Typically viewed as an academic issue, faculty development discussions too often take place between academic interests. The vice president for academics encourages deans or department heads to make their plans for enhancing the abilities in their areas. Funds are made available, and committees composed of representative faculty members decide who…

College teaching can be greatly improved and enriched if chairpersons take the lead in creating a sense of community and common cause among colleagues. Miami-Dade Community College's characteristics of excellence in professors are listed. (Author/MLW)

This article identifies junior faculty needs and links these to roles that department chairpersons can assume, including that of a resource link; a mentor; a facilitator of mentor relationships; an institutional authority or representative; an evaluator; a faculty developer; and a model of balance. Specific suggestions for assisting with tangible…

The most effective means for obtaining knowledge about how students learn requires having two faculty members working together--one teaches and the other observes. Both the teacher and the observer interview students. These interviews yield information about how the students conceive the subject matter and how they respond to it. (MLW)

Two ways in which chairpersons can encourage more active learning are discussed: use of 10 fundamental principles of teaching and learning; and department chairpersons can describe practical strategies for involving students more actively in the classroom. (MLW)

Knowing how students reason and how to foster discipline-specific skills in critical thinking helps chairpersons respond positively to faculty concerns about students' reasoning deficiencies. The challenge of teaching thinking, critical-thinking abilities, beliefs about knowledge, overcoming students' limitations, and developing faculty interest…

Problem-based learning is an approach that can be used to increase student participation while promoting the development of skills for lifelong learning. In solving problems learners acquire two types of knowledge--knowledge of concepts, principles and facts; and procedures for how to use them. (Author/MLW)

Engaging adult students who are part-time learners requires a particular effort to integrate academic learning with the rest of their lives. Single-loop learning and double-loop learning, concepts from the work of Argyris and Schon (1974), are described. (MLW)

The value of student evaluation depends on whether appropriate questions are asked. Students are in a good position to describe the teacher's ability to communicate at their level, the teacher's professional and ethical behavior in the classroom, student-teacher relationships, what has been learned in the course, etc. (MLW)

A model of successful teaching that can be helpful to department chairpersons in assessing and improving lecture performance is presented. Four dimensions of teaching are identified: skills in classroom communication; decisions concerning instructional strategies; philosophy of knowledge, teaching, and learning; and attitudes toward students and…

A department chairperson who is a transformational leader creates a shared commitment to the quality of college teaching. Improving the overall teaching effectiveness in the department, improving the quality of performance of those who are poor teachers, motivating alienated tenured faculty, and motivating burned-out faculty members are discussed.…

Departments have a responsibility for helping TAs develop as teachers, for evaluating TA performance, and or addressing the special needs of foreign-born TAs. The Teaching Assistant's role, course assignment procedures, supervising faculty, training programs, and informative feedback systems are discussed. (Author/MLW)

By helping faculty collaborate to enrich their teaching abilities and by supporting them when faculty/student relationships occasionally fail, the department chair models leadership skills that faculty themselves can use. The skills of leadership correspond very closely to good teaching skills, and can be combined with the skills of principled…