The OHSU Teaching and Learning Center transformed a traditional faculty development program into a customized, roadshow series. Learn how this series built a teaching and learning network throughout a complex institution by adapting to a more faculty-centered approach and how this delivery mode can be replicated by other programs.
In a time of frequent systematic shifts in education and technology, Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) face many challenges in providing faculty development services, including mission creep, a reputation for being center of remediation, and incentivizing faculty buy-in to innovation (Higgins, 2014; Lieberman, 2018; Taylor et. al., 2017). Participation numbers for professional development in teaching often run low because of competition for faculty, staff, and student time, and technology limitations, leaving CTLs to debate between specializing and diversifying their services.
The Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) provides an array of central services, including student support, the learning management system (LMS) support, and providing faculty development. As an institution, OHSU offers over fifty-eight different degree programs, ranging from Associate to PhD. The OHSU campuses are spread across Oregon and includes two hospitals, multiple research institutes, and a myriad of clinical learning locations across the Pacific Northwest and world. OHSU has seven distinct Health Science schools, and 58 degree programs.
Intended to reach the most number of people, initial OHSU TLC faculty development trainings were offered on a synchronous online platform on largely LMS-focused topics. These trainings failed to draw significant attendance or participation. We believe this lack of faculty buy-in was due to the fixed format and scheduling, and misalignment of content between our intended audience and faculty needs. These sessions also revealed a misalignment between initial trainings and institutional goals.
We retooled the learning series into a menu-style of offerings with options to customize sessions by date, time, length, and content. The traveling program model experienced higher attendance and engagement by offering educators the choice and flexibility of customized and individualized trainings that mirrored a student-centered approach.
This session documents the failures and successes of the various learning series iterations, along with the process of creating and adapting the roadshow model to the ongoing changes of the institutional landscape. In the process of innovating and evolving, the TLC changed many components of this “Train Your Brain” faculty development program, including an evaluation of technology used, participant selection process, and an evaluation process for workshop attendees, creating another feedback loop between instructor and learner. Participants will understand how one complex institution created a self-selected faculty development program, which continues to evolve and create reflective practice for faculty and opportunities to exemplify a more faculty-centered approach.
Outcomes: During this session, participants will:
- Discuss the challenges faced by CTLs in engaging faculty in fac dev offerings around topics of teaching and learning, and how the OHSU TLC addressed the specific challenge of faculty buy-in and participation
- Describe the next step in developing an initial plan to increase faculty buy-in and participation in a future development training at your institution
- Discuss models used at their institutions for providing faculty development around teaching and identify successes
Higgins, T.R. (2014). Beyond pleasure and pain: how motivation works. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lieberman M, (2018, February 28). Center of the Pedagogical Universe. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/02/28/centers-teaching-and-learning-serve-hub-improving-teaching
Taylor, S.C. et al. (2017). "Institutional Investment in Teaching Excellence." Institutional Commitment to Teaching Excellence: Assessing the Impacts and Outcomes of Faculty Development., edited by Catherine Haras et al, American Council on Education, 2017, pp. 69-83. Reprinted in CUNY Academic Works.