Faculty engagement, successful student learning and social integration - Dissertation Example

?Research Topic: Faculty engagement, successful learning and social integration. Introduction: There has been a rapid advancement in the field of science and technology in the past few decades. One of the fields that have been most fundamentally affected by the advancement of technology is education. The advancement of technology has created a disparity between the skills of teachers and the students, the latter generally having greater expertise in the use of technology as compared to the former. This has come as a great challenge to education because “[t]he faculty-student dyad lies at the heart of the teaching and learning process” (Hagner and Schneebeck, n.d., p. 1). According to Umbach and Wawrzynski (n.d., p. 21), teachers play the single most important role in the tendency of students to learn. New materials of teaching and learning have emerged as a result of the revolution in communication technologies. Consequently, the teaching and learning environment has been altogether renewed in a way that was not possible to achieve in the past. The fundamental challenge for the contemporary schools and colleges is to modify its environment so that new technologies can be accommodated and promoted at their best. Faculty engagement is one of the most critical elements in the modern pedagogy and learning that is influenced by technology. Different teachers join this profession because of different motivational structures that vary according to the tasks they are assigned (Blackburn, 1995). “Few institutions other than colleges and universities permit their members the latitude so much a past of the professor’s life” (Cahn, 1986, p. 3). This latitude has been accommodated by the tradition-bound academy nature while the gradual change that has occurred in nearly every aspect of the campus life makes this latitude a tolerable piece of the landscape of academia. In a global democracy, higher education must give serious thought to structuring student learning and development in such a way to promote cross-cultural understanding and civic-mindedness. In strong democracies, people have to be able to listen to each other, to understand the places and interests of others in the community, and to achieve compromises and solve problems when conflicts occur. (Hurd, 2006, p. 4). Problem statement: Institutions require an enabling environment in order to change for good. Enabling environments constitute several factors that include but are not limited to reliable networks, universal access for students, increased opportunities with respect to consulting and training as well as a faculty ethos that tolerates falters and values experimentation. Learning spaces can both constrain and encourage students’ attitudes. A whole range of learning attitudes is displayed by the teachers and students particularly when the learning environment is developed with a view to optimize the interaction between the two both outside and within the classroom or when the atmosphere presents education as a “serious work” to the students and teachers (Hunley and Schaller, 2009). Lack of such preconditions makes the entrepreneurial activity for the self-starters quite cumbersome. Even the existence of such preconditions does not do much to ease the process of transformation. The first-wave of entrepreneurs mark the initial phase of transformation. These adopters tend to find adequate expertise or resources in order to implement their personal strategies for the incorporation of technology as a means of learning. The second wave that indeed concerns us the most is the perception of faculty of the new environment of learning as an opportunity rather than a threat. These teachers are generally wary of the advanced technology but are strongly committed to a high quality of learning. This divides the faculty into two groups, each of which is highly committed to quality learning but differ in their tendency to embrace the new technologies as well as their technical capabilities. Administrators make a big mistake by basing their decisions solely on the traits of these entrepreneurs because of the difference between their motivations and needs and those of the second-wave faculty. Teachers’ limited knowledge of technology and its use is hindering their potential to guide the students in their academia and research. Theoretical rationale: Technology has been frequently defined as emerging by various educationalists. According to Kay (1996 cited in Hgner, 2001, p. 1), technology is an umbrella term for all things which were not there when we were born. Likewise, Jason L. Frand defines technology as something that one can remember having used the first of its kind (Hagner, 2001, p. 1). Such a definition of the term technology provides the higher education with two fundamental insights to the start of the new millennium. The first one suggests that computers are technology for all active members of faculty that serve in any institution of contemporary higher education. Although different faculty members have equipped themselves with different levels of computer based applications for incorporation into the everyday work, yet almost everyone today is required to learn and practice new ways of working. Secondly, such an interpretation of technology rejects the consideration of computers as technology particularly for the young students that enter the higher education institutions because computers were already in their world at the time that they were born. Computers were just as much into their environment when they were born as were the telephones in the time of birth of their teachers. The two entirely different orientations towards technology give rise to a unique situation. In this situation, students are not only fully equipped with the skills required to manipulate the technology and make use of the new forms of communication while the teachers are still in the learning phase and are at different levels of incorporating the emerging ways of technology-based teaching into their everyday work. Since they are themselves acquainted with sufficient knowledge of technology, the students expect their teachers to use the new communication paths in teaching. As a result of these expectations by the students, teachers, today, have to work in an environment in which those individuals require the technology to be used whose understanding of the technology is better than theirs. Although faculty is aware of the advantages of incorporating technology into the pedagogy, yet many are not comfortable with its use because of the altering nature of audience. Faculty is caught in the anathema of looking incompetent or foolish to the students. It is for the administrators of higher education to perceive that the revolutionary teaching techniques influenced by technology have exposed the faculty to increased challenges and that the faculty varies in their perception, understanding and expertise in the new technologies. In order to be successful, these variations must be taken into consideration while making any institution-based attempt for the engagement of faculty. According to Pascarella (2001), assessment of effective practices in education which promote student learning needs evidence which is empirical and linked not only by the factors that appear important but also to the college impact literature. “[C]reating a student-centered campus necessitates knowing how students learn, understanding barriers to student learning, and developing classroom techniques that promote learning among college students” (Umbach and Wawrzynsk, n.d., p. 3). Statement of purpose: New programs directed at faculty orientation can help create increased awareness about the diverse influences of faculty actions on the engagement of students by sharing the evidence of significance of different kinds of faculty attitudes on the students’ learning and engagement. In order to improve the teachers’ assessments and decision-making skills, both the programs and schools need to be enriched with sustained and objective curricular leadership. Faculty can successfully encounter the challenge of engaged instruction by use of efforts of targeted professional development. The involvement of faculty in the learning and teaching activities, assessment, planning of the curriculum and its revision, and teaching related professional development requires the engagement of faculty so that the quality of learning may be improved for the students. Role of the faculty members in the development of appropriate conditions for the student engagement is critical. Knowing what you know and don’t know focuses your learning. In getting started, students need help in assessing their existing knowledge and competence. Then, in classes, students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive feedback on their performance. At various points during college, and at its end, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to know, and how they might assess themselves. (Chickering and Ehrmann). Although past research conducted by Chen, Lattuca, and Hamilton (2008) established the baseline measures for the faculty tasks and critical programs, yet it did not explore the extent to which specific attitudes of the faculty impact the learning and educational experiences of the students. Research question: This research is directed at finding answer to the following questions: 1. What faculty behaviors and attitudes related to student behaviors are linked with positive college experiences? 2. What strategies can the faculty employ to gain the technological expertise required of them in the contemporary educational setup? 3. How can the faculty use technology to enhance student engagement in engineering research? Significance of the study: Technological advancement has redefined and explored the fundamental concept of the delivery of knowledge, thus eradicating the spatial security of schools and colleges. This is accompanied with a change in the students’ expectations resulting into a strong desire for alteration. As a result of this change, faculty has to face double pressure, from the administrators that react to the external agencies as well as from the students that ask for new kinds of presentation of learning. Faculty autonomy, thus, has to face a lot of challenges because of a need to adapt to the changed conditions. Models proposed by Astin (1993) and Tinto (1993) have frequently been referred to by the researchers in the past who have attempted to investigate the students’ interaction with the college environment. Both of these models are based on the assumption that students’ engagement in the college experiences increases the likelihood of occurrence of student retention and learning. The model proposed by Tinto (1993) fundamentally asserts that students decide whether to stay or leave the colleges on the basis of their academic success and social integration in the environment of college. Successful integration, in part is influenced by the favorable interactions between the students and teachers on daily basis. On the other hand, the model proposed by Astin (1993) analyzes the influence of different environmental experiences and institutional practices upon the results shown by students. Astin (1993) believes that student’s engagement with peers as well as with the faculty improves nearly all aspects of academic learning and performance. Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is a most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and plans. (Chickering and Ehrmann, n.d.). The recent concerns about the attraction and retention of women and underrepresented engineering students call for a need of significant involvement and engagement of the engineering faculty. This study aims at understanding the relationship between student engagement and learning in schools. In addition to that, this study will also find what measures colleges can take in order to increase the willingness of teachers to improve the undergraduate programs and courses besides altering the faculty reward systems. Definition of terms: Communication: Communication is a practice or process whereby ideas or information flows from one individual or agency to another. Message may be conveyed orally or in writing. Also, communication may be unidirectional or mutual as two or more parties share the ideas. In the light of new media, communication is used to destabilize the link between printed word and literacy (Synder, 2001). Critical: Critical is conventionally understood as a word that conveys a sense of denigration or disapproval. In literacy studies, the word “critical” is associated with pedagogy to represent the complexity of relationship between power, language and social groups (Knobel and Healey, 1998). Critical also symbolizes a process or practice that concerns the development of responsible citizenship. With an increase in the use of internet for pedagogical purposes, emphasis on the practices of critical digital literacy has increased manifolds. Thus, the critical digital literacy identifies and values the available information. The term “critical” also concerns the development of new knowledge with the help of technology. It also elaborates the social, cultural, ethical and environmental understanding of the new media’s use (Faigley, 1999). Culture: Culture is interpreted in a number of ways. Sometimes, it is used to differentiate between the material and humans. Culture has been used in three main senses (Williams, 1976). Firstly, culture is a general process of development of spiritualism, intellect and aesthetics. Secondly, culture represents a way of life of a community or people. Thirdly, culture represents the practices of artistic and intellectual activity. When some practices are repeatedly done, they become part of the culture and are deemed as cultural practices. Computer culture: Computer culture represents a subculture of people that are involved in cultural activities of the new media. Visual culture: Visual culture is the iconography of visual sites like billboards, computers and televisions. Information culture: Information culture represents different ways in which the cultural sites present information. These sites include but are not limited to television onscreen menus, road signs, hotels, newspapers, and displays on train stations (Manovich, 2001). Cultural interfaces: The ways computers enable people to interact with the cultural data are called as the cultural interfaces. These include interfaces employed in computer games, online magazines and websites. Interface: “The 'interface' includes physical input and output devices such as the monitor, the keyboard and the mouse” (Snyder, 2004). It also encapsulates all metaphors which tend to organize the data stored in computer. Knowledge: A set of ideas that are accumulated to form a reasoned argument to be presented systematically is knowledge. It is not just the name of gathering knowledge, but also acquaints an individual with certain level of understanding. Knowledge is produced when interaction takes place between a learner and a teacher in the classroom (Lusted, 1986). Technology: Technology is commonly understood as applications and tools. This definition of technology is quite limiting, though not altogether wrong. Technology is a social practice like literacy. Not only dies technology represent a need to gain skills, it is also “an expression of the ideologies, the cultural norms, and the value systems of a society” (Bruce, 1999, p. 225). Thus, technology may not be fully understood if it is totally perceived technically. Summary: In the past few decades, many new forms of technology have emerged many of which are of huge significance to the educationalists because of their important role in the delivery of education. Higher education today is exposed to increased challenges in its objectives of addressing the knowledge related needs of the economic and political systems that are undergoing rapid change in the global society. The presidents of universities are required to acquaint the students with such a training along with education that would allow them to be part of a globally competitive workforce, innovative research and sophisticated national security. The importance and advantages of ICT based education can not be denied, yet a lot needs to be done in order to acquaint the teachers with the necessary skills so that they may remain superior in their knowledge as compared to the students both with respect to the use of technology and the knowledge that has to be delivered through its use. Strategies employed by a teacher are of great significance to the students because they directly influence the tendency of students to gain education. Students visualize teachers as role models that have to be followed. Students need to have healthy social integration in addition to the regular studies in the college so that they may approach their studies with the right kind of attitude. Thus, teachers can make the students undergo positive experiences in the colleges by use of appropriate behaviors and attitudes. Therefore, this research tends to identify the particular behaviors of teachers that can enhance students’ engagement and learning in colleges. Besides, this research will find out the potential ways in which colleges can improve the teachers’ willingness to improve their interaction with students along with redesigning the undergraduate programs and courses for good. In addition to that, this research will propose the institutions a way to make the educational setup more enabling both for the teachers and the students. Teachers’ involvement and increased engagement with students is conducive not only for better teaching on the part of the teachers but also for better learning on the part of the students. References: Astin, A. (1993). What Matters In College: Four Critical Years Revisited. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Blackburn, R. T. (1995). Faculty at Work: Motivation, Expectation, Satisfaction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Bruce, B.C. (1999) Response: Speaking the unspeakable about 21st century technologies. In G. E. Hawisher & C. L. Selfe (eds), Passions, pedagogies and 21st century technologies. Utah: Utah State University Press and Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English. Cahn, S. M. (1986). Saints and Scamps: Ethics in Academia. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Chen, H. L., Lattuca, L. R., and Hamilton, E. R. (2008, July). Conceptualizing engagement: contributions of faculty to student engagement in engineering. Journal of Engineering Education. 97(3): 339-353. Chickering, A. W., and Ehrmann, S. C. (n.d.). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://polaris.umuc.edu/~cschwebe/gsmt800/7principles.htm. Faigley, L. (1999). Beyond imagination: The Internet and global digital literacy. In G.E Hawisher & C.L. Selfe (eds), Passions, pedagogies and 21st century technologies. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press and Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English. Hagner, P. R. (2001, Jan. 25). Interesting practices and best systems in faculty engagement and support. University of Hartford. Hagner, P. R., and Schneebeck, C. A. (n.d.). Engaging the Faculty. pp. 1-12. Hunley, S., and Schaller, M. (2009). Assessment: The Key to Creating Spaces That Promote Learning. EDUCAUSE Review. 44(2): 26-35. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume44/AssessmentTheKeytoCreatingSpac/163797. Hurd, C. A. (2006). Is Service-Learning Effective?: A Look At Current Research. Colorado State University. Retrieved from http://tilt.colostate.edu/sl/faculty/Is_Service-Learning_Effective.pdf. Knobel, M. & Healy, A. (1998) Critical literacies: An introduction. In M. Knobel & A. Healy (eds), Critical literacies in the primary classroom. 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D., and Wawrzynsk, M. R. (n.d.). Faculty Do Matter: The Role of College Faculty in Student Learning and Engagement. Retrieved from http://nsse.iub.edu/pdf/research_papers/faculty_do_matter.pdf. Read More