Penn State Learning Design Community Hub

Faculty Professional Development Needs Assessment

This is the culimation of months of collaboration among Instructional Designers at all Penn State locations. Thanks to all of you who contributed to this survey and special thanks to Carol McQuiggan.

This is a survey designed for collecting information about faculty needs for technology and pedagogical professional development. You may use this question set in a couple of ways: (1) You may copy and paste questions to create your own survey and administer it yourself at your location (if you choose this option, please share your results with us) or (2) You can include the link to the online survey in your email to faculty and have them complete the survey hosted by ETS (if you choose this option, please contact Vicki Williams to make arrangements).

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Suggested Cover Letter 

- to appear in email from administrator to encourage completion (feel free to use your own wording)

Dear Faculty Member,

In this age of exploding information and rapid change, it is often difficult on your own to take time out to continue to learn about new theories, technologies, and methods in college teaching. In order to provide you, as faculty, with the specific kinds of opportunities to update and fine-tune your teaching abilities, we need to know more about your needs. Below, you see a link to a needs assessment designed to help us learn what activities you would like to see planned for you and others. You can help us be efficient by taking a few minutes to answer questions that will help us help you stay current.

Your participation is entirely voluntary and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact XXX at XXX@psu.edu . You may start the survey by clicking the link below:

https://esurvey.tlt.psu.edu/Survey.aspx?s=8502de2e8b0b487aaf4e7017fca66c...

Yours,
Dr. Smith, Dean
 

 

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The Survey

Page 1

Page 2

 

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OLD ORIGINAL VERSION

Faculty Needs Assessment Survey

The Pennsylvania State University

 
PART A - DEMOGRAPHICS INFORMATION

A1. Please indicate your academic rank.

• Graduate (Teaching) Assistant
• Adjunct Instructor
• Instructor
• Sr. Instructor
• Lecturer
• Sr. Lecturer
• Assist. Professor
• Assoc. Professor
• Professor
• Other (please specify):______

A2. Please indicate your tenure status.

• Tenured
• Tenure-track
• Fixed-Term apppointment
• Not applicable

A3a. If you teach part time, are you primarily affiliated with Penn State?

• Yes (A3b)
• No--Please enter your primary affiliation

A3b. If you are primarily affiliated with Penn State, is teaching your main activity?

• Yes
• No--Please describe your primary role at PSU.

A4. How many years have you been teaching at Penn State? _____

A5. How many years have you been teaching at the college/university level? _____

A6. Will you be eligible to retire in 5 years? In 10 years?

A7.  Please indicate your primary Penn State campus (Drop down menu)

• Abington
• Altoona
• Beaver
• Berks
• Brandywine (formerly Delaware County)
• Dickinson
• DuBois
• Erie, The Behrend College
• Fayette, The Eberly Campus
• Great Valley
• Greater Allegheny (formerly McKeesport)
• Harrisburg
• Hazleton
• Hershey
• Lehigh Valley
• Mont Alto
• New Kensington
• Schuylkill
• Shenango
• University Park
• Wilkes-Barre
• Worthington Scranton
• York

A8a.   Please indicate your College (For University Park only) (Drop down menu)

• College of Agricultural Sciences
• College of Arts and Architecture
• Smeal College of Business
• College of Communications
• College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• College of Education
• College of Engineering
• College of Health and Human Development
• College of Information Sciences and Technology
• College of the Liberal Arts
• Eberly College of Science
• The University Libraries
• The World Campus

A7b.   (Skip if UPark) What is your area of academic expertise?  (Drop down menu)

• Agriculture and natural resources
• Architecture and environmental design
• Visual and performing arts
• Biological/life sciences
• Business
• Communications
• Computer and information systems
• Education
• Engineering and engineering technologies
• Health professions, allied health services, and recreational services
• Humanities and languages
• Interdisciplinary studies
• Physical sciences and mathematics
• Social sciences
• The University Libraries
• The World Campus

A9. Please indicate your gender.

• Male
• Female
• Transgender
• Prefer not to answer

PART B – FACILITIES AND RESOURCES

B1. How would you evaluate the facilities and resources you currently have to support your teaching?

1-Poor    2-Adequate    3-Good    4-Excellent    5-Not Applicable    

• Course development or redesign assistance
  • Pedagogical
  • Technology-related
• Course delivery assistance
  • Pedagogical
  • Technology-related
• Access to technology (hardware, software, etc.)
• Technical support

B2. What resources have you utilized to support your professional development needs related to teaching? [check all that apply]

• Colleagues
• Course design/development specialists
• Instructional technology specialists
• Information technology staff
• Books/articles related to teaching
• Seminars/conferences sponsored by Information Technology Services (ITS)
• Seminars/conferences sponsored by Penn State’s Office of Human Resources
• Online seminars/conferences sponsored by another institution
• Face-to-face seminars/conferences sponsored by another institution
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by Penn State
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by another institution/company
• None of the above – I have not utilized any additional resources for my teaching
• Other (please describe)___________________________________________________

B3. Rate your preference for each learning mode on a scale from 1 (do not prefer) to 5 (prefer).

• One-on-one assistance from an experienced colleague/mentor
• One-on-one assistance from a course design/development specialist
• One-on-one assistance from an instructional technology specialist 
• One-on-one assistance from information technology staff
• Access to online resources that I can refer to as needed
• Access to videos on the topic I need help with
• Face-to-face event within my academic department
• Face-to-face event within my college/campus
• Face-to-face event within the University
• Informal help from others around me as needed
• Online course that is instructor-paced (i.e., studying within a structured timeframe and interacting with others in the course)
• Online course that is self-paced (i.e., independently working through materials with little interaction with others in the course)

B4. Other learning modes you find effective (please specify): __________________________

B5. What are the most helpful resources you have utilized related to teaching (please limit to three)?

• Colleagues
• Course design/development specialists
• Instructional technology specialists
• Information technology staff
• Books/articles related to teaching
• Seminars/conferences sponsored by Information Technology Services (ITS)
• Seminars/conferences sponsored by Penn State’s Office of Human Resources
• Online seminars/conferences sponsored by another institution
• Face-to-face seminars/conferences sponsored by another institution
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by Penn State
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by another institution/company
• None of the above – I have not utilized any additional resources for my teaching
• Other (please describe)_____________________________________________________

B6. What assistance and/or resources would you like to have related to teaching in the future?

_________________

B7. How familiar are you with the following?

1-Very familiar    2-Somewhat familiar    3-Not at all familiar

• ITS Training Services
• Teaching & Learning with Technology (TLT)
• Schreyer Institute for Teaching Effectiveness
• Specific Resources within your Campus or College
  • Teaching and learning workshops and resources
  • Information Technology workshops and resources
  • Other: _____________________________________

B8.  Overall, how effective do you think Penn State resources  (ITS Training Services, TLT, Schreyer Institute, local centers/IDs?) have been in addressing issues of teaching and learning on your campus?

1-Highly effective, 2-Somewhat effective, 3-Not at all effective, 4-Don’t know, 5-Not applicable

• ITS Training Services
• Teaching & Learning with Technology (TLT)
• Schreyer Institute for Teaching Effectiveness
• Specific Resources within your Campus or College
  • Teaching and learning workshops and resources
  • Information Technology workshops and resources
  • Other: _____________________________________
• Comments: ______________________________________________________________________________

B9. Where do you usually go first to learn more about instructional strategies and instructional technologies? _____________________

PART C - PENN STATE SPONSORED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PREFERENCES

C1. On average, how many Penn State sponsored (university or college level) teaching-related professional development events (e.g. seminars, workshops, brown bag presentations, conferences) would you be able to attend in each academic year?

• 0
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5 or more

 

C2. When would you be most likely to participate in a professional development experience related to teaching (even if self-paced)? Please check all that apply.

     ___ Fall semester

     ___ Break between Fall and Spring semester

     ___ Spring semester

     ___ Spring break

     ___ Break before Summer session    

     ___ Summer session

     ___ Break after Summer session

 

C3. In order to provide faculty with professional development opportunities, please rank the top three topics would be of interest to you ineach of the following areas: course planning, instructional strategies, assessment, and online teaching and learning.

     C3a. Course Planning

     ___ Designing a syllabus

     ___ Determinign course goals and objectives

     ___ Integrating multicultural elements into the course

     ___ Accommodating diverse learning styles

     ___ Accommodating student disabilities/special needs

     ___Understanding Copyright, the TEACH Act, and Intellectual Property issues

     ___ Incorporating plagiarism prevention strategies

     C3b. Instructional Strategies

     ___ Facilitating effective classroom discussions

     ___ Incorporating active learning strategies

     ___ Incorporating field-based/experiential learning

     ___ Integrating service learning into the curriculum

     ___ Optimizing group/collaborative learning activities

     ___ Developing critical thinking/problem-solving skills

     ___ Developing information literacy skills

     ___ Working individually with students

     ___ Teaching first-year students

     ___ Developing peer review assignments

     ___ Providing feedback on student writing

     ___ Managing large enrollment courses

     ___ Teaching the millennial generation

     C3c. Assessment and Evaluation

     ___ Designing assessment strategies

     ___ Developing grading rubrics (i.e., scoring guides)

     ___ Designing effective exams

     ___ Acquiring mid-semester student feedback

     ___ Analyzing mid-semester and SRTE feedback

      C3d. Online Teaching and Learning

     ___ Adapting course material to an online environment

     ___ Understanding Copyright, the TEACH Act, and Intellectual Property issue

     ___ Determining ways to assess online student progress

     ___ Facilitating effective online discussions

     ___ Facilitating chat sessions

     ___ Facilitating Web conferencing sessions (using tools like Adobe Connect)

     ___ Implementing time management strategies

     ___ Selecting appropriate online teaching and learning methods

     ___ Interpretating and responding to student feedback to an online course

     ___ Strategies of facilitating collaborative work with technology

 

C4. Which of the following Penn State initiatives related to teaching and learning would be of interest to you? Please select your top two interests.

• ePortfolio
• Turnitin
• Blogs
• iTunesU
• Wikis
• Games
• Personal Response Systems (Clickers)
• Digital Commons

C5. Which of the following instructional technology topics would be of interest to you? Please select your top two interests.

• Converting course materials and assessments for online use
• Using computer hardware related to teaching online (e.g. web cameras, document cameras, Polycom, etc.) Please specify: __________
• Using software applications related to teaching online (e.g. Adobe Connect and Presenter, Flash, etc.) Please specify: ______________
• Creating audio clips and podcasts
• Adding audio to PowerPoint presentations
• Creating animations (e.g. Flash movies)
• Creating graphics
• Creating videos or video clips
• Designing and developing attractive web sites
• Using Second Life
• Using ANGEL

 C6. In what areas of teaching and/or technology expertise would you be willing to showcase your efforts or mentor other faculty?

 

If you are willing to have us contact you with follow-up questions, please include

Your name: _____________

Email address: _____________________

C7. Please indicate the PRIMARY barrier that would preclude you from participating in a professional development event focused on teaching (even if self-paced)? (Select one choice only)

• Lack of need
• Lack of interesting topics
• Lack of recognition toward performance review, including tenure and promotion
• Limited time
• Little or no access to professional development opportunities
• Not aware of professional development opportunities related to teaching
• No time to implement what I have already learned
• Other (please specify):______________________________________________

C8. Please rank from most important (1) to least important (#) what would motivate you to participate in a professional development event focused on teaching. Please fell free to add to the list, if any, and rank them as well.

     ___ Nothing.

     ___ Improved student learning

     ___ Improved SRTE

     ___ Extended professional networking, the sense of belonging to a faculty learning community

     ___ Recognition toward promotion/tenure or performance review

     ___ Funding for research on teaching and learning

     ___ Course release

     ___ Other (please specify):__________________________________________

 

PART D – DEVELOPMENT TOPICS PREFERENCES 

D1. In the “Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” (1987, Chickering & Gamson), the authors discuss the issues most closely associated with good instruction. Listed below are the seven principles that illustrate these good teaching practices and some topics commonly associated with them.  About which topics would you like to learn more? Please check all that apply.

Principle 1. Encourages contact between students and faculty.
Students are very social in nature. Interactions between instructor and student or between a student and other students can increase learners’ interest and enhance their learning experience.

• Teaching first-year students
• Involving undergraduates in research
• Integrating communication skills across the curriculum
• Building and enhancing professor/student relationships in the classroom
• Managing large enrollment courses
• Increasing interactions in a course (e.g., student-to-student, faculty-to-students)
•  

Principle 2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students
Collaboration can be a valuable tool in learning. Students learn from one another.

• Designing service learning activities
• Integrating service learning into the curriculum
• Optimizing group learning activities
• Developing peer review assignments

Principle 3. Uses active learning techniques
Students learn best when they are actively involved in their own learning.

• Identifying active learning strategies
• Developing critical thinking/problem-solving skills
• Incorporating field-based experiential learning
• Selecting appropriate instructional methods (e.g., lecture, discussion, problem-based learning, etc.)
• Selecting appropriate technologies for course enhancement / deliveryFacilitating effective classroom discussions
• Facilitating effective online discussions
• Facilitating chat sessions
• Facilitating online discussion forums (e.g., threaded message boards)
• Facilitating Web conferencing sessions (using tools like Adobe Connect, ElluminateLive, Centra Symposium, WebEx, or Horizon Wimba)
• Adapting traditional lecture material to an online environment

Principle 4. Gives prompt feedback
When feedback on assignments or performance is prompt, students can correct their misconceptions and errors more quickly than when feedback is delayed or absent. Feedback can include comments on assignments, reviews of quizzes and exams, or comments during a discussion.

• Designing effective exams
• Providing feedback on student writing
• Acquiring mid-course student feedback
• Using technology to provide feedback and enhance learning

Principle 5. Emphasizes time-on-task
The more time a learner spends with the instructional content, the more likely they are to learn it. The more learner-friendly and relevant the content is, the more likely students are to spend time studying it.

• Designing effective lectures
• Tutoring online

Principle 6. Communicates high expectations
Students are more likely to achieve learning goals and ethical behavior, when expectations are clearly communicated up front.

• Designing a syllabus
• Determining course goals and objectives
• Developing grading rubrics (i.e., scoring guides)
• Intellectual property (e.g., copyright, plagiarism, Internet use)
• Communicating student learning outcomes
• Developing information literacy skills
• Determining ways to assess student progress in an online course
• Evaluating student progress and assigning grades

Principle 7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning
No two learners are identical in the way they think or learn, but we can attempt to create a favorable learning environment for all.

• Accommodating student disabilities/special needs
• Integrating multicultural elements into the course
• Scholarship of teaching and learning
• Developing teaching-centered grant proposals
• Activities designed for new faculty
• Developing faculty learning communities
• Developing a teaching portfolio

  

• Other (please specify) ______________

D2. Which course delivery topic related to teaching would be of the MOST interest to you?

• Maintaining academic integrity in your course
• Managing my teaching workload
• Managing my time
• Making courses or course resources available to other Penn State instructors

D3. Which of the following instructional techology topics would be of interest to you? (Check all that apply)

• Converting course materials and assessments for online use
• Using computer hardware related to teaching online (e.g., Web cameras, document cameras, Polycom, etc.)
• Using software applications related to teaching online (e.g., Adobe Connect and Presenter, Flash, etc.)
• Creating audio clips and podcasts
• Adding audio to PowerPoint presentations
• Creating animations (e.g., Flash movies)
• Creating graphics
• Creating videos or video clips
• Designing and developing attractive Web sites
• Using ANGEL (Penn State’s course management system)
• If you specified “using hardware or software related to teaching online” above, please specify the product(s) you are interested in using: __________________________________________________
• Other (please specify) ___________

D

D5.  In which three (3) of the following types of teaching and learning activities would you be MOST likely to participate? (Select three only)

• Individual consultations
• Classroom observations with feedback
• Small group activities
• Workshops (one meeting focused on a technique or strategy)
• University-wide forums
• Institutes/retreats (2-3 days)
• Faculty professional development study group (i.e., three or more faculty in the same discipline who meet regularly to discuss teaching issues)
• Interdisciplinary faculty professional development study group (i.e., three or more faculty in different disciplines who meet regularly to discuss teaching issues)
• Web-based resources and discussion groups (e.g., listserv, ANGEL discussion forums, blogs, wikis, podcasts)
• Informal discussions with colleagues about teaching problems, tips, and techniques over coffee or lunch
• Structured discussions, focused around a reading provided prior to the meeting (e.g., a teaching and learning circle)
• Other (please specify) __________

D7. How often have you participated in the following events or activities over the past five years?

Very often (3 or more/year)    Often (1-2/year)    Occasionally (1-2 over 5 years)    Rarely    Not at all

• Individual consultations
• Classroom observations with feedback
• Small group activities
• Workshops (one meeting focused on a technique or strategy)
• University-wide forums
• Institutes/retreats (2-3 days)
• Faculty professional development study group (i.e., three or more faculty in the same discipline who meet regularly to discuss teaching issues)
• Interdisciplinary faculty professional development study group (i.e., three or more faculty in different disciplines who meet regularly to discuss teaching issues)
• Web-based resources and discussion groups (e.g., listserv, ANGEL discussion forums, blogs, wikis, podcasts)
• Informal discussions with colleagues about teaching problems, tips, and techniques over coffee or lunch
• Structured discussions, focused around a reading provided prior to the meeting (e.g., a teaching and learning circle)
• Other (please specify) ___________________

D8. What is the BEST way for you to be notified of upcoming faculty professional development events?

• Newsletter
• Email
• Flyer in the mail
• Notified through the faculty listserv
• RSS newsfeed from blog dedicated to faculty professional development
• Web site dedicated to faculty professional development
• Other (please specify) ________________

D9. What resources have you utilized in the past to support your professional development needs related to teaching? [check all that apply]

• Colleagues who have had experience teaching online
• Instructional designer(s)
• Technical experts
• Books/articles related to teaching online
• World Campus’ “Faculty Development 101” course
• Seminars/workshops sponsored by Information Technology Services (ITS)
• Seminars/workshops sponsored by Penn State’s Office of Human Resources
• Online seminar/workshops sponsored by another institution
• Face-to-face seminar/workshops sponsored by another institution
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by Penn State
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by another institution/company
• None of the above – I have not utilized any additional resources for my teaching
• Other (please describe)______________________________________________

D10. What was the single, most helpful resource you have utilized related to teaching?

• Colleagues who have had experience teaching online
• Instructional designer(s)
• Technical experts
• Books/articles related to teaching online
• World Campus’ “Faculty Development 101” course
• Seminars/workshops sponsored by Information Technology Services (ITS)
• Seminars/workshops sponsored by Penn State’s Office of Human Resources
• Online seminar/workshops sponsored by another institution
• Face-to-face seminar/workshops sponsored by another institution
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by Penn State
• Other resources located on the Web that are sponsored by another institution/company
• None of the above – I have not utilized any additional resources for my online teaching
• Other (please describe)_____________________________________________________

D11. In what areas of expertise would you be willing to mentor other faculty?

_______________________________

D12. General comments. Please let us know your opinions about how Penn State University can best achieve excellence in teaching.

________________________________