Learning Fellows Seminars
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LEARNING FELLOWS SEMINARS: A CASE STUDY OF A FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM USING EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING THEORY TO IMPROVE COLLEGE TEACHING By SARAH McCLUSKY de SWART Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dr. David Kolb, Chair Dr. Diana Bilimoria Dr. Ronald Fry Dr. James Zull Department of Organizational Behavior CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January, 2010 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of Sarah McClusky de Swart Candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree* Dr. David Kolb (Committee Chair) Dr. Diana Bilimoria Dr. Ronald Fry Dr. James Zull November 13, 2009 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. 2 Copyright © 2009 by Sarah McClusky de Swart All rights reserved 3 DEDICATION There are many people and several major life events that have shaped my experience of writing this dissertation. The most important individuals who have helped this come to life have been my family, first, and my mentors and colleagues quickly behind. Without their love and support none of this would have been possible, or for that matter, would have had much genuine meaning. I am grateful also to the numerous professors at Case Western Reserve University who have been a part of our Learning Fellows Seminar program, who permitted me a glimpse into their professional lives, as well as graciously inviting me to try to understand their feelings and thoughts. This paper is dedicated to those university professors around the world who continue to inspire their students, for whom learning is every bit as important as teaching. Universities have always been, and will continue to be, extremely influential within all civilized cultures. Young minds are exposed to ideas and opinions they might never have encountered before, at precisely the point of their lives when they are most impressionable. Though most spend only a few short years as students, the influence that this time can have on the rest of their lives cannot be overstated. It is for this reason I believe that we who are associated with education must never stop trying to improve what we do. Universities are resilient, enduring institutions, but what and how students learn within their walls, even if only for a short time, can change their, and our, world. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………….4 LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………7 LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………..8 PREFACE…………………………………………………………………. ………9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………... 13 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………. 14 GLOSSARY OF TERMS…………………………………….…………………… 15 ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….. ……... 18 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………….. 19 1.1 Research Questions……………………………………………… 21 1.2 Organization of the Dissertation………………………………… 22 CHAPTER 2: CONTEXT AND LITERATURE REVIEW…………………… 25 2.1 Context and History of Faculty Development in Teaching……. 25 2.2 Teaching/ Research Divide……………………………… ……... 33 2.3 Boyer Commission……………………………………………….. 37 2.4 Teaching and Learning Centers…………………………………. 40 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN……………... 42 3.1 Participants………………………………………………………… 44 3.2 Procedures ………………………………………………………… 47 CHAPTER 4: INTRODUCTION TO THE SEMINAR: What and Why......... 53 4.1 Case Western Reserve University: a brief history..……………… 53 4.2 University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education…. 55 4.3 President‟s Commission on Undergraduate Education and Life 57 4.4 Teaching as an isolating activity…………………………………. 60 4.5 Planning the Learning Fellows Seminar Program……………… 63 4.6 Experiential Learning…………………………………………….. 65 5 4.7 Learning Fellows Program Syllabus……………………………… 70 4.8 Individual session outline……………………………………....… 73 4.9 Evolution of the program…………………………………………. 88 CHAPTER 5: THE EXPERIENCE OF INDIVIDUAL PROFESSORS…….. 92 5.1 Review of research questions…………….. …………………….. 92 5.2 Personal and professional development…………………………. 93 5.3 Lack of support for teaching….………………………………….. 95 5.4 Sense of community…………………………………………….… 101 5.5 Sense of validation and new confidence…………………………. 105 5.6 Criticisms……….………………...……………………………….. 109 5.7 Influence on teaching practices………………………………….. 111 5.8 Specific changes in the classroom……………………….………. 113 5.9 Support in making changes………………………………………. 118 5.10 Impact on the institution…………………………………………. 120 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS………………….………………… 124 6.1 Common themes….........................................................................124 6.2 Implications for future research………………………………..... 129 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL & SURVEY INSTRUMENT….. 131 APPENDIX B: INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD Consent Form……… 134 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………... 136 6 LIST OF TABLES TABLE #1: Summary of all Learning Fellows: Schools…....................................45 TABLE #2: A & S departments represented in Table #1 ……………...………. 46 TABLE #3: Fellows interviewed…………………………………………............ 48 TABLE #4: Written survey respondents………………………………………… 49 TABLE #5: A & S departments represented in Table #3……………………… 50 TABLE #6: Utility of the program………………………..………………….….. 94 TABLE #7: Perceived lack of support for teaching……………………….……. 96 TABLE #8: People connection…………………………………...........................101 TABLE #9: Sense of validation and confidence among participants………….. 106 TABLE #10: Specific new ideas for teaching…………………………………… 114 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure #1: Illustration of coding procedure……………………………………... 51 Figure #2: Experiential Learning Cycle…….…………………………………… 68 8 PREFACE I began in Case Western Reserve University‟s Weatherhead School of Management PhD program in Organizational Behavior on the afternoon of September 10, 2001. Approximately 15 hours later the world we knew in the United States had changed profoundly. The news came trickling in to our classroom building, and gradually it dawned on us that something enormous and horrifying was taking place. Televisions were dragged out of storage closets, stunned people came stumbling awkwardly out of offices and classes. Like so many zombies, we stood transfixed watching the horrors playing out on the screens. I remember desperately trying to reach my children at their school, my sister at her home in Greenwich Village, my college roommate at her office at Lehman Brothers in the World Trade Center. That day was, as were many that followed, surreal to millions of us, both as a nation of survivors and victims. September 11 was horrifyingly real, and it launched my experience of study in a complex framework. Thus began my PhD career. It began with a jolt, was followed four years later with a personal bombshell when a 7CM tumor with ill intent was discovered in my right breast, ten days after having had both a clean mammogram and highly sophisticated and sensitive (and again, clear) ultrasound. Having these two monumental events occur during my relatively short time of PhD study has been humbling to say the least. My hope is that this project will punctuate an enormously challenging but ultimately satisfying time in my life. In the fall of 1999, I returned to Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) to complete an M.F.A. degree in acting that I had begun in 1981. In the intervening 9 years I had raised four children, and followed several of my other passions: working at my children‟s independent school, both as a sometime teacher and longtime Board member, ultimately becoming the Board Chair. Over the years of working there, I filled many roles, and learned a great deal about young people and learning. I spent time at national conferences about learning, and continued to learn about the companion art of teaching. Over the same time period, I was heavily involved in recruiting students for my Alma Mater, Harvard. For a number of years, I was responsible for arranging the interviews of any student applying from Northeast Ohio, and represented three states at the national admissions conferences in Cambridge. In talking to these incredibly talented high school students, I learned what the best teachers and the best schools in our area of the country were doing to prepare their students for college and life beyond. When I returned to CWRU in the fall of 1999, my plan was to finish my degree as an M.A. (a teaching degree), instead of the original M.F.A, traditionally a professional‟s performing degree, and use my theater background to coach professionals of all kinds to “perform” their jobs with more authority and confidence. I intended to use the degree to begin consulting and teaching. As I worked to finish this program, though, it became obvious that my interest in learning and teaching was absolutely as important to me as my study of the theater. It happened that my Masters‟ degree program advisor was good friends with Dr. James Zull, then the Director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE). I began to attend events and seminars given by the center, and gradually became such a regular and enthusiastic attendee that I was invited to become UCITE‟s first officially designated intern in the fall of 2000. During that 10 time, I also became acquainted with one of Zull‟s good friends and colleagues, Dr. David Kolb, professor of Organizational Behavior at CWRU‟s Weatherhead School of Management. Kolb has written prolifically about learning and his Learning Style Inventory continues to be an extremely influential tool for organizations around the world. In the winter of 2000, I applied