Transitioning from Industry to the Classroom: Building Faculty to Become Better Teachers and Learners

There are a multitude of transitional challenges as faculty enter higher ed., especially a proprietary institution such as Bryant & Stratton College. These include assessment, ensuring pedagogy focuses on active versus passive, lecture-based classrooms, and acculturation into career education. Challenges also include the high-paced environment, the spectrum of student needs and academic preparedness, negotiating the generational gaps and associated differences in teaching and learning needs, and the ability to tie back learning to the real world career environment students aspire towards. Faculty members cite various motivations for this transition to higher education. Most cite a love of learning and an interest in teaching students who will contribute to the careers of tomorrow.

Strategies exist to help new faculty transition, though. These include enculturating the faculty into the college culture, its mission, and its values. Provide instruction on how faculty can develop habits of highly effective teachers, and offer guidance on effective strategies to use technology and other techniques that enhance teaching and learning. Industry experience is important, yet higher education requires teaching rather than presenting. Content expertise must be balanced with effective strategies that involve students actively in the class. Teaching methodologies and classroom management techniques that faculty learn must be research-based. There should be a balance between theoretical underpinnings of the technique as well as practical methodologies that faculty can use to incorporate these techniques.

Many colleges require faculty to attend new faculty orientations and faculty development workshops. New faculty must attend orientations within first few terms of employment. They must also attend continuing faculty development initiatives to continue calibrating them towards effective teaching strategies. Also, new faculty transition more efficiently when the college provides best practice syllabi, assessments, and lesson plans. Assessment should be summative and formative, and feedback opportunities through assessment should occur frequently and should begin early in the term. They should complete assessments throughout the term that vary in form and scope. New faculty feedback requests longer training sessions (three hours) and follow up opportunities that provide more granular faculty development workshops about teaching strategies and assessment.

Mentors are also critical to faculty development. Bozeman and Freely argue this is awesome an informal activity that transmits knowledge, social capital, and psychosocial support. Communication events are usually face-to-face and occur in sustained periods of time. The mentor has significant relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience and a protege who is perceived to have less (2007, p.731). When mentors establish a good relationship, classroom observations by the mentor become a more comfortable experience.

It is important for faculty to view observations and performance reviews as an opportunity to learn--both by the faculty member and the observer. When feedback is grounded in theory, principles, and best practices, both parties learn and improve their teaching effectiveness. It is about helping faculty rather than catching faculty. During the feedback process, faculty should understand their effectiveness impacts the Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) and therefore the college's ability to meet the vision and strategic plan of the college.

Suggested Teaching Methodologies Workshop Topics

• Characteristics of highly effective teachers
• Building Connections with students
• Establishing a Culture for Learning in the First Weeks
• Techniques for Monitoring Understanding
• Increase Student Participation
• Means to Organize Effective Instruction