Developing Beginner University Teachers’ Pedagogical Competencies Through a Professional Development Program
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | This chapter focuses on improving teaching of university teachers through participation in a professional development program. Firstly, we describe the center, its mission and structure. Secondly, we describe the initial empirical research on beginning university teachers and their approaches to teaching and professional self-perception. This research project was conducted to analyze how researchers, teachers and teacher-researchers (universalists) approach teaching. We identified three different sets of beliefs about teaching among early-career faculty members who conceive of their roles differently: 1) “researchers” emphasize transmission of knowledge, 2) “teachers” emphasize that good teaching should include devoting time and energy to students, while 3) “universalists” emphasize the practical nature of knowledge and motivate students to work by themselves. The research outcomes substantially informed the center (CERPEK) that was subsequently established. Thirdly, we describe our professional development program: the curriculum design process, how we teach beginning university teachers, issues of funding for training university teachers, and feedback we have received from program participants. The program is divided into four modules and lasts two semesters. |