What are the most effective ways to develop faculty skills while keeping costs low?

New faculty usually start with expertise on how to do research but a standard graduate school experience does not prepare someone to teach. I usually start with four suggestions: 1. Approach teaching like you would a research project, read the relevant literature and take it seriously. 2. Assume that most student in a class are not like you. You went on to get an advanced degree, most of them will not. Studies also indicate that faculty will often consistently fit with a narrow range of, for instance, Myers-Briggs personality types. 3. Do not make the two most common mistakes of teaching which are teaching in a way that works for you (because of #2) or teaching as you have been taught. Do the research and try things!

The first step for any planning is a careful diagnosis. It's impossible make a plan if you don't know in depth the main needs of each stakeholder.

All too often, administrations come up with plans and try to enforce it top-down, rather than asking faculty and staff what they need to be successful. One of the top needs is steady work at fair salaries; it is unsustainable to expect professional development while paying low wages that keep adjunct faculty, which now make up large portions of instruction at many institutions, stressed and overworked with no free time to even consider development. Pay your instructors well, offer better job security than semester-by-semester adjunct contracts, then you'll get development and far better results.

There is an inherent problem to the question. Why should teacher development be cheap? Of course context is important, but every meaningful global metric shows that countries that spend more in higher education do best in most other areas of human development. Education is, apart from war, the costliest human activity, by the simple reason that the human brain takes 25% of the body´s energy. That said, it is necessary to strive to spend HE resources equitably and responsibly: more dance scholarships and research sincrotons, more teachers and smaller classes, more teacher time to explore and meditate, less multibillion-dollar endowments. I recommend reading Malcolm Galdwell on that.

Desarrollar habilidades de manera efectiva y a bajo costo implica aprovechar recursos open-access como cursos en línea, bibliotecas locales, grupos de estudio y eventos locales. Acceder a recursos gratuitos de universidades, realizar proyectos prácticos, participar en redes profesionales, hacer voluntariado y utilizar aplicaciones educativas son estrategias adicionales. Además, considerar pasantías no remuneradas y aprender de profesionales a través de plataformas de libre acceso también puede ser beneficioso. Adaptar estas sugerencias a la situación específica y a las oportunidades locales es clave.

Quando você conhece seus alunos, suas principais necessidades e objetivos, você pode criar um planejamento adequado do seu currículo e ementa das principais disciplinas. Essa deve ser a base para o desenvolvimento das suas atividades docentes.

Reuniões, workshop, aulas online de planejamento, imersões em assuntos específicos, visando um melhor desenvolvimento da equipe docente, mesmo com custo reduzido para essas atividades.

One thing to consider is the generational gap amongst the faculty. Ex: if you plan a great AI faculty development session for your faculty, your 'younger' faculty will embrace and love it, but your "age- seasoned" faculty may not!

Primeiramente, é preciso que o corpo docente compreenda o quão relevante é o seu engajamento e dedicação para o bom funcionamento da operação. É necessário que o gestor escute cada profissional, entendendo suas dores e ansiedades e propondo, de maneira colaborativa, alternativas para saná-las.

Un ejemplo que he visto es que los temas y contenidos a impartirse a los profesores obedece a cómo actuar frente a las necesidades institucionales y del territorio donde se encuentran a fin de que tengan impacto para la mejora.

When it comes to superior education, however, the best effectiveness measure is the student's outcome: a good job, a promotion, a new company, maybe a new patent, inventions. That said, it is important to keep a record track of the alumni community and, even better, engage this community with the training program development.

Existem várias ferramentas para avaliar o nível de conhecimento e satisfação do corpo docente para verificar o valor do grupo e alcançar os objetivos.

Os seus alunos devem ser incentivados a seguirem aprendendo, incorporando o longlife learning ao seu estilo de vida. Em um mundo em constante mudança, assumir que a jornada de aprendizagem nunca estará concluída é a única estratégia que o manterá competitivo no mercado de trabalho.

Faculty development can benefit from a dual approach, which involves developing subject matter expertise and creating opportunities to apply that expertise in the real world, both locally and nationally. In order to achieve this, it is important to foster stronger communities of dialogue that go beyond conferences and create communities of scholarship that offer both challenge and support.

Faculty time needs to be valued (and compensated) just like any other skilled professional. “Continuous” oversight and feedback — without clear objective criteria, both quantitative and qualitative, steals attention and time from students and teachers and contributes to industry bloat in middle management where non-industry “experts” have created a mini-economy/bureaucratic fiefdom that, perhaps not coincidentally, has achieved dominance and hegemony at the same time that education itself has more or less collapsed, both as a business model and in terms of societal good.

Well said Mary! Equity in time and attention through the mentoring process is critical! Everyone benefits from feedback and when it becomes a reciprocal process the growth can be even more than expected. The key is always to have a finger on the pulse!

Reflection is one of the major differences between experts and novices. Having internal resources (a great way to keep costs low) that you gamify for faculty (badges or micro credentials) then having reflection circles is a great way to encourage professional development and learning.

I would look for creative opportunities within universities for faculty to learn as a student, with students, in areas outside of their area of expertise. It sets a great example of lifelong learning, and it builds relationships between faculty and students while taking advantage of the immense learning opportunities at a university, whether through a formal class or an on campus presentation from a symposium, career office offering, or any other skill-building opportunity.

É óbvio que a falta de recursos ou recursos escassos é um problema, porém, se você tem uma equipe de excelência, essa mesma equipe é mais que capacitada para enfrentar os desafios e barreiras e encontrar soluções que possam ajudar a vencer.

O professor deve ser o primeiro a compreender que ele é o que mais precisa estar em constante evolução e em permanente eatado de aprendizado. O aluno deve tê-lo como referência de conhecimento mas, também, como modelo de aprendiz, de alguém voraz por mais conhecimento.

Fundamental é o Feedback, saber a opinião e os sentimentos da sua equipe. Uma equipe motivada, mesmo com poucos recursos pode ir longe. A direção e os mantenedores devem dar o retorno aos anseios tanto do corpo docente como dos discentes .

I believe that one thing which the top management in higher education is not doing is detailed cost-benefit analysis when it comes to upskilling their faculty and what skills they want in the organisation. Because there is uncertainty about the how the upskilled faculty will contribute to the growth of the institution, they try to find the low cost alternative, and sadly only to complain in majority of cases. My take on this would be to try to match faculty strength to the upskilling task to the institutional key performance indicators to the return on investment for upskilling. (4 variables to match, not easy to reach a conclusion).

Les bouleversements sociétaux et les exigences imposées aux établissements éducatifs ont élargi les responsabilités des enseignants. Même si les pays disposent de normes de ce que doit être un enseignant, les profils doivent s’adapter en permanence aux élèves. Une formation tout au long de la vie s’avère donc un moyen plus efficace pour une meilleure insertion professionnelle. L’université doit pouvoir offrir ce cadre car elle dispose de ressources, d’expériences et d’expertises. Elle doit mettre les enseignants en situation d’apprentissage équivalents à celles de leurs élèves et inciter à partager plus systématiquement les savoirs et les savoirs faire.

É preciso ouvir os alunos. Sim, eles são movidos por notas. Mas o sistema ao longo de séculos os fez assim. Então, cabe a nós desenvolver mecanismos de engajamento e motivação para além do modesto cálculo de aprovação.

Sin duda es muy importante pero no debe concretarse al claustro sino al entorno más amplio del espacio escolar, debe hacer intra e extra muros.

Don't create faculty development plans alone. Ask other schools in your institution and/or outside your institution what they are doing...best practices and then adjust for your particular school/ faculty

Leveraging cost-effective professional development for faculty involves embracing online platforms, webinars, and self-paced courses. Virtual workshops and collaborative forums facilitate skill enhancement without the need for extensive travel or expensive resources. Encouraging knowledge-sharing within the institution fosters a culture of continuous learning. Utilizing open educational resources (OER) and creating internal training modules are economical alternatives. Implementing peer mentoring and cross-departmental collaborations harnesses internal expertise. Additionally, tapping into free or low-cost conferences and web-based resources broadens exposure to current educational trends.

As a lecturer in a lower-middle income country (LMIC) who does research in high-income countries, I think there is need to emphasize collaboration between low-income and high-income countries. Scholars from high-income countries have access to many resources that are scarce in LMICs, hence they can contribute their quota to developing skills in LMICs by offering pro bono services. However, there is a need for scholars from low-income countries to build their networking skills as many of these opportunities thrive on networking and relationships.

Always consider that the most cost effective training is the one that's really effective. Costs are an important factor, but effectiveness is the most relevant. It's paramount! A cheap training that doesn't really improve your team is actually quite expensive.

In my experience, the most cost effective faculty development occurred when there was a strong culture of collaboration and teamwork around innovation. As a faculty group, the majority of the faculty group had an interest in creative approaches and expanding our skills as teachers, facilitators, and evaluators of student learning. We brainstormed ideas and then figured out how to make them happen through our own exploration of “how-to” and then we found ways to incorporate new strategies in a repetitive fashion solidifying the change. Organization and team culture drives the desire to not only learn but also to implement what’s been learned.