Faculty Issues

Organizational culture in the adoption of the Bologna Process: A study of academic staff at a Ukrainian university.

by Marta Shaw

Co-authored with David W. Chapman and Nataliya Rumyantseva

Studies in Higher Education 39(1)

The growing influence of the Bologna Process on higher education around the world has raised concerns about the... more The growing influence of the Bologna Process on higher education around the world has raised concerns about the applicability of this set of reforms in diverse cultural contexts. Ukraine provides an instructive case study highlighting the dynamics occurring at the convergence of the new framework with a state-centered model of higher education. The goal of this study was to examine the professional identity of faculty at one Ukrainian university and their perceptions regarding the implementation of Bologna at their institution. We found that
instructional and institutional innovations were successfully implemented only to the extent that they were integrated with the existing pattern of values and beliefs held by faculty. These findings provide insight for how other countries may approach Bologna compatibility in the presence of social and cultural forces divergent from those in which the Bologna process originated.

The impact of the Bologna process on academic staff in Ukraine

by Marta Shaw

Co-authored with David W. Chapman and Nataliya L. Rumyantseva

Academic staff in Ukraine face a convergence of institutional and professional pressures precipitated by a national... more Academic staff in Ukraine face a convergence of institutional and professional pressures precipitated by a national economic crisis, projected declines in enrolment and dramatic changes to institutional procedures as institutions implement the Bologna Process. This article examines the extent to which these pressures are reshaping the way academic staff engage in their day-to-day work, their careers and their role in their university. Findings indicate that faculty are caught in a confluence of conflicting demands that elicits adaptive coping strategies and threatens to undermine national efforts to modernise Ukraine’s higher education system.

Faculty Research Portal for Knowledge Sharing among Faculty Members

by Shahrinaz Ismail

In Proceedings of the FMIT Symposium on Business Management and Information Technology, Kuala Lumpur, 2 November 2011

A Faculty Research Portal is an alternative support system designed and developed for knowledge sharing among lectures... more A Faculty Research Portal is an alternative support system designed and developed for knowledge sharing among lectures and students. The purpose of this study is to propose a prototype of research portal for a faculty in an institute of higher learning to enable knowledge sharing among faculty members in terms of research interests and projects. All the problems solved towards the objectives and a series of web site development processes was followed. In addition, a questionnaire survey was conducted to understand the faculty member’s knowledge sharing attitudes and requirements towards the research portal. The findings showed that the proposed system is indeed a suitable medium for students to interact and retrieve information from their lecturers according to their research areas. Moreover, online communication and management of research information are factors that should be taken into consideration when developing a research portal.

Faculty, adjunct and contingent

by Heather Wyatt-Nichol

(2011). In The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World.

College and university faculty

by Heather Wyatt-Nichol

(2011). In The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World.

FTRNS: What Twitter and RSS Feed can do for the Faculty

by Shahrinaz Ismail

In Proceedings of the FMIT Symposium on Business Management and Information Technology, Kuala Lumpur, 2 November 2011

With the increase popularity of Twitter and the ease of use of RSS feed from Twitter to other sites, almost everyone... more With the increase popularity of Twitter and the ease of use of RSS feed from Twitter to other sites, almost everyone in the faculty has a Twitter account. Looking at the communication breakdown among faculty members especially between lecturers and students in the case university, this study proposes a notification system based on the Twitter and RSS feed platform, by making use of hashtags to filter according to the current courses registered by the students. This research project presents a prototype of the Faculty Twitter-RSS Notification System (FTRNS), where the acceptance of this system is justified with questionnaire survey data based on Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which takes into account the aspect of facilitating condition and social
influence. The recommended future work includes a proper integration of databases between the university students’ course records and the faculty notification system database that consists of archived Twitter updates.

Evaluating Faculty Perceptions of Student Learning Outcomes: A Rasch Measurement Analysis

by Kenneth Royal

Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation, 2010, 6(14).

Background: The importance of assessing student learning outcomes has demanded attention from most everyone involved... more Background: The importance of assessing student learning outcomes has demanded attention from most everyone involved in the higher education enterprise, as accreditation and funding implications are often linked to the results. Faculty, however, are often critical of the assessment process because outcomes assessment is costly with regard to time, energy and other resources, and evidence of its effectiveness is not always noticeable.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to evaluate faculty perceptions of various student learning outcomes in order to determine which types outcomes are most valued by faculty.

Setting: United States.

Intervention: Not Applicable.

Research Design: The HERI Faculty Survey was utilized to capture a nationally representative snapshot of faculty perceptions of student learning outcomes.

Data Collection and Analysis: The Rating Scale Model, a Rasch measurement model, was used to analyze survey data of 7,356 respondents.

Findings: Faculty from virtually all disciplines are primarily concerned with the intellectual growth of students. All other types of student learning outcomes (i.e., social, emotional, cultural growth) are of lesser concern. These findings suggest higher education institutions seeking “faculty buy-in” may want to consider focusing more on intellectual types of outcomes as these outcomes appear to best resonate with faculty, and in turn may result in less faculty resistance.

Attitudes and Advocacy: Understanding Faculty Views on Racial/Ethnic Diversity

by Nida Denson

Park, J., & Denson, N. (2009). Attitudes and Advocacy: Understanding Faculty Views on Racial/Ethnic Diversity. Journal of Higher Education, 80, 415-438.

Online Education's Effect on College Professors

by Harold Peach

Faculty Perceptions of Teaching in Undergraduate Computer Science Education

by Ann Abdelzaher

FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF THE FACTORS ENABLING AND FACILITATING THEIR INTEGRATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING

by Michael Sturgeon, PhD

Completed dissertation for Ph.D.

This study employed a survey research design to identify factors that facilitate university faculty to integrate... more This study employed a survey research design to identify factors that facilitate university faculty to integrate computer-based technologies into their teaching practice. The purpose of the study was to measure the practices and perceptions of higher education faculty toward instructional technology. The designed survey instrument established a series of five personal profile categories. The five categories were used as variables manipulated to enable a series of statistical analyses to examine factors that enable faculty to use technology in their teaching. The survey was electronically administered to faculty in 36 universities in the Appalachian Region; a target population of approximately 4000 potential survey respondents. A total of 427 faculty from 22 of these institutions responded to the survey, which was approximately 10% of the total population.
The findings, showed statistically significant correlations between the teaching with technology subscale and personal technology use subscale. This may suggest that personal use and personal knowledge are indicators of whether or not university faculty will use technology in their teaching. Additionally, a statistically significant difference was found between the extent to which female faculty reported using technology compared to male faculty members. The generational factor (age), was not shown to have any significant relationship with the frequency of faculty members‘ use of technology, but results indicated generational differences on the personal requirements profile. Lastly, one finding related to the personal requirements profile indicated that the most common requirement for using technology reported by the faculty was the knowledge that doing so would enhance students‘ learning.

The sacred and resistance within the “prison”: The narratives of racially minoritized women faculty

by Riyad Shahjahan

Mayuzumi, K. & Shahjahan, R.A. (2008). The sacred and resistance within the “prison”: The narratives of racially minoritized women faculty. In A. Wagner, S. Acker, & K. Mayuzumi (Eds.). Whose University is it Anyway? Power and Privilege on Gendered Terrain (pp. 187-202). Toronto: Sumach Press.

While most of the literature focuses on analyzing and describing the chilly climate that racially minoritized women... more While most of the literature focuses on analyzing and describing the chilly climate that racially minoritized women faculty (RMWF) experience, less attention has been paid to how such faculty cope with and/or resist such a chilly climate in the academy. In this chapter we demonstrate how spirituality is essential for the survival and resistance of spiritually-minded RMWF in academic life. Drawing from a broader study on spiritually-minded activist scholars in the Canadian university context, and using a sacred subjectivity lens, we present the narratives of six RMWF. We conclude that, for these spiritually-minded RMWF, the personal is not only political, but the spiritual is also a political part of their academic life.

'In-Between'Asia and the West: Asian Women Faculty In the Transnational Context

by Kimine Mayuzumi

Mayuzumi, K. (2008). 'In-between' Asia and the West: Asian women faculty in the transnational context. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 11(2), 167-182.

Asian women faculty (AWF) are an underrepresented and understudied population. I hypothesize that, while AWF should be... more Asian women faculty (AWF) are an underrepresented and understudied population. I hypothesize that, while AWF should be included in a broader analysis of the intersection of gender, race, class, and ethnicity in the academy, their stories can also contribute to the existing literature on minority faculty by linking the local and global experiences of ‘Asians’ in the ‘West’. In this paper, I explore the higher education space by asking: ‘What would it mean to take a transnational feminist approach to the analysis of issues concerning AWF?’ First, I will closely look at a transnational feminist approach as a theoretical framework and will locate the academy as a contested space within this framework. Second, I will look at narratives and insights of AWF by drawing on literature either dealing with AWF in North America or written by AWF who explicate their own experiences in the academic settings. By applying the transnational lens to the narratives, I hope to add a new angle to see the academy as a contested site to other literature and studies that attempt to bring social justice to higher education. Lastly, I will point out some of the implications, including strengths and limitations, of using a transnational feminist framework to look at the issues concerning AWF as a marginalized population.