the faculty development process, predicated on the five constructs of the IPP: Context, Experience, Reflection, Action and Evaluation. This article includes a full description of the training protocol, data collection process, and the qualitative data analysis methods.2 This training team used an Action Research model put forth by Reil3 over two years and nine months to determine the influence of the IPP on their teaching. This study seeks to provide others who teach at Jesuit Colleges and Universities a rationale for using the IPP both as pedagogy, a curriculum guide along with specific instructional practices, and learning activities. In addition, a replicable IPP training protocol is provided that is based on best practices derived from analogous research in the fields of contemporary learning, cognitive, and educational research. The study also provides the outcomes related to the impact the infusion of the IPP had on the instructors’ curricula, pedagogies, instructional strategies, learning activities, and assessment practices, as well as the student-teacher learning relationship

The Influence of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm on Instructors Integrating It into Undergraduate Courses in the College of Professional Studies at Marquette University

This is the initial installment of a two-part story narrating the process of embedding the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) into the curriculum of four core courses in the College of Professional Studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This article provides a template for faculty development when integrating the IPP into undergraduate courses at a Jesuit University. The trainer followed the recommendation of the 1989 International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education (ICAJE), which states “Teachers need much more than a cognitive introduction to the Paradigm. They require practical training that engages and enables them to reflect on the experience of using these new methods confidently and effectively.”1 The first part of this article provides the reader with the trainer’s immersion and utilization of the IPP by using the IPP constructs of context, experience, reflections, actions, and evaluation. In the second part of this article the four participants share their reflections regarding the challenges of understanding the IPP as well as the benefits of adapting their teaching, curriculum, and rubrics to insure the successful integration of the IPP into their courses. The second part of this article reports the participants’ thoughts and activities related to comprehending and developing the major constructs of the IPP: Context, Experience, Reflection, Action, and Evaluation. Therefore, it has a conversational tone of a shared learning experience to illustrate for the reader the deeply reflective process each participant experienced in becoming an IPP learning community. It includes a description of the process used to collect data to determine the impact of the IPP on the instructor as the courses were taught. A future article will describe the data analysis, conclusions and recommendations