Recommendations For Faculty Development To Improve College Classroom Instruction

Abstract

The emphasis in this paper is on basic principles of pedagogy and communication in the classroom. An underlying need for faculty development emerges because the majority of college professors have not had training in “how to teach.” Faculty are products of master and doctorate degree programs where the emphasis is on research and writing theses/dissertations, not teaching. Usually, only those professors who came to college teaching through the levels of elementary or high school teaching were required to have courses in pedagogy. The basic contention of this paper is that faculty development (in-service training and coaching) is needed to improve college classroom instruction, specifically related to classroom pedagogy and communication.